Pisa... Leaning Tower... What is it about the Leaning Tower of Pisa that makes people act so silly? Almost every tourist in Pisa (and we were no exceptions!) acts like they are either pushing it over or mightily trying to straighten it out...

Fewer people would probably bother to come see Pisa if that tower were finally set straight, don't you think?

Mary and Cy stayed behind in Florence for a couple of days for medical reasons and missed out on seeing Pisa, but this picture shows that they were there with us in spirit, so to speak...

Constant vigilance was required but we finally got a shot for the scrapbook of (mostly) just the tower without people trying to push it one way or the other!

The absolute worst part of the whole trip for Glen was not getting to climb the Leaning Tower. Only a limited number of people are allowed in the tower at any one time and we thought they were maxed out for the short duration of our stop. Later, on the bus, someone else, who hadn't wanted to climb the tower, told us that a ticket agent offered them two tickets that had become available. Unfortunately for us, they didn't know that we would have jumped at the chance. Sigh. Ah, well, another reason to return to Italy!

Duomos typically have bell towers, but this might be considered to be a case where the bell tower (Leaning Tower) has a duomo. This duomo is just overshadowed (figuratively) by its tower.

The Pisa baptistery is the largest in Italy, but we found it to be more interesting because of its amazing acoustics. A docent stood at the baptismal font and sang for us (see the video below for a recording captured on our digital camera). There is a ten second reverberation time wherein three sequential notes can be sung and the reverberating echoes allow the singer to produce a chord, creating haunting self-harmonies.

Click below to watch Pisa (3:10)