Pisa, For a Few Hours

We we told Pisa could be done in a couple of hours, and while I am certain that is not true for everyone, it was accurate for us.  We happily rode an all but empty train through numerous little stations, more the equivalent to Metro than Amtrak, and got off at Pisa.

Once at the train station, we had to find Deposito Baglili (or Left Luggage) to hand over our suitcases.  They photocopied my passport, took my eight Euro (two bags for 12 hours, you don't have a choice about duration) and we toddled off to find a leaning tower.

It was an easy walk from the train station with signs pointing the way, and pretty soon we could see a not-straight tower.  We found the tickets office, put our day bag in a locker (by requirement, not choice) and climbed the tower.  It really is leaning.  We took the requisite tourist pics.

After a quick trip to the WC and bookstore (two different places, relax), we went into the duomo, the highlight of which was the see-through tomb of Saint Raindini.  You can actually see the body which was some combination of awesome and gross.

Then we wandered around aimlessly rejecting one place after another for lunch (this is Lyle's second least favorite thing about traveling with me) and eventually got gelato in order to stay on speaking terms.  This gelato may not have met Jimmy's level of expectations, but it was sufficient to ours.  I had caramel and Lyle had tiramisu and we both stopped just short of licking out the cups.

Shortly thereafter, we found a sandwich shop we liked the looks of and, despite confirming that my Italian is not sufficient to order sandwiches, got two panini (which is what they call subs, not the hot squished things we call panini) a coke and a beer and sat down to eat.  This is effectively the equivalent of Jimmy John's at home, though it's not a chain, and we're quite comfortable.  It's one o'clock and our train out of here is not until 2:45, so we have some time to just walk around.  We've already told off obnoxious street vendors who insist on coming by the tables, and we expect we'll have to do that several more times.