A Pisa Marble.

Come on, Aileen.

Pisa, Italy - As you first walk through Pisa's medieval stone gates, it's as though white marble sprouts in all directions from the verdant, manicured lawns.

All built entirely of marble, the intricately detailed baptistery, church and bell tower occupy a beautiful complex right within the city of 90-thousand's stone wall. Of course, most are here just to see the famous bell tower, which curves skyward like a banana. It's worth the visit.

Given the region's notoriously muddy conditions, there are actually several leaning towers in Pisa, but the others are like long-forgotten stepsisters. The so-called leaning tower of Pisa – where Galileo is said to have performed some of his (literally) groundbreaking studies of gravity – has actually leaned since it was built during the 10th century.

All around, people appeared to be performing tai-chi, but were actually embodying the cliché tourist photograph: posing with hands extended like a praying mantis to hold the tower up.

Sigh. Yes, I did it, too.