Pisa, Italy
Posted on July 19, 2023 • 7 minutes • 1280 words
For months Sam has been talking about seeing the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I have seen it and it wasn’t high on my list to see again, but the excitement he had about seeing it made me want to fit it in. I don’t think we would have gone too far out of our way to see it, but it was only a 20 min train ride from where our ferry docked and we knew it would be late by the time we got there…meaning we wouldn’t want to continue on to San Marino that day. The travel day to Pisa maybe have been more exciting than the tower, but to be honest, it was loved by all.
We left Corsica and had a 2hr drive back to Bastia, where we had to return the car and catch the ferry to the continent. ‘The continent’ is how the French on the island referred to the rest of Europe. About half way we decided to have a snack, stretch a bit and we stumbled upon a beautiful section of the river with a crumbling bridge over in.
Turns out the bridge had help with the falling down (it was bombed in WW2). The engineer in me appreciated it so much, seeing the structure from below and how a decent part stayed intact.
We continued on after some rock throwing and snacks. Before when we got the cars, we took a taxi from the ferry dock to the airport. They were 70€ each and we wanted to avoid this again. Dan did some googling and found out that the train station near the airport was close to where we were currently filling up with gas and there was a train in 35 min. So the plan became to drop Dan and all kids off at the train, Erin and I race to the airport, drop off the cars, race back in a taxi and all take the train. I was a bit concerned about making it back in time so we each took 2 bags, just in case we didn’t make it back to the train and Dan had to take the train with all the kids. At least that way he wouldn’t have 8 suitcases. Luckily the car drop off at the airport was easy and we were only 8 min from the airport, not 12 that I originally thought. We got back with 5 min to spare. Turns out we had a few extra as the train was a few minutes behind.
Quick train the Bastia downtown and a very hot walk to the ferry port. The actual dock was close but we had to walk all the away around to the entrance, maybe an extra 500m. This time we had to go through the equivalent of TSA, minus taking off the shoes. It was a bit of a scene…4 lap tops, 2 screens, 2 tablets, 5 kids, 8 suitcases, a bag of snacks and 8 backpacks. We got through and thought we were going to have to walk the whole way back down to the port, but they provided a bus…that showed up 15 min before the boat was set to disembark. Cutting it just a little close. :)
Easy ferry ride. Lots of coloring, more food and Sam made friends with an older man who was sketching and they exchanged signed drawings. Sam was quite excited and the man was very sweet telling Sam how amazing of an artist he was.
It took a bit to dock, but that’s the non-sailor speaking, I’m sure they did it pretty quickly and the kids were loving watching the gate/bridge come down.
Now the exciting part! We disembark and looked for a taxi. We are in the taxi and Dan reports there is a train for Pisa in 12 minutes. Not a big deal to make, the next one is 30 minutes after, but I love a challenge. I jump into to boss mode on how we can get this to work. ‘Dan!, When we get there, jump out and go straight to buy tickets! Sam, Hayden! Get out and stand right there by the wall! Other 3, roll suitcases and when we say go, let’s go! Erin! Pay the guy!” Or something like that. We unload so fast and 1 minute later we are inside and see on the screen our platform is 6. Kids this way!!! Erin has 2 suitcases, I have 3, big kids each have one and we thump our way down the stairs. Dan catches up with us halfway down, takes a suitcase from me as we bring up the rear cracking up at Erin and the 5 kids running to platform 6.
We hang a left and up the staircase we go. We hear the train! I can see it as I pass Ben and shout ‘I’ll come back for you’ as he’s struggling with a suitcase up the stairs. I jump on the train as Dan passes bags and kids to me. Ben has made it up and gets bumped and as we are loading the last bag (still missing kids) on the train his glasses fall in the gap. Erin goes straight to her stomach to get them and Dan shouts ‘they are lost! It’s okay’. She shouts ‘I can touch them!’ I’m shuffling kids to seats and bags to the side and other people are racing the catch the train. She gets them, hops up and the rest stuff on the train. We are cracking up, panting and relishing in our glory all at the same time. Kids loved it. Well, not Avery. She was worried the train was going to leave without her mom.
Fast ride to Pisa and a great walk to our apartment. Basically on a pedestrian area the whole way with shops and restaurants both sides. And gelato shops assume, as the kids were counting and pointed out that we passed 14 and didn’t’ stop once! Easy check in, the woman met us there, and then right back out to get food. In true character, I wanted to get easy take away food…baguette sandwiches, etc, but Dan pushed for a sit down restaurant. It was the perfect environment along the pedestrian street. Good amount of noise, so out kids weren’t too obvious and lots going on to look at. We ordered pizzas, salads and gnocchi…and a bottle of prosecco. When in Italy, right? Kids were tired and hungry, so we all kept entertained by playing telephone…that never once made it around. Not mentioning any names!
After that we couldn’t avoid getting the kids, and ourselves, gelato.
Back at the place we put the kids to bed and drank some delicious non labeled wine that the host had told us to find in the fridge.
In the morning we had an easy breakfast as the host had bread, cereal, Nutella, milk, coffee set out for us. Then a 5 minute walk and we saw the tower. I know it’s a tourist trap, but seeing it again, I get why it’s so fun to see. The kids loved it and wanted a million photos.
They didn’t quite get the angles required to make it look like you were holding it up, but they still tried.
Erin figured it out with a good camera man’s help. Thanks Dan.
With the heat wave still raging, we didn’t last long. Went back, checked out and left Dan and the kids at a café as Erin and I went to go grab the rental cars.
Pretty easy and in less than an hour we were loaded up and on our way to San Marino.