Pisa and Lucca

 

We made some last minute adjustments to our travel plans the night before we left on Friday and decided to go to Lucca and Pisa. Thanks to Tyson's awesome searching, we were able to buy all of our trains tickets for less than half the price advertised! Sweetness! Tyson was happy that we could make it out to Pisa and see the Leaning Bell Tower. We grabbed the best sandwiches ever from Panetteria Antiche Tradizioni and ate them while we sat in front of the Leaning Tower. The Duomo of Pisa is beautiful (the famous Pulpit of Giovanni Pisano is amazing!) and the acoustics in the baptistry were really fun to hear. A worker comes out every half hour and sings some notes to demonstrate for the tourists and we happen it hit the baptistry at the right time. There's not much to Pisa besides the Leaning Tower, Duomo and Baptistry in the Campo dei Miracoli so we only spent a few hours there. It was a lucky mistake that we got off one stop too early on the train and ended up right in front of the Leaning Tower (no more than a 5 min. walk). It was great compared to the walk I remember taking with my Study Abroad group 3 years ago and the walk listed in our travel guide book (45 min walk!)

Then we were off to Lucca which was only about a 30 min train ride from Pisa. 

 

 Lucca is known for the wall the surrounds the city. The wall has a 40 foot drop to the bottom with no fence so you have to be careful. Tyson and I took turns getting close to the edge- so scary! Many people bike, walk, and play on the wall  everyday.  We were hoping to ride bikes around the wall but then the thunder storm started and we were getting wet. We thought there was a chance we had missed the storm as we rode the train to Lucca (the rain started coming down in Pisa before we left), but we still got to see the wall, experience the city, and have fun (while keeping somewhat dry and Taryn dry)  Lucca, in our opinion, was very similar to Bologna (colors & buildings).

 Walking on top of the wall with paved walk ways and lots of space to share between walkers, joggers, and bikers.

Heading to one of the parks along the wall- straight for the swings of course.

 Can you see me?

 The best invention ever. The "Baby Bubble"- stroller bubble. Taryn doesn't like it very much but it has been so awesome to have. It was awesome the stroller company threw in the rain guard for us, I think, as a "We're sorry" when our stroller broke.  It seems that 98% of the time that we travel we have had some crazy weather experience (even checking the forecast a dozen times before still lands us in some interesting circumstances)

 Lucca had a tower just like Bologna too! This tower has a garden on top and the roots of the trees have started to come through the roof and into the room below.

 Above are some pictures from the old Roman amphitheater. It is now a shopping plaza and looks nothing like the amphitheaters in Rome or Verona. Very cute center where the people of Lucca love to gather at night. This place reminded me a lot of the Piazza Nuovo in Rome.

Lucca was so green and beautiful and unique. It seemed to take on so much from the other Italian cities but still remained a special place to visit. I do have to say that if you are heading towards Lucca and want to see the main cathedral- you can skip it. We were underwhelmed with it- good thing there was no entrance fee- and I think we stayed inside for about 5 min. But the rest of Lucca is worth the trip- and rent a bike there!