Switzerland: Geneva + Leaning Tower of Pisa

July 6 we left Florence, Italy on a long drive to Paris.  I wouldn't normally write about driving days but this particular drive was magnificent.

We headed west (Point A to Point B on map) a little over an hour to Pisa where we saw the famous leaning tower.

The lean of the tower really is far more impressive when you are actually there as is the size of the tower.  Notice in the pictures where the flag is on top of the tower....that is where the center of the tower should be if it was standing straight.

AJ worked at pushing the tower back to straight position....

I laugh at this picture due to the angle....the girls look enormous or the tower looks tiny depending on how you look at it....

We spent an hour in Pisa.  The leaning tower really is a gift to the city as a huge number of tourists were there.  The walkway to the tower and the area outside the old city wall were just filled with merchants selling all kinds of things.  I joked as we left that our contribution to the city coffers was 3 Euros for parking.  

After grabbing a bit to eat, we started one of the most magnificent drives of my life.  The drive along the Italian coast was really amazing.  Everyone else was sleeping in the car so I don't have any pictures of it, but think of it as a drive of tunnels mixed in with stunning view of mountains, the ocean, little villages etc.  

I counted 48 tunnels of all sizes....and I only started counting after I had been through 10 or 15 tunnels and felt 'this is really unusual'  As I would enter one of these 60+ tunnels, anticipation would grow on what would be on the other side.  Sometimes the ocean would open up on the left side, other times the road would curve a bit so that the left side would be a hill but on the right side would be a quaint Italian village.  

Tunnel exits included plunging valleys down to the ocean and sometimes simple land bridges.  Some tunnels would give you a 5 second glimpse of the surroundings before diving into the next tunnel.  There really is no way to do this drive justice with words, but if you ever happen to get a chance to drive that part of Italy (up to Genoa where the road moves inland) then do it.  

The pictures below are of the Italian alps heading into Switzerland....

We spent the late afternoon and evening in Geneva, Switzerland.  None of us had ever been to Geneva....it is really beautiful.

There is a large lake in Geneva and the city is on the far southern edge of the lake and very close to the French border.

We had some wonderful family time as there was a park on the lake...

Which AJ absolutely loved...

As did the girls...

AJ made new friends...

And as we sat down to dinner a huge water cannon started shooting this stream of water at least 50 meters into the air.  This cannon is at the end of a long jetty which shoots out into the lake and you can walk out there, get soaking wet etc.

Recall from the post about Florence, Italy that AJ calls the famous Michelangelo statue of David "The Nakee Guy"  I mentioned in that post when we got to Geneva AJ went up to a statue and said "Hey, there's the Nakee Girl!"   And, here she is....

We read earlier in our trip 'Manna' from heaven...when our ice cream came we called this plate 'ice cream from heaven'  The waiter messed up and brought us too much ice cream (after we had already paid for everything) and he said "just keep it and enjoy"  We did!

The sunset was beautiful...

And since we were in no rush to get to Lyon, France (where we slept the night), we just stayed in Geneva and played.  This evening was just a wonderful evening....

This pose is AJ's Spiderman pose...

Do you think AJ ended up getting wet?

The answer would be....yes!

Love this picture with AJ in the background

We spent the night in Lyon, France and then continued our travels July 7 arriving in Paris.  Apparently, we really tuckered AJ out as the sleeping picture is from the next day and the final picture is upon arrival in our little place in Paris.

Next post will be all about Paris...

Til then, God bless