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Monday, 29 September 2014
In the heat of the midday (as it turned out), we ventured forth via bus to Pisa, once again joining crowds of day-trippers self-funneling into a very few locations. The architectural complex that includes the famous un-plumb bell-tower is in a giant grassy area, with tremendously outsized buildings. The complex is unlike any other church complex we’ve seen for its size and the fact that it is not integrated into the cities’ active streets, shops, institutional buildings, and domiciles. Fortunately, the scale of the buildings and the campo partially temper the funneling problem.
Tourist-behaviors rarely offer surprises. We watched people doing the “pushing upright” photos. Often the photographer and the subject had repeated back-and-forths to get the desired effect captured. We just photoed unfolding events, rather than doing it ourselves.
To my eye, the cathedral next to the Leaning Tower also evinces evidence of foundation unevenness and sinking. Look at those last four arches (left) and the lines of the sections of the building. There’s some distortion by the camera, but there’re non-parallel lines in the building, too.
Back “home” in Lucca, we strolled the defensive wall that circles the old-town to catch the sunset. I did not expect the high craggy mountains that populate the skyline in this direction, but they are eye-catching.