23 November 2008

lean on me

La Torre di Pisa / Pisa, Italy
I've just returned to Birmingham from a weekend in Pisa, a city of about 100,000 people situated at the mouth of the Arno river which runs down through its center. The city is young, lively and very Italian. Much of the youth can be attributed to the University of Pisa with a student body of nearly 60,000. And Friday evening I found out just how lively it can get - having randomly stopped in a bar and consumed too many sambucas with fast-made friends including two Argentinean sisters (one was the bartender - the other? well, she was just fun) who have lived in Pisa the past 20 years - and a group of their friends. Oh, and the photo - obviously it's the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It is one of many works of art and architecture in the city's Piazza dei Miracoli or "Square of Miracles", to the north of the old town center. And perhaps best of all, the weather saturday was brilliant sunshine requiring nothing more than shirtsleeves.

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