Awaking from another long night of mozzie tennis, we effectively wasted another morning before a last minute decision saw all six of us again in convoy to a tourist attraction. This time the destination was Pisa and like all last minute decisions it was poorly planned. We managed to make our way to Pisa without any problems. However we had no idea where in Pisa the “Grassy field of Miracles” is. In our desperate hesitation we pulled off at the first sign for Pisa. Before long we found ourselves guessing and I promptly pulled over and stopped. The Megane with rest of the family followed suit and almost immediately both bonnets were covered in maps. After 5 minutes of intense pointing and gesturing we were all in complete disagreement. Dad seemed certain he knew which way we should go but he didn’t want to lead. So we headed of in the other direction and soon became lost again. I gave up and pulled over again. Mel got out and asked some people sitting on a nearby park bench. Luckily they spoke English and even more luckily they told us to leave the cars where they were and walk half a kilometer down the road to the “Grassy field of Miracles”.

Upon entering the gate we were immediately surrounded by black guys selling watches and sunglasses (at least it was a change from the Louis Vuiton bags in Venice). Like Venice there was that same “oh my God, it’s the Leaning Tower of Pisa” reaction. Although unlike Venice it soon wore off. The neighboring Dom was almost as interesting as the tower itself. Surprisingly we were allowed to take photos inside. Speaking of which we’ve taken about 700 so far this trip!

You’d think we’d have a fairly clear run back to the villa, but we got just as lost as we did earlier. This time dad was in the lead. The third time he pulled over he was completely lost and oblivious to where he had pulled over. There were two dodgy guys with a van and a fruit stall, a very masculine “woman” in fishnets on a deckchair and two guys with knives in a Mercedes. A great time to look like clueless tourists!

Finally we were on our way back to the villa. By the time we got home everything was closed except a local pizza shop. We were all content except for Mel. Looks like she scored a bad panini, so she was on the porcelain bus tour for the rest of the night.