We had about an hour and a half drive from lunch to Pisa. It was a nice drive for the most part, as most of that was in Tuscany, with all the beautiful hills. Tuscany reminds me of the Napa Valley, but prettier, with slightly more sharp hills.
There's a law all over Europe that some vehicles can't drive in the city center. Because of that, supposedly our bus had to stop about two miles away at the public parking and walk to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. We found out later that other excursions had a shuttle bus. So we had to waste all that time walking there and back. Now, I don't mind a walk, but there were several older people there, and it really cut into the time we had in Pisa. We only had about an hour total there, and could have had at least another half hour to explore. Anyways, we walked past all the guys trying to sell us handbags (saw this in several places, such as by the Vatican - and they were all black. I don't know why, but of the hundreds I saw, I never saw a white, Asian, or any other people selling them. I think they were from somewhere in Africa). And we finally made it to the Field of Miracles. A lot different than I thought. I always imagined a large green open field with the Leaning Tower in the distance. But it's all walled in. I guess the whole ground is called the Field of Miracles.
Anyway, knowing we only had an hour, we first went to see if there were any tickets left to climb the tower. There was! So I paid my 10 euros and waiting for my time to climb. We went around and took pictures.
The Tower of Pisa is really not all that much. It's just the bell tower for the cathedral, that has all the fame because they messed up. As they were building it, they realized it was leaning and stopped for awhile. The real marvel is the gorgeous Cathedral, and the pretty impressive Baptistry. Still, it's of course such a wonder that you just have to see it.
Is it just me, or is something off here?
Thank goodness I was there to help keep it upright. I'm standing right by the cathedral.
I think this was my favorite cathedral. I wish I had more time to take pictures here, but after snapping a few nice pics, I had to go get in line to climb the Tower.
This is the baptistry. Back in the day, only baptized Catholics could enter the Cathedral, so they needed a baptistry to get people to be Catholics. Funny that now ANYBODY could go into the Cathedral. I didn't get a chance to see this place at all, since I ran out of time. Still, you had to pay to enter the baptistry, so this is pretty much all I could look at anyway.
Finally, 4:00 came, and I told Mom I'd meet her at the rendevous spot at 4:30. So I climbed up the 288 steps to the top. Now, after the climb up the St. Peter's cuppola, this was nothing. Much more space and not quite so steep. It's a little weird climbing, because you can tell you're at an off angle. Well, I couldn't as much, but I heard other say they could really tell. Maybe my equillibrium is off. Still, I could tell a bit, and it was fun to stop at the little windows and see what the orientation was.
Breathtaking views once you get to the top. This is looking out at the Cathedral. The Baptistry is behind it.
You can look out over the city
A nice security/police lady took this picture for me.
We made the long walk back, during which several in our group were complaining. Our tour host didn't tell us anything about Pisa and explained that to do so, she'd have to be licensed as a tour guide and she hadn't taken those tests yet. So it was a bit disappointing, in that originally Pisa was the place I wanted to see the most, and we had such a short amount of time there and not much explanation while we were there. Still, I got to climb the Tower and at least briefly visit the Cathedral. It was beautiful. And after that great lunch and seeing Volterra and the beautiful Tuscan countryside, I couldn't complain much.
We got back and I believe had a buffet at the poolside that night. All in all a very good day and a great excursion for me. I can't wait to go back someday!
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