Though I love the Tuscan region of Italy, Florence is not my favorite city...its crowded and a bit dirty....and people just never seem very happy. There is lots of history here, but the city has sort of grown up around it. So, we are training it out of here for the day today, towards the coast to explore the little city of Pisa and of course, see the leaning tower!
We got to Pisa early, around 8:30, and decided to stroll the streets and make our way to the tower, which was about 1.5 miles from the station. What a good decision that was. It was a beautiful sunny warmish (50 degree) day. The city was "monday morning" busy...people hustling around...but everyone seemed happy and content in their lives. We were walking through the streets not near the tower, so got to see lots of real life.
We watched through a window as a man used a mouth pipe to blow fire onto metal pieces to make silver jewelry. It was so fascinating that we stood and watched him a long time before we noticed he was paralyzed on his left side. His precision and creativity were so much more prevalent than any disability he might have had.
We passed through the campus of the Pisa University. We found and checked out the small University book store. Today was the first day of the new session and we passed the orientation area, laughing to watch the older boys hanging out the windows checking out the new girls. Some things are just universal.
We also stopped to watch a professor teach a class, working at the chalk board as his students sat in lift top desks, like a throw back in time.
After a couple of hours of exploring, we finally wandered our way to the tower. The tower is fascinating, but the cathedral there is truly a work of art. It is constructed out of what is obviously a white local stone (so many of the local buildings are made of this material), and is just beautiful, simple yet exquisite. We loved the tower....but more importantly, we were loving Pisa!
Something to note however....for the first time since we got to Europe, there was a visible presence of police and military forces. From the time we got off the train in Pisa, all through the town in the more "tourist" oriented areas, there were heavily armed police and soldiers. Perhaps they were just there to be that visible deterent to any sort of bad issues....I don't know....just seemed worth noting.
Walking back to the train station, we found another route that where we wound our way through the small private streets of the little city. Still, people were happy and friendly. It was a great day!
All great days must come to an end...and some come to an end in a spectacular way...as did this one. We found a great little seafood restaurant, where they were making handmade pasta in the window. We shared mussels in white wine and lemon and scampi over fat noodles. It was culinary perfection!!!! So much flavor.....all fresh and combined perfectly....and so much food. As delicious as it was, we actually left a couple of bites of pasta as a few mussels...but not because they weren't delicious....only because we were stuffed.
Now we are back in our wonderful little room....having stopped at a little bakery for a couple of cannolis to bring with us.....watching WorldCNN (which is always such an iteresting way to see American Politics). I just looked over....Mom has dozed off reading ......and it just makes me smile.
I have a wonderful life!
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