Ciao from Pisa, Italy

All these years, I avoided Pisa like the plague. I took the kids once to see that leaning tower. The piazza where the famous tower leans is full, and I mean chocked full of tourists. They are everywhere and FROM everywhere. Watching every person on the planet taking the same " look I'm holding up the leaning tower" picture definitely makes me vomit in my mouth a little bit, I am not going to lie. I never tell my guests to visit Pisa, "Avoid it," I say, "and just use the airport."However as many of you know, we have moved to the Lunigiana which is northern Tuscany and about 1 hour from Pisa. It's a pleasant and easy drive, so frequently I find myself hanging out in Pisa (mainly to go to the IKEA..but anyway...). A couple months ago, Frank and I spent the night in Pisa. We had a wicked early flight, so we thought, why not? We walked over to the Tower which was about 30 minutes from our hotel and to my surprise in March, there was hardly a tourist in sight. The piazza is quite beautiful, and approaching from the city side was extremely visually interesting, as the town is quite normal and sticking out of the city-scape was this incredible leaning building. I did not clue in at first because it was such an unexpected vantage point, but it was indeed the leaning tower of Pisa, go figure. It looked so odd jutting out of the city view.Last week, my son and I decided to take a stroll in the University district of Pisa, and again to my surprise Pisa has its very charming areas, great shops, funky college town fashion and cool edgy eateries, like Filter, a super groovy breakfast spot in the middle of the University. So yes, I have changed my mind, and Pisa is a great place to spend a few hours wandering the pretty cobbled streets and of course visiting the tower...especially since to my surprise, the tower is not the thing that makes Pisa kinda cool; there's a whole city out there if you take the time to look. Every once in a while one's viewpoint is changed; that's what makes life so interesting...indeed.Plus bacon and eggs? Why yes please! Pisa, we will be back soon...Ciao for now xx