Pisa

We were woken this morning by a cacophony of church bells and rapid gunfire. Alarming as it may sound, it was just the call to mass, and people out shooting in the surrounding countryside. The rain was heavy, the cloud a thick blanket over the mountains. Late morning, we drove down to the nearby seafront, but with the rain forever persistent, we decided not to stop, but drive on a little further towards Pisa.

In a village on route, we found a nice parking area opposite the church. The weather was beginning to settle, so we opened the side door of the van and put the kettle on. After a short walk, we returned to Marge for our lunch, whilst listening to the piercing thrill of the birds in the nearby trees.

The drive into Pisa was easy, the traffic light, as it was Sunday, and still quite early in the tourist season. We easily found the aire, which is just a mile and a half from the tower. After paying our 12 euros for a 24 hour stay, to a very nice Italian man, who spoke some English (we're still at the beginning of learning some basic Italian), we set off to the city centre.

We had already glimpsed the tower on the road in, but were not prepared for the sight that awaited us. This time last year, if someone had told us, we would be standing next to the leaning tower of Pisa this time, this year, we would not have believed them.

The tower of gleaming white marble, looked like a model, but on closer inspection you could see the originality, and deformities, that were not quite so obvious at first sight.

The tower is alongside the cathedral, the two buildings together looked striking. The area was busy, with persons of all nationalities, in particular, Chinese, American and Indian, all wanting that famous photograph of seemingly holding up the tower.

All around, the buildings were stunning, and on one of the manicured lawns there was a fantastic sculpture of 'the fallen angel'. We walked for hours, with so much to see. At every turn white marble, dazzling in the sunlight, even the kerb stones are marble here, and at last nights aire, they had placed marble discs in the concrete to divide the parking spaces.

Despite, the awful weather of the morning, the afternoon weather was lovely, a pleasant suprise, as we were expecting today to be a wash out.

To end the day it had to be 'Pizza in Pisa'. A welcome sit down, outside in the warm evening air, the pedlars as usual not far away, up for a banter with you. 'Do you want to buy a watch?'. 'I have a watch'. 'But mine are better' 'Yes, but mine was cheaper!'

Other views around the city.

Tomorrow, before we leave, we will take a very short walk, over to the large supermarket behind us, hoping to find an English guidebook on Italy. We stupidly forgot to buy one before we left.

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