Tuesday had been particularly wet and dismal; Jess was in Milan that day, we resorted to hitting the Naval Museum to get out of the apartment. With eyes on the weather, we planned to put to good use Wednesday and Thursday’s clear skies and sunshine.

Thursday we took the train to Pisa to see ‘The Tower’. To get the ball rolling, I logged onto my computer and completed my final nursing assessment task – a paediatric test of 30 questions. Finishing that (with a 92%, may I add) and after a Skype with Mum and Dad, Rod was keen for us to get the 10:06 or 10:20 train to Pisa. Jess and I just can’t step up to that type of pressure, so I suggested we aim for the 11:23. Jess and I had a bite to eat and the family headed to the train station for a leisurely day out in the sunshine.

Being a gentleman, Rod didn’t once suggest if Jess and I had’ve been able to get organised, we wouldn’t have waited nearly an hour for the delayed train to Pisa. Bless him. Trenitalia’s official word about the delay was ‘a failure on the train’. Great.

Having recently returned from Milan on the train, Jess was able to read the tickets and showed us which car and seats we had been allocated. It was unlike any train we had been on in Australia since the 80’s. Each group of 6 seats had their own compartment; it was luxury train travel for us!

Once in Pisa we shared a platter of cured meats, tomatoes and mozzarella with some bread. Delish. Headed in the general direction of ‘The Tower’ and subsequently came under fire from one of Hamish’s hissy fits. After some brief suggestion from me about counting to ten and taking some big breaths (all the time standing out of kicking range) he yelled that he wanted daddy. Fine. He’s all yours Rod!

Got to ‘The Tower’. It is absolutely beautiful and I was not underwhelmed as I had expected. The entire complex is stunning; no pictures do it justice. I had another, ‘wow, we’re in Italy’ moment. It was however, full of tourists and tour groups and people standing around with their arms up for the quintessential picture, which detracted from the experience. I know, we are tourists, but we don’t count…

Hamish made friends with a 3 month old baby boy from Switzerland (and his Mum), dragging his best friend Rod along, whilst Jess and I paid to use the public toilets. Stopped for a coffee and shared snack on the way back to the train station, all the time dodging the hawkers trying to sell us a Rolex, “You want bling bling?” Or a selfie stick. No.

NB: We have noticed, and I think we have already said, that Hamish has a very loud voice. Forgot to mention on the way back from Cinque Terre, his loud voice paid off. He asked Jess and I if the train conductor was the train driver. Although we answered him, he kept asking loudly until the man acknowledged him. Every time the train started again, Hamish would say, “There he is again” and other such comments. In the end, the guy took him (and Rod) up into the driver’s compartment so he could see all the goings on from the train driver’s perspective.