Italy - Pontedera and Pisa - and A Slower Pace

TO SEE PICTURES - CLICK ON PISA ABOVE

Waking up on Sunday morning in this old Italian village is really different. From our second floor hotel room - with windows open - we could not hear a car or any kind of traffic noise. A loud church bell peeled just across the square. People walked from their homes to church in their Sunday best.

We enjoyed a wonderful Italian breakfast with two other couples. It appears that this hotel is not too crowded on the weekends. As we left the lobby for our daily adventure - the only other person we saw beside the kitchen help - was the desk clerk. She gave us directions to places we wanted to visit.

First we went to the Piaggio/Vespa Museum - we knew it would not be opened but we wanted to check out the walk. The museum is right in the old factory. After that we caught the train to Pisa - about 15 miles away. The ride went quickly - we had a first class cabin alone. When we got to the Pisa Station - it was basically an "elephant walk" form the station to the cathedral and tower - a little over a mile away. It seemed that everyone was walking in that direction.

We were already pretty hot and dried out by the time we got to the plaza - but already at 10 am - there was an orderly large crowd there. Most of them were just happy taking pictures of the tower - pretending to be pushing it over or holding it up. Others were perfectly happy buying little replicas of the tower. The sky was clear dark blue - no clouds in this "Souther Cal" type climate. Even though we were heated up - sweat was not dripping because of the low humidity. Lulu got a neat little tower for her xmas tree for one euro - we had lunch on the plaza - pizza and frozen drinks.

We had brought along our swimsuits because Lulu loves testing new waters - and we were about 10 miles from the Mediterranean and she was not going to be denied. We hopped on a busy bus - we did not have tickets - but the driver did not seem to mind and in minutes we were back at the train station and on a train to Livorna.

Livorna is a busy port where cruise ships dock. We quickly took a bus to the port area - got off - and started looking for the beach. The su was beating down and we walked along the coast road - but found no sand. The closest thing to a beach were the small swimming clubs with big rocks - a few jetties - plenty of bathers in swimsuits - but few people in the water. Even with those terrible conditions by Florida standards - they charged an admission of 4.50 euros to swim in their pools and use their dressing areas and beach chairs. Lulu was very disappointed - so we found an open bar and had a couple beers. After spilling another guy's drink at the next table - an old guy - we caught the bus back to the train station - this time I showed the driver our rail passes and he nodded okay. He obviously was not getting a cut of the fare.

At the station - there was a train back to Pontedera every 30 minutes. We had a whole first class car to ourselves - both fell asleep - and nearly missed out stop in the town of our hotel. We could have taken the train all the way to Rome - would have awakened there in about 2.5 hours. A short walk to our hotel - followed by a good bath - and a trip back to our favorite restaurant. We arrived for supper at 7 pm and dined alone - it is way to early for dinner over here.

After a walk home - I settled down to catch up on email and web pages - and now I am up to date. It is 12:30 here - and I am watching the 6:30 news from back home on Slingbox. We are having a great time - but the trip is winding down. All that is left is a day in Florence and then two days in Rome - and a long flight home.