Saturday, November 14, 2009

Day #7 Pisa, Florence & WWII Memorial

This was a day that of all the places we visited, we probably cheated Florence the most on time. We went to the infamous leaning tower of Pisa and then on to Florence to see the famous Michelangelo's "David" statue. Then ended the day with a WWII monument just outside of Florence. It was a great way to end the day. Then we returned to Camp Darby to rest and prepare for Cinque Terre.


We had to get pictures of us holding up the tower. When we got there, we realized we were not the first ones to think of that.


Me putting my back into it.


Jason was too cool to do it. We finally talked him into it. Isn't he so strong.



The Leaning Tower of Pisa. You can see that this thing was worked on for about 100 years. It was started up to the 4th level then work stopped. Someone else tried to correct it 10-15 years later as it was starting to lean. They went up 3 more levels. Finally 50 + years later someone capped it off. So, you can see the three different directions that it was built on to correct it's leaning problem.

An up close picture. The tower was in a bog and began to sank. That's why it is leaning.


A cathedral next to the leaning tower.

A baptistery next to the cathedral and the leaning tower.


On to Florence. This is a picture of Florence from a hill top.

Someone had just gotten married somewhere around there. The bride and groom were getting in their limo. Keanna and Ayla were impressed with the "beautiful princess" there.


This picture shows a church that is really old and while we were there taking pictures, the bells chimed. It was really neat.


Many years ago, the bridge in this picture was used for trading. It was set up with shops all along the bridge. Like a flea market. Pretty amazing. There are still little shops set up along there today.


Italians love there big basilica's with all colors of beautiful marble decorating the outside. This was the Dumo.

A beautiful gold plated door on a baptistery opposite side of the Dumo.


Italians love their marble and fountains. It was fun to be walking a crowded street, then it would open up into this "plaza" and there was always a fountain and lots of pigeons.

Another picture of the fountain above. Emily (censoring) waving HI!

The last stop of the day was The WWII monument dedicated to the hundreds of fallen soldiers that fought for our freedoms in Italy. It was very humbling and made me appreciate my grandparents and relatives who fought. Along with those who are fighting today. I can't comprehend how hard that is to see your husband leave not knowing if they will come back. Thank you to all of the military men and women fighting and sacrificing for us today and those who did many years ago.

A wall that had listed all the names of the 4,902 fallen soldiers.

Justin and Jason by the monument.



There were two sides of headstones where the fallen soldiers have been buried. Crosses for Christians and stars for Jews. It was very humbling.

Not all the names of the fallen soldiers were known. Here is what was written on the cross if they were unknown. They were "known to God." I thought that was impressive.


We were leaving as the sun was setting. We caught this photo of the flag being taken down. I thought it was impressive.




A picture from the entrance of the monument. The headstones were on both sides of the monument.


Jason and I. It was a very peaceful and serene place to reflect.

As we were leaving Keanna and Ayla found some leaves to play in. It was really cute.

Aren't they the cutest nieces! On to Cinque Terre.

2 comments:

Tara and Josh said...

thanks so much for the war memorial pictures. It looks like a solemn but beautiful place. I loved the pictures earlier of Tuscany. That was probably my favorite so far as it seemed like it was a normal non-touristy type place.
Josh

Em said...

great blog, grat history, great memories. thanks