UNLUCKY LUCCA

Lucca, a picturesque little town about 20 km from here was to have been my destination today. However, it was ordained for me not to reach it. At the station I duly purchased a ticket from a machine, completely oblivious to what was happening. On the platform everything seemed as normal when the train flashed up on the information monitor, but all was not well. Thinking a gentleman of my age was an Italian I asked him in the most simple English I could muster about the imminence of the train. He answered me in equally basic English. I thought nothing of it until his wife came, speaking to him with a noticeably Northern English accent. Funny, I thought, especially when he began speaking to her in the same natural English. It seems we both thought each other was Italian. It was only then that I discovered there was a train strike on which was effecting a lot of trains. The Lucca train then disappeared from the monitor and my hopes of a day out of Pisa dashed and a wasted 3 Euro into the bargain. Money back? That's another story.

The train wasn't going anywhere today so I headed back to the hostel to regroup. A new arrival in my room is an American guy from New York who found himself in much the same situation of broken dreams. We decided to team up and head out of town for the day, to a place called Tirrenia. Its not a long bus trip, and took us out to a beach resort. The sun very pleasant and an incredibly stiff refreshing wind coming in from the sea. The kite surfers were in action and Fred, New Yorker, introduced me to the delights of Amaro Montenegro, a delicious orange aperitif which went down very well, along with the coffee on a terrace overlooking the exceedingly choppy sea. Have already got a bus ticket to Florence where I am going tomorrow. D

SHELLEY WAS HERE

Its been a pretty nice day, the sun decided to make an appearance which toned down the cold wind. Stayed in Pisa and did some exploring as well as repeating some of yesterday's tramp. 
Found something which took me by surprise and that is a plaque on a remaining  wall of a demolished building. 

The plaque is on the wall near the centre of the picture on the left. It seems that Percy wrote his elegy for his friend John Keats, Adonais, here in Pisa in the building that has now crumbled. It was of course nearly 200 years ago in 1821 so I suppose its not too unlikely that the building has gone. Its always much better fun when I stumble on these things, like the George Orwell square in Barcelona, and Lord Byron's cafe in Sintra, near Lisbon.  
Also the Piazza dei Cavelieri had a certain old charm. Its a square not so far from the tower area. Come to think of it, nothing is very far from anything in this small town!

The main building in this small square has some amazing graffiti and just in front there is a very imposing statue of the man the square is dedicated to. Apparently, after a belated Wiki search the square is called Knight's Square as it was the headquarters of the Knights of St. Stephen and the man with his back to you is Cosimo I de' Medici, Duke of Florence in the 16th century.

I took a couple of extra pictures of the tower to show just how much it leans and for that matter, sinking. It was a better day for pictures so here they are.

That's all for now as I hope dinner won't be too long. Its curry tonight with the international trio. No guesses for who is going to cook it and I'll be watching carefully to try to pick up some hints. Cheers D

THAT TOWER

The black clouds have been threatening all day, but that's all, no rain so far. I think I caught the best part of the day to inspect that less than perpendicular object on the edge of town. I have seen pictures of it of course but the first sight of it is quite a surprise. It really does lean. 

I haven't seen that many pictures that compare it with the surrounding buildings but here it looks like it has just landed from outer space. 

The guy who took this for me, as it transpired, has a wealth of knowledge of such things as building subsidence. After he'd taken this picy of me he explained he was a structural engineer from Christchurch in New Zealand. Two earthquakes there recently destroyed half the city but he was very proud to say that all the buildings he had underpinned in the past were still standing. 

The really daft thing about this picture is that the person with the camera should be somewhere between them. Just a rehearsal perhaps.

Here's a movie with some comments about tourists. Just like Barcelona in February, there are a surprising amount of them.


I shall stop now as dinner awaits. Down in the kitchen, an unlikely trio from Bangladesh, Argentina and Zimbabwe, are cooking up a very promising Mediterranean fish dish. It smells fantastic and they have invited me to take part in the feast. Cheers D


PS
Since I signed off the superb dinner has been devoured. I didn't get the nationalities I mentioned before exactly right. They are from Egypt (the chef), India (Puna) and of course Zimbabwe. A great bunch of lads all studying in Pisa.

Hope you enjoyed the meal. D

MONSOON TIME IN PISA

About a month ago I found a very cheap flight to Pisa, so that's why I'm here now. Of course nothing goes smoothly because as the plane descended through towering cumulus clouds like a  bucking bronco, I knew it wasn't going to be very dry down there in Pisa. The hostel lies about half way between the airport and the leaning thing, all easy walking distances.

However, due to some heavy rain, I took a bus to the hostel. Funny looking place but I think its ok. Not expensive, and next door to the railway station where I will get a train to Florence on Monday, and perhaps a day trip during the next couple of days because Pisa isn't such a large place to keep me interested. 
I wonder what tomorrow has in store?