Pisa. Kinda sounds like pizza..but not really.

So last weekend  (I know I'm already falling behind) we took a bus to Pisa and Terrania Beach on the Ligurian Sea. We left early Friday morning and got back late Saturday night, so we only had to pay for one night in a hostel. 

The day started out cloudy, and we were all a bit skeptical since we had designated the whole day to laying on the beach. As you can see it ended up to be a beautiful day. The beach was about a fifteen minute ride from the Pisa centre, and when we got there we had no idea where to go. We followed the other touristy looking people with beach towels, and ended up finding the sea. 

You would think that a towel would be a pretty important thing to pack if you were planning on going to a beach, but some of us decided we needed to fill our backpack with blow driers and straighteners instead. Of course I decided not to bring a towel, so I arrived at the beach towel-less. McKenzie, Maryn, and I decided we would venture off to see if we could find some chairs to rent. We went to a couple of beaches, but they were either too expensive or private clubs. We were about to throw in the towel (no pun intended), but we found the perfect beach. It was called "American Beach"....seriously. They ended up having really cheap chairs and umbrellas to rent. They also had a snack bar where we ate HOT DOGS for lunch. I know what you're thinking, but it just felt right. 

The people that worked there all spoke really good English. One girl was clearly American because she was wearing a Wisconsin shirt. They were so helpful, and actually called the hostel in Pisa for us and made sure there was room. 

 

So this is the hostel we stayed at. As you can see it's quite decadent. I know you're thinking that this looks like an abandoned church, well thats because it is. I can honestly say I am glad to be alive after staying in this place and wasn't possessed by some evil spirit, even though some claim they actually were. It ended up being an ok night. We met some Australian guys, who were also staying in this church/hostel, and went to dinner with them. After having a peaceful, or not so peaceful, nights rest we woke up to a chilly, rainy day. We all took showers, mine was ice cold, but everyone else said there's was fine. I don't think I knew how to work the shower?? 

After minutes of being there, I did one of those super-cool poses in front of the Leaning Tower of Pisa where I was "catching" it. 

Since we couldn't make it to Iowa City for the Iowa/Iowa State game, we decided to support the Cyclones in front of the tower. I know not quite as exciting as tailgating, but it's the best we could do. As you can see the guy behind us was bummed he was missing the game too, so he showed his team spirt with us.

There was this little courtyard in on of the museums we toured, and there was a really cool view of the tower. 

So very excited to be in Pisa.

So pretty......!

The six of us posing for a picture in the Camposoto Cemetery. 

Although there were times when we wanted to jump off the top of the tower, we ended up having a pretty decent weekend. I learned two things on this trip: always have a map of the city you're in, and six girls traveling together may be too much estrogen. 

Tomorrow we're going to Sienna for the day, so hopefully it won't take me as long to post about this trip!! 

PLEASE update me on your lives, or you're not my friends anymore :P...vadams@iastate.edu. LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU ALL!!!