Today was our second travel day. We woke up a little early this morning and grabbed breakfast at a bakery in Monterosso, walked around town (you can cover all of Old Town in a leisurely 10 minute walk) and checked out of our hotel. Andrea, the owner of our hotel, helped us so much these past few days; we were sad to leave.
On the train to Pisa, we sat next to an adorable Italian couple, Gulia and Margo, who are both in their 20s. Gulia's English was quite good and Margo wasn't bad either, so we spoke to them on the hour train ride. Giulia is a volleyball player at the university and Margo, 25, is working. It was fun to tell them customs in America compared to Italy. Giulia's jaw dropped when I told her that we pick up pizza with our hands (they eat it with a fork and knife) and we share pizzas (they order a whole pizza for themselves). They were flying to Paris, but had two hours before their flight, so they wanted to go to the Tower. Gulia invited that we all go together. Let me just say that walking around the streets of a foreign city is much easier and less stressful when you're with people who can speak the native language.
We walk to and took a few photos at the Tower before we split so they could catch their flight and we could eat... pizza, of course! We exchanged emails and Facebooks. Giulia offered that next time we come to Italy, we can stay with her, and if she ever comes to the states, she can stay with us. When they went to double kiss us on the cheeks, we hesitated, as I'm sure most Americans do. Giulia asked if we triple kiss in America. When we told her that touching and PDA was frowned upon in America, she was shocked. It got Kristi and I talking... If public hugging and kissing and showing affection was normal in the U.S. we might have less drama, less sneaking around. It's a sweet thought if nothing else.
After lunch, we went into the Baptisery and Church. The architecture and history were amazing!
With just 25 minutes until our train, we practically ran back to the station, which is 20 minutes away from the Leaning Tower. There is a famous gelato place on the way back and, although we had just 15 minutes at that point until our train, we couldn't say no to famous gelato. IT WAS WORTH IT! It was by far the best gelato we've had since we've been here. Kristi got 2 scoops of Nutella and I had a scoop of Nutella and Mint. We got to the train station with 4 minutes until our train left. We ran to the baggage drop to collect our suitcases, ran to the departures listing, stamped our train ticket on the platform and borded the train just 30 seconds before the doors closed. It was close, but we made it!
When we got off the train, we wanted to walk to our B&B, but we couldn't figure out the direction, so we ended up taking a cab. Carla, the owner along with her daughter Elizabeta, was there to greet us with water (they don't have enough here) and the most amazing little chocolate eggs we've ever tasted. Kristi swears there's Nutella in the center; she ate about six when we first arrived. Carla gave us a map, we regrouped and headed out to explore a little before the sun went down.
We were headed for a gelato shop Elizabeta recommended when we heard a man shouting, ""Free jacket! Girl in the blue! Blonde hair!" from a leather shop we were walking past. Kristi stopped dead in her tracks (she's been talking about leather jackets all week) and poked her head inside. That's when the man came running out from behind the counter, still yelling, to meet us on the side walk. He bear-hugged me and kissed me on the check. He pointed into the store and told me I could have any jacket I wanted. Kristi, who was standing and laughing at this whole scene, pipped in then and asked why she didn't get a free jacket. He looked at her, said "You, Jennifer Lopez!" (Which I still think should be a compliment, she's beautiful!) and grabbed her leg. It was the weirdest, funniest, "only in Italy" situation. Before we could be persuaded inside, we told him we were on a gelato mission and kept walking. By this point though, we weren't even hungry. So, we walked around the city center to orient ourselves a little better and then walked back to our B&B, which is about a 20 minute walk from the center.
Back at our B&B, we spent nearly an hour talking to Carla's son (his name escapes me) to et advise on the museums. Our conversation quickly turned to his place of work (he makes commercials and videos of food for television and does artwork exhibitions) and the Italian architecture and culture. It was neat just to talk to him and pick up a few more Italian words.
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