Alarm off at 745 and away we go - well except for Nicholas who needs 8 reminders - the last 3 of which are yelling to get up get showered amd we are leaving in 5 minutes. Sheesh.
We headed out at 850 finally and marched down the streets like army ants - maybe that's my new hiking song - " Morozwalds marching one by one hurrah hurrah - our backpacks weigh at least a ton - hurrah hurrah ..." to be continued.
We stopped for some croissants and carried on for our 15 minute hike through the busy marketplaces to get to the train station. Hundreds of people going in every direction and far more chatter in English as Brit, US and Aussie students all chattering away about their trip amd different facets of it.
We sat near Platform 12 and all took guesses which one we would get - all secretly hoping for 12 so we wouldn't have to hike any further with these heavy backpacks. Eventually it popped up. 3. Great...
And away we go on another quest for platform 3.
We located it and climbed aboard a middle car. We found 4 seats in the elevated car and got organized. There were no overhead storage racks so they had to go behind the seats. The train was so full that there were at least 20 people standing but many were getting on and off at different stops.
We arrived at Pisa and got the train. A very simple spot with hardly a landmark in sight like the Peversee children in the Lion Witch and Wardrobe movie waiting g to be picked up by a carriage. Start walking. Soon Krista noticed an Italian sign showing the leaning tower and we had our bearings. We walked down some busier streets and through the marketplace and entered the square through some stone walled gates at Viola! There was the tower! And it was as crooked as it's evr been (except for that one bad Superman movie where he got mad and straightened it out and all the vendors smashed and threw out their leaning towers and made all straight ones and he came back and made it crooked again later! I loved that scene - and probably one of my only references to this tower in my life! )
It really is spectacular. Some people we spoke to in the last year said don't bother it's not worth it but it really is something to see. It is super shiny and smooth. It must have taken years to build. There are very intricate etchings into the sides and it was certainly worth stopping for.
We grabbed a procsioutto and cheese sandwich, a hot dog, some fruit and a blue Fanta for lunch.
I plugged too many things into our power converter last night and I think I blew the fuse. Cant imagine where I'm going to buy a fuse so I wandered across the screaming hot square to the markets and purchased a converter for 10 Euro. I walked back and Krista believed what I bought wasn't going to work. Back i went and they assured me it would. Back to the Cathedral and grabbed the empty water bottles. Back across the square to fill them up. Phew. Thus heat and humidity day in day out is something else. We drink litres of water everyday and never go anywhere near washrooms. This is so different from Western Canadian prairie summers for certain.
Krista and the boys played cards while we waited for our time to come up on the Cathedral tour. The ticket line was outdoors in the blazing sun when when we arrived so I waited for it to go down. The Tower climb was 18 Euro each so we bailed on that and grabbed the FREE Cathedral tour tickets.
We weren't allowed in with our mammoth backpacks so we went in two at a time while other others backpack babysat.
Another absolutely amazing Cathedral. Millions of dollars in artwork and architecture from the 14th century that just blows your mind. You could spend 3 hours in here reading and studying but alas or train comes in 30 minutes so you walk around, take a few photos and videos and carry on. If this was in Calgary it would be lined up 12 hours a day everyday all year. It's so ironic, because the next town likely has the exact same thing. :)
We loaded up backpacks and the Morozwalds were off again. All we need is a hiking stick, a flugelhorn and the little hats.
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