Momma Mia! That's a one Bent Banana!

Turns out the bell tower at Pisa is a base, with 6 rings and a bell. In about 1100AD the original architect built the base and 3 of the rings before coming to the conclusion that it was crooked! So he bailed. It took another 100 years or so for someone else to take a crack at it. This guy built the next 3 rings and the bell but figured he'd lean them in the opposite direction to try to balance things out. He must have been a student of the 'two wrongs make a right' school. Anyway the tower is actually banana shaped because it goes out at the base, then comes back in at the top.

The square includes a cathedral, baptismal, graveyard and the bell tower. Again, it's impossible to capture with photographs. 

The latest attempt at straightening the tower was in October of 2011 by a small French company.

The round building is the baptismal building. It is circular, with two domes, one above the other with amazing acoustics. The best part of the tour of the baptismal was when the curator of the building came in and started singing. She would sing a note and it would continue echoing long, long, long after she stopped. She then gave a demonstration by singing individual notes of musical chords. By the time she got to the last note, the previous notes were still echoing. You've never heard anything quite like it.

Baptismal Building

The Cathedral itself was unbelievable. It was built in the year 1000 and is magnificent. The ceiling is adorned with large sculpted tiles covered in 24k gold.

Cathedral and Bell Tower

The winery tour was a blast. It was the typical farm you would see nestled in the hills of Tuscany. They gave us a tour of the vineyard, olive press, and orchard then sat us down at long tables for a lunch of sliced salami, cheese, olives and olive oil from their own orchard, sun dried tomatoes, and home made bread.

Oh! I forgot to mention, they brought a wide variety of red, white and dessert wines to the tables and everyone pretty much loaded up!

I said it was going to be a happy bus ride home and boy was I right!