The Tower, Pisa

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One of the seven wonders of the world and no wonder why. Its three hours journey from rome to central pisa station, from there u take the bus no "1", that will take you the tower.
There is a museum and a dome next to it, The Tower of Pisa is the bell tower of the Cathedral. Its construction began in the august of 1173 and continued (with two long interruptions) for about two hundred years.
Both because of its inclination, and its beauty, from 1173 up to the present the Tower has been the object of very special attention. During its construction efforts were made to halt the incipient inclination through the use of special construction devices; later colums and other damaged parts were substituted in more than one occasion; today, interventions are being carried out within the sub-soil in order to significantly reduce the inclination and to make sure that Tower will have a long life.
You can go to the top after paying 15 euros, its worth every penny.

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Here is the most expected moment for me! I read on internet that you have to make bookings and reservations to go up the leaning tower because just 20 persons a day are allowed to have this pleasure. I did not make any reservations because we did not know when we were going to visit Pisa exactly. So I was so surprised and glad when we were there and asked the tourist information about it and they told us that we had to wait in the list for the next 4th group to visit the tower!!! The procedure was that only 20 persons could climb the tower every 30 minutes. So we could climb as well in the next 2 hours!!! Yeah...it was a big surprise and a great experience! :)) We bought the ticket for a small fee and in the meantime we continued strolling around the city.

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The leaning tower was built in three stages over a period of about 200 years. This first floor of the white marble campanile is surrounded by pillars with classical capitals, leaning against blind arches. In 1178, after the third floor was built, the tower begab to lean because of foundation was not deep enough and it was built in weak, unstable subsoil. It was supposed to be a bell tower with 294 steps. I went there to see it just in case in decide to lean right down to the floor :)

It is possible to go up the tower but you must book well in advance. They allow a certain number of touritst up to the top but due to the weakness of the tower they must limit the overall number. Make sure you book in advance because it is incredible.

Practicalities when climbing the Tower:

Book in advance. You can reserve on the website www.opapisa.it . This is advantageous for 2 reasons: 1) you don't risk running out of tickets, they do get sold out probably by 1pm for the afternoon times; 2) you can plan your visit in advance since in my opinion, the Tower and the surrounding complex is great to see, but you might want to spend your time in other cities before/after that.

Know that you have to leave your bags in lockers next door to the ticket office which is no big deal. You can still take your camera with you.

Climb it fast--you are allowed 30 minutes. Get to the top quickly and work your way down because the guide will want to throw you off if you are slow! Therefore, get to the top, take some pictures, and then spend more time taking pictures in the middle levels.

As many times as you see pictures, it is impossible to comprehend what you will witness first hand. I can't believe it doesn't tip over, which makes the climb up even more tension filled. It is well worth buying tickets to make the climb. The ticket office is near the tower and you'll get a time slot within a couple hours depending on the crowds. It is actually humorous to watch people, basically hugging the walls as the climb up the stairs.

Just because this tower isn't straight: Galileo climbed it, lots of people are coming to see it, the fake Gucci handbag sellers surround it (and also the reason why I met a guy trying to sell me a fake Breitling watch saying it was a Mercedes). Well worth the stop, nice restaurants near by and a relaxed atmosphere. Remember to take your time!

You will know that the tower is really leaning because when your walking up, you are leaning. Kind of nervous at first but I got used to it. They only let 30 people to go to the top for 30 minutes. I think that's enough time. Would you really want to spend a lot of time in a tower that's leaning? :)