April 10- Siena to Pisa

Last day with the car. So far so good. We are up by 730 and in the car by 8:30, heading to Pisa airport to drop off the car. All good in getting there. Would have been nice to have extra time to stop and visit Certaldo and Volterra as we missed them both. The car had to be back by 11:00 so that we wouldn’t get charged for another day. We knew that our B&B was close but we asked a taxi driver and he said just walk there. It was close enough for him to point in the direction we were to go. It took us about 4 minutes to arrive. I had been told that we could check in early so that was great. After all of the logistics were taken care of, we decided to start walking towards the reason why people visit Pisa- The Leaning Tower. The owner had suggested we take a bus, but with the map it looked very straightforward. Sure enough, about 30 minutes later we were standing in front of the Tower, the Cathedral, the Baptistry, and the Camposante.

     Inside the Camposante. There are many tombs that date back to the 12th, 13th, 14th century and maybe even before. The murals dated way back then as well. 

Inside the Cathedral. So beautiful. This painting on on the ceiling above the altar.

The altar of the Cathedral

Mural/painting inside the Camposante

The Baptistry. We were inside when a performer came up and sang some notes. The echo and sound were amazing. We were lucky to be there at the right. Time. I did take a video so I’ll have to check it out.

The Cathedral, looking out of an open section from the second storey  of the Baptistry. 

Quite a few tourists around 

Stairway up/down in the Baptistry

More of the tombs/statues in the Camposante 

It was really quite warm and sunny until after our visit, then it started sprinkling. We decided to walk back to our room and veg for a little while. 

Ron googled reasonably priced restaurants in Pisa. One of them had really good reviews and well priced so we decided upon that one. We googled directions as well. Of course it only opened at 7, which actually is pretty good because the majority of the places to eat only open at 7:30 or later. We knew which vicinity it was in, but our map and our directions were not very helpful. I then used Google maps only to lose the gps function as soon as we walked among the buildings and narrow streets. Ron decided to ask a police officer for directions. He and his partner left their post to help us. Too funny as neither one knew where it was. One of them even took out his phone and googled it. Finally, he brought us to it with the help of a passerby. Well it was 6:58 so we waited a few minutes. Then we realized that the door was ajar so Ron poked his head in to see if they were indeed open. The lady said 10 more minutes. We realized that one of the waitresses was having a meal. Oh well 10 or 12 minutes later we were invited in. The whole place only accommodated about 20-24 people. It was a pretty tight fit at that. Soon after more people arrived. The early crowd was definitely tourists. There was a German couple, two Spanish women, four others, not sure of the nationality. Anyway I did not have my camera so no pictures of food. I chose a spaghetti with clams, mussels, and crab. There was at least a pound of mussels and many clams, but alas, I didn’t find any crab at all. I started with a mixed salad as I really haven’t eaten enough salads or vegetables in general since our arrival. Ron had a yummy ravioli soir a starter and a chicken scaloppini for his second. We shared some red wine. It was all very good. We eventually started speaking with the two Spanish ladies sitting beside us. It was awesome. They are professors from Valencia. They were teaching in the English dept. of the university  in Pisa for a week. We had a great chat for about 20 minutes or more. I love that about travelling. We left and on our way we stopped at a gelateria for a little dessert. I chose banana and dark chocolate. So good even though I always end up sharing with Ron. 

Shower for me tonight as we have a very early wake up call in the morning. Flight leaves at 6:30. We should be meeting up with André at about 9:30 or so tomorrow morning in Syracuse, Sicily.