Pisa, Italy
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
Today we had a leisurely morning. While Karen and Addison went into FLorence to get their permissio (again to no avail) I made a ham and cheese omlette (% scrambled eggs for the girls). Then while I cleaned up the kitchen - the girls swam and Arica played with Julian. ALso, each day or at least every other day, we have been doing laundry in this very small washing machine and then hanging the clothes out to dry. Nobody has a dryer it appears - you see clothes hanging everywhere. When Karen came home, we packed a picnic and caught the 12:03 train to Pisa (finding the station-parking etc was an adventure) Also the 12:03 train didn't show so we had to get on an older 12:25. The ride was nice and we found a map to the leaning tower as soon as we got off the train. A long walk across town brought us fact to fact with the tower! We took the obligatory shots holding up the tower and then shopped around the Piazza. We then started the walk back and bought bus tickets so we could try to catch one
. We walked about halway and too Bus 5 the rest of the way. we were able to catch the 3:30 train back and arrive at our villa by 5. Fun day. We relaxed a bit - made plans for Venice and then went to the pool for a swim. Dale did miss the entire race today - oh well. We cam home by 7 and cooked a Veal Piccata - potatos and corn - again delicious. We had an apple cade delivered by Carlo that he must have given to each guest. At the pool - one of the French woman asked if we had gotten cake also - we said "No - it must just have been for you!" at first. She said "He's trying to fatten up the French women". It was funny.
After dinner, Dale was cleaning up and we asked the girls to do a trash run. They were already in their PJs because we had them take showers and pack for Venice while dinner was cooking. This trip turned out to be quite an adventure as the girls "found a horse" in the olive field behind the villa. Well the horse and several dogs began to follow them at which point a gypsy man (covered with tattoos - wearing a scarf - the complete getup) came out and started yelling at the girls. The French girls had also gone out to see the horse so all of them were there. It was quite dramatic but they all came home and got in bed for the early wakup tomorrow. Our plan is to be out the door by 7.
