It has been about 2 months since I’ve last shared photos from our trip to Europe back in October. I can’t believe how quickly time has passed. As I started to choose photo to share I realized that this trip merely feels like a distant memory, and to be honest, I don’t like that. I’ve had the travel bug since graduating high school and I think Europe really escalated my travel-bug to the next level.
I’m so excited to be sharing our travel photos from Pisa, Italy today! Pisa was our first stop in Italy during our 12-day Mediterranean cruise. I had heard from various friends that Pisa is a small town and that I would not be wowed by it. BOY WHERE THEY WRONG! I might have mentioned it before but we made a personal travel video diary. We haven’t decided if we will share our entire video with the world yet, but we will share bits and pieces! So we put together a video with more photos, the bells ringing at the top of the tower, and a little commentary from us! We hope you enjoy our video!
Now that you watched the video, here is a little more of a detailed account of how our morning in Pisa went. We loaded our private tour van as soon as our cruise ship cleared that everyone could get off (around 7 am). Our group of 8 was excited to go sight-seeing. Our first stop was Pisa in our action-packed day. It took us about 45 minutes from the port of Livorno to reach the famous city. As we neared the town we could see the famous leaning tower in the distance. Before we knew it our tour van had parked and our guide was giving us instructions on how to reach the tower and when to return back to the van. We only had an hour; however, it felt like we were in the town of Pisa for hours that morning. It felt like the entire world stopped.
Mr. Woodsy and I were eager to get our tour started and immediately making our way to the tower ahead of the rest of our group. As we turned the corner at the stop sign as instructed we were blown away. There it was: the Leaning Tower of Pisa. We both immediately got goose bumps. Our trip was finally feeling real. Seriously, words cannot express the emotions we both felt at that immediate moment. I’m pretty sure I shed a few tears of joy and happiness. My dream had finally come true. I was in Italy.
We both had to do the infamous tourist pose… just because we were there and we could do it! Here is Mr. Woodsy holding up the tower!
A few of our friends persuaded us to make reservations ahead of time to climb the Leaning Tower. We wavered back and forth for a good month before I finally just booked our reservation. I just didn’t know if it would really be worth the 30+ Euro (close to $40 american dollars) to climb a tower. I was so wrong. It was a once in a lifetime experience.
We now understand why they only allow so many people in the tower every 30-45 minutes. The stair way is narrow and the steps are un-even. Warn from the countless tourist that have climbed each step. As we mentioned in our video you can feel the tower leaning as soon as you step inside. Some areas in the tower are harder to walk than others. It was only 296 steps each way, but it felt more like 5 million. As soon as we decided that we would be doing the Pisa climb I began taking the stairs each day at work in preparation for the Great Pisa Stair Climb of 2012! Well… I should have walked 13+ stories to get ready. The tower is over 183 feet tall! The photo above cracks me up because the 20+ steps to the very top you have to go into an even smaller passage way. Mr. Woodsy is just about six feet tall and he had to duck to walk through the entrance way. I just about had to duck and I’m about a whole foot shorter than him!
It was gloomy that morning with mist/sprinkling going on sporadic. However, for me it was the perfect lighting to take stunning photos.
Loved the views at the top!
This photo is currently set as our background screen on our computer. We both love this photo!
This gives you a good feel of how it was during our time in Pisa, Italy. Oh, and don’t mind my crazy-frizzy hair that day. It was a little humid and it totally caught me off guard! I hope you enjoyed virtually touring around Pisa, Italy! We sure did and I can’t wait to go back one day and really get to explore this gem of a town!
