Pisa and the Coast

We awoke in the morning to something quite unexpected. The seemingly small and secluded gas station we had slept at turned out to be on the main thoroughfare out of town. And as we stepped out of the car and looked around, we saw acres and acres of daisy fields surrounding us, slowly fading away to the mountains in the distance. I would've traded a whole night's sleep for that view...oh wait, I did.

So we packed up our stuff, had a snack at the quick-stop, and headed off to Pisa. I know I describe the scenery a lot, but even the strongest adjectives cannot fully capture the feeling you get while driving through the Italian countryside.

We quickly found parking in Pisa, and were immediately accosted by street vendors selling totally random things (like a 20pk of tissue boxes and fake purses). As soon as they see your eyes dart towards their merchandise, they just explode into a frenzy of primal sales tactics. I even saw one guy put a hat on a kid and try to get the mother to pay for it cause the child was wearing it already. Insanely crafty and persistent.

We headed immediately to the Field of Miracles, the plaza where the Leaning Tower is (I totally thought it was supposed to be reddish-brick colored). We were instantly surrounded by a sea of tourists all trying to "hold up" the tower in the distance. I held off for as long as possible until curiousity got the best of me, and I just HAD to get a picture of me doing it. ;)

The tower itself was actually quite nice. It was pure white, had tons of intricate carvings, and the angle of its lean was actually quite impressive. Pictures really don't do it justice.

We left the square to find some lunch, and we ended up spending over an hour walking around looking for a grocery store. We finally found one and stocked up on meats, cheeses and beverages. Armed with my miniscule collection of Italian phrases and my classic charm, we slowly made our way back to the "Torre Pendente di Pisa".

And there we sat, about 20yds away from the tower, and had our little picnic. It was surprisingly uncrowded at this time. I guess no one else wanted to eat directly underneath the Leaning Tower. Psssshhhh...I totally trusted it not to fall.

After our lunch (and yet another gelatto), we went back to the car and headed for the coast. Our original plan was to drive down the shoreline to Rome, but along the way we found signs for a campsite and decided to check it out. We drove around the campsite and found that it was right on the sea cliffs, fully stocked with showers and a restaurant/bar, and a very nice beach down below.

We parked and walked down to the beach. I jumped off a rock into the water and nearly died of hypothermia (bad decision). So I had to lie on the warm rocks to unfreeze myself. We ended up all falling asleep there in the sun, right on the Western coast of Italy. So nice.

That night was interesting. We found a nice plot, and I set up my tent for one of the girls. We just drank and talked the night away. Nothing special. Except for Rachelle making a sandwich and not remembering it.