The Leaning Tower of Pisa!

(I wrote this on Friday, but I couldn't post it until today) 

This morning I got up early for my appointment to climb the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I should point out here that I’m really a completely different person when I’m abroad. When I’m at home, I’ve been known to take the elevator in the law school to avoid the steps. Today I actually paid for the privilege of walking up uneven steps. The first couple flights of stairs seem very lean-y, but after that they either straighten out, or I was too busy gasping to tell. I must have looked bad, because a friendly elderly gentleman offered me a hit on his asthma inhaler. Still, it was worth it. The view from the top was pretty cool, and better than that, I can laugh at all the silly tourists who only took a picture of them holding up the tower and then got back on their tour buses. You held up the tower for a picture? Well, I climbed the tower. That’s right, take that, silly tourists! Despite the fact that it was early in the morning, I was still drenched with sweat by the time I reached the top. That, combined with the festival last night, means that both my recently-washed pairs of jeans have been drenched with sweat. Yuck. But, lest this turn into a sad imitation of my boyfriend’s blog, I’ll quit talking about physical exertion and get on with the fun part of the day. I was at the top of the leaning tower of Pisa! And there was a cool breeze, and it was really nice for about ten minutes, then the guards started yelling at us to go back down so the next group could go up. The stairs aren’t really wide enough to be bidirectional.

After I’d seen the tower, I walked back to the hostel. On the way, I passed the girls from my hostel room, who were on their way to the Leaning Tower. On the way from the hostel to the train station, I passed them while they were returning from the hostel. So I guess the guy from Florence was right. Pisa is pretty boring. I can’t really recommend it as more than a couple hours’ detour unless you manage to make it to the festival of San Ranieri. The fireworks make it well worth staying the night.

On my way too and from the tower, I saw the cleanup from last night’s festivities. There were empty candle-holders everywhere, as well as quite a bit of trash. Even the river seemed sort of forlorn in the light of day. Oh well. At least I saw the magic last night.