The Leaning Tower of Pisa

Whew!! We finally got to Pisa. It’s funny because I had a few other frivolous things to say before I got to my most favorite part of the trip. I have been asked over and over, “How was the Leaning Tower?” The answer is, “It was great!!”, but it has taken me a while to put it into words. That is really the main reason for the delay. It was supposed to be my very first entry upon our return…but I just could not put it into words.

Similar to my trip to the Taj Mahal, the Leaning Tower of Pisa had been on my list of must see wonders as a little girl. My favorite T.V. channel growing up was PBS (the Public Broad Casting Station). That channel was so awesome because it exposed me to the world and gave me my first thirst for education, art, and travel. I would venture to say that that very station helped to shape me (from the age of three) into the deep thinker I am today.

Reading Rainbow, with Levar Burton, made me want to dream and explore. Levar took us to the tomb of Tut, through the journey of chemistry, to the days of slavery and to outer space and beyond, all through the pages of a book. All without leaving my living room. It was through these journeys that I first longed to travel. The first places I dreamed of going were the pyramids and then the Taj Mahal and the then the Greek ruins and one day to Rome.

 As children we dream so freely that we dare to have the audacity to think that those dreams could one day come true. For me they have.

So as we drove through the Tuscan fields we looked out way in the distance beyond some hills and caught the first glimpse of the awe inspiring Tower. In the mist and fog, it leaned just as it had in pictures and in books. My eyes got misty with tears. As we began our descent into the very court yard where it stood (we were on foot by now). I held my partner’s arm and fought back the tears.

If you look closely, you can see the Leaning Tower of Pisa

I had, as I explained to one of my friends, a “Come to Jesus moment”. I had had the same feeling as we passed through the gates of the garden and into the view of the Taj Mahal. What is the “Come to Jesus moment”? For me, it’s the moment when I am reminded of how frail and how small I am. It is the moment when I am reminded once again that in the vast scheme of things, I really don’t matter all that much. It is the reminder, looking up at a creation that only God could have inspired, that He still works miracles. That is the moment.

I felt it as we ascended into the clouds, one mile above the ground in a hot air balloon. I felt it as I stared into the crystal blue water of the Bahamas. I felt it as I experienced the wonder of the symmetrical Piton Mountains of St. Lucia. It cleansed my soul as I sat on the steps of the wondrous Taj Mahal. Now, I felt it again as I walked into the court yard of the Cathedral that the Tower was built for.

Every word or description I could offer about our experience that day in Pisa is a finite, frail attempt to put into utterance just how awe inspiring it was. But I am struggling mightily to give just a glimpse…

There were many tours scheduled that rainy day in Pisa. Some tours only offered a look on the outside of the structure. Some more detailed tours like ours offered a full historical narrative from a well informed tour guide as well as a trek up all 294 steps to the top of the tower.

Note: We felt lucky, but nervous at the same time. You see, over the last several hundred years the Tower has been a work in progress, with architects from Italy and England putting their brilliant heads together to solve the problem of the ever sinking structure. One engineer finally came to a suitable resolution of adding lead to the leaning side and taking earth from the more sturdy side to counter balance the structure. This also meant that cables were attached to the Tower for nearly ten years to finally halt any further leaning. The hope was the cable attached to a more sturdy adjacent structure as well as the fore mention engineering would stop The Leaning Tower of Pisa from leaning any further and stop it from falling over. Once the cables were removed, the most stability to date had been achieved. Yet, due to the eternally moist soil that settled above underground canals, the Tower continues to sink about a millimeter every year. Our guide says this constant sinking is not visible to the naked eye if you were to visit from one year to the next, but that when it becomes a problem in the next century or so another solution will have to be employed.

Back to the story: By the time we arrived at the Leaning Tower of Pisa there were no cables to steady the structure. The lean seemed even more exaggerated the closer you got. Our tour guide was awesome, she had our tickets ready. She handed them to the attendant and we were able to skip the three hour line.

One by one, we trudged up each worn, marble step. The steps were so worn in fact, we had to step on the side of the deep divot less we slip into the crater. The steps were steep and wet. Now tears welled up into my eyes for a different reason. I did not want to die. Death by plunging off of the great Leaning Tower didn’t seem like it would be a good excuse for my kids.

But we trudged on. The ascension was surprisingly quite quick as our anticipation and anxiety made us move quickly. We ignored our burning muscles. Our lungs burned with fire.

Then we reached the top. My husband had opted not to carry an umbrella to keep his hands free in case he had to catch me. The rain dripped from his nose onto smiling lips. We looked at each other and said, “We did it babe!”

We had done it alright. But in the midst of our triumph I began to hyperventilate. I made the mistake of looking down. I had under estimated just how high we were. I began to feel faint. I began to feel light headed. I had never been afraid of heights before, but there is something about being at the top of a building leaning at about 40 degrees on wet marble with nothing to hold onto that might induce a sudden case of acrophobia.

We wanted to commemorate this moment with a photograph. An old English gentleman offered to be our photographer. He snapped two pictures of me and my adventurous beau, as the wind blew his umbrella from his hand. It toppled down into the belly of the Tower. An attendant retrieved it for him once he reached the bottom again. Our two photos, however, despite the kind gesture, did not come out. Be it operator error or inclement weather, the shots were lost, leaving us with only the memory seared into our everlasting imaginations. Sure, there were other pictures from atop the Tower, but the ones that are lost are always the ones you miss.

The bell of  the "Bell Tower" or A.K.A, The Leaning Tower of Pisa

Now silent to decrease vibration to stave off further leaning.

Note: The original bells are now in a museum in the court yard. 

The final descent was much slower than our rise to the top of the tower. I was suddenly 80 years old, clingy desperately to my husband’s arm. At times, all I could do was claw at a smooth wall with no railings and hope for the best. The stairwell that took you up was the same one that took you down and we had to pass single filed in certain spots which meant I could not hold on to his arm. Sometimes it got so tight that one person would have to come to a complete stop and flatten up against the wall to let another adventurer pass.   

Watch your step!

Tight quarters

By and by, we reached the bottom. I was changed. I was older. I was grateful. I was inspired. My life would never be the same.

Me

Of course there were other sites to see in that court yard on that exceptional day. There was the Cathedral, the Crematory and the Baptistery.

One note about the Baptistery: The roof of the structure was multicolored, checkered red and white on one half and checkered blue-gray and white on the other. Our knowledgeable guide told us that architects had designed it this way for the benefit of the sailors. Apparently, a well trained eye could spot the dome shaped roof of the Baptistery from the sea. Depending on what side he could see a sailor could navigate safely into the port just by deciphering the colors on the roof.

The Baptistry of the Cathedral of Pisa

This is the side with the red checkered pattern

We also visited shops and the small museum that had been built in more modern times. It was interesting to see how the ancient and Gothic had meld so seamlessly into the contemporary and current.

Finally, our tour had come to an end. As we walked back to our coach, hand and hand, we could not resist glancing back at the magnificent sight. We giggled like children, looking at one another and then looking back at the Tower. Even as the coach pulled off it was in our view. We continued to strain our eye sight to see until it ultimately disappeared from view, behind the hills into the fog.

For more history on the Leaning Tower Click Here

The closing act...Rome , The Colosseum and The Vatican. Don't miss it!