Day Trip to Pisa!

We dropped off Grams and Papa with Shell and Adrianna for they set off for two days in Venice. They are going to have a blast!

We grabbed croissants at a cafe but since some kiddos don’t eat pastries of any sort, we found a different option. 

Yes, gelato for breakfast in the middle of winter. But she’s smiling! It’s so nice that Jess is feeling better. And off we went on a train in a different direction to Pisa! The cool part of taking the train is the ability to see the countryside of these big cities. You get to see farms, vineyards, factories, and houses. There is a lot of greenery here which means they must get more rain than back home. 

Our train stopped right in Pisa near the leaning tower (if you ever go, make sure to use the Pisa San Rossore Station). The trains here are pretty amazing, but their countries and cities are so much closer than in America. Not sure how we could replicate this system back home.

 We walked through a cute market but were distracted by someone’s urge to use the restroom. Bathrooms here are interesting. Many times when you are in public, there’s a bathroom with an agent working and they want you to pay to use the restroom. So...we try to avoid that obviously because 1 euro for each person gets expensive quick. We got a little somethin’ somethin’ at McDonald’s and got to use the bathroom for free! One chicken nugget meal later and our snack stop was done. 

McDonald’s here was different. There’s a machine where you can order in your own language. There are different foods and even a pastry bar. Europe loves their baked goodies!

Next we saw the famous Leaning Tower which started leaning before they even finished construction which began in 1173. It was built as the bell tower for the church nearby. By the third floor it was leaning quite a bit and today it’s essentially sinking at a rate of 1-2mm a year. 

We had fun goofing around and being tourists with everyone else taking silly photos. We didn’t want to venture up the 251 steps but we did find other monuments to check out. There is a Cathedral, baptistery, and cemetery (which the kids said hey didn’t want to go to, but in actuality was actually really cool)! There were so many frescos on the walls that you can see history being lost. They are deteriorating and fading and it’s just interesting to see that without restorative efforts, these pieces of history and culture will be lost. 

Anyway, after the cemetery we checked out the church which was very cool. Something notable about Pisa is the lack of crowds that we’ve become accustomed to in Rome and Florence. There are far fewer buildings here as well. Still a beautiful church!

And then we checked out the Baptistery which is literally a place to baptize people. The acoustics were amazing in that large dome and one of the workers even started singing so we could hear the echo. Super cool. A short staircase up and we were looking down on the architecture.

Another cool place to see but we were done with all of this pretty quick. Off to lunch we went! Apparently the Tuscan area is known for their meat so Todd and Katie got steak for lunch. Em, Hawaiian Pizza, me onion soup. Everyone was full but we made room for dessert and then we were happy! And Jessica is taste testing all of the tomato sauces of Italy. It’s literally the thing she orders at lunch and dinner. Hey, it’s a vegetable right? Tomatoes? No? Okay, moving on. 

We shopped a bit and stopped for picture taking. Smiles and laughter were had by all. We are relaxed and having a lovely time. 

Yes, some of us got gelato again. We walked back to the train station and waited for our train a bit early. Something wired happened and we got our times mixed up and we actually got on the wrong train headed in the right direction. When the attendant checked our tickets after about 15 minutes, he pointed out our error but said we could stay on. So we got back to Florence a bit earlier than planned. If I haven’t mentioned it lately, we are tired. It’s 6pm and we are already in for the night.  Time change, walking all day, sleeping weird. Whatever it is, we are taking time to rest. Until tomorrow!