minus the trains, Lucca was lovely

We went to Lucca yesterday, which is a small town about 2.5 hours from Siena away by train. Toscana (Tuscany) is full of little gems like Lucca, and I've loved our day trips to some of the towns nearby.


In the afternoon, we rented bicycles and rode around the walls surrounding the city. The beautiful tree-lined path reminded me so much of Central Park (and The Sound of Music!).
When we passed through Pisa, from the train Alexa and I could see the dome of the baptistry of Leaning Tower fame. On a whim (i.e., in the span of approximately 30 seconds that our train was stopped at the platform) we decided to get off the train and go see the tower. Our tickets were valid for a full 6 hours after validation, so why not? We dashed off the train, saw Pisa in half an hour, and were back on a train going home in 30 minutes flat. We also made it onto a connecting train with our friends, so it was like we had never left.

It was also a stroke of luck, because it allowed us to escape the less-than-ideal, crowded train car full of delinquent Italian youths who were smoking on the train, even after a scolding from the conductor. Despite our open window, we were all coughing and my eyes were watering from the smoke. Cue the title of this post.
This was a perfect impulse decision, as neither of us had seen the tower, but neither of us wanted to spend a whole day (or the money on travel) to come to Pisa just for this.

And every once in a while, you need a good impulsive move. It's funny to think that a month ago, I was not nearly as comfortable with Italian public transportation, so I would never have done such a thing.