Tuscany Trip Day 2 PISA

 

We had a great time in Pisa visiting the Leaning Tower and surrounding architecture.  It was something to see!  Perhaps the most known sight in Italy, it sits next to a gorgeous Cathedral and Baptisty.  During the construction, the Piazza del Duomo was nicknamed the “Campo dei Maracoli” or Field of Miracles, for the grandness of the undertaking.  We had two different sets of tickets to climb the tower since only children over 8 can climb it.  So the first group: Jared, Karyl, Dave and Hanna went first while the boys and I waited below.  It was one of the most fun things we have climbed here in Europe.  It throws off your equilibrium as you walk up it because of the tilt. It was so cool!

So why does the tower lean??  The first stones were laid as far back as 1173.  Within 5 years they were already noticing a slight crookedness.  The heavy Tower resting on a very shallow 13 foot foundation was sinking on the south side into the marshy, multilayered, unstable soil.  The other buildings also have a slight tilt.  They kept building until four stories were completed and then construction stopped for a century.  The next architect tried to correct the problem by angling the next three stories backward in the opposite direction of the lean.  Then the project came to another halt for almost another century.  Finally, the last architect put on the Belfry and tried to kink it backward too.  After it was completed, many attempts were made to stop the gradual sinking and tilting.  In 1550 the base was reinforced.  In 1838, well-intentioned engineers pumped out groundwater destablizing the Tower and causing it to increase its lean at a rate of a millimeter per year. 

In the 1990’s the stabilization of the structure was so bad that they closed it down for a decade and did several things to stabilize it.  They tried counter weights sunken in the ground on the North side to no avail and finally drilled holes in the North side so that they could suck out soil allowing the tower to sink on the North side and straighten its lean by about six inches.  What a lot of effort and money spent (30 million!), but I’m sure glad they did it and that we were able to climb it.  It was a great day!   

 

So we spent most of the day trying to get “the perfect Picture”  (you know the one where you are either pushing over or holding up the Leaning Tower).  Carter and I practiced a lot and he was definitely the best at it.  It is harder than it looks!!  Cole even gave it a try…..oh this picture makes me smile! 

 

Karyl, Dave, Jared and Hanna waiving

Every angle was a little bit different and some showed off the tilt more than others.  I was apparently determined to get every angle. 

 

Next it was Carter, Jake and my turn to climb the tower!  Even just walking in was weird…as you turned around and looked out the door it was strange.  Your brain and eyes wanted the door to be straight with the outside ground.  You spend a lot of time giggling while walking up this tower because it feels super weird!  I had so much fun with my two boys.  They are awesome travelers. 

 

When you circle the tower and get to the tilting side it was a strange feeling:  We were laughing about it the whole time. 

 

The view of the rest of the Piazza:  With the cathedral next to the tower and then the circular Baptistry:

Red tile roofs, creamish yellow stucco?  Yep were in Italy again! 

Carter offered to take a picture right when the wind blew my hair over my face.  Lovely.

Okay….so we have seen a few Cathedrals now.  Poor Josh was bored.  Can you blame him?  The next picture shows just how big these Cathedrals are though.  Josh looks like a miniature! 

The Baptistry: 

The acoustics are pretty amazing in here.  At noon every day they shut all the doors and one of the workers demonstrates this by singing/ hollering over and over.  It almost sounds like a choir of echoes.  We happened to be there at just the right time and heard it! 

Okay, now that we were cultured, we went back to our little game of getting the Perfect Picture….we never tired of this game!  Carter bought Hanna’s Christmas present here.  It’s a really cool mug that is tilted just like the tower and has scenes from this Piazza including the tower on the sides. 

   

Moody little Cole was having a moment