Pisa, Italy. The next morning we ate another delicious breakfast at Hotel Lorena while watching American music videos (which we thoroughly enjoyed), then we headed to the train station. We were off to Pisa to see the leaning tower!
We each paid to climb to the top of the tower. It was more than we wanted to spend but we figured...when would we be able to do this again? As we began the ascent, the storm outside was getting worse. The wind howled through the windows and I couldn't help but think this was a silly time to be climbing a leaning tower. Good thing the walls are over 13 feet thick!
The 296 steps circled the outside of the tower and were worn down in definite places. When we were on the left side of the tower, the stairs were worn on the left side of the step. When we were on the right side, the step was worn on the right. When the tower leaned forward, we felt like we were going to fall on our face, and when it leaned back, we were careful not to fall backwards. The whole experience played some funny tricks on our equilibrium.
We finally reached the top and snapped a couple pictures before we were blown off the top of the tower. The stadium in the background reads, "PISA."
We hurried, carefully, back down the steps...we had a train to catch! Of course as we were on our way out, we found the perfect spot that we should have taken our leaning pictures.
Conner insisted on one more shot before we left...despite the fact that we had to sprint back to the train station.
We were wet, tired and hungry after our sprint to the train station. We were excited for lunch and a new city to explore. Lucca is a completely walled-in tuscan city; we were hoping to rent bikes and ride around the wall. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't ideal.
On our short trip from Pisa to Lucca, the storm had gone wild; the wind nearly knocked us off our feet! My 3-euro umbrella was about as good as a 3-euro umbrella could be...It flipped inside out and broke in a matter of minutes. We weren't sure where we were going, but we were looking for some shelter and a warm meal. The city was a ghost town. No one was available to ask directions, so we ended up eating at the only place we could find that was open. The waitress didn't speak a word of English, but somehow we ended up with a plate of food. This wasn't our favorite meal of the trip, by any means, but we were able to dry off a bit while the storm outside calmed.
We thought maybe we would go to a movie but remembered that everything was closed. So, we did the only thing we knew would boost our spirits...went out to find gelatto! We "Lucca'd" around for quite some time and finally found a gelatteria that was open. Oh, we were so happy! After our gelatto pit stop, the storm finally lifted and shops began opening their doors. The small city came to life as people started filling the streets. We shopped around and enjoyed the beautiful tuscan town. Eddie was lucky enough to finally find the Italian dress shoes he wanted. Now both of the boys could go home happy.
We walked the wall since we weren't able to bike it, and then headed back to the train station. We were happy that the weather cleared long enough for us to see a little bit of Lucca. And since Eddie found his shoes, the rainy trip was all worth it.
When we got back to Florence, we did the usual...ATE! We had dinner at a lovely little hometown restaurant just around the corner from Hotel Lorena. We ate spaghetti, pizza, penne with walnuts, and pasta primavera. But I think our favorite Italian food was fresh artisan bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. The funny thing was, they didn't know the word vinegar. They would always bring the olive oil, but it was pretty funny trying to describe balsamic vinegar! We enjoyed our last Italian meal and headed back to pack for home.
We laughed that night as we reminisced about all of the funny things that had happened during our trip...We were surprised at all of the movies we had quoted while we were there: El Gato Con Botas, Hook, Home Alone, What About Bob, 101 Dalmations, Harry Potter, Little Rascals, Christmas Vacation, Lion King, Aladdin and While You Were Sleeping. Those were only the ones we could remember!
The next morning we had to check out but we had a couple hours to kill so we shopped the streets one more time. I found Marissa a cute bracelet, Kylee and Eddie found their first-born baby alpaca shoes and mittens, and I finally found my Italian purse. After throwing a mini tissy-fit that we were out of euros and I hadn't gotten my Italian purse yet, Conner agreed that we could get more euros out if we had to...luckily they took plastic.
Eddie was determined to get his brother a picture of David's rear-end. Once again, we were on the run. We were out of time and had a train to catch, but that didn't stop us. We ran all the way back to the Accademia for the picture, grabbed a pizza for the road, and ran to the train station with our luggage (By now, we had gotten pretty good at chasing down our trains). We had a 3-hour train ride back to Rome. After an hour and a half, I made everyone wake up and play Phase 10. We listened to Christmas music and enjoyed the beautiful Tuscan scenery as we played. Of course, we were headed home and the storm had cleared.
We arrived in Rome before all 10 phases were finished. We had to find transportation to the airport as soon as possible so we decided to take a taxi. He had to walk us to his car a few blocks away so we were able to see Rome one last time. Walking the streets of this historic city made us so sad to leave. Everything about Italy was incredible.
It was incredible until we got in that taxi, that is...Everything went haywire from there: Kylee thought she lost her Peruvian alpaca mittens, our taxi driver was insane- weaving in and out of traffic, taking both hands off the wheel, flipping people off, singing to the music, and ended up ripping us off in the end leaving Kylee and me completely flustered. He dropped us off at the wrong terminal so we raced to the right one, only to find the longest security line we had ever seen. One lady in particular, "red sweater" we called her, was trying to butt in line. We created a barrier and wouldn't let her pass-we were going to teach her a lesson! We finally made it through the security line, just in time to grab a sandwich and get to the gate. The boys went to get drinks while we watched the luggage. Right after they left, an announcement was made that the gate was changed. The crowd scattered and Kylee ran and I waited for the boys. As soon as I saw them, I yelled "D9!" and we raced to the new gate only to find another line of irritated passengers...including "red sweater." Somehow, Conner and I were able to board the plane earlier than Kylee and Eddie despite the fact that they checked in two-weeks earlier. Conner and I saved a seat for them on the plane while they waited in line with "red sweater." Luckily, Kylee and Eddie joined us an eternity later and were able to sit with us. And believe it or not, they beat "red sweater" on the plane. Apparently she had been pushing her way between Kylee and Eddie the entire line and Eddie finally shouted, "No puedes esperar?! Can't you wait?" We were all trying to get on the plane, after all...
We flew back to Spain and Connie and Doug picked us up around midnight. It was SO good to see them. One more night in the MTC, a warm shower, a couple bunk beds, our last sleepover, and an early wake-up.
We are so happy we had a chance to go on this adventure. Thanks Ky and Eddie! We now know what "a trip of a lifetime" really means!
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