Lucca and Pisa

After leaving Florence late Wednesday afternoon, we drove to the small town of Lucca. Lucca is an old town and the entire City Center is surrounded by a large stone wall. It was already dark when we got there, but we walked into the City Center and had dinner. On the way back to our Bed & Breakfast, the kids climbed the path to the top of the wall and walked up there for while. Being dark and rainy, I decided to stay on the sidewalk below!

The next morning we left for Pisa - a drive of about 30 minutes. The kids decided that walking on top of the wall was really all they wanted to do in Lucca, so we left.

We were surprised when we first saw the Leaning Tower of Pisa. In pictures, it's always by itself. We didn't realize that it's the old Bell Tower for Pisa's Duomo. In this picture, the Baptistry is the round building right behind Robert and the kids, the Duomo is the building behind that, and then, of course, the Leaning Tower of Pisa is in the back. It looks much smaller when seen with all of the other buildings.

This is a picture of the Baptistry. It cost 4 euros per person to go in, so we just took pictures of the outside.
This is an altar inside the Duomo. There's no charge to go inside the Duomo, since it's still a working cathedral. That is a crypt on top of the altar. With bones inside it.
I'm not sure what this was supposed to be, but I thought it was intriguing.
After going through the Duomo, we walked over to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The kids were going to climb to the top, but we didn't realize you had to get tickets in advance. The kids didn't want to wait as long as they would have had to wait, so they didn't go up to the top. We had to content ourselves with taking the classic picture of each person holding up the Tower.

Here's Scott. Looks like a half-hearted attempt to me.

Here's Brian. He really looks like he's working.

Here's me. If I'm the only thing keeping the Tower from falling over, than we're in trouble!
Here's Robert. He decided to carry the weight of the Tower on his back instead.
I don't have a picture of Kimberly since her pictures were taken with her own camera. She did hold up the Tower too. It's amazing how long it took us to take those pictures. It's harder than you think to get things lined up (and you can see that our hands don't line up perfectly). It was fun to watch people all over the area striking the same pose. Everyone wants a picture holding up the Leaning Tower of Pisa!

Here's a picture of the base of the Tower. It really does lean!
After that we did some shopping at the stalls they have lining the sidewalks. I got a hat, which I needed. Robert and I like it, but the boys say it makes me look like an old Russian woman!

Right outside where the Baptistry, Duomo, and Tower are located there is a McDonald's. We didn't eat there, but Brian made me take this picture because he thought it was a pretty cool looking McDonald's. I'd have to agree.
After that we left Pisa and drove back to Milan. It was a fun four day trip with the kids.