updating you this go round on a few very short but enjoyable trips i took with the same group of friends here. the first was a day trip to pisa - yes, you read the correctly - a day trip to a foreign country. we got an amazing deal on flights leaving about 6:00am from london and coming back around 10:00pm so in total with travel to the airport, etc. i think we were away for roughly 24 hours. this trip was back in october so it was starting to get pretty chilly in london but pisa was a balmly refuge hovering somewhere in the high 60 degree mark. that combined with the prospect of taking cheesy tourist pictures holding up the tower combined to form the perfect combination.
we arrived in pisa and quickly negotiated our way to the city center from the airport. after some multiple times over backtracking, we finally discovered where the tower was located. pisa is a pretty small city - definitely only needs a day. from the train station to the actual tower of pisa is probably about a 30 minute walk across town, max. and you see all there is to see in that walk. the shopping area, piazzas, and the tower. crossing the bridge to the side of the river where the tower was:
we stopped for lunch before arriving at the tower grounds - you can see the thing walking up the street and let me tell you - it looks fake. as you get closer, you see it leaning and still think it's pretty fake - especially against a bright blue sky. we got tickets and took in all the attractions around the site - there is a church, and a few museums, before climbing the what-i-believe-were 408 steps to the top of the tower. one of the churches:
and the top of the church from the top of the tower:
anyway, here is the only picture i got of thing:
it was cool - and again, definitely worth the visit. the highlight of the trip by far was this restaurant we found on the wikitravel page: numero 11. when we first walked by it was closed so we grabbed some beers and snacks near by and then decided to stroll back later and see if they were open - best decision ever. everything we had was amazing including the house wine poured from a tap. we still rave about this meal and talk about going back just to eat at that place. highly recommended, even if that is the only reason you go to pisa friends.
up next - bratislava and vienna.
