Blackberry Juice: Pisa, Pizza and Piazza

Day 2 in Florence wasn't in fact in Florence at all but in the small village (in population, not fame) of Pisa, located a short 45 train ride away. Of course, there's really only one thing to see there, and that is the most famous architectural screw up in history - the leaning tower. Of course, there's definitely more than one thing to eat in Pisa, so after lining up for the requisite look-im-so-original-im-holding-up-the-tower photos, it was time to ply the streets for a cafe or two.

Of course, legend has it that Gallileo's famous experiment to prove that objects of different mass fall at the same speed was conducted from the roof of the tower. Over lunch Rock postulated a modern update of Gallileo's original classic - chuck a yankee and a kiwi tourist off the top simultaneously. If the kiwi splats at the same time, despite the huge mass differential, then Gallileo can rest easy. Unfortunately the theory remains in hypothesis stage because no yankee tourists of sufficient mass seemed capable of wheezing up the 200 odd steps, especially once augmented with a couple leaning tower burgers, and the proposed kiwi subject proved too cheap to fork over the entry fee for climbing the tower...

Having struggled in vain to come up with a Pisa/pizza joke, the travellers hopped back on the train to Firenze Santa Maria Novella station, for an afternoon of purusing the High Renaissance in the legendary Ufizzi Gallery. No need for an audio guide here folks as Rock's expert commentary took viewers on a journey through the evolution of Renaissance art, from the flat, elaborately guilded picture plane of Byzantine alterpieces, through to the classic High Renaissance masterpieces of di Vinci, Rapheal and Michaelangelo, and then on to the awakening Mannerist style as the golden age of art drew to a close. Of course, the colour commentary became particulary colourful when it was frequently interjected with bitter rants on the NZQA and perceived rippage on the art history schol front...

But by the end of the Ufizzi one becomes just a little blase at yet another masterpiece from so-and-so school in Firenze, circa 1550. Which means it was time to eat! Beef raviolli, home-made penne, a Florentine pork steak and grilled veal in tomato sauce! Fantastico! (Rock's misguided belief that adding 'o' or 'ia' to every word to sound Italian continues unabated.) A good way to polish off a visit to Florence. Next up, Venice - just two short Eurostar hours away. Lucky we stocked up on some fresh pasteria fare...