Continuing with memories from our trips around Italy. Today, Pisa.
When we first visited Pisa we went more because we heard so much about it. After the first two visits we realized that Pisa was overrated; nothing more to see than the Leaning Tower and that famous, beautiful square. There was though a touching story that D shared with me when we saw the Leaning Tower for the first time. It was dark and dead silence. We stood there looking around and I asked him if he was impressed. He looked at the Tower and said: “When I was a little boy I used to look at an old magazine that had the picture of this tower in it. It seemed so far away. My grandmother once said to me not to worry, someday I will surely come and see the Leaning Tower from Pisa. Back then it was like saying I would go to the Moon one day. And here I am.”
From then on, Pisa became a regular drive for us, but not for the Tower, but for the Marina which was a few kilometers further from the city. In time we found our own perfect spot, on top of the giant rocks to watch quietly the seaside going back and forward and have a cappuccino on Sunday mornings. It soon became a ritual. Whenever we felt down or sad, we used to drive up to that specific spot and enjoy our cappuccinos, sometimes in perfect silence. Pisa was also one of the cities that was included in our touristic tour that we used to offer to every friend or family member who visited us. We loved it!
I hate the sea. Maybe I should have started with that. 🙂 I am fascinated and terrified by it in the same time. That is why, going to the seaside during the summer, laying in the sun to get tanned, it’s torture for me. That is also the reason why we used to avoid that spot during the hottest months of summer when people gathered around to get suntanned, disturbing the sounds that the sea made when touching the rocks. I used to patiently wait for the two full summer months to pass so I could get my spot back. That place is where I witnessed waves I have never seen before, tall, majestic, trying to tell a story, where my mind could stop and take a break from everything around me and where everything seemed to stand still until I was ready to accept movement again.
A week before I gave birth I had a long list of things I needed to do. In my mind the list was like a safety net in case I would have died. Stupid, I know, but the brain of a pregnant woman works completely different than a normal one. At least that is my hope and belief, otherwise all pregnant women are acting stupid for no reason at all. 🙂 One of the things on that list was to have one last cappuccino on the rocks at the Marina. I will never forget that day, the silence, the music of the waves. It was beautiful.
So even if Pisa will never have that wow element in our eyes, we will always have a special bond with the waves that touch its shore and we will always wait for the summer to end, so we can have our wintry, silent cappuccino again.
