May 19th

We left our campsite very excited to see the leaning tower of Pisa! Max and Julian believed they would get “free pizza” at what they called the “leaning tower of pizza.”  Upon reaching the Field of Miracles we could see the leaning tower, we also noticed tourists posing for their leaning tower picture by pretending to prop up the tower with their hands!  Some posed around every angle of the tower, to make sure they got the perfect portrait.  Not wanting to be left out of the fun, we immediately took our share of pictures. 🙂

Pisa and the Cathedral

Posing with Pisa

Max and Julian got over their initial disappointment at the lack of pizza handouts inside the tower when they saw all of the nearby pizza and gelato restaurants available for our pleasure.  After  lunch we climbed the tower, and stopped at every level to take in the increasingly lopsided view. As we reached the top the circular marble staircase became incredibly narrow and steep, but the view was worth the climb!  It took longer to descend the tower because Julian and I had to hold on to the walls carefully to prevent us from tripping. We both decided that falling down the marble stairway was not a travel memory that we wanted.

Once we were safely back on the ground we explored the original Cathedral of Pisa, located a very short walk from the leaning tower. The church is beautiful! Upon entering you see a stunning mosaic of Christ that covers the entire  entry wall.When it was time to start driving again, we stopped by the autogrill to get gas and potato chips. That was when dad made an amazing discovery…..autogrills had showers!!! Which meant we could car camp for zero euros…and I could still get my shower! Another plus was that the autogrill showers are actually clean. We decided to drive to an autogrill near Florence then find a restaurant. The drive took a little longer then expected, so when we reached the autogrill dad bought all the remaining pizza, some ritz crackers and coke.  It was pretty fabulous:)