Pisa: Anticlimactic

While I was in Florence, Caroline and I decided to go to Pisa for a day trip. It's not very far out from Florence, and it's so famous that we couldn't miss it. We got there, and it was disappointing. The only things to see there were the Leaning Tower, the church, and the Baptistery. They are all beautiful buildings, but you have to pay to get in all of them (I have a hard time justifying paying to go into a place of worship-it seems so exploitative) Along with that, it was Disneyland- so touristic, to the point where none of it felt authentic. We didn't spend much time there. The highlight for us were the horses pulling carriages around town.

It was worth going to see though, because our train ride home was so interesting. All of the train cars were full, so we went all the way to the last car, which is the storage compartment for large bags. There was a woman not much older than us who was sitting there with her beautiful dog. In Italy, they make her sit in the back with her dog, who also requires a ticket to travel. A few stops later, another guy our age came on with a bike and three or four bags. We started talking to him, and he was from Munich and he was biking down Italy, heading to Naples, boating to Spain, biking to Barcelona, and then going home to Munich. He was staying with people that he has met along his travels, which is such an exciting way to see Europe. We exchanged emails and facebook information, so maybe if he comes to the U.S., Caroline and I can give him a place to stay.