There is so much to see and do in Florence! There is the Michelangelo statue of David, the museum with replicated inventions from Leonardo da Vinci, the Leaning Tower of Pisa just a train ride away, beautiful scenery, Tuscany, and atmosphere. We really liked Florence.
Plus, to top it off, we met up with our friend Margaret from New Zealand, who was a on holiday in Italy at the same time! It just so happened that we crossed paths in Florence. It was so wonderful to see her and to see a familiar face. Once we met up we walked around the city a bit to find a nice café to sit chat. It was really a nice change to have a conversation in person with someone we knew.
While in Florence, we took a day trip to Pisa to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It was everything that I (Elizabeth) hoped it would be! I kept joking with the girls that I wanted to eat a piece of pizza in front of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Chris didn’t think it was very funny. We spent a couple of hours in Pisa and then grabbed the train back to Florence.
Our accommodations, another AirBnB, was nice and in a great location. We could walk to everything we wanted to do in the city. We would get up relatively early, our early is starting to be retirement early as in 9 AM, and head out into the city for the day. We would have several stops in mind, but nothing scheduled. We knew we wanted to visit Michelangelo’s statue of David, a Picasso Museum, and Chris wanted to go to a museum that built some of Da Vinci’s machines. We would recommend all of them. In all of the museums we waited in the line and did not do guided tours. None of the waits were over 45 minutes.
What to say about the about the museums, I mean we saw David. These art pieces we have read about and seen in pictures, but to actually see them is just awe. We wondered around the museums for hours, until the girls were pretty much done. They did good, we did not see many other kids their age wondering around. Our last museum was the Leonardo da Vinci museum. It was a bit different in the fact it was about building his drawings and not necessary display his actual work and it was hands on. We spend a couple of hours in the museum, the girls were able to explore and have fun with the inventions. Chris and I spend some of our time watching a video about da Vinci’s life. I may have closed my eyes just for a few seconds. Overall, this was a great choice for the girls.
In Florence, we added a lot of miles to our shoes. We walked all over the city, I think crossing nearly every bridge, finding every overview (including Michelangelo’s Plaza), many churches, and just beautiful buildings everywhere. Though we walked by the Duomo Santa Maria del Flore many times, we never went into. The outside was very impressive and dominated the city block, but the girls wanted a break from churches and we know our next stop was Rome, so we decided it was not worth the line wait. I think Chris and I will one day make it back to Florence to spend some time.
