Pisa

A few quick general Italy notes - Everything is Expensive.  And everything is crowded.  And everything is ticketed.  You can see the tower of Pisa for free.  I mean, its a building.  But if you want to go inside ... there's a fee.  And even more complicated; you have to buy a timed ticket and then show up at that time for entrance.  This is a slightly big deal when you are day-tripping into Pisa for the climb; and parking is a mess.  

We are not afraid of a little walking.  Or climbing.  We parked quite a way from the Tower (for Free!) and power-walked to make our entrance time.  Upon queuing for entrance, one of the staff noticed Wife's wristlet (not-allowed) and redirected us to bag storage.  Blessing of Blessings, Bag storage was efficient and free and we were back entering the Tower in a jiffy.  

We are not afraid of a little walking.  Or climbing.  We parked quite a way from the Tower (for Free!) and power-walked to make our entrance time.  Upon queuing for entrance, one of the staff noticed Wife's wristlet (not-allowed) and redirected us to bag storage.  Blessing of Blessings, Bag storage was efficient and free and we were back entering the Tower in a jiffy.  

Walking the tower is quite an experience.  Did we mention it leans.  It may seem like an insignificant angle, but when climbing; it is tough! 

Once you reached the top there were impressive views of the City of Pisa.  We're a bit spoiled and no-longer care much about impressive views of European cities.  

I'm not 100% sure what was going on when Hubby shot this pic of Wifey, but it's not half bad :) 

While visiting Pisa, we tried to take iconic pictures of ourselves either pushing over the leaning tower or holding it up.  Wifey proved unskilled at lining up the perspective of Hubby. Hubby successfully lined up Wifey and the tower as desired, however #RealLife Wifey vetoed all of his pics because she looked .... plump in them.  

Using the Good Old #SelfieStick; we took this shot - TBH, Wifey hates it.  But ya know what, We Went to Pisa. We Climbed the Tower.  And this is our picture from that day.  

After visiting the tower we returned to our car and struck out for dinner. Our friends Joseph and Mary (I know right) had visited the area previous and recommended Ristorante Il Toscano. Wifey is the travel planner in our family and it seems fails at thorough communication at times.  We were literally sitting at our table here, having already ordered a particular dish which Mary recommended before Hubby realized this was THE restaurant where he was supposed to order that particular meal (Pear Pasta I think).  

Wifey is not off caffeine these days. 

ETA - I admit that we're pretty behind on blogging so this is getting posted about 2.5 months late.  That said, Wifey seriously misses Italian Cappuccinos now that we're back in the USA.

Wifey's Steak:

Hubby's Pear Pasta - Thanks Again Mary!