Pisa

We had a later start this morning since we were doing a travel day up to La Spezia, which is right by the Cinque Terre. We took the 10:30 train to Pisa, which is on the way to La Spezia. The kids had been asking and asking when we were going to see the leaning tower, and today was the day! We took the train to Pisa, where we dropped off our bags at the luggage holder at the train station in Pisa. On the 20 minute walk to the tower we stopped by the church of Santa Maria della Spina, which is a tiny church beside the river. Then it was off to the highlight of the day—the leaning tower of Pisa!

Now you will get photobombed all the pictures of us holding up the tower, and all the stuffed animals too! The kids wanted to go up the tower, but you have to be 8 years old and I knew if Zoey got to go then the others would be upset they didn’t get to go too, so we all just admired the tower from the ground outside.

We then went into the cathedral, which was free. The ceiling was golden and so beautiful, but my camera just didn’t capture the magnificence. Zoey really liked this pulpit too, and it was also very ornate just like the one in Siena. Ronin liked the statue of the guy with the funny shorts.

And what could be better than gelato in front of the leaning tower of Pisa?!?

We walked a different way back to the train station to pick up our bags and head toward La Spezia. This way we walked through several piazzas and by lots of shops and markets instead of through a street with a brick wall and chained up shops. Even though it was a longer walk we all agreed it was well worth the extra few minutes.

Once we got to La Spezia it was a five minute walk to our apartment. We really like this place, except there is no air conditioning and the wifi is broken. The air conditioning is a killer since it is 104 degrees and after taking a cool shower I am still sweating. It’s only for two nights, so we will live. After all, there are tons of people living down here with no air conditioning, and they make it work somehow.