Pisa by Jordan

Pisa was great, we stayed in a hotel just out of town in the country side. The city was smaller than we expected and was set in the middle of no where.

Driving through the city was a maze with all the Leaning Tower of Pisa signs pointing in every direction. Eventually we found it behind an ancient castle wall In the middle of a cute little village. It was an amazing sight. The whole building was made out of white marble and had a tilt that went into the ground. After taking pictures of us looking like we were propping it up, Alex, Dad and I went up. Ben was not allowed as it is considered too dangerous for small children which was a bummer. Sam said his legs were too tired from all our travelling so Mum stayed with them. Inside the tower you could really tell how well the tower did to survive all that time. Climbing up the tower you could really feel the slant and going up the staircase you could see how worn the marble was where people had walked, it was that old! At the top we looked out over the whole city, we saw a sports stadium, the Pisa Cathedral which the tower was built for as a bell tower and all the tiny tourists on the ground.

I found out it was started in 1173 and after 5 years had reached the 4^th level. There was then a 100 year pause for reasons unknown before work started again in 1272.  By 1278 the 7^th cornice was complete before another break. In 1360 the bellfry (bell level) was started and at this time 4 steps on the north and 6 on the south were built showing that it was already starting to lean.  I also learnt that only 20 years ago they still had cables holding it up and that they were pumping concrete under to keep it stable.

After looking at the leaning tower of Pisa we had a walk around the classic Italian Village. Everything was so different, they hung clothes out the window to dry, all the windows had shutters and people sit at their windows looking out onto the street. After a bit of walking we found a restaurant. At the restaurant we all had an Italian dish, except for Ben. I had a seafood spaghetti (marinara), Sam had spaghetti bolognaise, Ben had fries, Alex had calamari and Mum and Dad had pasta. I loved the seafood spaghetti and it was the first time I had mussels and boiled octopus. That night Sam and I played Ping Pong for a little then got ready to rise early the next morning.

The next day we hired a 6 seater bike (car shaped) and drove to the river and got lost in the maze of streets ending up on a main road. Ben sat in the front and was the horn while the rest of the boys and dad were the acceleration, mum was the photographer. Dad steered and braked. I had been nagging mum and dad for a bike ride, so this was an absolute blast.

By Jordan