Monday, February 22, 2010

Monday, February 22, 2010: Lean on me...























Monday, February 22, 2010 (Alexander): Waiting at the train station in Vernazza for our first train to Pisa, we eat raisin bread and drink milk for breakfast. When our train comes we hop on to get to la Speza and wait there till our next train comes. During the 1 hour and our last train ride, I played go jump in a cesspool(go fish) and DSI brain age. At the end we see blocks of marble. In the distance in the train station we could see mountains with digging machines that cut out marble in the mountains. After departing from the train we wait for mom who is buying the bus tickets to the tower of Pisa. Waiting for the bus to come we study the map of Pisa and take a picture of the map. When the bus comes we hop on the crowded bus. When we get to the tower of Pisa we try to look for the street called Santa Maria Novella and walk down till we find our hotel and then we find out our bed and breakfast is 100 meters away. This bed and breakfast serves no breakfast. Strange isn't this? We take a rest and turn on the only channel that is English BBC. Next we go to the leaning tower of Pisa that we straightened with Photo shop:). Then we go to the Baptistery (colder then outside). Seeing the cold and dark interior we head for the stairs to check the ceiling. At the top floor we saw that they were renovating the building. After walking once around the baptistery we were about to leave when a lady from the security desk called out in a loud voice for everyone to be quiet. But nobody was loud - she laughed and began singing half and whole tones in minor and major keys. This was an amazing acoustic experience (see the video below). Next, while climbing the Leaning Tower of Pisa, we sing the song, Lean on Me When You're not Strong..... We invented a new word, 'leanish', meaning you stand crooked. At the top, we get a great view of Pisa and the beautiful blue sky. We get so famished that we follow our noses to a 'carpe diem' kebob place. These were delicious, but we had to be careful where we ate them. We weren't sure if we could eat in a public place such as the grass next to the Baptistry. The next site is the cemetery. The frescoes on the walls of the cemetery are partialy ruined. Some have been preserved and display life and death. The cemetery is intended to make people think about life and death. Grave sites are in the ground and some are recent such as 2009 and old ones since 1001. We also saw more bones of saints inside glass containers. For a refreshing break from the tourist tasks, we indulged in some gelati: chocolate cream and nuts, banana, lemon, and peach.


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