But we are so close to Tuscany

As exhausted as we were from our side trip to Lisbon, we knew we were just steps away from Tuscany.  And we can’t resist checking things out.  So we got on a train and headed towards Pisa.  Had to see that leaning tower you know.  It was a downpour as we arrived but it finally broke a bit and we started hiking towards the tower.  There were umbrella salesmen EVERYWHERE.  Even though we came prepared with our rain slickers, they just couldn’t understand why we kept saying “NO” to the umbrella offer…”very good price” they kept saying.

Yes, we had to do the “Cheesy” tourist poses, but I shot a couple of strangers doing the poses too and it looks pretty funny if you are not lined up with your camera at the right angle (see photo #3…haha). 

So the building of the tower started in 1174, intended as the bell tower for the Duomo (church next door).  The tower currently leans at 14 feet from perpendicular.  John and I decided that was just a bit more lean than we wanted to test so we did NOT go up into the tower.  It was closed from 1990 until 2001 because it was so dangerous and they removed tons of soil from under its foundation and put in lead counterweights to make it “Safe”????

Because of the weather and because we were actually burnt out on touring museums and churches, we left after about an hour of walking around in thunderstorms and headed to Lucca.