Pisa
Trip Start
Mar 04, 2008
1
35
36
Trip End
Oct 06, 2008
Pisa, Tuscany, Italy
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Seeing the leaning tower was great. It is such a weird feeling to see all of these 'postcard' sights in person. It's like you're living in a photograph. I was truly disappointed, however, to discover that the tower description sign has absolutely nothing about the geotechnics. All they talk about are the 3 construction phases and all of the work done to repair and prevent the weathering of the facade. What kind of BS is that? It is the LEANING tower because of the ground condions. That is why people come to see it! Not for the facade! I know they have done a lot of repair work on the ground so as to keep the tower upright but still leaning (wouldn't want to straighten it out and thus lose its tourist draw), but there was no word of it. I think the Italians don't like to admit that one of their own made a mistake. From reading the tower writeup, one would conclude that it was the architect's original intention to have the tower lean that way.
Comments
Pisa
Hey Robin,
Nice travel blog! Amazing to see all of the places you have visited!
I was in Pisa earlier this summer. For some reason I expected that the tower would be a lot taller than it was. Not sure why. Were you surprised? ...And yes, definitely a shame that they glossed over the geotechnics :)
Happy travels!
Stew