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Touring Pisa

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PISA, Sep 16 - A few rain drops we had felt as we left our hotel in Florence turned into a pouring rain most of the way due west to Pisa (see above map).  Our original objective was to use this relatively short drive to explore the second most beautiful Tuscan city, famous for its leaning tower, and perhaps even some of the western coast of Italy. But the rain had thwarted these plans and shortened our drive.

Pisa

Furthermore, we had the hardest time finding the leaning tower even though it just happens to be the best known thing about Pisa. 

We drove all over the Pisa city center for half an hour vainly looking for signs to it.  It was as if the Pisanians (if there is such a word?) wanted to tease the visitors' intelligence and make them figure out a puzzle before being rewarded with these beautiful views...

When we finally did manage to find the Tower, I felt like shouting "Eureka!" (while leaning to port, of course... :-).  Instead, we just clicked our cameras.

The grounds around the Tower and the adjacent domed church were immaculate, as you can see.

During one particularly heavy downpour, we sought refuge in a nearby restaurant.  The head waiter, Iglio, was quite a character.  After welcoming us and having us seated near the entrance, he shooed off a couple of older women who asked for a coffee.  "Go next door," he told them bluntly.  When I later asked him if they took credit cards, he replied tongue-in-cheek, "yes, but not from you."  We all cracked up.  And so on... while Elizabeth had a pizza and I sipped on a cappuccino, watching the waiter banter and joke with his customers provided a comical break better than a stage act.

On our drive back to Florence, we were again stymied by a lack of road signs in Pisa.

So we made a turn to a country road that provided some wonderful visual entertainment - in the form of beautiful scenes of the Tuscan countryside.

Back in Florence

By the time we returned to Florence, the rain had stopped, giving us a chance for a walk around our neighborhood.  Just in case, Elizabeth took with her a pretty umbrella with scenes of Pisa that I got her during our lunch break there (left).  We then went to a local food store and had fun negotiating with the butcher the various cuts of prosciutto and salami that we wanted for dinner.  One of them included a slide of that enormous Bolognese salami that the butcher is cutting for us (right).  It must have been more than a foot in diameter.  And yes, we ate it all!  :-)

And that's all she wrote from our sixth day in Europe.

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