Pisa…Like “The Leaning Tower Of”

Time for another great adventure into the Italian country. Travel this time was relatively easy…bus to Arezzo, train to Florence (after much confusion in the Florence train station), and train to Pisa. I think I will travel with a lot less stress if I start to look up the names of the stops just before mine. Because now when it gets close to the time I should be getting off the train at every stop I get up and peer nervously around… “Where are we now?!?” “Is this my stop?” “Did I even get on the right train?” “Are we still on earth??”

Panic attacks aside, I arrived in Pisa Centrale, and as usual, wandered around for some time trying to figure out which bus to get on. Once I was on the correct bus the directions to the hostel were very good and I walked right up. This “hostel” was actually a campground with “bungalows” (read: Trailers) that they rented out as hostel rooms. Fine by me, I got a kitchen and access to a pool! This made me think that the next time I travel in Europe it would be fun to rent/buy a big conversion type van and stay in campgrounds like this one…isn’t it funny how one trip just makes you want to take more and more and more trips?? (Also I think in my next trip I will travel in October…way fewer tourists around. And bring a bike…).
I rented a bicycle from the hostel/campground and set off to explore Pisa. First things first I found “The Tower.” And sure enough it’s a tower and you know what? It’s leaning, all right. I wonder what it says about me that when I first looked up and saw it I was reminded of a Simpson’s episode where they show the Leaning Tower of Pisa… The tower has been closed to tourists for some time so I was excited to see people going in to climb the tower. Yea! They had re-opened just in time for me! So I went over to the office to buy the ticket. 15 euros to climb the tower!!! 15!! That is insane. That is the most insane thing I have ever heard of. (Needless to say, I didn’t climb the tower). I did get a good laugh out of the street of people all trying to take one of those pictures where it looks like they’re holding the tower up. “No Marge, move your right hand over…no no too much!” “Come on kids really lean into it!”

I also did go into the Cathedral (which I reluctantly coughed up 2 euro for). Wow, that was a waster of 2 euro. It was slightly less impressive then several other churches I had seen and it was made worse by the several large tour groups being lead around by guides who were really speaking too loudly. I guess if you want to go to church and pray you shouldn’t do it in Italy in July or August. Geez….

The one fun part about the cathedral was that they had these special little disposable wrapper things for people who were not properly attired. (See photo on www.kelseylumpkin.shutterfly.com). It was pretty funny to see a bunch of light green blobs walking around the church. (Maybe THAT was worth the 2 euros).


I got back on my bike and pretty much covered the whole of Pisa in about an hour. It really is a cute little city. And I had some of the best gelato yet. (Have I said that before??) But seriously any good I do eating all the fantastic yogic/ organic food up at the retreat I undo by serious quantities of gelato when I am off the mountain. What can I say? You only live once…well…not really…hmmm… that’s a topic for another day.

My favorite thing I saw in Pisa’s shopping district was a t-shirt that said “Cheap and Chic” and cost 126 euros. Where do they come up with this stuff? Anyway, after my tour of Pisa I headed back to the campsite/hostel to make myself some dinner. Then got “dressed up” and headed back into town for a concert under the tower. I just happened to see a poster for it earlier in the day and the show just happened to be the one night I was there…so I decided to go.

The concert was a trombone quartet. I am not kidding. And it was fantastic. It was a really beautiful setting in the garden of the Opera Museum with the Tower lit up behind the musicians. (Again see photos) Have you ever been to a concert that was so fascinating that you almost felt a little heartbreak as each song ended? These four men were completely captivating and their music was a delightful mix. Everything from Hayden, to Stardust to Hey Jude…and their encore (again, I am not kidding), The James Bond Theme song. Wow.


After the show it was basically back to the hostel and to bed. The next morning I got up and headed off to the “other” train station in Pisa that was supposed to be a lot closer to the hostel. Well, I had pretty crappy directions and so just barley made the train I was trying to catch. (But, to be fair, the station really was much closer). When I arrived in Lucca the first thing I did was to cough up 5 euro for a good map of the city. And let me just say it was worth every penny. If you are traveling, pay the extra for the good map. Do Not by any means settle for one of those artistic type maps sold along with a tourist information book. Just get the good old road map. You will be much happier. I certainly was.

Found the hostel in Lucca…a bit strange and certainly understaffed. But clean and actually quite a nice space. Most of the day I just sort of wandered around Lucca (with my trusty map in tow). (Should that be toe? Or tow?) Man! There are a lot of churches in this town. A wall that is 4km long surrounds the whole town and there must be 50 churches inside. Besides having a lot of churches Lucca takes the prize for best street entertainment. As I was walking up to one of the main piazzas I heard a live band playing the “When The Moon Hits Your Eye Like A Big Pizza Pie” song. I felt like I had just walked into a movie scene or something. Does this really happen? Oh yes it certainly does. And later on in that same square I saw a modern dancer performing on a bit of Marley he had rolled out on the ground. And he was no slob…he actually had some decent dance training both ballet and modern and was (a bit overdramatic…but) quite good.

Other than that on my first day in Lucca things were somewhat underwhelming. The duomo was ok. (Notable mostly in how much they didn’t even attempt to be a church and had completely sold out to the commercialism/museum-ism. You had to pay 3 euro to turn on the lights and look at many of the paintings. Ewww.) The “botanical gardens” were basically a dusty field with some kids playing soccer. And the amphitheater from roman times was basically an oval shaped piazza; nothing is left of the actual theater.

So I had a fantastic dinner and headed back to the hostel to sleep.


I think that’s enough for now. Still to come in the catching up blogs: the rest of my trip in Lucca and back in Pisa, our 4th of July BBQ and plans for what’s next at the Borgo. Hope everyone is doing well.


Love and Blessings,
KNL