Day 6 - Pisa

Each day here brings a new experience, whether big or small. Some days, it can be as brief as learning how to order a pastry and cafe latte at a forno (bakery). Today was a large task. Pisa.

Pisa is about an hour train ride away from Florence. We knew ahead of time that there would be a few struggles, seeing as I am still very much learning the language here and Mom makes me do all the talking. When we arrived at the train station, Santa Maria Novella, we struggled at first on deciding where to purchase tickets. A helpful "train man" told us that we should buy them at the local newspaper stand. We did so, however the language barrier prevented us from determining how to say "one ticket" or uno biglietto. Somehow, we wound up with two tickets a piece. Whoops!

We had about 40 minutes before our train, so we stopped at the closest bakery, bought a croissant and cappuccino and walked back to the train. I knew ahead of time that we needed to validate the tickets before boarding. The question was: how do we validate them? We shoved the 4-inch slips of paper in and out of the yellow validation box every way we could and nothing happened. So, now the train is leaving in two minutes and we need to get on, stat! We run to another validation box assuming the one we were trying was broken. If there is one thing I have learned here, it's watch what everyone else is doing to find out how to do things yourself. I ran to the next validation box only to see that an Asian couple was having the same trouble we were. An Italian woman jumped infront of the struggling couple, slid her ticket in, the box made a grinding noise and she took off running. So, as I have learned, I did the same. Sorry Asian couple! I cut them off, flagged Mom over who was trying a different box, slid her ticket in as well and we booked it for the train. We made it just in time to grab a couple seats next to each other.

When we arrived in Pisa, again we faced new challenges. Where do we go? What direction do we head? What street are we on? So, we did what we knew and followed the herd. It took us right to the information center, we grabbed and map and took off on our own. Ten minutes later, we were looking at the Leaning Tower is Pisa, its accompanying Duomo and Battistero. It was really amazing. To get the chance to view something that for all you know, doesn't exist because you have only seen it on tv or read about it in a book, always amazes me and makes me feel very fortunate.

We spent the afternoon walking around the piazza, seeing all the views of the tower and duomo. According to one of our guide books, we needed to find the lizard on the brass doors of the duomo and rub it for good luck. Determination took over from there on and I was GOING to find that damn lizard! We walked around, and around and around and around. No lizard. We had already purchased tickets to climb to the top of the tower and our "climb time" was just around the corner. LIZARD! WHERE ARE YOU?!?!?  Funny thing is, the guide book does not tell you that almost every door on the duomo is brass, about 10 feet tall, and intricately carved with three dimensional religious scenes. Needle in a haystack type situation. To kill a few minutes, we took a walk into the duomo and peered around.

So, we walked through the duomo, looking at every single door we could. And of course, on our way out, we saw it. Only about 6 inches long and the same color as the rest of the door, the head of a lizard was sticking out with it's body flush against the intricate artwork.

After finding the lizard, it was time to make our assent up the Tower of Pisa. From here on out, I will let my pictures do most of the talking.

Leaning Tower of Pisa 

Duomo of Pisa (The Tower is just behind me to the right.)

Worn steps in the Tower

Steps to the top of the Tower

Bell(s) atop the Tower

Sunset in Pisa from the top of The Leaning Tower (Duomo and Battistero in the background. Duomo is the L-shaped building and the Battistero is the round building behind it.)

City of Pisa from the top of The Tower

Mom at the top of the Tower

 Duomo and Battistero

Mom and I atop The Leaning Tower of Pisa

So all in all, it was a beautiful day in Pisa. The city was lovely, the scenery was... scenic and I can now put another check mark on things that Mom and I have accomplished.

However, we weren't out of the weeds yet. We headed back to the train station. This time, instead of buying tickets at a newsstand where we couldn't understand anyone, we decided to use the self-serve kiosks. I had read about these in books and knew that instructions would be in English. Was it cheating? Probably. I certainly wasn't going to learn Italian any faster by using self-serve English kiosks. But it was 7:30 at night and we had a hour long train ride ahead of us. Bring on the English. We purchased our tickets with ease, validated them and hoped on the train home. Watching each stop go by, we eventually saw a "Firenze" stop. As the train slowed, Mom and I got up and jumped off.

Immediately, I knew we were not in the place we needed to be. Little did we know, but there are two stops in Florence or Firenze. One on the outskirts of the city and our Santa Maria Novella Station. Lucky for us, another train into S.M.N. was on its way and we only had to wait about 10 minutes. We caught the train got off at the right stop and headed for home.

Each time we make a mistake, we are fortunate enough to figure out how to NOT make it again. Everything from then on that night moved smoothly. I learn more of the language every day and attempt to communicate with people more and more often. The trick here is to exhaust your Italian before giving in and speaking English. As long as the locals know you are trying to speak their language, they will cut you a break. If you don't even try, they think you are ignorant Americans. Since I'll be here for another 3 weeks, I'd rather not be seen as a stupid Americana. So, I observe and learn as often as I can. It's paying off and soon I feel that I will have a more solid grasp of this town.