The Prices in Pisa

The curvy mountain drive from Milan to Pisa took a little longer than we planned so we got to the Price Family meeting spot at the Leaning Tower of Pisa about 20 minutes late...and we weren't the only people there!   Eventually we found them all: Jeff, Michelle, Gretchen (15), Annie (12), and Cora (5).  They had already spent a week in southern Italy, and we were so excited to join up with them for the second part of their trip. 

I had never been to the Leaning Tower and though it is an image I've seen hundreds of times, I was really surprised by how much it actually leans.  The top of the tower is over 17 feet off center, and one half of it is really sunk into the ground from the base.  I pictured it more just leaning from the top, but it actually started leaning while they were still building it - when they had just reached the third story.  It is fascinating to me that they continued to build it and that it still stands today.  We considered climbing up to the top of the tower, but the next available tickets were for two hours later (not too sad about that since just looking at it too long brought on my vertigo).  As our real destination for the day was Cinque Terre - Pisa was just a stopping/meeting place - so we decided not to wait to climb up but just to join the rest of the tourists taking pictures of ourselves and the tower with tricks of perspective: holding it up, pushing it over, stepping on it, jumping over it, leaning on it - anything Jim and Michelle could think of to do.  

We then drove on to La Spezia to leave our cars and go by train into Cinque Terre - a rugged stretch of coastline named after five medieval towns perched on the edge of cliffs overlooking the sea.  Though a hot spot for tourists, the towns have remained relatively unchanged and the complicated system of steeply terraced gardens and fields have been shaped over the course of 2000 years.  We chose to stay in Manarola, the second one in, and the one that claims to be the oldest and quietest of the five.   After a morning in Milan and an afternoon in Pisa, we were ready to get back to cute, quaint, and quiet!  

We arrived in Manarola and found our hotel - near the top of the very steep main (well...only) street in town.  The four older girls, Jim, and I are in two rooms of a hotel and Jeff, Michelle, and Cora are in a separate apartment down the hill closer to the center of town.  (We are talking about only 200 meters separating us but we are on opposite sides of town.)  We went in search of dinner and decided on one of the five restaurants in town near the center of town and the plaza that was added a few years ago so that kids could kick a soccer ball around (which our girls were happy to do as well).   We found out it also serves as the town's dance floor.  After dinner, the town came alive with a DJ playing music, flashing lights, shooting fire, and blowing snow bubbles.  The quiet we were anticipating was not to be - but the girls had fun on the dance floor for a little while after we sampled the local gelato (and found it to be quite good) and walked out along the path leading towards the next town to take a look back at the town nestled in the cliffs.  We went back to our separate accommodations to go to sleep, but poor Jeff and Michelle, whose apartment is directly over the central plaza, were kept up until after 1:00 am by the rocking dance party!!  Not at all as advertised in Manarola, Cinque Terre.  

The view from Jeff and Michelle's apartment in Manorola