Cheesy Pisa

When Vanessa and I were discussing the possibility of going to the Cinque Terre, I had really wanted to stop in Pisa because it was right on the way. Well, we didn't stop and there wasn't much in Cinque Terre that I wanted to do (too cold to swim or whatever) so I decided to go to take a train to Pisa on my own. I just really wanted to see the town and the Leaning Tower so I did it.

(I learned this after I got back) Vanessa woke up kind of late and walked on trail back to the spot where we ate lunch. She sat there and read for a while then headed back. She only got back about an hour before I did.

I, on the other hand, took a train at 8 am. I saw the guy from the University of Florida on the train. He didn't see me and I didn't feel like making a point of saying hi so I didn't. Maybe I should have. Too late now. I must say, getting on the train and being alone for the first time in 5 or 6 days was weird. I was really used to always having Vanessa there to say something to or whatever and she wasn't. Sometimes I would turn to one of my sidees or look behind me for her. I know its kind of weird but oh well. So I got off the train in Pisa. The Leaning Tower is on the complete other side of the town from the train station. I walked through the town and over the river. The river was really calm and the reflections of the houses was really cool (picture 1). Its interesting how every city we have visited in Italy has a different type of architecture. There are some similarities but the buildings in Pisa didn't really look like any other buildings I had seen yet. They were all yellows and browns and oranges.

The Leaning Tower is so cool. I was so glad I went. Its crazy how much more the Tower looks like it leans in person. The pictures just don't do it justice. The Leaning Tower is actually the campanile (bell tower) of a cathedral. The cathedral was built first and then the baptistery and finally the Leaning Tower (picture 2). The square that they are all located in is called the Square of Miracles because of how beautiful the three buildings are together. The Leaning Tower is circular (unlike the Campanile in Florence) because the architect liked the circular shape and arches of the asps of the cathedral. The cathedral also started a kind of fashion trend of cathedrals in the area. All the churches in this area of Italy use green and white marble (the one in Monterosso does, for example) because the Pisa cathedral did. Instead of going into the cathedral or the baptistery, I decided to climb the Tower. It was kind of expensive but I figured I might as well do it while I was here. So I did. It was so cool. It was very disorienting climbing the stairs up to the top. Sometimes I felt like I was going down but still up and sometimes I felt like I was going up steeper than I should have. It seemed like a carnival ride almost. The stairs were also very warn down by people walking so they were slippery which added to the difficulty (picture 3).

I made it to the top and had some people take my picture for me. I liked it up on top. The views were cool with the town and the hills (I can't really call them mountains) surrounding the town. Just very pretty. I went back down and asked two girls to take my picture for me with the Tower behind me (picture 4). We got to talking and I shared my thoughts on Venice and Florence with them (they were going there next). It was nice. They were from the South. I walked around the rest of the town but it was kind of blur. I walked pretty fast and none of the piazza's or palazza's were particularly interesting. I kind of wish I would have tried to make more of an effort to have more of it memorable but I just didn't really care. Nothing compared with the Leaning Tower. I did see a lot of students around my age walking around talking and holding books. Pisa is a big University town.

It was only about 1 pm when I felt like I was done with Pisa so I caught a train to a town near Pisa called Lucca. Lucca is known for its basically completely intact medieval wall. The wall surrounds the city. First, I walked to the main Lucca church. This church was done in a similar fashion to the Pisa cathedral. I liked it a lot. I had a panini in a square for lunch. Delicious as always. Just the perfect amount of meat, cheese, and bread. I walked by another cool church. From there I climbed to the top of a pallaza's tower (picture 5). Another 250 or so steps. I think I have climbed a lot of steps on this trip... The top of the tower had some big trees which made it look kind of weird from the ground but were pleasant once you got to the top. Similar views as from the top of the Leaning Tower except the hills (Aupine Alps to be exact) were closer. Plus it was sweet seeing the ring of the wall around the city and all the red topped roofs stretching out before you. It all looked very Italian.

I climbed back down the tower and walked over to a square that wasn't a square. It's a Piazza that is in the shape of an amphitheater (picture 6 is of that but its not very good). There used to be a Roman amphitheater here but it was taken down and the buildings were built in the same shape. Cool feeling in the middle of it. I meandered my way around the medieval wall back to the train station. The top of the wall is now a park (picture 7). There were people running and stuff. The battlements are all picnic areas. I thought it was a cool use of the walls. There is also a moat (barely a couple feet across but still water) that added to the medieval wall feel. I took the train back to our apartment.

At the apartment (living room type area with kitchen behind me picture 8), I hung around and rehashed my day with Vanessa. Then I made dinner (noodles; what else?) and read some more. We stayed in the apartment until around 10 and then went to the train station to catch a train to La Spezia where we were going to take an overnight train to Rome. We got to the Monterosso train station and thought that we had missed the last train for a couple minutes. We were freaking out a little. But one appeared luckily. When we got to La Spezia, we got our tickets. We were about an hour early so we had to sit and wait. While we were waiting some super creepy, scary looking guys were walking around. Honestly, I felt really uncomfortable and a little freaked out at the situation. We powered through and got on the train. We got on the train and both of us pretty much immediately fell asleep... (story to be finished on the next post, keep some suspense).