Lucca and Pisa

The day after our day trip to Siena and San Gimignano, some friends and I decided to go on another day trip.  After becoming frustrated with looking at train schedules and tickets, we decided to just show up at the train station on Saturday morning.  When we arrived at the train station, we saw that there was a train leaving for Lucca in less than 10 minutes and it only cost around 7 euro.  I remembered my mom telling me about this town and my friend Angie, who studied here last semester, loved Lucca so I was very excited to visit.

Lucca is a precious little town that sits inside the original city walls.  When we got off the train, it began to drizzle a bit so we walked along the top of the tree-covered wall.  We found a quaint little restaurant in a little piazza and had lunch.  Luckily, by the time we finished lunch, the rain had finished too.  We explored a somewhat creepy church and wondered through the town before discovering a tower we could climb.  For the price of only 3 Euro, we ascended the steps and came across the most beautiful view.  All of Lucca was spread out beneath us- the red terracotta roofs, the wall, and the hills beyond. It was beautiful.  After the tower, we continued to wander through the town, in and out of little shops, and eventually made our way back to the wall.  

We decided that since we were only about 15 minute train ride from Pisa, we mine as well go!  Unfortunately, by the time the train stopped in Pisa, the sky had opened up and it was pouring.  We decided to venture on and ran into a legalize marijuana parade thing.  It was interesting to say the least.  We made our way to the Leaning Tower and took the mandatory pictures before returning to the train station and running to our train. On the train, some smelly American boys who had attended the legalize pot rally decided to sit right next to us and chat the entire way back.  It made for an interesting train ride for sure. 

It was so fun to explore Lucca- I know why people speak so highly of it.  It's so quaint and so Italian. Returning to Pisa to see the Tower for the third time was nice too.  I always seem to forget how much it leans because pictures do not do it justice.  It was a perfect little day away.