Yesterday Stefano and I took the day off. When we got up, it was such a lovely sunny day that he suggested we drive to Pisa (about an hour from Florence) and spend the day there.

Gee, twist my arm! I was ready in less than five minutes…We put down enough food for the cats and off we went…

Every time I step into Piazza dei Miracoli it’s is like the first time…I am always taken aback…It’s simply stunning…and no words can possibly describe it properly. So I won’t even try…

Stefano and I whipped out our cameras, of course, which in his case is not an easy feat. You see, he has a big super duper complicated camera and a big heavy tripod (which he had to carry around all day…and I have a reason for mentioning this, as you will realize in a second), whereas I have a rather small, compact automatic Canon, which I looooove and wouldn’t change for anything more complicated…

Anyway, we both began taking photos of the square and of the people in it…(By the way, these photos were taken at different times of day, so some have clouds in ’em and some, taken earlier in the day, don’t…)

Yes, that’s right…of the people. I really really enjoyed taking photos of tourists who looked as though they were practicing tai chi or qigong but were actually posing so that it looked like they were holding up the tower of Pisa with their hands, just as my sweet little Myeloma buddy Honey is doing (oh, but, since her hands are clasped to her bosom, she had to use her entire head…)…and as the woman in shiny boots is doing (not with her head…). Ahhh, so very amusing!

In just a little while, I counted at least 50 people doing more or less the same thing…Some folks got really carried away and would lean this way and that, with hilarious facial expressions…while their partners shouted, in different languages, something like: “Okay, turn the index finger on your right hand slightly to the left…no, to the left, not to the right…ahhh, that’s good…okay, now raise your left palm slightly…no, not like that, like this…blablabla.” I listened in particular to two U.S. women who were very keen on getting THE ABSOLUTE PERFECT “I-am-holding-up-the-leaning-tower-of-Pisa-with-my-own-hands” photo…It took them at least ten minutes to prepare and take it…But, for privacy reasons (=you can see the posing woman’s face), I won’t publish the photo I took on the sly of that little scene…

We had been in the square for only a few minutes when I heard my Stefano let out an unhappy moan/groan/wail. When I asked him what the matter was, he told me that both of his camera batteries had died…BOTH…and he didn’t have a replacement! A photographer’s WORST nightmare! Just imagine…there you are, with, say, a black-breasted puffleg in front of you…just about to take THE photo that would win you THE National Geographic’s “BEST PHOTO EVER” award…and your camera dies…Eeek!

Of course, since his is a big super duper complicated camera, I am sure that you have figured out that his camera batteries are not your regular AA ones (like the ones that my camera takes). Oh no. These are big super duper complicated batteries…

It gets worse. Stefano’s discovery occurred just 15 minutes before 1 PM. Shops here close at 1 PM and do not reopen until 4 PM…

I am a positive-thinking kind of gal, though. So, while he was putting his big super duper complicated gear back into his big super duper complicated backpack, I hurried over to a couple of traffic policewomen to find out where the nearest photo equipment shop was. And so Stefano and I trotted off to see if we could reach it before closing time…

No such luck.

And, as I just mentioned, the shop wasn’t going to reopen until 4 PM…too late…

Well, we weren’t going to let something like that ruin our glorious sunny day in Pisa. Er, let me correct that statement: I wasn’t going to let that ruin our glorious sunny day in Pisa. I very thoughtfully told Stefano that he could use my camera whenever he wished…but he merely glared back at me and snapped rather haughtily that he wouldn’t even touch my …dotdotdot… crappy camera. 🙂 Whatever…

As a result, I took many photos of Pisa…and he simply…glared and made a few rather inaudible remarks about life not being fair and what an idiot he was and…well, you get the picture. Okay, okay, I am exaggerating a bit and having a bit of fun with this…We actually did have a lovely time, and he looked fiercely at me only a couple of times…(And now I am in trouble, since he reads my posts…hehe).

Change of subject, quick!

If you go to Pisa, don’t forget to walk down to the Lungarno. Lungarno literally means “Along the Arno.” The same river (the Arno) that runs through Florence runs through Pisa, too, you see. On the Lungarno you will have a lovely view of a miniature Gothic church, called Santa Maria della Spina (look behind Honey, and you will catch a glimpse of it on the other side of the river), which originally (it was built in the year 1230)  seems to have been a loggia with an oratory attached to it but was transformed into a small church in the early 14^th century. You can read more about it here: http://goo.gl/Uixfl

Oh, and if your camera batteries are fully charged (and perhaps not super duper complicated), you will also be able to take a few photos of this cute little jewel of a church. (Oh boy, NOW I am in double heaps of trouble…!) 😆

Speaking of jewels…

There is another very good reason to visit Pisa’s Lungarno: CHOCOLATE! One of the best chocolatiers in Tuscany is located on the same side of the Arno river as Piazza dei Miracoli (or on the opposite side with respect to the tiny Gothic church).

The name of the shop is “Cioccolato De Bondt.” You are right. De Bondt is not a Tuscan surname. The shop, as you can read here http://goo.gl/cQOVP, owes its name to Paul De Bondt, a Dutch cook and confectioner. He and his Italian partner (who, by the way, was in the shop yesterday…and took a fancy to us and kept giving us yummy little chocolate jewels to taste, mainly with different types of hot pepper and ginger…) have won many national and international awards.

Needless to say, we are all set for a chocolate Xmas now. 😛

Well, that certainly was a sweet finale to a glorious day in Pisa…

As soon as we got home, I went to feed the cats, while he went to charge his camera batteries…

We all have priorities…(Okay…and now I’d better go into hiding for a couple of days…ROTFL 😉 )