We left for Lucca about 10:30 but upon arrival on the outskirts it became suddenly apparent that parking was not going to be easy. The indicator on the main roundabout had no more than 6 spots showing so we made an executive decision and proceeded on to Pisa.
We will get the train to Lucca from the village up the road where Tarn believes the train leaves from as Lucca traffic is still death defying even though it's a small town.
We took the shortest Autostrada ride ever for about 10 minutes and a steal at €1 for the toll.
Driving into Pisa you get a sneak peak through the fields of this miracle of gravity defiance.
We got a bit lost near the railway station as the Tomtom seemed to believe this was the city centre so I keyed the leaning tower and found a park at the uni carpark across the road from the arch of the wall leading into the Campo dei Miracoli.
As you walk in you have the strangely shaped Battistero with it's half terra-cotta half iron roof. Next is the Duomo which is so beautifully detailed in pink and white marble. Then comes the Leaning Tower in all it's crookedness. I think the Campo dei Miracoli is nearly my favorite thing in Italy so far apart from the Firenze Duomo. The beautiful marble buildings all on the lovely green grass square. The Composato Monumentale is off to the side and no less a sight.
We went and had lunch at Trattoria da Matteo which is run by my very friend Natalie's cousin Marinella and her family whom we met at Nat & Paul's wedding two years ago. I walked in the door and as soon as I said hi to Marinella she shrieked "Australia" and came and gave us a typical warm Italian welcome.
Marinella showed us to the open terrace upstairs and we dined on great pizza and gnocchi and had the best coffee we have had in Italy. Marinella also put us on to her friend who runs an upmarket souvenir shop and Tarn managed to add Pisa to her regional Christmas decoration list. I also tried to add a red Vespa to my list but no dice as they only had white.
It was great to see Marinella again and Tarn took a couple of snaps (one is attached here Nat which once I get wifi will be viewable). Marinella who is 4 months pregnant said she was looking rough as the baby was booting her all night but I assured her she looked fine as she had a facia bruta like me in the pic.
We then did a bit of souvenir shopping and I found a new best mate in a Sudanese watch seller who was keen to flog his fake big name watches. I actually liked a Bvlgari fake he had but he wanted €85 and I offered €20. he kept pushing and I just kept repeating "venti" and after his continued attempts to pull more out of me he succumbed to my best offer and only offer.
I said to Tarn I don't know would buy a fake for €85 and she said Americans. Well low and behold I am sitting on a bollard waiting for the girls to finish souvenir shopping and up comes old mate from Khartoum and he shows the bloke on the next bollard a Rolex the punter asks how much in a heavy Brooklyn drawl - old mate says €90 and Mr Newyorker coughs up €90 faster than Schumacher in a Fezza, and goads my Sudanese mate that he has got the deal of the century.
There's one born everyday and 50,000 in the US apparently - maybe he was still drunk on patriotism after this mornings skewering of Osama.
Well we are back home in San Romano regardless of a Daewoo Matiz's efforts to terminate us and his own three unrestrained kids. It was cool though as we lost him after he did a triple truck overtake on double white lines and a blind corner in a wet road - arise Sir F**kwit the worst driver in Italy and that takes some beating.
Buona notte