Monday 24 January 2011

Italy... Day 3 & 4


The last 2 days we were in Italy, we pretty much stuck to Pisa. We did go to a town called Lucca for a little bit on Sunday, but everyone was a little stir crazy to see the Leaning tower, so we headed to Pisa after only a couple of hours walking around Lucca.

It was a cool town though. It was completely surrounded by a stone wall and the town center used to be a Roman Coliseum before it was turned into housing. We walked along a market and in the town center and just enjoyed the sunshine.



Oh, I almost forgot... that morning we went to McDonald's to grab some breakfast and saw that you could get Pecorino or Parmeseano-Reggiano on your burger. You could also get kiwi's on a stick...lol



After Lucca, we drove into Pisa and finally found the Leaning tower. It did take a while though...lol. We saw it from the road and knew we were headed in the right direction. We spent some time just walking around the tower and taking pictures. We had a blast trying to find the right angle to get the perfect picture. It was definitely one of those surreal, oh-my-God-I-Cant-believe-I'm-actually-standing-here- moments.




Sandy was hilarious. She kept turning towards the tower and not towards us, so I dont think we ever got a good picture of her...lol


We ended up eating dinner at a cafe right at the Tower. It was a little chilly, but we sacrificed to sit outside so we could say that we ate at the base of the Leaning Tower... it was pretty awesome!

Our last day in Italy, we decided we wanted to go back into Pisa and go into the Cathedral at the Leaning Tower and just spend some more time there.


We went into the Cathedral and it was breathtaking. There were frescos all over the walls and lining the walls and ceiling of the altar. Every where we looked there was art.... the whole place was a piece of artwork.





After the cathedral, we went into the Baptistery. We found out that they still have baptisms there. We climbed the stairs to the top and got some great shots looking down. You could also look out the windows and see the cathedral and the leaning tower.



As we were getting ready to leave, the guide stopped us and asked us to stay, that he was getting ready to demonstrate the acoustics of the Baptistery. We thought he was just going to shout or clap or something... he actually sang. It was just notes that he sung, but it was beautiful. Luckily, the camera has video and I thought to snag a video of it!

When we left the Baptistery, we walked into the Mausoleum and all around it. It was all open air, which was neat, but the walls were all completely painted and the fresco's were really damaged from years of weather damage. Some of them had even been removed off the outside walls and inside to try and preserve them.

One of the beautiful statutes


After we walked around, we decided to grab some lunch. We found the cutest cafe and decided to eat there. It was obviously a family owned place and it was cozy and delicious! We all kind of felt like we were at someone's house eating... the food was cooked right behind the counter and it was awesome. I had a caprese salad and ravioli in a cream sauce that was so light and delicious!


3 comments:

  1. I can't get over how incredible these places looked, and that guy kills me with the acoustics of that church! When are we going back?

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  2. Ditto! That was beautiful! I'm so thankful you got to experience that! Maybe we can get over and go before long!

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  3. I found your blog while looking for information about laperoscopy (which I just had done) and I was so delighted to read through some of your travel blog! I'm a foreign service spouse, so we are in a similar boat. We are moving to Morocco in April and I can't wait to sneak across the border into Europe as often as we can. (Not really sneak, but you know what I mean) I am looking forward to reading through your blog and getting great travel ideas.

    In other news, we are also going on 3 years of infertility. It's hard. So I've got your back across the pond :) Take care and keep your spirits up.

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