Pisa - the rest of the town is leaning, the Tower is straight

Ciao!

lyna here...

We woke up this morning and looked outside our window... hmmm... it felt like rain but not sure whether it would fall or not. This did not stop our day trip to Pisa - only 1 hour away from Florence by train (if you catch the right train, some trains make more stops BEFORE your destination therefore your 1 hour trip has been extended). We've heard about this leaning tower thing and decided we needed to check it out for ourselves.

No rain when we left our hostel... so on we walked, too late to turn back now. Caught the train and started to get glimpses of the sun... woohoo! Dry socks shall reign again =)

Our hostel host told us about Pisa and gave us directions on how to get to the Tower. When we reached Pisa, we thought it would be smart to go to the Info Centre and grab a map. FYI, Info Centre closed on Sundays =(

We found a map of the city but we could not take it with us - it was on a bulletin board, connected to the ground... which was okay cause there is only one main way to the Tower - straight ahead, literally. We drew a straight line from the train station right to the Duomo and the Tower. This is definitely one Italian city we were not going to get lost in.

Well, I have to admit, the Tower does appear to be leaning, though in most of my photos, the Tower is perfectly straight. Both Isabelle and I agree, it was the best train fare spent for all the hamming up in front of the camera we did with the Tower as a prop in the background. That kept us entertained for about an hour. We did a quick tour of the Duomo and surrounding area - met some Canadians from Ottawa who knows someone who works for Transport Canada in Ottawa =) I have to admit, I missed the name... oops! The Tower is a huge tourist area with lots of vendors vying for your precious Euros... we did not give any up =)

We did a walk through the city with some tasty gelato in hand and mouth =) YUM!!! We went to the Piazza de Cavalier and found a cute Junior Bike race going on. It was for participants ages 4 to 10. We caught the 4 year old race before we had to leave for our train. They were so cute... the parents ran with them on the course =)  It was done up just right - first there was the police motorcade, followed by the pace bikes (adults who knew the course), then of course, came the "pack", followed by the chase bikes in the back... we dubbed it "Tour De Pisa".

Train ride back to Florence was uneventful... our last night in Florence - tomorrow ROME!!! =)

cheers!

lyna