04-24 Pisa - Still Leaning

There was some debate when we left Seattle as to whether the tower in Pisa was still leaning or whether they had repaired it. We thought it prudent to check for ourselves. It is still leaning.

Our train ride from Monterosso to Pisa was uneventful and finding the correct bus was easy since we had information from Rick Steves (he writes Europe Through the Back Door series of travel books) to take the "LAM Rossa" bus to get there. We had no idea what that meant but we found a bus sign where he said it would be and we arrived to find the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

First thing to do was pick up our reservation tickets for the climb up the tower. Sometimes in the summer you can walk up to ticket window to get your "climb time" and you won't be able to climb for a couple of hours. I checked the board and there were plenty of tickets available immediately after our 30 minute time slot. Here's our line waiting to go up.

Most of the group ahead of us had climbed down when our group started up. Most efficient. You CAN pass person to person in the stairs but one person has to stop, so getting most of the people down allows those who want to go up to do it more "quickly". Being "forced" to stop though has the advantage of catching your wind.

Amazingly marble is not as hard as you would think it is. Over the years the steps have worn down considerably.

There are bells at the top. Who knew? They don't ring any more though.

You are able to walk around the entire outside of the tower and you can feel the leaning.

The view was blocked by netting so the best pictures were from a lower level. This is the Cathedral.

The souvenir vendors are on the other side of the "keep-off-the" grass.

And then, of course, we had to do the "funny" Leaning Tower of Pisa photos.

And this would have been funnier had our photographer understood that our hands should be touching the tower and to make it look like one of the lovely, married couple was trying to topple the tower while the other was trying to keep it upright.

...and 12 shots later we finally were able to get the self-picture of us holding the tower.

We did go in the Church and the round Baptistry (where the accoustics were incredible). At one point one of the "shushers" (the men who say "shhhhh" to keep you quiet) did an echo demonstration. He would sing 1 note and then follow it up with different note and the echoing would make a chorus sound. Totally awesome sound and it started as I was filming, so I caught it on tape (I haven't found the right words to use for capturing video on SD cards; is it "videoing"; is it "caught on SD card"; dunno yet). He sang from the steps of the octagonal.

Before we left the area, Karen used the power of a single photograph to set the tower straight.