Leaning Tower of Pisa

 

I've come a long way since my little side trip to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa.  My travel buddy and I took a bus here, snapped a picture and got right back on the bus again.  We couldn't wait to get to Florence.  Now, as I scan these slides I think, What an idiot.  Thank goodness, you don't do that anymore.

I'm a slow-poke of a traveler these days.  I see, I sit, I ponder and I always always explore behind the scenes.  I've learned it's not what's in the guidebook that turns out to be the most interesting.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa, of course, is one of those landmark architectural wonders.  The ground level went up in 1173, but began to sink five years later when the second floor was added.  The soil was too weak and unstable to support all that marble.  Construction stopped for a whole century.  By then, the soil had settled and the wars between Pisa and Genoa and Florence had ended.  The city decided to finish the building of their campanile.  To compensate for the tilt, one side of the upper floors was built taller than the other.  Pretty ingenious.  The tower was finally completed in 1319 and is a masterpiece of Romanesque architecture.  It is built of white marble and the blind arcade of Corinthian columns at the base are classic.

But, oh my, look at that cathedral?  Did I bother to go inside?  No.  Did I see the baptistry?  No.  The cloisters?  No.  And what about the city of Pisa?  Did I bother to see what else was there?  Well, there's no point in pounding my head against a wall.  I don't make those kind of mistakes anymore.  When we got to Florence that night, we ended up staying for an entire week.  That was more like it!