Florence, 7/8/13

I decided today would be a good day to take a ship excursion to Pisa and Florence (mainly because the main museums in Florence are closed on Monday.)  The excursion was not guided - only a shuttle that took us to Pisa for an hour and Florence for 4 hours.  It is totally impossible to see Florence in 4 hours, so we saw what we could and were completely exhausted in the end.

We loaded up on a bus (a little more than 30 of us) at about 8 a.m. and headed to Pisa first, which was good because we avoided the worst of the crowds that go later in the day.  The worst part was having to walk about 1 mile from the bus parking area to the tower - especially when it's already in the 80's with 90% humidity (I can't say that's completely accurate, but it felt like it.)  We had fun playing with the tower in the pictures.  The best one is the VT Tom and Daniel made - I need to get Clare to email it to me.

The Basilica

The Baptistry.

After Pisa, we had to drive about 1 hour to Florence.  We all fell asleep at one point or another - nice after not getting much sleep the night before.  As it was noon when we arrived in Florence, we had lunch first - cheese with honey and walnuts for an appetizer and pizza all around for the main course - YUM! I had heard of cheese with honey while doing some research for this trip and had to try it.  Everyone decided we should eat cheese this way more often.  Daniel said he was going to take cheese and honey sandwiches to school.  Of course, Tom and I had a little wine with lunch - me the Chianti and Tom the Pino Grigio - ahhh.  Sitting next to us was a very nice mother and daughter from Texas - she had just graduated and will be at the College of Charleston next year.

Once lunch was over, we were off to see the sights.  I had found a very ambitious (too ambitious) walking tour online before leaving home that we tried to do on our own.  We didn't have a great map, so it wasn't easy.  By the time we got to the halfway point of the tour, the kids were done (Would you like some cheese with that whine??)  My main goal, after seeing the Duomo and Ponte Vecchio, was to go to the Piazzale Michelangelo, where the view of the city is fantastic.  Unfortunately for Tom, even though we had just fed her gelato, Clare was NOT going to walk up the many stairs required to get to the top, so he sat with her.  She's not the most cooperative when she's tired and hot (she can be a PITA at times - but so can many teenagers, right?) Oh well.  Daniel and I went to the top and took pictures - amazing place!

Narrow Florence streets. 

The Duomo.

The bell tower next to the Duomo.

The market - lots of touristy stuff.

Neptune.

A copy of the David statue - the original is in a Florence museum (that's closed on Mondays.)

More statues in the Palazzo Vecchio.

Hmmm...  How many nude men does that make??  

Ponte Vecchio

On Ponte Vecchio.

Narrow road on the way to Piazzale Michelangelo. 

Steps up to Piazzale Michelangelo.

View from Piazzale Michelangelo.

After seeing enough penises to last a lifetime, (seriously, one of the plazas we visited, Palazzo Vecchio has a dozen nude male statues!) we went back to the meeting point. We will all remember Florence for different reasons, I think.  :)

Dinner on the ship was at the sushi restaurant.  Very good, but we really miss Awabi!  

Ciao, Florence!  Tomorrow is Rome!