September 5, 2023: the BEST 24-hours So Far

For my avid readers, I am preparing a lonnngg post on Northern Ireland and Scotland, but we just had the BEST 24 hours so far, so I must write about it out of order!

We booked a flight from Scotland to Pisa, Italy. Of course, with my three years of high school Italian (thank you Ms. Nicora!) and my surname, I was on point for language. I fantasized about disasters at the border - Perché signora Benassini, voi figli non andate a scuola? Why Ms. Benassini, are you children not in school? Puoi rimanere nell'area Schengen solo per 90 giorni, quando sarà il tuo biglietto successivo? You may only stay in the Schengen area for 90 days, when is your onward ticket?

I prepared really brief responses – Our children are in online school! I nostri figli frequentano la scuola online! and We have ferry tickets to Turkey! Abbiamo i biglietti del traghetto per la Turchia!

I also quizzed this Facebook group focused on “world schooling” I joined, asking how many people got questioned at the border. I know, this is over-thinking things, but the stakes are high - if you get a cranky border guard, they can send you back from whence you came (to Scotland, in this case).

So, with this in my mind, we boarded our flight which of course left an hour late. Big strike one BUT we got onto the flight with our (slightly too long) violin, which was a major worry (we had a budget ticket that is super strict about the length and width of items in the cabin; if they measured the violin, they could have made us buy a sixth seat – barbarians – that did not happen! We landed at 11:30pm; the last shuttle to town is at midnight. We were nearly the last people off the plane and of course we missed the (super-crowded) little bus waiting on the tarmac to take passengers to the terminal. But amazingly another little bus arrived where we comfortably road to the terminal. Ugh! The giant border line and scary, inquisitive guard waiting to question me in Italian (who has Ms. Nicora’s face). We breeze to the front, the border guard, mildly says “Buena sera”, takes all five passports and stamps five times with no questions (oh, the sound of the cracking stamp was blissful).

Past the border guard, picking up our bags which were literally right in front of us on the conveyer belt, our sweet angels started to whine intensely that they were soooooo hungry; we had eaten at 6pm, it was midnight. I envisioned dragging and cajoling them to the hotel and into bed but instead, the airport of course had a cafe open with folks spilling out onto the sidewalk at the INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT – so, we grabbed a few cornetto (croissant) and went out to ground transportation. Of course, the last bus to town had left; the first taxi would only take four people but up rolled a second one which had a little fold down seat in the back; Yes! I got to sit up front to chat with the taxi driver who of course complimented my infant-level Italian with Va bene, parli Italiano molto bene.

He pulled us right up to our hotel “out building” (where they put the families, ha!). The night was so warm, we followed our multi-key and door entry instructions and fell into our hotel room (where of course, Katie, whistled and took her time getting ready for bed, you cannot rush that child, she has a routine). I fell asleep so happy and warm.

We woke up and had to be deliberate in getting out of the room to make our climb-time on our Tower of Pisa tickets. I hurried and got dressed to go find out about breakfast – I stepped outside wearing a dress for the first time on the trip, happy sandals, warm sun, and sauntered over to the front desk. Ah, lovely day! The hotel directed us to this café they work with and we sat down for delicious creama filled cornetto and layered pancakes and a civilized cappuccino. Ah! Wonderful breakfast in the warm sun.

Over to the Tower. The Tower is a bell tower built along with the cathedral and baptistry in the Piazza dei Miracoli (Square of Miracles). That the ground is Pisa is unsteady is well known – the name of the city comes from the Greek word for marshy land. Construction on the Tower began in the late 1100s; The Tower wasn’t completed until 1399, working having stopped in part because the builders saw that the Tower was beginning to lean. They made a few changes to try to compensate – like building the upper levels straight up and down, only to have them lean as well – but nothing could stop the pull of gravity. The Tower was famous for this lean; a pupil of Galileo Galilei’s, Vincenzo Vivani, made the Tower even more famous when he reported in his biography of the great scientist (written in 1655) that Galileo climbed the tower to drop two differently-weighted spheres (said to have taken place between 1589 and 1592), proved his theory of gravity (objects fall at the same rate of acceleration, regardless of mass), and disproved Aristotle’s theory of gravity (objects fall at acceleration rates proportional to their mass). While we all loved this story, I guess most historians believe this was Galileo’s “thought experiment” rather than a physical one.

Anyhow – Entering the Piazza dei Miracoli is just breathtaking.. The sky is blue, the buildings are white, the leaning tower is peaking around the corner like a shy child, the walk is golden stone, and (an uncommon sight in at least the piazzas I’ve gotten to see in Italy) green grass surrounds each building.

Look at the sassy Tower peaking out behind the cathedral.

We walked up the tower and felt that leaning building nearly all the way up, a disturbing sensation as you rise 170 feet. You get to the top and walk among the bells. You take a million pictures and none look quite like it looked during the time you were up there. Ahh, well worth the money and walk!

Get on up those stairs, Kate Kate!

If you need to, take a little rest on the way up (Alex did NOT need to, I made him stop for a photo).

Then you get to the top and take a millions pictures..

Don't worry Luke, that bell is completed attached securely!

Headed out of the Tower - Katie framed in the.. asymmetrical entry-exit door to the Tower.

Then! You go back down.. and take a million more pictures..

Alex and Luke - leaning tower.

Alex in front and Luke punching the Tower.

Refreshment break.

Checking out Garibaldi (unifier of modern day Italian state; Kids were challenged to figure out the year shown by the Roman numerals.

Visiting the king's statute, Signor Galileo Galilei.

Inside the Cathedral, appropriately covering shoulders.

Luke inside the Cathedral, hating that he has to wear pants but covering it with a grin.

– and luckily your children are aching to draw this beautiful thing (after having watched a disembodied-hand on youtube draw the whole thing, perfectly) and they sit down and get to work. You get to just people-watch so hard. And so many people! It’s the best thing – You get to watch people from all walks of life - the sweet Q-tips on their cruise-tour, the family from Honduras (all wearing matching shirts that say “Honduras”), the Instagram couple with the perfect clothes and selfie stick, the Chinese family – all of them, making just the stupidest-looking poses and they are just gesturing and hissing at each other to “move a centimeter back!”, “raise that foot higher”, “put your chin up” and this is all in different languages but you know what they are saying.. Ahhh, it is great. And you go to sleep with that warm Tuscany air all around you, knowing that you took a truly awful posed photo just like everyone else and tomorrow, you can get up, get you cornetto cioccolata.