We woke the girls early on Tuesday, September 29, 2009, and hopped into the Honda CR-V that our friend had generously let us borrow, and got on the highway heading northwest, and eventually to the city of Pisa. This was a destination, had it not been that the kids wanted to see the leaning tower, we would have omitted from this trip.
In 2004, DW and I were celebrating our tenth wedding anniversary, and we met up with our friend from Korea, Brad, and his bride as they celebrated their honeymoon. The four of us, in an Alfa Romeo, were driving from La Spezia to Sienna, and had decided to make a stop in Pisa. We quickly wandered the grounds of the Piazza del Duomo, took pictures of the Torre Pisa, grabbed some coffee, and then hopped back in the car within a half hour. We all agreed that that was long enough.
With kids, however, DW and I found that their fascination made us appreciate the grounds all the more. We parked a few blocks to the west and entered through the Porta Nuova. Right away, the girls wanted me to take a photo that so many tourists have captured. Only, I added a twist that defined our kids: the younger one, adventurous and mischievous, trying to push the tower over; our quieter, reserved older one, trying to prevent her sister from achieving her task.
The picture didn't turn out perfectly but is still one of my favourites.
We wandered the grounds and had planned to climbed the Torre, but the lines were already long and we decided, instead, to go through the cathedral. Inside, it was beautiful.
We wanted to get to our next destination, Volterra, in time for lunch, so we left after a little over an hour. All of us agreed that this was the most time we'd want to spend here, anyway.
We had a GPS system in the CR-V, but some construction had changed the layout of the highway, and it caused the system to show that we were not driving on any sort of roadway. A couple of times, I made some wrong turns, but in almost an hour and a half later, we reached the old Etruscan hill town of Volterra.
This Tuscan hill town dates back to the eight century BC and evidence of Etruscan, Roman, and Medieval civilizations still exist today. We wandered the streets and checked out the shops, and visited the remains of the Roman amphitheatre and some of the Etruscan gates to the walled city.
Medieval architecture was everywhere.
For lunch, we sat on the patio of a restaurant that looked out onto a beautiful square. At the restaurant in San Gimignano, we had seen pigeon on the menu, and though I had my heart settled on the lasagna, I promised our oldest daughter that the next time I saw it on a menu, I'd try it. She was the first one to find pigeon on this menu.
If you've ever had quail, it's a bit like that. It was tasty—even our youngest daughter, forever adventurous, gave it a try. Our other daughter, cautious, could not be convinced, even as I held a tiny bite in front of her. DW was satisfied with her wild boar ragout.
After lunch, we wandered more streets and then decided that we wanted to make our way back to our villa for another nap and swim before we would think of dinner.
It was becoming a wonderful ritual. Once more, the sky was clear but hazy, making the sun and horizon a fiery end to the day. We sat on the patio, eating dinner and enjoying the sunset over San Gimignano.
The next day, DW and I were going to realize a promise that I had made to her, five years earlier. Stay tuned...
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