Well, so it’s about time for one of my posts to be in
here.
It was the day after our wedding and we decided to drive
down to Pisa for the day. The road from Pisa, was very scenic. Unfortunately
there are no pics of the road for this blog, because Sophie was driving, and,
although she kept trying to get me to take some, I decided that taking photographs on the way would distract from my appreciation of the scenery and ruin the experience...
We were pleasantly surprised to find that the Leaning Tower
is now open to the public. I was reluctant to spend 15 Euros per person to
climb to the top, but Sophie offered to make it her treat, so…
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| Pisa Cathedral and Campanile (Leaning Tower) |
The climb to the top was a little odd, because of the
inclination of the tower itself. Sophie found it a little disorienting, and we
had to stop a couple of times on the way up. Fortunately, I gallantly offered
to hold her hand and we made it to the top.
Naturally, Pisa Cathedral is the supreme example of Pisan
Romanesque architecture.
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| Arcade of columns from the West Front of the Cathedral |
A beautiful building, but unfortunately our appreciation of it was
sullied by the antics of some.
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| Spectacular view of Pisa Cathedral from the southwest, with the Campanile in the background. |
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| Unedited version of spectacular view, with grotesque posturing by English-speaking tourists in the foreground. |
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| Read the Red Sign! |
These English-speaking tourists obviously had difficulty
reading the bright red sign seen on the lower left.
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ReplyDeleteOh!!!! how great is this monument!!! At least you have the experience to have gone up to the top of the Leaning Tower Of Pisa.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed seeing it on blog.
It's great that it was possible to restore the tower and prevent it sinking any further. Sophie's brother Dom had his own explanation why the tower leaned: A very fat man got to the top and settled on one side doing his jumping exercises ... ;-)
ReplyDeleteAs to sitting on the forbidden grass: In Great Britain grass is normally allowed, it's considered common property unlike on the continent .... We have also often observed that many people do not and cannot read !
I have noticed that Parth seems to like the use word 'sully' and I wonder whether there is a connection to the German word 'besudeln'.
Actually, I think it has less to do with differing attitudes to cathedral greens on the continent than with the fact that it probably takes considerably more effort to maintain a lawn in Tuscany (with its scorching summers and relatively low rainfall) than in England. Trampling about on the green like a pair of heifers therefore demonstrates not just a lack of respect for local regulations, but also a lack of awareness about the difference between the local climate and that of one's own country. Both Sophie and I felt that this sort of behaviour was rather inconsiderate.
DeleteIt does give me a great deal of pleasure to add, however, that the English-speakers in question were definitely not from "Great Britain"...