This weekend we took a day trip to Lucca, another little Tuscan town just a couple hours away by train. Lucca is charming, probably one of my favorite places here (but I tend to say that about every city in Italy...). There are bikes everywhere, of every color and every decade. We rented some out and rode them around the city wall, which was a lot of fun and allowed us to see more in less time; it was beautiful.
On the way back, when the train made a stop at Pisa, me and Liz made a split-second decision to get off and see the complex. It was an impulse decision but it turned out great. In about 30 minutes were were back at the station and took the next train back, after having taken a bunch of cheesy tourist photos that one must take of the Leaning Tower. But people weren't lying to me when they said that there's nothing in Pisa but the complex--30 minutes was just the right amount. We even met back up with the rest of the group at on of the other train change stops.
At the station
A peaceful little courtyard park--look at those trees!
Lunch: ravioli with a tomato-basil-pine nut sauce
Piazza Amfiteatro, oval shaped because it was built on an ancient Roman amphitheater
Old books at an outdoor market
The Pisa complex: baptistry, cathedral, tower
