- Europe Trip: Visit to Florence & Pisa

Favourite destination for Bollywood
By Vikramaditya Bhatnagar
Florence: From the city of Vatican, our coach, driven by our friendly Italian driver named Fabbio, proceeded to Florence. This journey took us 3 hours. It was also quite chilly there as it was raining throughout. We were taken to a hill top to see the statue of David. From here one could get a birds’ eye view of the city.
“It is said that even Jesus Christ believed that naked statues and paintings described intentions of people with a true and pure heart.” Saying these famous words, our new guide, Naresh uncle, took us to the famous Statue of David, made by none other but Michelangelo. It was Michelangelo’s idea of a perfect man, with a thin waist, a fine muscular body, and veins showing. He was a character of Michelangelo’s own imagination, who, he thought, to be a great warrior and the most handsome man in the world. The first statue of David made by Michelangelo was made of marble, and that was in a museum. The famous sculptor made several other copies after that. The copy that we saw was 18 to 20 feet tall, and was made up of copper. Its square pedestal was made up of white marble, and on its 4 corners were smaller statues made up of copper (4 feet, at the most), symbolising dawn, noon, dusk, and night or, as Michelangelo called them, ‘The 4 stages of life’. Its colour had turned from brown to green (copper turns green over the ages). It was on the top of a hill, from where we could get the entire view of River Arno and the rest of Florence. Naresh uncle also told us that many famous Hindi films had been shot on the bridges of River Arno.
Naresh uncle told us that it is a city of old buildings, museums, beautiful bridges, and art galleries. The city lies on the River Arno and is known for its history and its importance in the Middle Ages and in the Renaissance, especially for its art and architecture. It is a centre of medieval European trade and finance and one of the richest and wealthiest cities of the time. Florence is considered the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance; in fact, it has been called the Athens of the Middle Ages.
The historic centre of Florence attracts millions of tourists each year and was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1982. Florence is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It has been the birthplace or chosen home of many notable historical figures, such as Dante, Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Donatello, Galileo Galilee, Florence Nightingale and many others.
After that, we went to the Lago Verde hotel, one of the best hotels in Florence. I loved it because it had an artificial lake, which made that particular area even colder. From my room on the 1st floor, I could see the lake; it was a very good view.
The next morning, I woke up only to see red and black ducks swimming in the lake! We also saw a small pond with beautiful goldfish and cute little turtles. I wanted to see this aqua world more closely, but I didn’t have much time to admire them, because immediately after breakfast, we started our journey to Pisa.
Pisa: Pisa is a beautiful city which has nothing to do with pizza.
As we went along the road, we saw many humungous white stones on both sides of the roads. When we inquired, our guide, Naresh uncle, told us that they were huge chunks of white Italian marble, which is famous all over the world. The best quality of white marble is found in Pisa, from where it is exported all over the world. Naresh uncle also told us that on going further we would find many shops exhibiting pretty articles of Italian marble. He had spoken for true; we did indeed see many shops with articles made up of Italian marble. Our guide permitted us to do some shopping after seeing the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
The Tower of Pisa was a work of art, performed in three stages over a period of about 177 years. Construction of the first floor of the white marble began on August, 1173, a period of military success and prosperity.
The tower began to sink after construction had progressed to the third floor in 1178. This was due to a mere three-metre foundation, set in weak, unstable subsoil, a design that was flawed from the beginning. Construction was subsequently halted for almost a century. This allowed time for the underlying soil to settle. Otherwise, the tower would almost certainly have toppled. In 1198, clocks were temporarily installed on the third floor of the unfinished construction.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          In 1272, construction resumed. In an effort to compensate for the tilt, the engineers built upper floors with one side taller than the other. This made the tower begin to lean in the other direction. Because of this, the tower is actually curved. The seventh floor was completed in 1319.
Prior to restoration work performed between 1990 and 2001, the tower leaned at an angle of 5.5 degrees but the tower now leans at about 3.99 degrees.   The bell-chamber was added to the tower in 1372. There are seven bells, one for each note of the musical major scale. The largest one was installed in 1655.However the tower is still leaning and the lean increases by 4 millimeters each year. Next to the tower is a basilica and a baptistery both made of white marble with the doors of copper which has turned from brown to green over the years. These carvings of the doors can be seen on the photograph.
There were many beautiful paintings inside the basilica of the Renaissance period, some of which gave a 3 - D effect. These paintings depicted the life of Jesus Christ and the sacrifice he made for mankind. The paintings were life sized, decorating the walls of the basilica. However, we were not allowed to take any photographs inside the basilica.
The baptistery is opposite to the basilica. It is a place, as our guide told us, where a person of any other religion converts to Christianity. He is baptized with holy water here, which marks that he has become a Christian.
We were told all this as we went along the streets to the parking lot, where, to much of our awe, Fabio (our driver), stopped the coach. It was going to be tiring if we had to walk all the way from the parking lot to the Tower, because it was a long walk. Then our guide told us not to worry; we were going to use an electric tram - the public transport of Pisa. We also saw many Africans, whom we were told by our guide not to call black or Negroes as it is not liked by them and they often get angry hearing such words. We were told not to mix with them, as they often create problems for tourists. Fortunately, none of the sort happened.
At the Tower, we were allowed to enter the building by paying a fare of 15 euros (1 Euro equals 75 Indian rupees). Only 8 to 10 people were allowed to enter the Tower at a time, so that the Tower’s lean is not affected.
After that, we went shopping for a little while as we waited for the tram, which would take us back to the parking lot. During that time, I got a 15 inch tall statue of David made up of pure Italian marble from Pisa. Many shopkeepers at the stalls over there were from Bangladesh, who talked for a little while with us in Hindi. Soon, the tram arrived, and we went back to the parking lot.
We went to a nice Indian restaurant in the streets of Pisa, where I sang some songs, and then we went to our hotel and slept comfortably. Next day, we proceeded to Venice.