Sign of a good tourist attraction ... it should give you a case of the giggles

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This morning I said goodbye to Florence. The owner gave me a big hug and kiss on the cheek and said "when you come back to Florence, baby?" She has taken to calling me baby since about the first five minutes after meeting her. Come back ... I certainly hope so one day but I think that I will try to get through the rest of this trip first. Then I'll start thinking about the next one!!

I of course took the train to Pisa and it is an easy one-hour ride. My hotel is just a short walk from there and I found it with no problems. My room was not ready when I arrived so the girl very innocently asked "can you go for walk and come back?" and then she whips out this map of Pisa and proceeds to highlight the route to the Leaning Tower (or as it is known here ... the Torre Pendente).

I have said it before but tourist attractions that are this popular scare me but I just could not resist making a beeline to go and see it. First, there were large crowds but because it is on such large grounds you do not get the feel that you are being swarmed by tourists. The second thing is the sheer entertainment value of watching the tourists doing the classic poses of making it look like they are either pushing or holding up the tower. It is absolutely priceless. It reminded me of tai chi classes that I have seen in parks in South East Asia. And that was the difference also from all of the other large tourist attractions that I have been too and that attract enormous groups ... it was the levity around it. People were having fun and just laughing and goofing around. I don't ever remember seeing that before ... other places they just look miserable and just focused on jockeying for position to get their photo taken in front of whatever.

The tower itself is actually smaller than I would have imagined but it is actually quite beautiful. It was recently restored so it is a pristine white colour. What got me in reading some of the things about it was the fact that it took them to about the third level to realize that it was leaning. Really??? When you look at it, it is so obvious from the first level that it is hard to believe that they even continued construction (although construction was stopped and started a number of times over many many many years). I think that I read that the architect is also not known ... really ... would you admit to it???

I was on the fence as to whether I wanted to climb it or not. Not because I didn't want to climb ... I love me a good set of stairs!! It had more do to with the fact that my guidebook had said to pre-book the tickets a good two weeks in advance. I had decided to just see if it was do-able at the last minute. If it was meant to happen, I would get my chance. I had the same experience in NYC for The Top of the Rock and we sailed right in with no wait time. So hopefully luck was on my side ...

So I walked over to the ticket office and there were two families ahead of me. Over the wickets, there is a monitor that lists out the possible times to climb the tower and how many places are left (they only let 40 people in at the same time). Well ... next available time was at 2 pm and there was one place left. The people in front of me were hemming and hawing about what time to pick. Move over people ... I'm alone ... just one ... solo ... me pick me ... I can go at 2!!! Okay so it was still an hour and a half waiting time but damn it, I am climbing the thing!! For once being a solo traveller is paying off!

The wait gave me time to visit the Cathedral and Baptistery and just mill about the grounds. The weather has definitely gotten much hotter in the last week or so. It was steaming hot and you definitely had to search for that one little spot of shade. And my incessant drinking of Orange Fanta continues.

So at around 1:50, I made my way to the coatcheck to drop off my purse. They do not allow you to bring bags, just your camera. I then made my way by the tower. I have climbed a lot of stuff at this point but I was really excited about this one. What I was not anticipating is that I would get a serious case of the giggles doing it.

So here's the thing ... when you are climbing the stairs you are essentially circling around the tower itself. What I was not expecting (although it's really logical) is that you physically feel the tilt so you don't end up actually climb the stairs right in the middle. It kind of throws your balance off course and you tend to stammer from one side to the other. If you have ever been on a cruise ship in high seas and have not been able to walk a straight line .... it's that same feeling. You almost feel like you are drunk. And that was what made me laugh hysterically for some reason. It really doesn't take much on any given day ... but I'm sorry this was priceless. You can also see from where the stairs are used up that people have definitely stammered from one side to the other when climbing this thing.

Once you reach the top, it feels a little daunting. You have great views but again it tilts and it tilts quite a bit. So when you are looking over the railing in the direction of how it leans ... mmmm ... not usually scared of heights but I was holding on to that railing. And then it was time to go back down. I am so glad that I decided to climb it because I do have to say that it was a highlight for me. That was just outright fun.

So I walked around a little bit and visited the other sights that my ticket gave me access to. I then made it back to the hotel. Because it was Saturday, my dad was at home in the afternoon so we got to chat for quite a bit. I spun the computer around so that he could see my view. I was trying to point out the "fountain" which was a trompe l'oeil and thefore not real and he said "oh yeah the Porsche". Ummm no dad ... look at the fountain ... not real, painted but looks real. The Europeans sure love their trompe l'oeil!!

May 23

After a very long day yesterday at the Cinque Terre, I definitely needed a day to wind down. So I wandered around Pisa aimlessly. I did circle back to the Leaning Tower (I had to see it one last time). I ended up spending a good part of the day on the terrace at the hotel reading my book (I am on my fourth one) and heading back out for a bit to grab some supper and gelato. Lazy day really ... sometimes you just need one of those.

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Photos

1 Look at the facade
The decor on the facade is crooked

4 It's Today!
I think that I saw them later on!

6 Doesn't seem to lean???
It's actually leaning towards me

7 A little crooked
Really? It took to building up to the third ring to realize it was crooked?