Day 9 - Part 2, Pisa

Pisa town was about 15 minutes walk away. Arriving at the city (?) walls, we were greeted by the usual band of sellers, proffering the usual old shit, Rolex watches for €30. "Very cheap"
 

Through the gate we were greeted by our first sight of the Cathedral and the world famous tower. The square was rammed with people, all nationalities, shapes and sizes and all trying to take the 'look I'm holding up the tower' photo. Not to be outdone, Grizzly got one of me holding it up with my finger!
 

We made our way round to the base of the tower. I was quite surprised how big it is. I hadn't imagined it that large for some reason. I got in the queue to go inside and agreed to meet Grizzly at 18:00. Ticket checked, I stepped through the wooden doorway and promptly fell to my right. Oops! That's the lean for you. Next surprise, it is just a giant tube. Again, I'd imagined it would have floors, rooms running through it but no, you can see right up to the top.
 

After a brief history talk from the 'guide', you are let loose to begin your ascent of the 290 odd steps. The sensation of walking the spiral staircase is quite something. In one moment you change from falling inwards, to level, to falling outwards, then level again. Before long you exit onto a platform, where you walk around the outside before taking the last 26 tight spiral steps to the top, the bell tower. The view is great from the top, especially with the weather as it now was, gloriously sunny.

Photos taken, I made my way back down the staircase. What I hadn't realised on the way up, in a group, was the way the steps were worn. On the lower leaning side, the outside of the steps is worn, whilst around the higher side, it's the inner of the steps. Quite strange. I tried to capture this on camera but I'm not sure it'll show up.

Not the best photo to catch the lean!

 

Grizzly was waiting at the bottom. He said he'd tried to get a ticket for the Cathedral but they told him he'd have to wait till 7pm. Not sure why, the Cathedral is free, so we flashed my ticket and both walked in. It's not the most spectacular Cathedral I've been in by any means but there was the odd stained glass window of interest. It was here that I spotted the worst dressed man since Arnie, at Waterloo. I shall get the pic up at some point. It was all I could do to stop laughing out loud. T-shirt, tight denim shorts, long black socks and coloured trainers, as you can see below. 

 

Ha,ha,ha,ha!

From the Cathedral, it was time to find somewhere to eat. This was pizza night, so we found ourselves a streetside restaurant and settled down with a beer and pizza. If I'm honest, it wasn't the best I've ever had, so slightly disappointing. As we left, Grizzly was looking for more stickers or fridge magnets, when we encountered another watch salesman. To his surprise Grizzly turned on him. "Are you for real?" "€30 for a Rolex. Get a grip man". The watch man was slightly taken aback I think. Then Grizzly offered to sell the guy his watch! Bartering ensued but watch guy wasn't prepared to go to the €100 Grizzly was asking, so no deal was struck. Funny watching though.
 

As we were camping we had the idea of getting some beers from a supermarket. It's so much cheaper, as it is at home, so we made a purchase of four bottles of the only chilled beer they had in the supermarket and set off home. Once back at our chalet, we sat out under our canopy and downed the beers, whilst running through the events of the day.
 

Tomorrow we leave Pisa and head west to our next stop at Pietra Ligure.