To Pisa!

Our trip began with an early bus ride to Lucca. The way provided a wonderful view of the countryside with rolling green hills and plots of farmland. It's a shame that I was so tired I could barely keep my eyes open. When we arrived, we met up with our rent-a-guide; a friendly Italian man who clearly had a passion for the history of his town. He took us from place to place, pointing out significant land marks. I wouldn't have known it by just looking at the town, but it actually had quite a rich history. Lucca was officially established in the 2nd century B.C.E. Since then, it has seen its fair share of war, pilgrims, revolutionaries, and artists. Our tour was limited to the Old City (within the walls), where, at one point, there used to stand about 100 churches. There are now only 20. The walls we were looking at were actually recently rebuilt (15th to 16th century) due to a war with Lucca's long time rival, Pisa.

We proceeded to walk through the rest of the town, and I was struck by the realization that the atmosphere was quite different from Prato, in that there were almost no immigrants to speak of. The few that I had seen were comfortably mingling with the locals, which is something you definitely don't see everywhere. It was a beautiful - and well-off - with a plethora of local myths and legends. We got to see many of its most famous churches, and aristocratic houses, and there seemed to be a lot of stores selling random, miscellaneous items like samurai swords and and cos-play gimmicks, which makes sense considering the fact that there's a really large, 5-day comic con that takes place there every year between the end of October and the beginning of November.

When we has seen everything our rent-a-guide had to show us we made our way to Pisa. Before arriving at the the Square of Miracles, where the leaning tower, Pisa Cathedral, and the Baptistery sit, we made our way through a very interesting market that sold all kinds of tapestries, strange gadgets, souvenirs, and umbrellas (on a bright sunny day.) We passed through the hoards of people and under an archway that finally brought us to the Square of Miracles. It's literally exactly like what it looks like on television: people sitting on the grass, in the midst of three colossal structures, and taking "leaning pictures" beside the Leaning Tower. The whole area was, apparently, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and was once very close to the sea side. The water has long since receded, but hundreds of years ago, ships would be able to find their way to shore using the reflective surface of the baptistery's roof, which I found quite interesting. The three structures - with the tower being the most obvious - I later learned, were not originally leaning. It was, in fact, a design flaw in the the structural layout. The foundation of each building, at some point, began to sink into the ground causing them all to tilt. A rather successful mistake. We were given time to walk around for a bit before heading up the tower together. For some reason, security was very, very strict upon entering the Leaning Tower, more so than anywhere we've been so far. Military guards, with automatic guns made sure no weapons of mass destruction made it into the holy tower. Something must have happened in the past to make this necessary, I imagine.

The climb was brutal - perhaps more so since I'd only had an hour of sleep - but it couldn't have been more worth it. Of all the heights we've scaled so far, this one was by far my favorite. I couldn't even tell you why. Perhaps because I was imagining what it must have been like to be a priest, in my long flowing robes, standing on a tower with no railing whatsoever, looking out at the world from a tower that symbolized man's attempt to reach the heavens, with the soothing backdrop of the ocean with its salty smell and humid breeze. I was, admittedly, not terribly excited to make the trip to Pisa. My general attitude towards famous monuments in general (probably due to my past experiences with excruciating family outings) was that I could pretty much just google it, and it would be more or less the same thing. This trip to Italy has definitely made me re-think this bleak outlook on sightseeing.