Pisa
An addition to the programme springs to
mind. We catch the train to Pisa. My Italian is as poor as you who know the
full extent of my study would expect an the booking office staff think I an
trying to order a Pizza. Eventually we overcome this difficulty by adopting
a list to starboard and soon reach the town with the famous tower instead of
obtaining some more pasta. "we didn't...."
What is more, it is not raining in Pisa. The tower is some distance and the
lone bus in front of the station explains that there are no buses until 4PM
because of Buon Anno. We ask the way to the tower and he decides to take us.
No charge and he won't accept a tip. The tower is a real oddity and is much
photographed. We play silly games, trying to produce a snap that will make it
appear upright failing miserably. The byzantine cathedral next door and the
adjacent crown shaped Baptistry may open at three. I check the map and work
out a short tour of tourist attractions within walking distance to fill the
time gap. Meg who for some reason has not been impressed with my navigation
on this holiday comes along with some reluctance. The streets do not quite correspond
with the map. Well they never draw to scale in foreign parts, they don't seen
to value ordnance survey. We reach a decrepit church, closed, in an untidy square.
In a side street there is a silhouette of a man sitting on a wall, odd. The
square of the horsemen comes next. The horsemen are on holiday but the square
is interesting. It contains St Stephens, pretty, a school, very ornately decorated
and a clock without hands. I have seen one without numbers before and one with
only one hand but this makes telling the time nearly as difficult as taking
a photograph because cars keep shooting diagonally across the square from all
sides. We return to the Cathedral, excellent navigation you will note, which
decides not to open so we down two cappuccini and stroll back to the station
sharing roast chestnuts with a family of Australians who all have French names.
The train is due and for variety this is a stopping train and we need to change.
Tonight we eat more simply, Pizzas, not Pisas baked over a wood fuelled oven
which creates a delicious flavour.