Oh, what a day!

Sunday, May 17, 2015

Ciao!

This is going to go down as one of the quickest blogs on record, as it is 9:10 pm, I am very tired, and we have to get up at 4 a.m. to catch our Ryan Air flight to Cagliari.  So…what did we do today…

Up around 6 a.m. and showered and out about 7:30 a.m. for the self-service laundry on San Giorgio.  We had the place to ourselves for quite a while, and it was great!  After our two cloudy and rainy days, it was supposed to get back up to 80+ today, and of course, it did! 

The Laundromat was interesting, as for the first time ever, the detergent and fabric softener were included in the price of doing a load, and it was all done automatically – we didn’t add a thing!  Then, the dryer…one of the kind we used in Venice, that went around in one direction for about 20 seconds, then stopped completely, and then went around for about 20 seconds in the opposite direction … then repeat.  I didn’t think our clothes would ever dry, but after two 25 minute cycles, voila, clean AND dry clothes!  Folded things up and head back to the B&B for breakfast. 

R had Caltech work to do, so he worked on that until about lunch time while I read my book. 

Me without pizza

Me with pizza!

For lunch, we went across the anfitheatro to Brusketta (real spelling!) and split a really delicious super thin pizza with prosciutto and mushrooms, washed down by white wine for R and prosecco for me … along with sparkling water, of course!  I was also able to get a delicious stracciatella only gelato cone for the long walk back across the anfitheatro and to our room.

By this time, we were ready to depart our lovely Arena B&B for the long schlep across the fields and streets to the parking lot and the car … with luggage, of course.  We took it slowly, but it was still a pretty long haul, and by then it was of course well over 80 degrees.  Finally got to the parking lot and I went and brought the car to the luggage, R loaded it in, and we were off to Pisa and our airport hotel, stopping to get gas at a motorway stop.

The hotel, Blue Shades, is VERY new – in fact, it looks like they’re still building it in the lobby.  It is located literally 500 yards from the airport, and comes attached with offices and a farmacia (pharmacy) and doctor’s office.  It does have TV and while we thought the lighting might not be very good, it turns out to be fine – and it does have workable air conditioning!  Yippee!!  Dropped out stuff, and decided to do a trial run to the airport, as 4 a.m. is an awful time to explore. 

After that, we headed in to Pisa proper to get yet another look at the Leaning Tower (torre pendante), the Duomo and the Baptistry. 

Baptistry

Yes, it does lean!

Duomo and tower

As it was now about 3:30 p.m. I was thinking that maybe the crush of tourists would be over … but NO such luck, although we were able to find a nice parking space in the lot closest to the “Field of Miracles” as the area is known.  So…some lovely view of the buildings – and yes, the tower continues to lean! 

R with tower peaking out on right

Always room for Prosecco!

We actually climbed to the top once, with our dear friend Arthur Vaughan, but that was some years ago now, and honestly, who wants to do that many steps??  To get out of the Sun, we did stop for a glass of Prosecco for me and a glass of white wine for R – as well as sparkling water – at a nice outdoor café. 

At this point, we decided that we would drop off the rental car now, rather than at 4 in the morning, so back to the airport we went.  Dropped the car off with Sixt and then shuttled back to the airport terminal and walked back to our hotel. 

Gotta love that lean!

Beautiful Duomo, but it's leaning too!

If you enlarge photo, you can see the lean...

About 7:30 we decided to find something to eat … but the only thing we could manage was an airport restaurant, which turned out to be pretty good!  I had mixed bruschetta to start, followed by a perfectly cooked filet of beef with French fries. 

My mixed bruschetta

R's spicy artichokes

R's pasta

My tiny filet and French fries!

R had a spicy artichoke dish to start, and followed by a plate of spaghetti with fresh tomatoes and basil.  Everything quite good!  We then picked up some Kleenex (hotels here don’t seem to supply that here!) and more sparkling water.  Back to the room, and now I’m blogging and wanting to get to sleep!  So!  Sorry so short, but hopefully our next entry will be from Sardinia!

Lots of love,

m

xxx