Wednesday, October 27th

train rides = exciting with us!

Today we were once again woken up before planned. I was seriously concerned that the trailer was going to tip over it was rocking so much. Luke told me to stop complaining.

We quickly showered, packed up our bags, and checked out just before 10 am. Next we headed to the train station, to catch the 12:15 to Pisa. They had a self serve ticket machine, so we were pretty proud of ourselves for figuring it out!

Since we had a little bit of time before our train left, I set off to find a slice of pizza. I had the best cheese pizza and coke. I also had a slice of fruit pizza, but it wasn’t that great. Definitely wasn’t Illini Manor style. L Still edible and decent.

Pisa is so pretty!! :)

Our train was super cheap, which means not all that clean and no movie. L The seats were pretty big though and fairly comfy. Good thing, since we were traveling 4 hours! It was a regional train so people kept getting on and off. For the most part we had good cabin mates except for the guys that got on in the end. I’m 99% sure they’ve never seen deodorant before and seriously I thought I was going to vom. Ugh. Please, please, PLEASE wear deodorant! I do not want to be subjected to your stinky armpits!! I sniffed my hair the whole rest of the trip. Luke told me to stop complaining again. 

When we got to the hostel we settled into our 6 person room (only one other guy was there) and explored the building. We have a super sweet common room with a pool table and 3 free computers. There's also a kitchen, an indoor and an outdoor dinning area, and a cinema room. 

Luke and I decided to walk around Pisa. I didn't realize how small of a town it is. We walked to the Leaning Tower. The sun had mostly set, so it was all lit up. It had already closed so we didn't get to walk up in it, but it was still gorgeous! 

Leaning Tower of Pisa

By this point we were ready for a good Italian dinner, so we found this little hole in the wall restaurant. The only problem was, they spoke NO English and we don't know Italian. With my vague Spanish abilities we were able to piece together some words, but in the end just ended up picking some dishes off the menu. Mine was really good, totally not what I expected, but still delicious. It was a little noodle pocket filled with cheese and shrimp mix. Luke had spaghetti carbonara, not quite as adventurous as me. Haha! Our little cans of Coke we're *3* euros.. NOT OKAY! 

After dinner we took another route back to the hostel to explore more of Pisa. Naturally we got ever so lost, but made it back eventually! :) 

Back at the hostel we asked about the 10 pm movie night. The receptionist told us that the girl who normally puts the movies on wasn't there, but he would call the manager and see if he could get something set up for us. He and Luke went up to the cinema room and tried to figure out the projector while I covered reception. Yes, I worked the front desk! LOL! He was like, umm someone needs to stay here. I was like what do I do?! He was like just speak in English. Open the door if people show you their receipt! lol..

just call me ms. receptionist

So everything was fine and dandy until some Italian girl came up and tried to book a room and I wouldn't let her in because she didn't have a receipt. Fail. Luckily Mr. Man in Charge came back and fixed that!

Luke decided to check his Facebook and I sat in the cinema room. This girl came in that worked there and said something in broken English and then just started Mama Mia to show me that the movies didn't work, but it did work. I was so confused! So I started watching Mama Mia. Luke was not thrilled. :)

After the movie we both went back to the room and crashed. Thankfully by morning Luke was over it! haha!