We're off

After my first weekend adventure, coming back to Siena finally made it feel a little more like home. I went with some friends to Pisa and Lucca on Saturday, then met up with the rest of the group in Viareggio for the Carnivale celebration on Sunday. Apparently the Viareggio Carnevale is sometimes the biggest in Europe, so this was very exciting.

I have to say, Pisa is pretty nasty. Probably because it's overrun with tourists who just want to see the leaning tower, and besides that and the rest of the Duomo there isn't all too much. So, we were unfair to Pisa like every other tourist and just went and took some pictures then hopped a train to Lucca. Which was a good decision, because Lucca was wonderful! (I do have to say though, the Leaning Tower is just really funny. I couldn't look at it without laughing.)

It rained for most of the day in Lucca, but that didn't damper our trip. I think it really says a lot about a place if it's raining almost the entire time that you're there and you still love it. Like Siena, it's a medieval city with a wall and mostly pedestrian traffic inside the wall. But, Lucca is unique because the wall (or "mura") has a wide path for walking and biking and is lined with trees. The city is surrounded by mountains, so there are beautiful views no matter where you look. My favorite part was climbing an old tower that has trees growing on top of it. The vistas were amazing from up there.

I've put up all the pictures I've taken so far on my flickr site. You don't have to click through every picture, you can just look at the thumbnails and click on them if you want to see better detail, so it's pretty convenient.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/martatom/

I feel like I'm really studying abroad now. More adventures to come!