Big Picture
Hello! This is part 2 of our Europe trip in 2013. In this post, we continued our Italian exploration with an excursion to Pisa to see the famous Leaning Tower, as well as going to the capital Rome.
- Part 1 Flight, Zurich, Florence
- Part 2 Pisa, Rome (this post)
- Part 3 Vatican, Rome
- Part 4 Venice
- Part 5 Salzburg
- Part 6 Neuschwanstein
- Part 7 Paris
- Part 8 Zermatt
- Part 9 Luzern
Pisa
We started early, woke up at 5 AM which was quite easy since our normal biological sleep clock was still pretty much there. We took a Regionale Veloce train to Pisa at 7 AM. This train was definitely a lower class regional train and thus should not be compared to Frecciarosa! It was decent although quite full. Pisa Centrale was a small station, and the city itself was cozy and definitely much calmer than Florence. I don’t know whether that’s just me or because we arrived early in the morning. You can take bus or walk to the tower of Pisa, but we chose to walk since we could take a look at the city (also because we didn’t know how to take the bus, can’t speak the language, etc).
We kept our bags in the left luggage office, every train station had one, just look for the Deposito Bagagli office, and they can store your baggage for a small fee. Directions to the Leaning Tower of Pisa was easy. Just follow the flocks of tourists! It took around half an hour to reach the tower from the train station.
The tower complex was small, besides the tower there was a baptistery, and two other buildings. It was possible to climb up the tower, definitely with entrance fee, however our timeline was quite tight so we didn’t climb up. We got very creative with our photos though 😀
Train Pisa-Rome
Fast forward.. We returned to Pisa Centrale station shortly before 12, took our baggage and board the Intercity 505 train that goes directly to Rome. Our coach was divided into compartments, with a long corridor on the left side of the coach. Of the four trains we have ridden, this train was the worst one I think. The coach was said to be air conditioned, but it seemed like the aircon wasn’t working. The compartment itself was a little cramped as well, since ours was full with three other people. We realized afterwards that this InterCity train was a regional train, which travel slower although it was direct to Rome. Regret that we didn’t make a detour to Florence first and then taking the high speed Frecciarosa trains! The scenery was quite beautiful though, since we crossed the countryside.
Rome
We arrived at Rome around 2:30 PM , and looked for our hotel. Our booking was on Hotel Termini at via Giovanni Amendola 77. However, the check in was to be in Hotel Piram at via Giovanni Amendola 7. A little bit confusion ensued while looking #7 and #77 although it was on the same road! Furthermore when we reached Piram, we were transferred to another hotel two streets away which was Hotel Regina Giovanna at via Nazionale. After much hassle we finally arrived at Regina Giovanna – a good hotel within an old building, and self service (you were given key to the front gate of the building, should you came back very late).
We had a very late lunch again (4:30 PM) – it was second consecutive day we forgot to plan our lunch in the train journey! The restaurant we ate was at Via Dei Serpenti – I ordered roast chicken and potato, Nico ordered spaghetti salmon, and Yosef pasta something. Sorry no photos for the food because we were too hungry back then!
Afterwards we took a walk to the Colosseum and Roman Forum beside. For me, to be able to see the real Colosseum that once only visible in my childhood geography books, or TV; I can’t help but felt grateful inside! The Colosseum was already past the opening hours then, so we decided to go back there 2 days later. We found out that the Roman Forum was already closed too, so we walked to the city.
I can’t accurately remember our route, but I recall we did some photography at a palace with Julius Caesar statue in front of it (from google search it seems to be Piazza Venezia). We skipped dinner again, and went for another gelato at some street with stairs. I do remember I bought a limone (lemon) gelato, which I strongly not recommend you to buy, since it was too sour. Cold and sour. We traced our way back to hotel and that wrapped our day 2.
Map
This map shows our route on day 2:
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