The Leaning Tower Of...

Saturday we took a day trip to Pisa!

The train station is the final stop on the bus that stops outside our campus, so it couldn't be more convenient. At the station we bought our tickets from the automated kiosk. The train was leaving in about 10 minutes from when we bought our tickets, so we jetted over to the platform, hopped on the train, and we were off.

There's something nice about taking the train. It always seems special to me. I think it's because it's so much less common at home in Washington. But I always feel like I'm someone else when I ride the train...

Since we were traveling on a regional train, we made some stops along the way, but it still only took us an hour to get to Pisa. It's quite close. Pisa is essentially on the east coast of Italy in Tuscany.

The city was very quaint. It felt more homey than Florence. Florence is striking and urban, but Pisa had more of a village feel to it.

It couldn't have been a better day for exploring the city. It was chilly (we keep forgetting that it's January...) but there wasn't a cloud in the bright blue sky. The combination of the white buildings, the blue sky, and the green grass was incredibly beautiful.

We bought tickets to go up the Tower for 15 euro, and then we took the obligatory "holding up the building" picture like everyone else on the huge field in front of the tower. It was funny.

There's also a gorgeous Cathedral on the grounds that is free to go in and explore, so we did.

We had lunch at a little Pizzeria near the tower, and that was lovely. Although, it was weird to eat lunch. I don't eat lunch here...and I haven't decided if that's bad or not. I eat a huge breakfast and a huge dinner about 12 hours apart from each other. And my body has really adapted to that, I think. I felt sick yesterday like I had grossly over-eaten, just because I ate lunch!

I took a TON of pictures, which you can see HERE.

I have a lot of work to do this weekend...so today I've been trying to be productive. We're going to our friend's apartment in the city tonight for dinner because it's her birthday!

Also, they're airing the Super Bowl live tonight...but it starts at midnight...so...I don't know how much (if any) I'll be watching of it!