June 18, 2022 – Pisa/Firenze

We woke up around 6:30 to get ready for our trip to Pisa. We had a quick breakfast if things that we picked up from the store. I took the clothes off of the line I had put our last night. The washing machine took like 2 hours just to wash 2 days worth of clothes. This place does not have a dryer so we had to put the clothes out of the lien. It is was so hot over night that they were pretty much dried in the morning. I had to flip some over to finish drying. I took everything off before we left just in case it rained. 

View from the Terrace in the back. This is the supermarket we have been going to.
Looking towards Firenze. You can see the top of the Duomo from here.

We walked over to the train station to catch the train to Pisa. We were at the station early enough to stop and get a coffee. They had the frozen coffee that I love, so I got that. Then it was time to get on the train. We found some seats in the same area and prepared for the hour long ride out to Pisa. It passed fast which was nice. 

Cool Lion we saw on the side of a bridge on our walk to the tower.
Views of Pisa

Once we got off the train we started heading towards the tower. When we arrived it wasn’t too busy so we were able to get some fun pictures. It was starting to get warm a little after 10am so we found a spot in the shade to wait for our time to get into line for the tower. 

Baptistery of San Giovanni, its foundation dates back to 1152.
Fallen Angel
The freestanding bell tower of the Pisa Cathedral. Built in the 12th century (around 1173) and began to lean during construction due to the soft ground that could not support the weight of the structure. Construction was completed in the 14th century (around 1372).

Finally our time to head up the tower!  As you walk up the slick stone stairs you could feel the leaning of the tower.

Starting the walk up the 297 stairs to the top!

There were some parts where people were also coming down which was crazy you are trying to not slip in the groves of the stairs and it is leaning and people are coming down. When possible we tried to use the walls as support walking up.

Sister Photo stop on the way to the top.

Once you got to the top it was crazy they had added the railing so you don’t fall off. Bella wasn’t a fan of the top. Jennah and Kyndall loved it.

Aly, Kendall, and Jennah taking a break at the very top and enjoying the view of the city.

There was another set of stairs you take to go up to where the bells were. Bella decided to head back down when we went up the next level. The views of the city were amazing such a cool thing to see.

Heading down the bell tower level stairs to the next level to start walking back down all of the stairs.

Going back down was an adventure there were some slick spots and of course passing people which was interesting. Evidently during WWII the Germans were using the Tower as an observation post. When this was confirmed the US Army the sergeant that was sent to confirm the presence of German troops was impressed by the beauty of the structure and did not order an artillery strike on the tower.

Once we got down we hit the restroom. It was 1€ per person for the restroom. I have had prepared Jennah about paying for the restroom. This was actually really clean and much better than the public restrooms I’ve gone to in Europe. 

Then we tried to go into the Bascillica, but there was a private event going on so we couldn’t go inside. We decided to go into the Cathedral. It was really pretty inside. 

Pisa Cathedral – Catterdrale Metropolitan Primatial di Santa Maria Assunta, Duomo di Pisa. It is a mediava Roman Catholic cathedral. Groundbreaking for the Cathedral was 1063 it was completed in 1092.
Door leading into the cathedral. Inside middle section of the cathedral.
Inside middle section of the cathedral looking towards the pulpit. Ceiling of the cathedral.
Neat chandelier in the cathedral. Cool woodwork inlay that looks like buildings of a city.
The Pulpit was sculpted by Giovanni Pisano between 1302 and 1310 in replacement of the original one by Guglielmo, which was moved both e Cathedral of Santa Maria di Castello in Cagliari.

Then we walked around some and looked at a few little shops and killed some time until places opened for lunch. There was a water bottle refill station, so we made sure to refill all the water bottles we brought it was about 93 outside. After doing that decided to go and find some shade while we waited for the restaurant we wanted to go to opened. 

water fountain statue. there were water fountains on both sides.
We stopped for lunch at Ristorante Allabona Pisa
Tagilere Toscano – A selection of Tuscan Appetizers – local sagamboto ham, Fennel seed Tuscan salami, Wild boar sausage, Pecorino cheese from sheep’s milk, Tuscan capocllo, Crostino (small roasted bread slice) with chicken live pate, Crostino with lard, Crostini with bell pepper sauce and pine nuts, other traditional cold cuts of the day
The restaurant give a Bread soaked in tomatoes with ginger and basil. It was more at room temperature and was very interesting.
Pappardelle al Cinghaile -fresh egg pasta with wild boar Bolognese. Wild boar is a very popular meat in the Toscana region
Ravioli Con Chianina (Fresh Egg Ravioli Filled with a tuscan bolognese of PGI chianina white beef). Bella got her hat today while walking around since it was so sunny.

Jennah was very adventurous and had the gnocchi with a mixed seafood sauce. 

After lunch we headed back to catch the train to Firenze.  The air was working on the train but it was so hot outside it didn’t seem to matter. Kelle, Aly and I closed our eyes for a little bit. The movement of the train was putting me to sleep. It was about an hour ride back to Firenze and the train was pretty busy. Once we arrived at the train station we started our 30 minute walk back to the Flat. The feels like temperature was 95! On our way back we stopped at the grocery store to get a few more items. I checked out some of things you don’t always see at the grocery stores in the states. 

Our flat is on the other side of the grocery store parking lot so nice and way to swing in there and get things. It is fun to see the different things you can buy at different places.

Peach Bellini made from white Italian peaches. A bottle was only 5 Euro at the grocery store.

We sat in the room to cool off and relax for a little while since it was so hot outside. After doing some more laundry and relaxing we headed out to dinner. Tonight we decided to stay closer to our Flat and only walked about 10 minutes to dinner. We ate at Rioene Brewpub.

Diavola -pizza with “spicy” pepperoni. It had good flavor, but was not spicy.
The girls were excited that we let them have a coke with dinner. Jennah had a sprite.
I had the Cuba libre

After dinner we headed back the the flat to hang up some more laundry and start another load. It takes about 3 hours for clothes to wash. By the time the new load was done the clothes we had hung up were already dry. We ended up walking almost 10 miles today and those crazy kids still had so much energy at 10 pm!!

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