Pisa

10-11th January 2013
Pisa! The country that I was most excited to visit was Italy. I think I have mentioned it in a post previously, but in primary school from Year 2 to Year 5, I used to have Italian classes. It was a combination of learning the language as well as the culture of the country. The flight from London to Pisa was so incredibly short; it was still hard to wrap my head around the fact that all the countries in Europe are geographically so close together.

Quick review of my hostel, Walking Street Hostel. It was so dodgy; when I arrived the guy at reception told me that my bed wasn't ready but it would be after an inspection (I am guessing that there was probably some sort of law regulating the number of people in the room) and I had to leave my bag right next to the front door. Hmm. The people who worked at the hostel slept in the living room. Hmm. Ah well, it was relatively cheap and I was only there for one night so it didn't bother me too much.








First stop: the Leaning Tower of Pisa! It was incredible and I didn't actually imagine it to be that tall or impressive. When I was in NYC, my issue with the places that I visited was that I was underwhelmed, but seeing the Tower and the piazza, I was just overwhelmed.





At the base of the tower I met a gentleman. Cue story. He offered to take my photo with the tower and I handed over my camera. After the photo, he introduced himself (can't remember his name anymore) and offered to give me a quick tour which I accepted. He started talking about the history of the piazza and the city/ town and finally offered to take my around the city. Apparently there was a 'beautiful' garden that many tourists didn't visit and off we went! It was €5 ($7ish AUD) entrance fee which the guy paid (and the woman at the desk looked at my oddly). The garden was beautiful. Not. I don't know why it didn't occur to him that we were in the middle of winter therefore there wouldn't be anything growning. It was actually really hilarious.


The fabulous garden.

We then went to another piazza and truth be told, not entirely sure where we went, but the town really isn't that big so I roughly knew where I was. Unlike the Irish guy in London, this guy was borderline creepy. I was wearing my thick woollen coat and I wasn't entirely sure if he was brushing or touching my chest/ arm/ side of body area. I just wasn't sure if it was intentional or accidental since it wasn't a clear deliberate action. I don't know. After a while, it became a little creepy so we parted. Right before we did though, he gave me a hug and then what I thought was going to be a kiss on my cheeks. Rather to my surprise, he (and this is why I just don't know if he was a perv or not) kissed 1/3 of my lips. So it wasn't on my lips completely but definitely not normal either.

My Overall Thoughts
Pisa was very interesting. It was the first country I visited where English was not the first language and combined with the guy that I met and the incredible UNESCO World Heritage Site, it was a memorable day.

Would I re-visit?
Nope. The only thing to see (in terms of tourist attractions) is the Piazza del Duomo and as gorgeous as it is, it doesn't really justify a day trip.