Chapter 15 PISA.

1-11-88 Weather beautiful.

It was a three hour trip from Rome in an exceedingly crowded train. Standing room only- I resigned myself to a tiresome journey when I was rescued by a dear little boy (about four years of age.)

He came out of his compartment (I was standing in the corridor ) never spoke a word, never even looked at me but pulled a folding seat out of the wall beside me, sat on it for a moment then folded it back up and resumed his seat. How I mentally blessed him, even though he succeeded in making me look a complete idiot... at least I was a comfortable idiot.

My first view of the Leaning Tower.

I sat down on the lovely manicured green lawn and gazed at this fabulous sight.

I could almost see Galileo standing at the top dropping the two different sized balls, one a musket ball the other made of wood, to test his theory that all free falling objects near the Earth's surface will fall with the same acceleration. Some say this never happened so who knows?

One of many funny pictures taken.

I found the history of the tower interesting. It is the freestanding Campanile or bell tower behind the Cathedral. It began to lean soon after building reached the third floor in 1173, due mainly to poor soil and poorly laid construction.

In 1272 construction resumed. In an effort to compensate for the tilt engineers built the upper floors with one side taller than the other. Because of this the tower is actually curved. The height on the lower side is 55.86 metres and 56.70 on the high side.

There are 296 steps and the top of the tower stands 3.9 metres lower than if it was straight.

Some of the 296 steps.

and the top.

There are seven bells- one for each note of the musical scale.

The tower was closed to the public in 1990 for the first time in 800 years , due to speculation that it was on the verge of collapsing. The Italian government set aside 100bm lire($47 million) and it was reopened in 2001 looking much the same, but after digging out part of the shifting foundations and placing counterweights the engineers say that it is good for at least another 200 years.

After a good look around I decided to continue my journey and not stay the night in Pisa. So back to Florence, then Munich, heading up Frankfurt way where I meet up with my flight home. This is the last time I'll be using lire, back to D.M. tomorrow.

Munich.2-11-88.

Beautiful but cold.

I stayed the night in Florence then headed back to Munich. A pleasant uneventful ride, these trains are very comfortable. I found the scenery changed when approaching Germany, the mountain terrain quite beautiful.

On arrival at 7 pm, I headed straight for Pension Schiller where I had previously stayed, and booked in for two nights.

Next day was freezing, someone told me it was five degrees....brrrr, so most of my exploring was done around heated buildings. Saw the Church, Theatre, back to Marienplatz and the Glockenspiel clock. Wandered around the department stores before finally admitting defeat found an International bookstore, bought a Stephen King novel (Tommy, I think) went back to my lovely warm room, turned up the heater full blast and had an early night. Maybe that battery you spoke about earlier Phloss was starting to wind down!! I wouldn't be any good on your journeys in Russia where you found the temperature 25 degrees below!!!!

Well this was it, my last day in Europe.Train left at 10 54 am to Frankfurt. Good bye Munich.

Now I am....

HOMEWARD BOUND