Thursday, September 21.  We paid(!) for the ship’s bus shuttle to Lorenzo’s bus station, transferred to the city bus for the train station, then got on the train to Pisa.  We didn’t want to risk missing the train while figuring out how to pay.  There was a ticket conductor on the train but she barely glanced at us.

Nonstop to Pisa.  About a 30 minute walk to the Tower.  Bought a timed ticket to climb it, then visited the cathedral and gift store.  We also spent 20 minutes in line to check Yoriko’s bag.  No bags in the Tower, plus a pat down.  Friendly but thorough.  Because of the attendance limitation the Tower was really easy to navigate.  Steps were very worn and slippery, not to mention slanted.  View was impressive.  Well worth dedicating the entire day to do the climb.

Afterwards we had lunch outdoors with a fun conversation with some Americans who were doing a self driving tour of Italy.  Envious.  We paid(!) for our return train ride.