Pisa

Pisa was by far my least favorite city of the entire trip. We left Genoa, the bustling and urban industrial city that we had our conference in and left to go to the cultural center of Florence. But on the way, we stopped by the tourist trap known as Pisa.

We arrived on a rainy day, and found ourselves in a bus stop full of tourists and scalpers. The scalpers were all of African descent, and due to the rain were all wielding umbrellas covered with corny pictures of Italian landmarks. Most of the tourists were Asian, from what I later learned Japanese. Apparently the Japanese love Italy and are the largest tourist group in the country.

Once we got past the scalpers we arrived at the bus depot. From here a bus shuttles all the tourists from the bus stop to the city of Pisa. We took the shuttle with many of the other toursits, and we arrived outside the walls of Pisa and once again are attacked by scalpers. We proceeded again repeatedly saying "No" to all the various scalpers. Almost at the gates of the city, we were confronted by a group of gypsies. They were holding babies, speaking in Slavic tones, and moving in a pack through our group. They grabbed one of our girl's purses and caused quite a scene.

After that conundrum, we finally entered the gates of Pisa. Initially, we were stunned. There were three marble structures, a large dome closest, a cathedral behind that, and a small, infamous, leaning tower behind that. It was fun, seeing a landmark known throughout the world for its unique quality. We took the corny stereotype pictures of us holding up the tower. We took pictures of all the cathedral, the dome, the facades of the city. Others payed large fees to enter the cathedral, or the dome, or the tower itself.

The advisors freaked out after we got inside. They told us to make sure our wallets were in our front pockets and all our valuables were secure and accounted for. We weren't sure why at first, but we deduced that someone had their wallet pick pocketed. Eventually we learned that one of the advisors lost their wallet, probably due to the gypsies that we ran into earlier. This put a tone of danger as well as suspicion in our experience of Pisa.

Others payed to go up the tower, but I declined. I walked with Ashley and a few others through the city and went to get coffee.

I sincerely thought about the city while we walked, and at one point it hit me. The whole city was a sham. A big sham. It was three large landmarks in a small city that had no true importance. Scalpers and pickpockets were rampant, and there was no legitimate Italian culture present in the city. It honestly just made me mad. It wasn't an Italian experience, it was a tourist experience. It didn't show you what it really was, it showed you what you wanted to see. After being in such a real city like Genoa, going to Pisa was simply a disappointment.

Thankfully, Florence was next. Ahh Firenze.