Leaning Towers and Statues of David

I got back late last night after somewhat of a whirlwind tour of Pisa and Florence. I saw the tower in Pisa and can confirm their suspicions, it totally DOES lean to the right. It was cool, very nice, very leany, but I found myself getting so annoyed with all the cheese going on, and I'm not just talking about the good kind, the delicious melty kind that sits on top of pizzas, 'cause there was plenty of that, I'm talking about the kind that makes you cringe, that makes you die a silent little death inside, that makes you want to bang your head against hard surfaces; thousands of tourists all doing the same ridiculous pose, the "look at me I'm gonna push the tower up" pose (you know the one I'm talking about right?) or the "ooh look it's leaning on my back" pose or the "I'm such a raging pain in the arse" pose, sorry, I don't know why I have to be such a cynical bastard about these things, I think I was just born this way, I can't help it. Anyways, tower equals muchos coolio, I liked it a lot, It was so NICE, I looked at it for a long time and walked away and looked at it again, did a whoole lot of looking, a whole lot of appreciating and then I moved on to the cathedral which was also very lovely and beautisome.

 After taking a due 500 more pictures of the tower, 'cause really, there's not a WHOLE lot more to do in Pisa, I got onto the train and headed through the beautiful Tuscan countryside to Florence. It was exactly how I imagined, all sunflowers and terra cotta and those tall pointy trees. I got off in Florence and felt totally overwhelmed by all the thousands of people everywhere, I think I've been living on a boat in a little seaside village for too long. I was overwhelmed by the beauty of it too. Florence is a very important place; lots of history and art and culture. Admittedly, I wish I wasn't such a complete ignoramus and that I had listened more in art history. The thing is, I'm a REALLY bad museum visitee (?), I even got bored in the chocolate museum in Belgium (shocking, I know). You see, I have a bit of an attention deficit whosey whatsit problem, I'm really bad at walking around in silence reading information boards with tiny little writing, I completely suck and unless I'm actively doing something or touching something or I have an outrageously flamboyant tour guide with a ridiculous accent who does dramatic hand gestures and acts stuff out, or I have someone clever to hold my hand and tell me interesting things, my mind tends to wander and I stop seeing words, they all become one big blurr and I go a bit cuckoo and start imagining what everyone would do if I started doing the Macarena and then I want to burst out laughing at the idea and I get a weird smile on my face as I try contain myself and people think I'm an absolute fruit cake, this is why I should NOT go to museums. Anyways, I saw the statue of David after waiting almost an hour in the queue and THAT was very nice, very Davidey, did a lot of looking and appreciating, and stuff. There were beautiful sculptures all over the town, and lots of trendy art students with flowy skirts and braids sitting down painting stuff. I saw the Ponto Veccio and I climbed to the top of the famous Duomo, I went inside and admired the beautiful fresco on the ceiling and the enormous stained-glass windows. I recognized a few paintings from art history and felt all knowledgeable and proud of myself, I sat in the piazzas and watched life go by for a little. I rubbed a coin on the nose of the famous bronze wild boar and made a wish as I put the coin in it's mouth and then dropped it into the water (apparently that's what you're meant to do when you go to Florence?), I bought a beautiful little watercolor painting for my collection, if there's one I really like then I try get one in every place I visit and then, then I got onto the train and headed back to the boat. I had a lovely day. Thank you universe and Buddah and God and Jesus and the Lord and the redeemer (?) and Mary and Joseph and the disciples and Vishni and Allah and urrrrrrone for the lovely world. Amen. Goodbye, don't mind me, I'm just gonna go take my medication. Have a nice day, toodle pip (?). Photos to the right, further up, your mouse SO better be moving in that direction, there's a bit of cheeeese there for it