Pisa

Pisa was an interesting site. Almost anyone who visits Italy has to come at least one time, after all, it is one of the most well known Italian landmarks in the world! It's funny, because if it weren't for the poor planning on the part of the engineers who built this bell tower, I doubt that anyone would even be coming to visit Pisa! It is a huge tourist town, which turned some people off, but I enjoyed it. They had some great souveniers, and going into the baptistry and the cathedral was just as grand as climbing the tower itself. After climbing the dome of il Duomo in Firenze, this was nothin! It was kind of funny, at first when you walked it wasn't that bad, but eventually you could tell when you were shifting from side to side. You could even see the wear marks on the stairs and how they move from side to side. The stairs are wider at the bottom (two Pisans wide) but they get narrower as you get to the top of the tower. I feel fortunate to have been able to walk it at all since only a few years ago they got it stabilized for walking again. You can also tell the spot where they stopped building and then started rebuilding again because they sort of built the building crooked in order for it to remain straight and standing. It was a beautiful day and there were some great views, including one of a soccer (or football) arena. The cathedral was an amazing piece of art as well. It was built with leftover marble from Roman ruins, so it was interesting when you go to Rome and they say "If you want to see the marble from the facads, you'll have to go to Florence or Pisa and look at their buildings. " The design was clearly influenced by some Arabic designs, which was beautiful. It was also amazing to see the pulpit which was carved by the son of the man who designed the pulpit for the baptistry. The baptistry was very plain but beautiful and had wonderful acoustics. Uniquely, you could go 'upstairs' to the second level of the baptistry which usually doesn't happen. My favorite part of the whole Pisan experience however was looking at the Camposanto. It was full of tombs of course, but it was in general very beautiful. There was a statue of Leonard of Pisa and the building itself was incredible, open yet enclosed, with beautiful gardens.