First glimpse of Pisa!  It’s in a cathedral complex,
in which the actual leaning tower is only a small
 part. A lucrative epic architectural failure!
Construction of the tower started in 1174.  It was
built on poor soil, and started to lean after only a
few stories were built.  Then funds ran out, and it
sat for several hundred years before construction
started again.  This view is the hollow interior
of the bell tower.
The magnificent view from the top!  Worth the
climb, we were lucky to have a very short line
as entry tickets are timed.
Climbing to the top was odd – narrow marble steps,
sometimes where you felt no effort when the building
was leaning with you,
and more effort when it was leaning against you.
Galileo famously used the Leaning
Tower of Pisa to demonstrate his
theory that the speed of a falling
object is independent of its weight.
Multinational architects and engineers
have studied the tower for stability.
It has leaned up to a max of 5.5 degrees,
and now, with stabilization, leans at
3.9 degrees.  I’m just doing my part to
hold it up.