Leaning Tower of Pisa, Pisa, Tuscany, Italy

I remember 50 years ago in elementary school learning about the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Today, I stand in awe gazing at it all these many years later.  A photo really does not do it justice. This complex, known as the the Field of Miracles (or Campo dei Miracoli), includes the Baptistery at left, the Cathedral at center, and the Tower at right among other features of the whole property.  Begun in 1173, the tower started tilting almost immediately. The tower stands approximately 186 feet high (on the high side) and the top is displaced approximately 13 feet off center.

Visually, the tilt is jarring to the eyes every time I look at it.

Almost anyone with a camera made this image of their family or friends "holding up or pushing over" the tower. And yes, we did, too. There were quite a few folks visiting today but it is way more crowded in the summer.

 After a while, it seemed like everything was leaning.

But lunch beckoned and off we went in search of a restaurant.

We settled on a sidewalk restaurant/cafe just a few hundred yards south of the tower complex.

I enjoyed a perfectly prepared almost vegan pizza (a small bit of cheese made it not vegan) with wonderfully grilled veggies. Like most food in Italy, it doesn't matter if you are in a tourist trap or a downtown fine restaurant, they take great pride in food preparation - American style junk food is not the norm here although I did see some places.

But now, lunch over, it is time to climb the tower!  I purchased a ticket at 11:30am and the timed entry was for 12:45pm so the lunch interval was perfect.  I hear that in the busy season, the wait to climb can be many hours. They time the entry and precisely control the visit duration but I didn't feel rushed or cheated. Cost was 18 Euro or about $25 USD - not inexpensive but a great bargain for a once-in-a-lifetime experience.  

This is one my favorite visuals of the entire trip - it was certainly the most mind-boggling. There are 290+ steps to the top of the tower along this spiraling internal staircase of marble.  The footfalls of millions of humans over almost a thousand years of climbing have worn the marble as you see above. You can tell this portion of the stair was on the low side of the tower because the wear was on the right side of the step (low side).  As you wind up onto the high side, the wear pattern shifts to the center and then to the left side of the steps and back to the right as you continue winding upwards.  It just blows my mind!

A column detail at the top level of the climb. I think their expressions reflect the spectacular view.

And oh, what a view!! Looking down on the cathedral and baptistery on the Field of Miracles.

As you can see, it was glorious spring day with visibility almost unlimited to distant mountains - just a light breeze blowing - it was just plain perfect in every way.

The combination of the sensation of climbing an off-kilter structure, the experience of being on top, soaking in the view, and the climb down, I felt as thrilled and giddy as a kid. If it sounds like I'm gushing like a schoolboy with a crush, it's because I am.  This was definitely a peak life experience for me.