Utah - Italy 2001 (12)

Ok, Ok. I totally admit it! I'm a junkie. Tighten the turnicate and log me on! I just stumbled across the internet point in Pisa, Italy and had to pop in for a quick fix. Well, the journey from Florence to Pisa was quick and painless, although, I still fumble a little with the whole train schedule thing. Just wait though. I'll be a fountain of information for anyone who has plans to train around Europe. Just give me a couple of months. Traveling is really all too easy these days to be honest. I mean, can you imagine trying to get around back in the day before phones, on-line ticket purchasing, styley, comphy packs, good walking shoes, and the simple things we take for granted... like the handy lockers at the station which so graciously took a load off my back in a BIG way while I cruised around Pisa.. (and I continue to cruise).

I just finished taking in all the splendor of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. That tower is whacky looking and so close to falling... Although, they claim its not- yeah, whatever and watch out! They did all kinds of work on it to get it to stay in place. Since the beginning of its construction in the 1100's, it's taken three efforts to finish, ending I think, in the 1400's with the bell tower on top..risky manouver..sp? The whole reason it took 3 efforts was to stop and see if the sinking effect would back off. Some of the modern things done to hold it in place are 1) piling tons of weight on the north side, which is the non-sinking side 2) attaching it to a steel cable on the north side to keep it standing 3) building a steel girdle around the 4th floor balconies on the north side 5) and finally, in 1993 until now, digging soil out from under the north side so that they could gain the crucial 40cm that they needed! Apparently,they just removed the cable and other tacky obstructions in June of 2001 so I just barely made the window of seeing the tower without all the distractions.

From here, I am going out to dinner alone. :( I'll probably splurge and buy a $5 beer and just read my book at some cafe until it closes and then head back to the train station where my train doesn't leave until 2:45am! I would have left from Florence and avoided this delay, but I had to see the Leaning Tower, right!? It was worth it. I sat on the grass and looked at the tower, which lies next to the Duomo, which is a splendid church, similar to the Duomo in Florence. Interesting bit of Etymology for you (word origin)... Duomo means house, hence the churches which are called Il Duomo... house of God. I thought for sure that duomo meant dome because the first church I came across that was called the Duomo, in Florence, also happened to be the first structure (in the world, presumably) to use a dome in its architecture. Bit of trivia for you to research cause I'll just stick to my own speculation until further confirmation by an etymologist... Which came first... the dome or the duomo? Did this unprecedented structure, round in design, become known as the Dome because it went on top of the Duomo??? Or is it mere coincidence...???

Anyway, now I'll be walking the streets singing...'She's miss California.. hottest thing in LA...Hollywood's her favorite scene...loves to be surrounded.' - you really have to be careful what songs you let penetrate your subconscious.. But, is that an oxymoron cause if it's sneaking into your subconscious, then you do really have any control? It's a tricky thing, but for example there was that one day when I was singing, 'Day-oh, daaaay-oh, daylight come and I wanna go home... etc.' Well, it wasn't for a whole week before I realized that we were driving a Daewoo rental car and before setting off to climb one day, I must have just caught a glimpse of the hatch back with the Daewoo emblem before heading on the trail, not talking much with my partner, just head down and pluggin' away on the hike... and next thing you know, Daewoo has gotten in and transformed itself into a terribly annoying song. Ya know what song I do like, though barely know??.... Is this Robbie Williams guy in the States? I forget if he is familiar to me from Christmas in Ireland or from summer in Myrtle, but I know it sure as hell ain't SLC.... anyway, that song 'you were there for summer dreaming..' I like it and I saw the video in the hotel the other day. So now I have this nice song and this great vision of this happy-in-love couple to go with me through my last days in Italy.

It was hard to say good bye to the kids. I love them to death and can't wait to get back to SLC and see what they remember. On our last day together, I took out my wacky voice recorder and recorded them talking to me about random things. That'll be cute to look back on. But, I am ready to be able to eat a whole meal in peace and travel without screeches. I bought them each a hand carved Italian yo'yo and a cute spinning top to keep 'em busy in the airports on the way home... hopefully it serves its purpose instead of causing more rowes... Well, I won't make any promises about not bugging you guys at work, cause obviously, you never know... Please, by the way, if anyone is annoyed at seeing my name in their Inbox so much, just let me know and I'll take your blood out of my mixture for a while. I'm sure the high from everyone else will serve its function. :) Just want to take you with me on every step, ya know? Ciao. Love from Italy to SC, UT, NY, NC, MA, Ireland, OR, CO, WY and where else??? oh well. Bye.