Pisa and Livorno

Crazy story - I didn't bring any contact info when we came to italy, so I didn't quite know what to do to get ahold of friends (or to ask for places to stay). SO when we went north, things got a little fuzzy. I had the email adress of a girl in Livorno named Irene. I was able to get ahold of her by email about a week before we got there. SHe gave me her phone number and the number to a couple other people that I couldn't really remember. So me and Tom went up to Livorno without a clue as to where we'd sleep or even if we'd stay there. So when we got off the train, we called irene. She was going to the beach so we arranged to meet. All I knew was the bus I needed to take, but she didn't tell me where they were going to be swimming. We got on the bus and after going all the way accross town, the bus driver stopped the bus, got out and took a lunch break. He just sat there eating a sandwich for 15 minutes, then got on the bus again and we continued on. We eventuall got to the beach (about an hour later).


We got off the bus when we could see the ocean and just started walking along the beach. About 20 seconds into it, I see the back of the head of a friend of mine, Giacomo. I yell, "Giacomo!" and he turns around. Certaily enough it's him, with all the kids from Livorno. We were just going to sleep on the beach, but Giacomo and his brother Willy invited us to sleep on their marble floor. We were so happy to have a place to stay.

In the morning we got up and went to Pisa. In Pisa we saw the Tower. Tom had just finishe Atlas shrugged and will have to tell you all one day about how he left it on the fountain in Piazza Dei Miracoli in the shadow of the tower of Pisa.