Un Salto In Italia

     After Barcelona, I flew to Milan.  I spent a night there with my friend Giovanni, just to say "hey" and rest before I made my way to Bologna.  As in Barcelona, the rain followed me throughout my trip.  It was pouring in Milan, and was even worse when I got to Bologna.  However, I refused to allow this to hamper my fun.  In Bologna, I stayed with Giulia & Tommy.  I was SO happy to get to see them again and spend more time with both of them.  Tommy was on vacation from work, and Giulia is a nurse, so has somewhat random shifts, so I was able to really spend a good amount of time with both of them.  One day that I was there, I was able to go to Tommy's football game.  Tommy plays American Football for the Series B team, Neptunes Bologna.  They are officially my second favourite team (after the Patriots, obviously).  I had met a good portion of the team last summer, so it was really cool to get to see one of their games.  They were really sweet and gave me a Neptunes t-shirt, hat, and scarf to wear to the game and to keep.  (I've been wearing this gear non-stop now that I'm back in France...)  Even though it was pouring rain, we stayed through to the end, like real American Football fans.  The Neptunes won, and we had a celebratory dinner afterwards.

     After I was in Bologna for a few nights, I took a day/night trip to Pisa by myself.  Since I had over a week to spend in Italy, I figured I might as well see a place that I'd never seen before.  I had been told about a trillion times that Pisa wasn't that great, that there was not much to see, that it was mostly a tourist trap, etc.  Basically, my expectations were REALLY low.  Well, I had a GREAT time!  It wasn't really about seeing the leaning tower or the main piazza.  I was at a lovely B'n'B:  http://www.guest-house.it/  and stayed in the "Cinque Terre Room".  The owner, Michele, gave me a history of Pisa, a map of the city, and a list of things I should do and a off-the-beaten-path restaurant where I could eat local food.  Since it was the off season, I got an amazing price for the beautiful room that had a flat screen TV, a laptop with internet, and a huge breakfast included.  I basically spend the evening and next day wandering around the pedestrian-only streets lined with shops and coffee bars.  It was a really nice break for myself.  After spending the last week staying with friends, it was good to stay somewhere where I was totally on my own schedule without having to feel like I was imposing (even though my friends are wonderful and made me feel at home... but still!).

The tower:  It's still leaning.

La Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa:  Galileo and other geniuses went here, and it's still in operation today.  It's a school of technology/engineering, and anything but "normale"! 

My favourite little statue, tucked in a small grassy corner piazza in the center of Pisa.

In the main Piazza, part of the cathedral buildings.

The Cathedral wall in the foreground, the tower, doing it's thing, in the back.