Sunrise over the Appenines

Pisa Day 2

No sooner had we arrived back last night than the heavens opened and there was a terrifically heavy rainstorm.  Cathy and I looked at each other with some relief at this point, as (having looked at the weather forecast) we had gone out to dinner without coats or umbrella.  We could hear shouts and squeals from the nearby streets as others, who weren't so lucky, got caught out.  

When I got up early this morning the sky was still covered by a thick blanket of grey cloud.  As today is our last day, I decided to go out anyway and to see what there was to photo: only to be pleasantly surprised when the clouds broke over the nearby Pisan mountains and gave me this shot of a sunrise over the river Arno.

As this is our last day, I've put up some more extras from our time here in Pisa today.  The first extra is the obligatory touristy shot of Cathy trying to correct the leaning tower.  The second extra was a shot of an Italian bride who got married in the Basilica this morning.  The families of the bride and groom had turned out in their finery (and the Italians do know how to dress well), so it was a glamorous affair. The preponderance of suits and sunglasses reminding me very much of "the Godfather".  Finally, a shot of the Camposanto next to the Duomo, where I was particularly pleased with  the 
dynamic range that I managed to achieve without resorting to HDR trickery.  

The Camposanto (Holy Field) must have once been an amazing place.  The building is said to have had been built around a ship load of earth taken from Golgotha during the crusades - hence the name.  The walls were decorated with extensive frescos but sadly their exposure to the elements, over the years has meant that many had become quite damaged by the beginning of the 20th century and an incendiary bomb during the second world war caused considerable damage.  An extensive conservation effort has been undertaken, as a result of which it is possible to get some idea of just how magnificent the building once would have been.