Pisa trip!

Ciao tutti! Masha impara l'italiano ogni giorno (Masha learns Italian everyday) - I needed to share it in the begining since that is the phraze that is describing my life for already few weeks:)My progress is visible! Yuuuupiii!

Blogger Masha is back with couple of new stories! So, for those who is trying to follow my Italian discoveries, I have a new story to tell:) This weekend was amazing - I travelled to Pisa!

Initially we were planning to go to Florence, but on Thursday me and Annare were invited to Pisa by Tugce and Simo - 2 international EB members in Pisa!4,5 hours travel and we came to Pisa - one of the most beautiful cities in Tuscany (region in central Italy) near Ligurian sea. The city itself is very small, only 185 square kms, so you can cross it in maximum 1 hour. Population of pisa is not more then 100,000 people. But each year Pisa welcomes thousands of tourists that are coming to see Piazza dei Miracoli that is recognized as one of the main centers for medieval art in the world. Partly paved and partly grassed, it is dominated by four great religious edifices: the Duomo, the Leaning Tower, the Baptistery and the Camposanto. Piazza dei Miracoli with its Leaning Tower of Pisa (Torre pendente di Pisa) stirs imagination of everyone from the old to the young!

The construction of this imposing mass was started in the year 1174 by Bonanno Pisano. When the tower had reached its third storey the works ceased because it had started sinking into the ground. The tower remained thus for 90 years. It was completed by Giovanni di Simone. The top of the Leaning Tower can be reached by mounting the 294 steps which rise in the form of a spiral on the inner side of the tower walls. The tower leans at an angle of 5.5 degrees. This means that the top of the tower is 4.5 meters from where it would stand if the tower was perfectly vertical. The total height of Tower is more then 55 meters. Amazing view on city of Pisa opens in front of you as soon as you are reaching the top. It's believed that Galileo Galilei to have dropped two cannon balls of different masses from the tower to demonstrate that their descending speed was independent of their mass. In 1934 Benito Mussolini ordered that the tower be returned to a vertical position, so concrete was poured into its foundation. However, the result was that the tower actually sank further into the soil. You can learn more about Leaning Tower of Pisa here.

Even without statistics and history, Piazza dei Miracoli is just a fascinating place to see and to be. Lying on the grass in few meters from 800years old building that are believed to be one of the best places in the world brings you inexpressible emotions!

Apart from sightseeing we spent a lot of time together with Simo and Tugce, which was great! They are so nice and so caring! I felt like at home, having somebody cooking breafast for me and not making jokes about my attitude to pasta;) Thank you girls for being so hospitable and tacking care of us:) In the night (yes, in the night - at 23.30) we went to a cafe with quite a strange name "Pick a flower" to meet with LC Pisa. We actually didn't met so many people, but those we met were really nice! I was glad to see Cisco (MCP Italy 2006-07) there, it brought me a lot of memories of my first month in Italy, when we lived all together at Via Andora!

Walking for 7 hours of the first day and for 3 hours on the second day was kind of tiresome:) so on our way back to Milan we were almost dead. But travel in Italian train will never let u die, not even fall asleep. Since all the people in vagoon (and believe me, there are quite a lot of them:)) believe that speaking on the edge of their vocal potential is absolutely necessary:)
What else..Enjoy my pictures at Facebook here and come to visit me in Milan and maybe we can travel another day to Pisa;)