Noddy 'kicks' the bucket

Almost another week flies past and a few more sights of Italy under the
belt. Our Tuscan tour started off on Saturday with a trip into Pisa. We had
decided to get the bus in as we thought it was only a few minutes walk from
the site to the nearest stop. Unfortunately it wasn't, almost 25 or so, and
thanks to some not very good directions at first from the site reception we
missed the bus we wanted and had to wait for an hour for the next. We
eventually arrived and conveniently hopped off just outside the Campo di
Miracoli. The main square with the Duomo, Tower, etc. almost looks like a
theme park. It is a bit surreal to have several huge spectacles of buildings
in their dark and light striped stone all in the middle of a nice lawn,
especially as they must have been cleaned recently and were mostly bright
and looking quite new. What doesn't help is the long stretch of tacky
souvenir shops that line the side of the square selling all the usual bits
that people buy on mass to prove that they were there. The tower was still
leaning and they now charge the princely sum of 15€ for the privilege, they
must keep the money in a safe as a counterbalance, but as they only let a
few in at a time every 40 mins it was already looking like late in the day
if we were interested, but we decided that there are better Italian sights
to spend the money on later in Rome. The Duomo was only 2€ so we checked
that out, and it was very ornate, and in some ways a bit too ornate and
almost like a grand art gallery. Breaking with the traditional Pisa tour of
just hopping off the coach climbing the tower and hopping back on the coach,
we headed of to discover what the rest of the city has to offer. It was
indeed very nice, and fairly quiet. There are several other nice smaller
churches to see and some amazing old buildings. It seems quite a shame that
most people never see any of it. After a very pleasant day we got a bus back
to Torre del Lago and headed back for dinner. We were greeted with the site
of hundreds of kids who had arrived in the campsite that afternoon. They
must have belonged to several different scout groups from around the area.
They made a fine old racket until will into the night with all sorts of
games and songs. We weren't to sad to see them leave eventually on Monday.
On Sunday, we chose to go and see Lucca and decided that we would not use
the bus this time and drive there. I should have known that taking the van
would be a silly idea especially after reversing out of the pitch straight
over our bucket we use for emptying the waste water tank. It is just about
usable but a new bucket will be required. We thought Lucca would be quiet as
it was a Sunday, but we must have spent almost 45 minutes trying to find
parking and eventually found some down a side street. It was well worth it
as Lucca is a very pleasant place to stroll around with many a fine old
building and church to take in.
As Monday was a public holiday we had an easy day at the van and cycled down
to the beach in the afternoon although we didn't stay long as it was not the
nicest beach we have seen.
We hit the Autostrada yesterday and headed for Florence aiming for a site
next to the Piazzale Michelangelo looking down on the city. Even though the
site was very busy we managed to get a spot and after some lunch we took the
20 minute stroll down into town across the Ponte Vecchio for a nice
afternoon of sightseeing. What a lovely city Florence is, and it is quite
busy even at this time of the year. There are some amazing buildings to see,
especially the Duomo. Well from the outside at least. For a building that is
so exquisite and intricate on the outside, the interior is very plain and
almost stark. In contrast, to the north of the city is the church of
Santissima Annunziata which has a very plain front facade which was a late
addition, but the interior is just quite breathtaking.
After making the mistake in Lucca of having a cup of coffee and a snack
sitting at a table and getting charged the earth for it, we made sure we
stood at the bar when we had a couple of coffee and cake stops in the
afternoon. An espresso can be under a Euro at the bar, but almost 3 or 4 if
you sit down instead. So despite many an hour of walking, stay on your feet
if you still want to have the bus fare home.
Today we had an early start and hit the city again to see all that we had
not covered yesterday. It is amazing how you can spend 6 or 7 hours just
ambling around the streets taking in all there is to be seen. The only
problem is that if you get the timing slightly wrong then a lot of the
places you want to go into shut from just after midday to about 16h00.
Tomorrow we will head a bit further south and spend a few days around Arezzo
and gently amble down via the rest of Tuscany and then Umbria towards Rome.

Ciao

M&S