Racism reared its ugly head today

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Geo: 43.7821, 10.4954

I woke up and caught the F1 race today. It looks like Schumacher's career ends without another championship due to bad luck (engine failure). Of course, the only reason that he was even in contention right now was because Alonso blew his engine in a race, a few weeks back. Schumacher will forever be remembered as a jerk on the track, but he will still go down as the best jerk ever!

Off to Pisa - like everyone else, I have seen the tower on TV and in pictures before, but it's much more unreal in person. The angle of lean was much more pronounced than I had expected. The tower itself was also better preserved than I thought it would be - perhaps because some restoration work was done recently?

The surrounding "Field of Miracles" is also quite nice. All the buildings are leaning a little - but none as much as the tower. I bought my timed-entrance ticket to climb the tower - I had quite a bit of time to kill beforehand, so I walked to a few piazzas. There was an antiques (more like junk) market. Had a great sandwich for lunch. The foccacia was great (salted!), prosciutto, cheese, tomato, lettuce ... excellent. Huge and only 2.5 Euros!

Used the bathroom before ascending the tower. Many women were skipping the lineup and going straight into the men's room. Didn't think many women had the guts to do that, but more power to them!

Climbing the tower was super-touristy, but it was a must-do for me (though I would never do it again). There was a very rude security guard halfway up the tower. She told us to go out and walk around the exterior of the level before ascending to the top. We did. She became agitated and told us to walk around again. We did once again. Then she got really pissed off and told us that we had to wait until people descended from the top floor, before we could go up. Why not just say that in the beginning? Idiot!

Finally got to the top. Nice views ..... but probably not worth 15 Euros. But I guess it's one of those things that a tourist HAS to do in Italy. At the top, I saw a guy wearing the same pair of Gap cargo pants that I've got. The thing is, the pants are probably 6 years old. He must be cheap like me and can't bear to toss them out.

On the way down the tower, I heard a couple describing the Battistero as the "nipple thingy". Interesting ... because it's actually a fairly accurate description of it! Caught the bus back to the train station. I gave 0.50 Euro to a UK couple that didn't have enough change for their tickets. I almost got screwed as a result!

I rushed to the ticket machine at the station to buy my ticket for Lucca, but the machine was rejecting my 5 Euro bill. I had no other money except for 4 Euros in change, but the ticket was 4.40 Euro. If I had kept my 0.50 Euro instead of giving it away .... but eventually the machine took the 5 Euro bill, and I just managed to catch the train.

Lucca is a quiet little town. I have coined a new term - "JABLIT" (just another beautiful little Italian town). There isn't much here. But for a sleepy little town, a lot was happening today. There was some kind of festival going on.

The duomo was just another duomo. There was a pathetic beggar lady hanging around outside of the duomo. She was bawling, asking me for money. As soon as I said "no", she turned it off instantly, like a faucet. The other beggars I encountered were pretty pathetic as well ... they weren't even begging in the traditional sense. They were just wandering around and waving their cups around. It's hard to describe ... it just seemed like they all felt entitled to free money. It was quite a disgusting sight, actually!

Lucca does have one really interesting feature - above its city walls (they run the entire perimeter of the old city) is a tree-lined promenade. People walk, cycle, and jog along it. Very unique. I walked along the wall and then sat for awhile, reflecting on the trip.

Back to Florence - I took a nap on the train, but was jolted awake. Some girl's big suitcase tipped over, and its extendable handle came crashing down on my thigh. Kind of a shock and kind of painful! The girl felt pretty bad, but I easily forgave her as she was a cute little brunette!

Got back to Florence and immediately went to Piazza Michelangelo to try and catch the sunset. I practically ran all the way up to the top and was completely out of breath ... and out of time. I just missed the sunset. There was still some light, but Florence only looked hazy ... it wasn't bathed in the brilliant colours that you're supposed to see at sunset. But it was till a nice sight ... however, it would have been nicer if I wasn't about to have a heart attack from running all the way up!

On my way back down, it looked like there was some kind of block party happening. Cool. The sight of people chowing down made me hungry so I went off in search of the pizzeria that Joan and Mark had mentioned last night. But first I checked out some of the restaurants that I had wanted to try last night, but they were all packed again. So pizza it was!!!

Settled on a mozzarella, mushroom, tomato, onion, and spicy salami pizza. The crust was very crisp (the best part) but it was quite a bit below Napoli and Sicily standards. Also had a caprese salad - there was too much cheese and not enough tomatoes, but it was still good. The caprese salad saved the meal ... until a live version of Alanis Morrissette's "Ironic" was played. Yech ... my meal almost came back up the way it went down.

Afterward, I walked to the usual spots. I listened to the amazing violinist once again. It must be karma - I haven't given her much money, though I have listened to her play for quite a bit of time. A bird shit on my foot as I listened tonight. I guess I'd better give her more money the next time I hear her play!

Off to Piazza della Signoria - there were two amazing guys playing the flute. Their style was very unique - it was like they were dueling with each other. Very up-tempo and very lively. Apparently, they are just traveling the world for 2 years, spreading their music.

On the walk back to the hostel, I had another gelato - plum and chocolate. The plum wasn't good, but the chocolate was great. I made a rookie mistake as I ate it. I got chocolate gelato all over my white shirt. I was too eager as I scooped the ice cream out of the cup, and flung melted gelato all over myself. After countless gelati in Italy, I should know better!!!! I hung my head in shame, as I walked up to my dorm room.

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Photos

a
The Battistero or "nipple thingy", as one lady put it.

b
The Field of Miracles

c
c

d
Check out the people in the foreground - pretty much every tourist at Pisa takes a picture of themselves pushing on the tower, and holding it up. Of course, from a different angle, they all look like jackasses!!! Unlike me - I look like a jackass from all angles!

f
I guess she's the patron saint of boning!

g
Pisa's university

h
These metallic straps are part of efforts to structurally re-inforce the tower. I saw surprisingly little evidence of this on the tower - perhaps a lot of this has been done behind the scenes, where the public can't see it?

i
View from the tower

k
Check out the slope of the floor. It was actually quite unsettling walking up the spiral staircase to the top. I found that the lean of the tower threw off my equilibrium as I ascended.

l
Check out the guy's shirt - I'm sure it's some kind of legitimate association, but my first thought was that it's some kind of racist organization.

m
Check out how much this step has been worn - the tower sees WAY too many tourists!

m1
Inside the duomo - this was a little different for me. I normally don't see this type of intricate ceiling inside of churches or cathedrals.

n1
The local fire department put on a demonstration for the public, where people were invited to participate in some fire-fighting activities. Since it was free, I was eager to join in.
But then racism reared its ugly head. I have thought about it over and over, but the only conclusion that I can arrive at is that I was rejected because I'm Chinese. I suspect that the locals were afraid that a Chinese man might perform these activities better than an Italian. This made my stomach turn.

n2
It was sickening. Run around in a helmet and a uniform? Of course I could do that! And they knew it .... they knew that I could do this far better than anyone they had on hand! And that is why they rejected me. Their egos couldn't bear the fact that a Chinese man was equal, if not superior to them.

o
Put out a fire with a hose? Give me a break! Even a child could do that! So why wouldn't they let me? Racist bastards!!! But I would have my sweet revenge. I challenged their top volleyball team to a game, and beat them singlehandedly!!!

r
They were easy prey. None of them could even jump high enough to get over the net! It was like they had never even played before! But they didn't take this defeat at the hands of a Chinese man lightly ... they sent out their most fierce warrior, who challenged me to a fight. He was huge ... I felt like David, about to do battle with Goliath.

s
I easily kicked his ass. He was no match for my special brand of Wong Fu. It wasn't even close ... oh, who am I kidding??? He took me down in less than 10 seconds! But the humiliation didn't end there ... he pinned me face down, sat on my back, pulling on my ears. He wouldn't let me go until I yelled to the crowd "My name is Dumbo! And the Chinese did NOT invent pasta!!!".
He doesn't look like much, but trust me, he was much bigger in person! The picture is deceiving - his trainer was probably 13 feet tall, making him look like a little child, in comparsion. It's just an optical illusion. Trust me.
Plus, he was a professional boxer (he had boxing gloves, after all) and had a professional trainer working with him. I had no chance. I fought valiantly, but to no avail. But I had the last laugh. I yanked on his sister's pony tail and yelled "Your momma wears imitation Gucci army boots!", as I ran away.

t
I licked my wounds on the promenade that sat atop the city walls.

u
As I relaxed atop the walls, I decided that I deserved a splurge dinner for having endured such racism today. I had the Chinese breakfast of champions ....

v
... hot dogs!!!

w
Views from Piazza Michelangelo

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