Pisa and Lucca

Pisa! Yes! Who guessed it?

Two of the Four Find-outers had been, but DJ and I had totally NOT! Imagine going to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa (LTP)! Well, we did. And we had fun.

Apparently Galileo never went there (Andy told me this), but we DID. We didn't climb LTP, but we did walk up to it and touch it. TOUCHed it! I suppose you are saying to yourselves, "What would happen if EVERYONE who visited LTP went up and touched it?", but I am if the view that nothing would happen. This is totally the opposite of stealing daffodils from fields.

Andy is full of contrary-wise ideas like this information about Galileo. For example, he said that the real meaning of 'enormous' is not 'big', but 'bad', as in, "the occupation of France by the Nazis had an enormous effect on the country." Andy told me lots of interesting stuff like this.

You can all pretty-well imagine what Pisa was like and what you conjure up in your mind will probably be right. Lots of tourists (imagine what the joint will be like in summer), lots of stalls selling trinkety nick-nacks, heaps of touros taking funny photos of their friends holding up the tower and/or pinching it from above to stop it falling.

Our tickets, while not letting us up the LTP, did give us access to a mausoleum (wonderful) and a huge round structure that DJ assures me was a place for baptismal rites and such. Both were stunning, and definitely worth the visit.

Pisa was not our only destination for the day. No. We had got a bit lost getting there and had come within a stone's throw of Lucca. It is to this city that we returned when we had finished with Pisa. AND WE WERE NOT DISAPPOINTED!

First-off we lucked in to a cafe for lunch with the most friendly and helpful waiter that has ever pulled on a waiter's uniform, even though his uniform was jeans and similar attire. Lovely chap, good food. The cafe, as with most of the town is located inside some pretty lovely ramparts. Not only ramparts, but a moat as well! It is a much bigger city than Beaune, but every bit as lovely. Risty-twisty streets, towers, churches and cathedrals. This is a place to come back to (for us) and for you to make into a destination. It would not be outside the realms of probability to get yourself a little apartment, either. Think about it!

Photos attached.

Toodles!