Monday, January 14

Europe Honeymoon 2 - The Leaning Tower

No trip in Italy is complete without the world-acclaimed Leaning Tower of Pisa.

After years of hearing about it, Wifey and myself finally got the chance to see the real thing during our honeymoon.

First of all, Pisa is not the name of a person or a wrong spelling for Pizza.
Pisa is a city in Tuscany, in central Italy.

So how come the tower is leaning? The tower was damn heavy and tall, and it was built on a ground of sand and clay that is only slightly above sea level. So the tower sank bit by bit, even before construction was finished.

The tower was actually closed in 1990, because of fears that tons of tourists at the top of the tower will cause the money-making tower to fall. It was re-opened in about 2001, with part of the lean corrected.

And the Leaning Tower of Pisa is actually part of a series of buildings surrounded by walls. Think this enclosed area is called the "Piazza del Duomo" or something like that. This panaromic picture sums it up best.



The dome-shape building on the left is the Baptistry of the Cathedral.



The area is huge, full of green grass patches, and plenty of tourists when we went there.

Almost every tourist had to have a picture of themselves supporting the Leaning Tower. Its quite a sight, seeing everyone trying their best to support the tower with their bare hands.

Here's a picture of Limpeh doing my part to prevent the Tower from falling.



And here's Wifey helping me out with the tedious job.



And if you go on top of the tower (which we did not), here is what you will see - The Township of Pisa!



Place is quite hot when we were there, but a row of shops provide some nice shade, and sells plenty of "Made in China" keychains and ornaments of the Leaning Tower.

I have read that it might actually be possible to set the tower back vertically, with modern engineering. But then no one wants to see the tower lose its "leaning" properties.




Not even Deuce Bigalow.

About the Author: Shingo T thinks we should lean the Raffles City Tower by a little, and attract more tourist dollars.

4 comments:

7-8 said...

"No trip in Italy is complete without the world-acclaimed Leaning Tower of Pisa."

Reminds me of a conversation I had once in Rome.

Friend: Eh want to go to Pisa?
#9: To see a !@#$ing tower? Forget about it! What do they have there anyway?

And so I spent 1 more day in Rome sightseeing without going over to Pisa.

Anonymous said...

Did you go to the Basilica (i think) where you see the grave (not terribly exciting) of Leonardo Fibonacci (... Fibonacci numbers is named after him)

Veggie

7-8 said...

I am only interested in numerical sequences that include me. I am not interested in Fibonacci because 9 is not in the Fibonacci sequence.

Shingo T said...

Basilica, the name rings a bell. Think I did go in.

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