Pisa = Yuck

Alright, I apologize right now to Giovanni di Simone, who shares my last name and also has a role in the construction of the Leaning Tower of Pisa (check this out for proof, I wouldn’t lie to you!).

You all did a terrible job.

So unstable even I can hold it up!

But I really don’t blame the architects, as much as I blame the person who decided to make this a tourist attraction (maybe I should blame myself for being a tourist).  This Leaning Tower is incredibly underwhelming.

I could push this thing over with just one flick!

In related news, the actual church on the grounds, and most importantly, the baptistery, is much more awe-inspiring.

The baptistery is on the left, the church is on the right.
Frank is in the middle.

On the bright side, it’s free to walk around the grounds, but it does cost money to go in the tower or church.  On a closing note, Frank especially did not think much of the Tower and tried to poke it over.

So we didn’t go inside the Tower or the church.  Maybe that's where the awesome-ness lies, but we'll never know because we were in a hurry to a) leave and b) go to a cool beach town that some other travelers told us about (too bad we ended up on a train to nowhere, serves us right for knowing the Leaning Tower so badly!)

I did get a wonderful piece of travel advice from a Rick Steves book though.  If you’re taking the train here, get off at Pisa S. Rossore versus Pisa Centrale, if you can.  Pisa S. Rossore is actually quite the walk, but Pisa Centrale is even worse.  And I was not paying for a taxi to drive me to a piece of architecture gone terribly awry.

Total Cost: Free

Best Deal: Not having to pay for a taxi because I got off at Pisa S. Rossore (all trains do not stop here)