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Postcards from Pisa

Morning at Pisa’s Field of Miracles. We were just about the first tourists there, reaching there even before the roadside vendors had set up their stalls.

The three structures that make up the ‘Campo dei Miracoli’ or Field of Miracles: The circular Baptistry (in the front), the Duomo or the Cathedral (in the center) and the Leaning Tower which was the Bell tower for this Cathedral.

First glimpse of the Famous Leaning tower of Pisa . It really does lean!		Patel photo at Pisa . This is the back of the tower. Maintenance of the tower is an ongoing process to support the structure and to slow down the leaning process.
	The construction of the tower began about 1173. Although it took about 200 years to complete the construction, since it was paused several times to try and circumvent the problem of the leaning of the tower. If you observe the tower closely you can see the various stages when the construction was stopped trying to rectify the inclination of the tower: first around the fourth floor and then while construction of the belfry.

Standard shot at Pisa . The giantess from Brobdingang		Khau gully at Pisa: A long lane filled with eatables , mainly ham and olives from different parts of Italy .
We spent 4 hours in the city of Florence enroute to Venice . Florence was the home of the very wealthy and influential Medici family, the patron of Renaissance movement in Italy . The Medici family was instrumental in encouraging the famous artists and scientists of Italy like Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Boticelli, Galileo etc. Under their patronage art flourished and soon Florence was established as the cultural capital of Italy .
	We made our way to the Opera Galleria where the world famous statue of David stands tall. Sculpted by Michelangelo it is a stunning masterpiece, an embodiment of perfection that stunned me by its magnificence. In the same room as David, there is a are a group of four unfinished statues, aptly called Prisoners, which were left undone by Michelangelo. The partially completed sculptures, which almost seem to be straining to escape the marble, reveal the unerring eye for detail that Michelangelo possessed to sculpt out a stunning finished statue from a block of shapeless marble.

Next stop: The famous Duomo that inspited architects all over the world to create Domes. This was without doubt the most magnificent building we saw dutring the entire Italian trip. The intricate details on the walls, the massive structure and the beauty of white marble made it an unforgettable sight.	The Baptistry with its famous bronze doors that Michalengelo once called the doorway to heaven.	But positively the best thing about Florence . Its worth a trip to Italy just to eat some more gelato.