Today we boarded a Eurostar train to Pisa, by way of Florence. The trip took about five hours, but the Tuscan countryside was beautiful to watch. We had originally wanted to stop in Florence, but decided that it would be easier with our luggage to just go all the way to Pisa directly.

We were not disappointed. Our hotel window overlooks (or rather, underlooks) the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Sandy and I climbed all 500+ steps to the top and took a few pictures.

We also visited the nearby Cathedral, and saw the hanging chandelier that inspired Galileo's Law of Pendulums. As with seemingly all Italian churches, the interior was awe-inspiring. Also on the same block was the Baptistry, a perfectly round, acoustically perfect stone building, which reverberates sound beautifully. Recently uncovered 14th century frescoes in the cemetery close by gave us a tangible sense of history.

In the "small world" department, we ate at a table next to a couple from Eureka, Montana, stationed in Frankfurt, Germany. Then, at the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, we ran into Claus and Inge Weiss, IBM friends from Toronto. Claus and Inge are on a four week trip around Europe, skiing, sightseeing, and visiting relatives. We spent most of our time together marveling at the coincidence, and probably didn't get as many pictures as we should.