Day 21 – Pisa/Acqui Terme

Everyone woke up late and it was a mad rush to throw everything into our bags and tidy the flat. Although it took some people longer than others, we were all outside the hotel waiting for the taxi eventually. Clearly my girlfriend was struggling with her tiredness that when the taxi came, and he got out to help us with our bags, she tried to get into the driving seat. My girlfriend was that tired that she didn’t even laugh, she was just confused.

The taxi ride could have been called a rollercoaster! I explained to him that we wanted to get this train from the station at the furthest end of Florence (not from the main station as we would have missed that one) and he made sure that we would get there in time. He was driving normally until his phone rang with a ‘Dancing Queen’ ringtone and he let it ring a little so that he could listen to it. Driving and changing gear with one hand, he finally hung up and told us all about his daughter who was in Germany. Apparently she rang to tell him that she made a tiramisu because German’s can’t make desserts…

We said our thanks when we got to the train station and looking at the platform board, we only had one minute to get to the platform. Instead of going underneath and climbing up, we just rang across the tracks – everyone seems to do it anyway. We looked like professionals with our massive bags on our back too. The train we were getting was taking us to Pisa and would only take a short while.

The train station at Pisa wasn’t overly big, more like not really a station. I was expecting a more touristy area. We walked up these residential roads towards the Leaning Tower of Pisa and had still not spotted any tourists – obviously nobody uses the train in Pisa. We eventually reached the tourist area and were greeted by dozens of markets and a couple of hundred people. It wasn’t too busy today, which was good. We hadn’t really had breakfast yet so where else to go but McDonalds. The McDonald’s in Europe are much more developed than at home – big gardens with trees and bushes, weird menu’s (the McLobster wrap and a burger that offers a beer for a beverage) and slightly cleaner.

After our food, we walked about 100m to the famous landmark of Pisa. I did my reading in McDonalds and told the girls about the history of the city, how there really isn’t anything else except for this area, and that most of population of Pisa is made up of university students. I also emphasised that I did not want to take any cliché pictures of the tower. Of course, we all got into it and eventually did anyway. We even took a group photo with 3 on our hands and knees and two standing on top, pushing the tower from each side. The man who took the picture for us kept saying “big gap” between them and when we got our camera back, we realised that he had absolutely no clue what we were doing. Instead of lining us up with the tower, he stood so that we were just looking silly beside it.

After the pictures were done, there wasn’t really anything else to do. We sat in the shade and talked about my birthday party preparations when we get home. It wasn’t very successful. We did spend some time walking around the markets and two of the girls got a ‘University of Pisa’ hoody and a top. It took them longer than expected to haggle the price, so we needed to leave quickly to get the train. We ran across the tracks again when we got there. Why not? We are experts now and it is so much easier – especially stations like this where the tracks are on the same level as the platform.

The train took us to Genoa, teasing us with the coastline through the gaps in the tunnel. The beaches and blue sea were so attractive right now but we knew we would have a week by the sea at the end. At Genoa, I got hungry again and went for an adventure in the train station (which was much bigger than what you would expect), returning with a chicken bap that was half cold. They had put it in a toasty machine for 2 mins and it had clearly done nothing. We also realised that we were on the wrong platform so this time, we used the underground tunnel to go across. However, one of the girls left her water bottles on the other platform. I had to get off the train, run across the tracks, get them and come back. I’m pretty sure I could hear a chorus of children on the train say “Waow, how cool is he!!”…

My girlfriend went and found her own seat so she could sleep but found it difficult because the air conditioning was so cold again. The train wasn’t that long though thankfully and we arrived at Acqui Terme – our home for a few days. One of our friends’ great uncle had a house here and he politely let us stay. He collected us in a small car and we all squeezed in with our bags as well. Pretty impressive!

This was proper Italy – the quiet, peaceful countryside, hardly any cars or noise, rows of trees and fields and a blue sky with the sun above. The house was amazing as well and all the rooms had a balcony. It seemed like a perfect holiday after all our walking and sightseeing thus far. We had dinner made for us and we all had drinks, talked about our trip, our plans and told countless stories and memories, especially from our hosts, who were hysterical. I even had a go at firefly catching in the garden (which is harder than you think) and apparently I provided great entertainment with my screaming every time they lit up right beside my face. I did catch one, but hurt it at the same time so it was lying on the ground, unable to move. Everyone could see it up close now I suppose.