Wednesday, January 16, 2019

Six months later...

...I am trying to finish blogging this trip.

The leaning Tower of Pisa is actually part of the grounds of the Catholic Cathedral of Pisa.  There is a Cathedral, the Tower, a Baptistry and a Museum.


This building, the Battistero, has the most amazing acoustics.  Normal reverb is a few seconds.  This building will hold reverb (an echo) for a full seven seconds!  It was demonstrated for us and was so cool.
"The Field of Miracles" is at the entrance.  You can see the leaning Tower in the background.  The grounds actually are host to several leaning buildings due to the underground water that makes the land unstable.  The Cathedral and the Baptistery are also leaning.  
 The Duomo (Cathedral), full of works of art.  The chandelier is known as Galileo's chandelier.  Legend says that Galileo's theories relative to the pendulum came to him while he was attending mass and happened to be distracted by the oscillating chandelier.  Unfortunately, this is only a legend because the chandelier was hung in the Doumo only four years after his discovery. 

Good-bye Pisa!  On to Verona!
 "Little Coloseum"otherwise known as Verona Arena is a huge 1st Century Roman amphitheater which currently hosts concerts and large-scale opera performances. 
 Beautiful streets and buildings
Site of the setting of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" the dumbest story of all time.  ha  This is a 14th century residence with a tiny balcony overlooking a courtyard said to be Juliet's house.  
Bah humbug.

Next stop....Venice!