Day 57 Pisa

Thursday January 31st

Up this morning and it is raining – glad we have the umbrellas.

We strike out for the train station which is a good hike from our hotel.

We catch the train – I even figure out how to use the automated machines. It is 18.6 Euro for all of us one-way - 3 adults and 1 child.

A little over an hour later we disembark. A long walk north to the Piazza but we find it without getting lost.

At first sight it is more dramatic than I could imagine. The Piazza is huge and there is a lot of grass. The Cathedral with the leaning tower (bell tower) the Baptistery and the cemetery. We first visit the cathedral we think it is free and nobody stops us as we enter. It is very large and beautiful. Many of the paintings are much darker than any we have seen before – a byproduct of not having been restored.

After the Cathedral we buy the pass that gets us into all attractions – we also pay extra to climb the leaning tower. We are a little uncertain about this as it is quite expensive 15 euro each – no discounts for children as under 10 is not even allowed.

First we go to the cemetery with many restored frescoes. They have had many challenges keeping them from deteriorating and during the restorations they actually remove them and discovered the drawings underneath – the templates or patterns for the frescoes. These were moved to a then the museum which we visit next, and then the church museum. The museum has some very nice views of the bell tower.

Finally we climb the tower – wow. It was very unsettling – the lean is enough to actually have a large impact on your sense. I had terrible vertigo at the top and constantly felt as if I might fall. Climbing the stairs is even interesting – on one side you feel progress is much easier than on another – you can see the path of millions of feet worn into the marble steps. The views from the top were spectacular.

If you have a chance to climb the tower I highly recommend it. I am glad they have gone to such great lengths (which are displayed in the museum with the frescoe templates) to save this monument.

Walk back to the train and back on in short order.

On the walk back to our hotel I purchase a coat – I am very happy and much more comfortable.

We download some movies from Itunes – I never thought I would do such a thing. We get "Next" and "Ghost" – try to get Vanilla Sky – not yet available.

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