Fully confident that the Leaning Tower of Pisa would be prominently displayed in any "cool building" list, I ran some quick searches to prove it.
Turns out Pisa was not as highly acclaimed as I thought it would be. Should have left that well enough alone since this tower is iconic and we all know it's amazing.
The approach to Pisa is pretty anticlimactic. It's flat farmland and feels remarkably normal as you drive in.
And then, in the distance, you see it peeking behind some other buildings, just a slightly bit askew.
Walking towards the tower brought a surreal giddiness. This sensation always comes over me when I'm about to see a famous historical building, painting, sculpture, or when I'm in a place where something significant happened.
My pulse quickened as we walked towards the piazza.
We entered into the Piazza dei Miracoli, a UNESCO heritage site not only for the Leaning Tower (who's proper name is actually Campanile) but also houses the Cathedral, the Bapitstry, and the Camposanto (the graveyard).
A good site with a succinct summary of the Piazza dei Miracoli can be found here:
http://www.italia.it/en/travel-ideas/unesco-world-heritage-sites/pisa-and-piazza-dei-miracoli.html
The grandeur of this site really took your breath away.
The crush of the crowd also took your breath away.
Once inside the piazza, I realized a much more entertaining search for Pisa would be "Pisa selfies." Go ahead, check it out right now. We'll wait for you.
Everywhere we looked people were posing to hold the tower up, using their fingers to push it straight, or trying to give it a hug.
Of course, we had to do it too (except Alisa as she was more dignified and respectful than the rest of us):
Then we took a more respectful photo.
I really couldn't stop taking pictures of this tower. We had hoped to climb to the top, but children under 8 weren't permitted. Joey took it stoically. Sammy was just happy driving his cars on the chains surrounding the tower.
We went to a local cafe that allowed us to gaze upon the tower while we had lunch (yes, we each had a piece of pizza in Pisa).
After that took about 300 more pictures of the tower and navigated through the crowds back to our car.
We loaded up and made our way south to our next stop in Umbria to meet up with my sister Katherine (who has been living in Rome since 2000) and my niece Ella!
On the road, I couldn't help but look back and see the tiny crooked top of the tower peering around the dome of the cathedral to watch us drive away, quietly imploring us to return again some day.
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