PISA
So usually when people ask me, “so Melanie, what did you do today?” I don’t really have anything interesting to tell them. TODAY I went to PISA! Why yes, the one and only Pisa, Italy that features the incredibly unique and fabulous Leaning Tower. It was so unreal. The first exciting thing was that we rode a train to get there. I had never done that before and it was on “my list of things to see and do while in Italy.” It was exciting to try something new, and better yet see the beautiful Italian countryside. It seemed like every hill we passed had a scattering of houses that I would have died to live in, and they all had little gardens with their rows all furrowed and ready for the new spring life in a few short months. I felt like a little kid looking out the window open-mouthed at the wispy clouds flirting with the brooding mountains in the distance. So romance novel-esque I know, but that’s really what it felt like. I mean, I’ve seen mountains before, but it was shocking to see them just a short train ride outside of the buzzing city I’m living in.
When we got there, we stopped at a restaurant, paid WAY too much for pizza and then realized it was pouring down rain. Not to be deterred from our goal, we asked a few Italians which direction the tower was. We got slightly confused but then eventually figured out that we needed to take the bus because a local said it was a 30 minute walk. We stood out in the rain waiting for the bus and it turned out to be the wrong one. Two different buses asked later, we found the right one we needed but it was really crowded and the bus driver was crabby. Since we’re the typical clueless tourist, it got pretty complicated so the bus driver got fed up, closed the doors and drove away leaving 5 of our 11 girls stranded at the bus stop, myself included. We decided to just walk and see how far it really was. Pisa turned out to be a really beautiful city with quiet streets and cheerfully colored houses.
Only fifteen minutes later, from over the top of building, there it was. We came down the street, emerged from in between two buildings and just out of nowhere there is this massive marble structure built into the ground leaning just slightly to the right. We took about a hundred pictures, got hassled by the merchants on the street and were disappointed to hear that the fee for climbing the tower was 15 euro. That’s about $23 in American money. No thank you. We looked around the Duomo (Cathedral) in Pisa, and I almost cried when I saw the inside. The walls were lined with wall-sized murals that look to have been completely restored. The ceiling was gilded with gold, and the dome behind the altar an enormous mosaic of Jesus as the Pantacrator. A few hundred pictures more and we were ready to go. We only stayed the day because there really isn’t much else to see in Pisa besides the tower, so we just headed home. Unfortunately, we took the train whose final destination was Florence, but that was taken the scenic route making stops every ten minutes. The ride that took an hour to get to Pisa took us two and a half hours to get back.
Looking back, I’m actually really glad we went. Even though our transportation was pretty…faulty, we got where we needed to go and had a marvelous time doing it. Everything that seemed to be not quite what we planned actually turned out to be the better end of the deal anyway. I keep looking back through the pictures saying “that’s me standing next to the Leaning Tower of Pisa” but not really believing it still. I was sort of on estrogen overload on the way back and am craving some male exposure (I’ve spent the past week with nothing but women), but I had fantastic time. Let the honeymoon phase ensue.
Classes start tomorrow. We’ll see how that goes. Goodnight.
When we got there, we stopped at a restaurant, paid WAY too much for pizza and then realized it was pouring down rain. Not to be deterred from our goal, we asked a few Italians which direction the tower was. We got slightly confused but then eventually figured out that we needed to take the bus because a local said it was a 30 minute walk. We stood out in the rain waiting for the bus and it turned out to be the wrong one. Two different buses asked later, we found the right one we needed but it was really crowded and the bus driver was crabby. Since we’re the typical clueless tourist, it got pretty complicated so the bus driver got fed up, closed the doors and drove away leaving 5 of our 11 girls stranded at the bus stop, myself included. We decided to just walk and see how far it really was. Pisa turned out to be a really beautiful city with quiet streets and cheerfully colored houses.
Only fifteen minutes later, from over the top of building, there it was. We came down the street, emerged from in between two buildings and just out of nowhere there is this massive marble structure built into the ground leaning just slightly to the right. We took about a hundred pictures, got hassled by the merchants on the street and were disappointed to hear that the fee for climbing the tower was 15 euro. That’s about $23 in American money. No thank you. We looked around the Duomo (Cathedral) in Pisa, and I almost cried when I saw the inside. The walls were lined with wall-sized murals that look to have been completely restored. The ceiling was gilded with gold, and the dome behind the altar an enormous mosaic of Jesus as the Pantacrator. A few hundred pictures more and we were ready to go. We only stayed the day because there really isn’t much else to see in Pisa besides the tower, so we just headed home. Unfortunately, we took the train whose final destination was Florence, but that was taken the scenic route making stops every ten minutes. The ride that took an hour to get to Pisa took us two and a half hours to get back.
Looking back, I’m actually really glad we went. Even though our transportation was pretty…faulty, we got where we needed to go and had a marvelous time doing it. Everything that seemed to be not quite what we planned actually turned out to be the better end of the deal anyway. I keep looking back through the pictures saying “that’s me standing next to the Leaning Tower of Pisa” but not really believing it still. I was sort of on estrogen overload on the way back and am craving some male exposure (I’ve spent the past week with nothing but women), but I had fantastic time. Let the honeymoon phase ensue.
Classes start tomorrow. We’ll see how that goes. Goodnight.