So  Saturday I took the Vespa to Pisa with every intention of seeing Gogol Bordello.
Due to my ignorance of Italian roads I apparently took the “long way round…”. My plan was to drive down along the coast until I hit Marina di Pisa, but by the time I hit Viareggio I was pretty sick of traffic and the clutch on the Vespa was being a bit wanky…
So I saw a sign for SS1 to Pisa and took it. It’s not the Austrada (it’s illegal to take a 125cc scooter onto the Austrada). Just a 2 lane highway. I eventually made it to Pisa and since I was paranoid about the clutch I decided to make sure everything was in working order as if I followed the plan I would be driving home at midnight or so…
So I find out I have no tailight. The brakelight works, but not the tailight…This is problem number 1…Problem number 2 was that I forgot my phone…This is a problem for a myriad of reasons. No internet, no calling colleagues for help. Brilliant!!! So now I’m thinking I either need to get home before dark or find a hostel and go to the show and then stay overnight in Pisa. So I walk around for a couple hours looking for a hostel (I had ruled out proper hotels due to cost). There was supposed to be a hostel close to the tower, but I did not find it. If I had had my phone I could have looked online…

So it’s getting dark and I decide to head home. I’m not really sure how to get back, but I got really lucky and stumbled onto the right road immediately. Made it home by dusk and had an exciting evening at home…Was a bit painful to drive that far on a Vespa. My arms and back were a bit sore by the time I got home. Will have to practice I guess. It was actually a fun trip tho. Gave me something to do I guess….

Took a  few pics on Saturday and found some old photos on my phone as well.