This was the day we traveled to Pisa. We were up at the buttcrack of dawn and I gotta say, there were way too many morning people on our bus. What is it about laughter and singing at 6:30 a.m. that makes me want to drive a stake through another person's heart? Though I must say, had it not been for the old guy's incessant chatter about boiling deer carcasses for their marrow keeping me awake and slightly nauseous, I never would have had the opportunity to see a scruffy, Lurch look-alike stopped along the road taking a leak in full view of God and country. Outstanding.
Our tour guide Lucca explained more about the Tuscan region and the architecture of Pisa as he loaded us on our transportation to the main city square. I felt like I was headed into the Magic Kingdom.
Our baby train dropped us off at the Palazzo dell' Arcivescovado, where I immediately began taking pictures of every nun I saw coming out of the Bishop's crib. What can I say - not everyone can rock the flowing white ensemble, so give credit where it's due. For the record, I did not ring the bell and run, just to get a photo.
Judging by the crowd, Pisa is the it place to visit. Our white-pants-wearing guide, Giovanni, led us past the massive swells of tourists and gave us a private tour of the baptistery, ginormous church, hospital, and cemetery for the bishops. They were arranged in a sort of square formation, so they were commonly referred to as Hatch, Match, Patch, and Dispatch.
But then we came upon the real reason we were all there - to see the leaning tower of Pisa. It leans due to crappy workmanship on soggy ground that started to settle afterward. If they hadn't stopped building on it during the times they were busy killing people from other towns, it would have toppled. It had actually moved much farther than it was supposed to in the nineties also, so they had to attach counterweights to bring it back. It now sits about twelve feet off center. Our guide says nobody knows for sure who built it, because seriously, who's gonna take credit for that kind of craftsmanship? (If you click on the pic, you can see where they are doing restoration on the third floor. Too much erosion from wind, rain, and bird crap.)
While we were wandering through the throngs of people, we saw a Japanese couple getting married. And since we all know there's nothing I like more than taking pictures of complete strangers without their consent, here's a photo of the happy couple.
When we finally got our fill of buying random Pinocchio souvenirs for the children of friends, it was back on the bus to Lucca. Our guide turned us loose with strict instructions as to when we were to be back at the stop, and we were on our own to roam. There aren't any famous sights in Lucca, but it had once been a castle, so there is a large moat around the town. Ok, sure, without the water and alligators it's just a lawn. Why do you have to be such killjoys? Geez.
My friends and I took off wandering around, with no particular destination in mind. While great for taking pictures of random things you wouldn't ordinarily see, it does lead to a bit of directional confusion. We weren't lost, mind you, we were just uncertain as to where we were and how we would get to where we had been. But how else would we get the opportunity to see the skivvies of strangers? I mean, without resulting in a restraining order?
But the path of misdirection was worth it. We got to see interesting sights all over that we would have missed if we hadn't stumbled into the slightly odoriferous residential section. For instance, check out the lovely sentiment on this wall, which is now my wallpaper. Who says the possibility of herpes simplex can't be romantic?
And then there was the curious street lamps covered in spikes. I finally found out that their purpose is to discourage birdies of all sorts from landing on them, thus leading to the crapping up of the streets. I don't know how the birds feel about it, but I'm fairly confident that getting a metal spike rammed up my keister would rather quickly change my mind about sitting there. Moving on!
I do have one question that perhaps someone out there can answer for me. Occasionally, we would come across a decorative door with a photo above it, followed by a plaque that I assume explains who the person is. Is it a saint? Owner of the home that are just proud of their accomplishments? Lady of the evening selling her wares? My Italian is too sketchy to arrive at an answer. Inquiring minds want to know.
Eventually, this nifty little tunnel led us back into the light, where we suddenly realized that after two hours, we were back where we started. Told ya we weren't lost.
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