Just back from a long weekend in Pisa. It was my first visit to the city, but of course I had a pretty good (!) idea what to expect. The central area – the Piazza dei Miracoli – was more beautiful than I expected, and the Leaning Tower is, well, remarkably non-perpendicular. As ever at such a place, it’s a fun but basically hopeless challenge to come up with a new photographic angle. Failing that, I followed the usual advice: at an iconic locale, you only need to hint at where you are. My best pic, I think, was this piece of whimsy… tourists posing for the humorous photo of holding up the tower.

Dada did better. With a small sensor Nikon compact low in the grass, she came up with this image than may not be original but was at least new to me!

(I tried to replicate this with a DSLR but it can’t be done… it really only works with a small camera.)

Photography to one side, Pisa and the nearby towns (Siena and Lucca) were simply wonderful. A great weekend.