Miss. Travel McTravelson ~ Pisa, Italy

Good Morning!!!

The next stop on our European trip was to finally leave Spain and head to Italy!!!! First stop - Piza!!!!

We took Ryan Air from Gerona, Spain to Piza, Italy and it was terrible. Quite possibly the worst airline we used the whole trip. But who can say no to $11 flights to Italy {sigh}. First off they wouldn't let us bring our sleeping bags so we had to ditch them in the airport!!! Then once we waited an hour in the lineup, they told us we had to get our passport stamped at another place in the checkin area!!!! Then we didn't know we had to wait in line to board because it was first come first serve seating! Weird!!!!

We got to Piza early in the morning and took a taxi to our hotel. We picked it for it's location and the fact that TripAdvisor had great reviews for it! The hotel was an old Monastery that had been converted into a hotel. The grounds were spectacularity well kept and the inside of the hotel...looked like an insane asylum. LOL It was a square box and everything was white. I mean EVERYTHING. Walls, drapes, bedding, tiles in the bathroom, flooring....EVERYTHING!!! The window was a tiny box with bars on it! ha! It was unsettling...

Of course the first thing we did is start a HUGE walk to go see if we could stumble apon the tower. There were tonnes of cute little Ma & Pop restaurants and the Italian people were so nice. Not very many people spoke English...but everyone was willing to try! We were just walking around enjoying the hot beautiful day when we turned the corner and all of a sudden you could see it!!!!

I got so excited I started jumping around like a kid!!!!

The tower looked like a postcard even when you got right up close. It was the most unbelievable sight.

 I would say even after seeing all the monuments I saw...the Leaning Tower is still the most stunning!!!!

There was a HUGE market around the tower so we got to do a little of our favorite kinda shopping!!! I bought some sweet mirrored aviators and a cute leather purse that I have used everyday since I bought it!!!

We had our first lovely meal at a beautiful outdoor cafe in their courtyard! It was so romantic and calming! Then we found a grocery market and bought some fresh pasta and Italian pasta seasoning to take home! :)

Another highlight for me as an artist was seeing Keith Haring's Tutto Mondo mural!!!! I studied it in High School and it was really neat to see it up close! It's HUGE!!!

So, that's Piza in a nuttshell. We had 2 full days and then we were off to our next adventure....VENICE!!!!

Cheers,

Messy

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***On a side note: I just got this super cute photo from my brother of my nephew wearing the jacket I bought him while in Italy...it finally fits!