Next stop on the tour of Italy, Pisa! We only spent two days here, since our primary reason for visiting was, of course, the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It was a really nice little town, and some parts even looked tropical. (See above, palm trees everywhere!)
When I first saw the tower, I was surprised how leaning it actually was! I knew that it was leaning, but I really didn't expect it to look as unstable as it did. And it used to be even worse: ten years ago they corrected it by 10 degrees. Before it was corrected a bit, it wasn't safe to go up to the top, but now you are allowed to climb the spiral staircase inside all the way to the top, which we did.
But before we went to the top, we saw the cathedral next to it as well. Below is a picture of the inside, the paintings and mosaics on the ceilings in wall were really intricate and beautiful. You can see one of the mosaics on the dome like ceiling in the front of the church in the picture below.
This next picture I took just before we started climbing the staircase to the top. It's amazing how far off center it is! It became difficult to take pictures with the horizon straight in the background. I kept wanting to take pictures as if the tower was straight and the horizon tilted. As an engineer, it's amazing to me that they continued to build something that was so structurally unsound (and so expensive! It was made almost entirely out of marble).
Here is a view of the city of Pisa from the top of the tower. It was really beautiful and though I'm not afraid of heights, I really had no desire to stay at the top for long! Since it was so off center, it really felt that at any given moment I might slide right off the top. It was a really strange feeling!
This next picture is of the bells inside the tower, not exactly on the top but pretty close. I don't believe that they are functional, but they are beautiful.
This last photo I took from the very top platform and I tried to capture the un-levelness of it, but I'm not sure if it came out very well!
