Pizzas, planning, & plenty of birthday fun! - Rome & Florence - June 2015 - Day 8

Hannikins · 15 Sep 16, 04:19 PM

NOTE!
Now today was not eventful but I will include the first few hours since I know a pit stop in Pisa is a popular option and it was a pain to figure out when we did it, here we go..

oh lord my HEAD! cocktails, wine and grappa were not a good mix

It was 5.30 IN THE MORNING, which didn’t help improve my mood either.

Our flight home was at 12.45 from Pisa and not wanting to miss the opportunity to explore Pisa we were heading over early and really only had a small window of opportunity to squeeze it in which meant a 7am train journey, YAY!

At 6am we were heading in a taxi to the train station, which considering the time was rather busy. I left Adam with the luggage whilst I headed to the automatic kiosks to buy a ticket. No sooner had I started making a selection when an old man jumped out from behind it with his hands out speaking to me in Italian. I’m pretty sure he was begging but I couldn’t tell and he’d scared me so much I quickly hurried over to another ticket machine to start again, a little more wary this time!

This train station had a slightly more unsavoury atmosphere than Rome at this time in the morning so we went in search of seating and a hangover cure.

We found it in Macdonalds of course :p

We were early for the train, naturally, and again we had to wait until the last minute to find out which platform we needed.

The training journey was quick and we made it in good time. First task was to find somewhere to store the luggage. Pisa has a large luggage storage and it cost 10 euros to store it until our return.

Next we headed out into Pisa. Now I was app-less and therefore Map-less but I knew from my research that the tower was pretty much in a straight diagonal from the train station. Once we reached the bridge I was confident we were heading in the right direction

The walk was about 20 minutes in total and it was, for the most part a straight line. After the halfway line you start to see familiar sites so it’s not to bad. Just passed the rows of tacky giftshops and then you arrive at this:

It was so quiet. We were probably one of only 5 groups. We hung around for a bit trying to get a good photo, unfortunately we didn’t find the perfect spot until the coaches had arrived and then we were having to queue for a shot space, CRAZY!

For reference it’s on the far right of the tower. And yes, we did take those cheesy shots people roll there eyes at

Next we went for a wonder around the rest of the area.

You can go up the tower and into the other buildings but as we were short for time we didn’t. A note on spending time here, there are toilets but they are pay to enter ones. Don’t be the poor sod like me without change!

After just over an hour we headed back, we didn’t want to be late for our flights.

We made it back to the train station and picked up our bags before boarding the next train to the airport.

We had a brilliant time on this trip and I would love to return one day, however we have Milan, Como, Verona and Venice pencilled in for 2017 so it might be a while!

amymiller · 15 Sep 16, 07:23 PM

Thanks for posting this trip report. I am a long time lurker coming out of hiding... Just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed reading it and I hope to read more reports from you in the future!

Hannikins · 15 Sep 16, 10:38 PM

Originally Posted by amymiller

Thanks for posting this trip report. I am a long time lurker coming out of hiding... Just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed reading it and I hope to read more reports from you in the future!

Thanks Amy, I'm honoured to be one of your first posts

I notice you're going to hong kong shortly, you'll have a fab time!

Seeley · 16 Sep 16, 09:15 AM

Great report

I have loved your photos. Enjoy planning your next Italian trip!

Gunna · 16 Sep 16, 01:51 PM

Great report - Florence is on our bucket list. We've also got Venice and Verona pencilled in for next summer and doing a little bit of an Italian road trip taking in lake Garda and the Dolomites so be interested to read your trip report/pretrip report if you get round to doing one. (subtle hint!)

Hannikins · 16 Sep 16, 07:18 PM

Originally Posted by Seeley

Great report

I have loved your photos. Enjoy planning your next Italian trip!

thanks!

Originally Posted by Gunna

Great report - Florence is on our bucket list. We've also got Venice and Verona pencilled in for next summer and doing a little bit of an Italian road trip taking in lake Garda and the Dolomites so be interested to read your trip report/pretrip report if you get round to doing one. (subtle hint!)

haha, I will, just catching up on last years and this years first :P