The Leaning Tower is the best-known sight of the Italian city of Pisa. Its building started in 1173. But five years later the tower began to tilt. The soft clay soil couldn’t bear the weight of such a heavy structure. The construction was halted for almost a century to let the clay beneath the foundation harden.It took over 800 years to finish all the building works. Many generations of engineers took efforts to straighten the tower but in vain.
Now the Leaning Tower has seven bells and eight floors. Its maximum height is 55.86 meters. There are 294 steps to its top.
Every year the Tower of Pisa attracts millions of tourists and thousands of scientists. But most of them admire the structure from outside because of entrance restrictions. Only thirty people are allowed to stay inside at a time.
Gilley - Of course. You know this work, Ed. There's always something going on. This morning markets went up, but I lost money trading the dollar.
Ed - What do you do for lunch? Are you eating in the dining room?
Gilley - Oh, I tend to go to the restaurant, but today I will do something special.
Ed - Do you want to meet for lunch? I have a few ideas that I want to talk. I heard the Japanese government is thinking to change its policy on foreign exchange reserves. As a rule, they do not buy dollars, but now they are beginning to move to the euro. This could be interesting.