Zurich Daddy Geek and Little Geek Girl accompanied me to the airport and then I was on my own. After clearing passport control I browsed the shopping choices, but decided that chocolate might not survive the high temperatures predicted in Italy. I then cleared security and went to the waiting area for my flight to depart for Florence. We boarded a bus that took us out to the plane on the tarmac. The plane was a little late in departing, but they gave us our Swiss chocolate a little early to keep us all happy.
After visiting the ATM to supplement my supply of Euros, I went outside to look for the bus to the Florence train station. I think I had just missed the 2:30 pm bus. I was a little concerned that the schedule posted said that the buses came only on the half hour, but all my sources on the internet said it came at both the hour and half hour. The enterprising Florence taxi drivers had written on the schedule that the bus was 4.50 Euro and a taxi was 20 Euro, so I was tempted to try and round up some other passengers to take a taxi. However, the bus arrived at 2:50 pm and I took the 3:00 pm bus in to the city. I purchased a train ticket for Pisa (5.60 Euro) and found my train. The sign at the Florence airport said the temperature was 37 deg C, although I think that might have been elevated due to all of the concrete. I was thankful that both the bus to the train station and the train to Pisa were air conditioned.
I had predicted that I would arrive in Pisa between 4 and 5 pm and I arrived just after 5 pm. We decided to meet and stay in Pisa because dear friend (DF) had a flight departing early Saturday morning. I found the hotel and the receptionist told me DF has arrived shortly earlier. DF had just finished a shower to freshen up and we chatted and caught up and got ready to go get a SIM card for my cell phone and our first gelato for the trip. In 2006 we had visited Italy and purchased a cell phone which I use now with a Swiss SIM card. Unfortunately we couldn't find our Italian SIM card in Zürich, but it was pretty straightforward to purchase one at the Vodafone store in Pisa. Then we went to La Bottega del Gelato for gelato. I'm a chocolate girl through and through, but the Italian fruit gelatos are also so good, so I had nutella and peach. We then continued to wander towards the Piazza dei Miracoli where there happens to be this tall tower that everyone was photographing.
When we left the hotel around 6 pm I had asked the receptionist to call the restaurant I had in mind to see if they were open and make a reservation. At 7 pm my cell phone was activated so I called the hotel and found out that the restaurant was closed for holiday, but she had made a reservation at another restaurant at 8 pm. We lingered a little longer at the Piazza and then wandered back to the hotel to get directions to Restaurant Galileo. DF had the gnocchi for her primi and a huge piece of mozzarella with tomatoes for her secondi. I had a baked octopus and vegetable antipasti and entrecote (steak) with balsamic sauce for my secondi. Afterwards we walked along the river and eventually figured out how to call our husbands.
On Friday morning we had breakfast at the hotel and then walked back towards the Piazza. I had already purchased our ticket to climb the tower, so we went to the ticket office to pick our tickets and also purchase tickets for the cathedral. I had brought my shawl to cover my bare shoulders when entering the cathedral, but interestingly the cathedral also provided paper "ponchos" without hoods for those ladies with bare shoulders. We admired the cathedral and then went to climb the tower.
That was a strange experience to climb up and down a leaning spiral staircase. DF noticed it more on the climb up and I was pretty freaked out about it climbing down, sure that at any moment my clumsliness would result in a fall. Afterward we decided it was time for a gelato (mint for me). DF had never been to Florence and it was certainly not far away, but we decided to go to Lucca for the afternoon. 2.40 Euro and 20 minutes away, it was certainly worth it.
Lucca is a walled city to the north of Pisa. After a quick lunch (mezzaluna (stuffed pasta) in a brie/cream sauce for me) we wandered through the narrow city streets and visited a cathedral and then went for a walk around the city on top of the city walls. From the top of the walls we could see a tower that had trees on top of it, so we decided to find the tower to climb (after a stop for gelato -- ricotta and chocolate and blueberry for me). There was a lovely view from the top of the Palazzo Guinigi and more importantly a cool breeze.
We took the train back to Pisa and talked with the receptionist about dinner options. She called two places for us and they were both closed. She then suggested we try two places that were nearby and otherwise we were on our own. We dropped our things off in the room and yep, both of the nearby restaurants were closed. We walked across the river and found an open place. I had spaghetti with clam sauce, a mixed vegetable gratin, and warm pear cake with chocolate sauce.
We were pretty tired after all of the walking in the heat and climbing the two towers so we headed back to the hotel so that DF could pack for her return to the US. And I still had another day to spend in Florence.
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