Pisa

September 17, 2013 at 12:50 pm  •  Posted in Italy by

I could feel myself leaning. Each step bringing me higher and higher until I burst into the blue, cloud spotted sky. I’m still leaning. We walk once around then up another flight of stairs. Bells. And a picturesque view that takes my breath away, but don’t they all when you’re in Italy? The sky was magnificent except for that conspicuously big, dark gray cloud sauntering our way.

This is the huge Cathedral and the even bigger rain cloud

This is the huge Cathedral and the even bigger rain cloud

Everything was fine and we leisurely enjoyed ourselves while looking out over the town and the mountains. Then that’s when the lightning came. Otto greatly – to our reassurance – informed us that the probability of getting struck by lightning is higher than getting bitten by a shark…. The cloud was still a pretty good distance away, but getting closer and closer. My mom asked the security lady on top if they ever worried about lightning and the answer was a simple: yep. After that we high-tailed our way out of there. When we got to the bottom the cloud had officially arrived and started to unleash a downpour of rain. Luckily beforehand, we had already taken pictures of us doing the regular tourist poses in front of the tower! (Everywhere you looked you saw people doing them!)

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Here’s us!

 

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And to our left

Here are some things you might not know about the Leaning Tower:

  • They had built three floors when it started to lean and they then fired the architect because they thought he was an idiot… till this day nobody remembers his name
  • They hired a second architect and learned that it was leaning because the Romans had filled in the soil so it wasn’t solid
  • The second architect built the rest of the tower curving the opposite way to compensate for the leaning
  • In 1990 they closed it because they thought it wasn’t safe so they retrofitted it by pushing it back 47 centimeters and adding more stability so it’s now safer… ?
  • They reopened it in 2000
  • The Leaning Tower of Pisa is having its 1000th anniversary in 64 years

Yve

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8 Comments

  1. Vanessa / September 17, 2013 at 1:14 pm /

    Great post! I learned a lot.

  2. Cari Johnson / September 17, 2013 at 2:03 pm /

    Depends on what the definition of leaning means.

  3. tuckeraufranc / September 17, 2013 at 4:35 pm /

    When you think about it, it the tower was straight, who would really give it more than a passing glance!
    Did you remember the gravity experiment done from the tower?

  4. Judith Dern / September 18, 2013 at 12:04 am /

    A history lesson. An architecture lesson. A geography lesson. Loved reading this. You are learning 10 times more the second week of your trip than you would in a year of school!

  5. Jenine / September 18, 2013 at 5:51 am /

    Love the “photo-bomb” or “bum”

  6. Ashley Winnie / September 19, 2013 at 11:40 am /

    Love this! Yve you’re so funny-you’re comments and tidbits of info are awesome! Love the photos!!

  7. Stephanie Craig (@steffinseattle) / September 20, 2013 at 8:43 pm /

    Hahaha you are funny! I especially like the little known facts section — hilar! Love seeing you all in the leaning tower classic pose. Hope it makes it on the family Xmas card. Hugs and more hugs!

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