Lucca e Pisa

On Friday, I went to Lucca and Pisa with my school! It was nice to go on a trip that I didn't have to pay for.

First we went to Lucca. This is the Duomo di Lucca. Duomo just means "cathedral" so it is not actually dome-shaped.

Il Duomo di Lucca

A couple of friends and I first went to a caffè and we got cappuccinos and pastries. I got a donut-like thing with chocolate chips in it. They heated it up for me and it was lovely.

I had to go to the Basilica di San Frediano for a school assignment. I wasn't thrilled about doing something for school on my day off.

Basilica di San Frediano

But the inside of the Basilica was amazing!

Did I mention what my school assignment was? I had to see the dead body of Saint Zita, of course! Around the Renaissance period, it was believed that saints' bodies would not decompose. So the bodies would be preserved in churches. Sometimes it was the whole body and sometimes it was just a skull or a hand.

Saint Zita

Not going to lie, the light around the body does make it seem pretty mystical. Body count: 1.

Now this square is elliptical-shaped. I couldn't really get a picture to capture that. My host mom says that during Christmas this square is decked out and lined with shops.

So then there was a tower and for only three euros we could climb it. It wasn't the tallest tower, but it had trees on top and the tower had character.

Climbing the tower

The view was lovely. :)

After that we walked for a bit trying to find the city walls. We found... a moat?

So we eventually got to the city wall. It didn't look like a wall so much as it looked like a hill. We went up and it was the loveliest park/jogging trail right overlooking the city! I wish my city had that!

It was so nice to just walk on top of the city. I really enjoyed Lucca.

Then we took the bus to Pisa!

This is the baptistery, the duomo, and the tower.

Leaning Tower of Pisa!

It was so amazing to finally see this tower! And it is completely comical- the lean is ridiculous! In a country that so values appearances, it's refreshing to see such a disaster! :)

City Wall

This city wall looked coolly medieval. People were lounging on the grass and I think that some were even sleeping. It's funny to me that all of the Italian cities used to have walls. Most don't have them anymore, but at the time they needed them for protection. All of the cities were at war with each other. As they aren't that far from each other, that is a scary thought to me. Imagine SLO being at war with SB.

This is the Duomo of Pisa and my Italian tour guide who had a British accent.

This is the cemetery. I didn't get to go inside, but I thought that the white marble looked very nice.

Then we went into the baptistery. This is the largest baptistery in Italy. The baptistery is separate from the cathedral because a person could not enter the cathedral until they were baptized. I couldn't help but think that our baptistery in Firenze is more impressive. I'll take pictures of it sometime.

The hole at the top used to be open, and rain water would come in and fill up the pool thing where they baptized people. The ground was slanted so that excess water could escape. Maybe that way the water could come from heaven.

We got an acoustic demonstration from this person in the picture. She sounded like a choir of people with the acoustics in the baptistery, and the whole "performance" lasted two minutes.

The cathedral

Here's a bit of the cathedral door. It's 3D.

The inside of the cathedral was very impressive!

I took this picture while standing exactly in the middle of the cathedral. So the rope holding up the chandelier should be perfectly straight. See how it goes to the left? That is because the tower isn't the only thing crooked in Pisa- everything is! The city is only 15 feet above water so all of the buildings lean one way or the other.

So there was another saint's body in here. This one got a metal mask of his likeness made and it was placed on him. See the metal head? Body count: 2.

This was one of the many stained glass windows in there.

This was a saint's skull! Body count: 2.5.

This is my new favorite tower.

Because to me, this tower is PERFECT.

"But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me." ~ 2 Corinthians 12:9