Lucca & Pisa, Italy

Today, we continued our travels through Northern Italy enroute to Austria.  We drove through the Tuscany area and visited Lucca and Pisa.  There we found the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The tower is a very unique structure.  It is leaning about 15' off vertical center. It has been leaning since the 1500's and was recently retrofitted to keep it from leaning further.  One side of the tower is settling into the soft ground surrounding it.  Visitors are now allowed to climb the stairs inside of the tower leading to the top for a 360 degree of the city.  Mom and I stayed on ground level while Cydney, Damon, Savannah and Halle climbed the stairs.  Some of the following photos show the conditions inside of the tower.  It was a beautiful warm spring day and we enjoyed driving through Tuscany Region of Italy. We returned to Florence for a good night's rest before driving to Venezia (Venice).

Looking over the countryside at Lucca, Italy

Would you believe the tower is still upright after 500+ years.

We really enjoyed Savannah and Halle

Worn stairs inside the Tower of Pisa.
 Many millions of feet have climbed to the top.

Overlooking the city of Pisa from the top of the tower

A few more steps and we will be to the top.