Italy: Pisa

With some bits and scraps from our villa's fridge, we made one last meal before driving to Pisa. I was patiently waiting all week to slice into the creamy alabaster pillow of burrata cheese that I bought—which tasted particularly fabulous with bread, tomatoes, basil, and our villa's home grown olive oil. We ate it while overlooking this landscape quilt of a thousand shades of green.

It was exciting to be in Pisa again (our third visit here) to see the beautiful leaning tower and intricate duomo. These are the very worn marble stairs on the circuitous staircase leading to the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I can't claim to have seen these steps in person, as it was Dan and Dave who hiked up to the top. Meanwhile, Sheri and I saved the 15 Euro apiece it costs for the privilege of making this vertical pilgrimage, and instead volunteered to stay below to snap their photos—such a sacrifice, ahem, ahem. They did make the spiraling (somewhat dizzying) climb to the tower's summit and here is Dan's photo of sunset over the Pisa Duomo.

 

Sadly, this is my last entry from Italy (... well, for this trip anyhow). As I write this, we are at the Rome airport; our flight is leaving two hours later than scheduled. I suspect somewhere an ancient Roman god wants us to stay just a little while longer and enjoy one last bottle of vino rosso in the eternal city. Hey, who am I to disappoint a Roman god? One last toast to la bella vita, si?

Arriverderci Italia!