Italy: Pisa - Pizzas and Leaning Towers

Ok, so fun story.

I forgot my camera.

The one time you do not want to forget a camera is in a beautiful country where pretty much everywhere you look you feel like you need to take a picture, your finger never leaving the top right button on the camera. And I forgot it.

In place I bought a disposable camera. Yet though it (hopefully) worked, I feel a better way for you to see pictures is for you to see it in your head. I wrote most of it down while we were traveling and have the rest stored in the brain ready to recount to you. Starting first with the account of Pisa...

Pisa, Italy: Check into hostel, bustling youth nightlife on a warm summer Italian evening. The gelato place is packed. We get directions to a pizzeria that's south of the river. Crossing the river is a dream in itself, the street lights reflecting off the water as the sun still sets in the Tuscan sky.

The pizzeria is quaint; high ceilings, bottles of wine everywhere, the feel of a nice Italian house. The pizzas are enormous. Imagine an XL pizza from Pizza Hut, multiply it by two, combine the two into a three foot long oval form, and only get charged 18 euros for a pizza that comfortably feeds 4 people. Add a bottle of genuine Tuscany wine and we get instantly introduced to typical, yet fantastic Italian dining. The pizza was complete with three different toppings: 4 fromaggi (cheeses) which was no mild cheese experience, Sicilian - including sausage and eggplant, and pepperoni - which in Italy are bell peppers; the latter of the three toppings easily beating out the others as king of the pizza.

After finishing and paying our modest bill (about 31 euros for 4 people), we wind through a couple of Pisa's dark alleys, nooks and crannies, stumbling upon a few piazzas which were just open squares that were probably bustling constantly through the day, but were eerily calm at night.

Wandering back to Piazza Garibaldi where our hostel is, there are more people now, mostly young students. Chillin', drinkin' beers and wines, or givin' some TLC to their gelato cones. We decide to jump in on the last one, and with a multitude of flavors to choose from, we each have our own first gelato experience. Mine personally: a fruit yogurt (the best), lemon, lime, and mango. Fruity and fantastic. Gelato in hand we decide to wander through side streets with only a general direction in mind. Piazza here. Graffiti there. A big piazza opens in front of us, with its charming archways inviting us to come through. The second we decide we're lost, we turn a corner and see our destination subtly lit up over the Pisa rooftops. As we get closer to the tower (fighting the feeling of being in a dream world), we sit on the stairs of St. Mary's Cathedral, soak in the moment underneath a crooked tower with only a few onlookers. The area almost completely void of tourists (for now). We listen to some Italian guitarist serenade his friends with the likes of Crazy Train and Stairway to Heaven, then make our way back to the hostel. The town is so quiet, no cars, few pedestrians, no sirens to spoil a calm promenade.

The quiet ends as we get back to the Piazza, which is now in full nighttime mode. I grab a 3,30 beer at a bar that has no seating, just a liquor license, and walk with the others to mingle with the Italian youths. We settle on a quieter spot on a bridge overlooking the river running through Pisa. Drinks finished, fully satisfied with our first few Pisan hours, we head back off to the hostel and fall asleep. Not kept up by the noise of the crowd outside, but rather lulled to sleep by the dull roar of the crowd.

Alarm buzzes at 8, but we were already awake. Still on our Italian high from last night, and looking forward to a full morning which has turned out to be fittingly beautiful. Sarah and I wander off for breakfast, espresso and a waffle for me. Overpriced for Pisa I think, but seemingly normal for a student who's been living in Paris for 8 months.

We make our way back to the Hostel, pick up Sunanna and Kim and make our way back to the Tower. Excited to be able to be seen holding up the tower (or kicking it over). Of course, we weren't the only ones with the idea. Everyone was giving putting in their best efforts to holding the old tower up. After we head to the bazaars across the street and outside of the old city wall, pick up some souvenirs and commence full Pisa wandering tour. More piazzas, more side streets, and at the end of the tour, finding a beautiful walled in park where we had a bit of childish fun on the swings and trampolines. It's past noon by now and I cannot contain my excitement for my next Italian food adventure (aka Lunch, with pasta on the mind).

It did not disappoint. Turns out this meal would be my favorite of all the pastas/pizzas I had in Italy. A small sidewalk cafe dished out a fantastic salmon butterfly noodle pasta. Incredible infused flavor in every bite of the pasta. It wasn't a lot, but the quality definitely trumped the quantity. After lunch, we made our way back to the hostel to pick up our stuff, then back across town (only about 10 minutes) to the train station to catch our train to the next destination: Florence.