Pisa

From Florence we took another train ride to Pisa. It was only about an hour long, so we arrived in Pisa with plenty of time before the end of the day. It was a very different experience compared to the other cities- the train station was situated in a remote part of town and we had to walk a ways to the hotel. It was neat seeing these back streets without tourists, but it was almost kind of scary! We were just hoping that we were going the right way. Luckily, we found our hotel.

We were starving and walked around for quite a while before we were able to find somewhere to eat- this was definitely unlike Paris or Florence. We were always able to find somewhere to eat on practically every corner in those cities. After we walked some more we finally ran into the main attraction where all the tourists, street vendors, and a couple restaurants (although still a small selection) were. We spent the rest of the afternoon here.

It was quite hilarious to see EVERYONE posing like this throughout the grass courtyard. We were laughing at everyone (including ourselves) because it seemed like no one realized how ridiculous they looked making these poses. It reminded me of a bunch of people doing karate moves or something. People watching (and taking discreet photos) entertained us for the rest of the afternoon before we ate gelato and headed back to the hotel to sleep (this walk was really scary for me too. It was in the evening, but had already gotten dark. I was never really worried about staying safe in Europe, but for some reason in Pisa I was extremely nervous!).

The tower's construction started in 1173. It is over 183 ft. tall. Soon after construction started, the tower began leaning to the southeast due to poor foundation. As they continued construction they tried to correct this, so the top of the tower looks less crooked than the bottom. It really is so crazy to see in person how much it is leaning. Aside from that it is also a very beautiful structure.

It was fun seeing the leaning tower, but we decided that we could have seen Pisa in one afternoon and feel like we wouldn't have missed out on anything. There really was not a lot to do and compared to the other cities we were actually very bored! Also, the hotel there was the most expensive and it was a PISA crap. The only good thing about it was that they served the most delicious hot chocolate I have ever tasted in my life. We were flying to Barcelona the next day from this airport (a lot cheaper than from Florence), so it wasn't a complete waste of our trip. But, for anyone planning a future Europe trip- don't waste too much time in Pisa because a couple hours there would be just fine.