Pisa

Today we made a day trip from Florence to Pisa. Pisa is such a quaint, small town. We enjoyed the scenic walk from the train station to the leaning tower. The tower really does lean. I know they call it the leaning tower of Pisa, but it was still amazing to see. You couldn't help but wonder how it is still standing. The 187 foot tower was built in 1173 as a bell tower. The lopsided settling began when construction reached the third story. The architects then tried making the remaining floors slightly taller on the leaning side. Unfortunately, the extra weight only made it lean even more. By the 20th century, after further settling and leaning, people feared that it would eventually topple over. In 2000, restoration began to restore the tower to its original tilt from over 300 years ago. It is now firmly anchored to the ground. The weather was beautiful and we enjoyed spending time walking around the tower, duomo, and battistero.