Saturday, June 9, 2007

Day 6 - Pisa

We awoke early this morning to begin our long trip to the North. We delayed our 9:00 departure slightly – but for good reason. Last night after the game, Phil, Mandi, and Luis gathered the black uniforms to wash in the tub in Phil’s room. The uniforms were not dry in the morning so Phil and Mandi took them to a Laundromat around the corner from our hotel to dry them at 8:00 this morning. They were back at the bus by about 10 past nine with clothing that was still hot to the touch.

Our first stop was Pisa, which was about a 50 minute drive from our hotel. On our way, and about 15 minutes from our drop off point in Pisa, the bus was flagged down at a routine check-point for tour buses. Italian laws are extremely strict about bus drivers not going over their driving time constraints and get stopped randomly. The drivers must rest for nine hours between stopping and starting and must also stop every three hours. We found out while waiting that the bus also holds a CD of information that records when stops were made and how long there was between stopping and starting. They also check up to a week back to make sure everything checks out and Elena mentioned that sometimes they come on the bus to check things out. We did not have a police officer come onto the bus and had to wait for only about 10 minutes before Marco was given the go ahead and we were back on our way to Pisa. Elena did mention that on a prior tour, he bus got stopped and a different driver was over his driving time by just 20 minutes and the bus had to sit and wait for three hours before being able to continue on. She also informed us that because we will be doing so much driving over the next few days (since everything is more spread out), we will have two drivers with us so that we do not go over the driving time.

We have been in great hands with Marco and Elena!

After the small delay we transferred from the bus to a tram, which took us to the center of Pisa. In the Plazze del Miracoli was the Baptistery, the Cathedral, the city graveyard, and of course the Leaning Tower. The tower is actually the Bell Tower of the Church and was started in 1173 by one architect. He built the first three galleries and noticed that it was sinking and decided to abandon architecture. A new architect picked up the work and added the next two galleries before getting killed in battle. Finally, the final stages were added by a third architect and the Tower was completed in 1360. It is 53 meters high and contains 253 steps to the top.

In 1990, the Tower was closed for 11 years while a team of engineers examined and inspected the structure. It was decided that if the inclination of the tower continued (at a rate of 1 millimeter per year) it would eventually implode. So in 1992, steel support bands were added to both the inside and outside. Then, in 1995 600 tons of lead were added around the base of the Tower as another means of support. In 1999, engineers removed some of the soil underneath the high side to stop the inclination so that the Tower looks today as it did 200 years ago. The Tower reopened to the public six years ago, but visitors are limited by both the number of people that can go into the Tower and the frequency of admittance into the Tower. In addition to the Tower, the Cathedral is also sinking slightly as is the Baptistery.

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