It's been almost two months since we were on our 2 week vacation in Italy and I never got around to posting either our pictures or stories about the wonderful time we had there. Last year we decided that we would have one big vacation driving around a country and Italy was our pick. So with months of reading, planning and trying to gather as much information as possible we eagerly set out on our trip. Its pretty hard trying to plan a holiday keeping the entire family's interests in mind. The leaning tower was on sonny's list and pretty much in our's too. Little did we realize that our visit to the leaning tower would be the most memorable of all.
Since we lived a mere 20 kms away from the leaning tower and all the information that I gathered told me that it would be open till 11:00 at night, I chose for us to visit it at around 6 in the evening. I figured that the setting sun would give us a much cooler atmosphere and also it would make for some pretty pictures too. Now all the planning must have gotten into my head cause I forgot not only my book of maps, also all the instructions required to get to the leaning tower from the railway station( we travelled by train) Now remember, we are on holiday, so there is no blame game at all so that everybody's spirit's are high and continue to be sane...:D Our nightmare began when we pretty soon realized not a soul could speak english to us nor could we figure out which bus could take us to the tower. Trying to understand whatever Italian we could and recognizing fellow tourists we got into a bus after an hours wait. The moment we got out, the first picture was the sight that greeted us. The beautiful baptistry, dome and the leaning tower gleaming at us against the setting sun. Our woes didn't end there. We pretty soon realized that the cathedral and baptistry were closed and the climb to the top of the tower was another hour and a half hours wait. So how much longer can the family stay without blaming me......not any more!!!! So while I was there thinking to myself that maybe this is a sign of our just begun holiday going wrong, we clicked more pictures against the tower, tried pushing the tower back...;D, walked around the lawns, visited the cemetery, sat on the lawns feeling the evening Pisa breeze....
(Camposanto Monumentale - The cemetery, Pisa)
I had made it clear that I did not want to climb the tower, once again thanks to all the reviews that I had read on the net..:D(Apparently you tend to feel yourself losing balance as the tower is not straight but leaning). Once the trio were on top, they began to thank their stars for all that went wrong before.........the picture below will tell you why!!
(Sunset glow over the town of Pisa)
Not only was the sight spectacular, they regretted the fact that I wasn't there with them. So the lesson they learnt from this experience was that hence forth make Mama climb Italian towers too, lest she misses the fun. Hubby dearest clicked plenty of pictures for me, simply breathtaking indeed.
We got to see the leaning tower not only by day but by night too. And were we glad!!
For the record, there was no bus at all to take us back to the station. We found a couple who were angels in disguise to help us walk back to the station. However, we missed our last train back to the place where we were living and hence had to take a taxi back which did cost a small bomb...:D
So we were back to square one again....blame it all on mother!!!!! :D :D
P.S: The bus line Lama Rosa takes you directly to the leaning tower from the railway station.
