Wednesday, October 28
So we hit the road today a little earlier than planned. We were up and eating breakfast and realized we could make it on the 9:28am train back to La Spezia instead of the 10:21am train. We made it back to our car which was thank fully still where we parked it and began the 1 hour drive to Pisa.
And there it is, in all its glory, the Leaning Tower of Pisa! We turned the corner at the Piazza Dei Miracoli (The Field of Dreams) where it is stands along with a few other famous structures, such as the Duomo, the Camposanto and the Babtistery.
The Wilsons in Pisa
The tower took over 200 years to finish. After the completion of 2 floors no one was aware of any problem. Upon the addition of the 3rd floor the tower began to lean and the result was thousands of confused people and hundreds of years of quick fixes.
Max holding the tower up!
We walked through the Camposanto, “Campo Santo” can be literally translated as “holy field”, because it is said to have been built around a shipload of sacred soil from Golgotha, brought back to Pisa from the Fourth Crusade by the archbishop of Pisa in the 12th century. A legend claims that bodies buried in that ground will rot in just 24 hours.
Inside the Caposanto Monumentale in Pisa looking at the graves.
Max and Shelby taking in the view at one of the three chapels in the cemetery.
After a quick lunch we made the hour and 10 minute drive to Florence. Found parking for our car and made it to our apartment. We got changed and quickly hit the streets for a stroll. Florence originated as a Roman city, and as you walk the streets you could almost envision yourself back in that time, it’s narrow streets tell a thousand tales and there is no shortage of food, wine and gelato. We had an overpriced, so so dinner in a semi circular square called Piazza della Repubblica, we’re usually smarter than this but it was raining, the kids were hungry and we stopped at the first place we saw. We grabbed some groceries and wine of course to take back to the apartment and settled in. Looking forward to hitting the streets tomorrow and taking in the history of Florence.
