Pisa and Lucca

Even with clouds hanging low and some light rain fallling from time to time, the Tuscan landscape is beautiful.  We found that out as we headed out from SG towards Pisa in our rental car.  We were armed with a GPS which at times was disagreeable with her British accent and other times flat out inaccurate, but helpful enough that we got to Pisa and found a parking lot which was just about a five minute walk from the Tower.  Our first impression was that it was much shorter than we anticipated, but almost completely restored and was gleaming.

We took the obligatory photos of us holding up and pushing over the tower like the tourists we were.  After some good pizza at a crowded cafe a few blocks from the tower, we headed for the ancient walled city of Lucca.  On our way there, the same came out enough to produce the best rainbow I've ever seen and it spanned the highway giving us a colorful arch to drive through.

Lucca lived up to the reviews we've gotten from other people, just a magical place that is a step back in time, if that time includes shop after shop and cafes and restaurants.  Like our stop in Siena, this one was short, but gave us a great taste of the village and a definite target for a future visit.  With darkness approaching and Marley armed with a newly purchased adorable ruffled purple umbrella, we piled back into the rental car and headed back to SG.  There we had dinner at Antica Macelleria Tratorria near the main Piazza in SG and headed to bed early for the 8:00am arrival from Fabio to get us on the road to Milan and then Zurich.