I just love Italy, so when a few of my girl friends asked me to go on a trip to Florence and Pisa, I jumped at the chance. Paula, Roz, Michelle and I had an absolute blast. The apartment Paula found was probably the most beautiful apartment I have ever stayed in. The apartment was basically attached to the Medicci-Riccardi Palace and only steps from the famous San Lorenzo market where we shopped every day!
Our apartment (Roz, Michelle, and me!).
Not kid friendly.
We flew into Pisa, took a train to Florence, found our apartment, then went out for a walk. We started here in front of the Baptisery. Right behind us are Ghiberti's Bronze doors commissioned in 1425 (these are actually copies, the real ones are in the Duomo museum).
Then we decided to climb to the top of the Duomo, 463 steps! Paula and I took a short break for a picture.
The view from the top was amazing, we could see pretty much all of Florence.
Giotto's tower seen from the top of the Duomo.
The front of Santa Croce church.
The next day began with a tour of the Uffizi. Seeing Botticelli's Birth of Venus was a highlight. However, the museum itself is beautiful and full of wonderful renaissance works of art, including Giotto's Madonna and child.
Did I mention I was super sick with some flu like thing? So, after Uffizi, I went back for a nap. Then, the girls came back and got me for a walk to the Ponte Vecchio. It was beautiful, but then I went back and went to bed again.
A view from the middle of the Ponte Vecchio.
Legend says that if you and your lover put a lock on this gate on the Ponte Vecchio and throw the key into the river, your love will last forever.
Day three, DAVID!!! We visited the Academia Museum and got reprimanded about 100 times for taking pictures of David. This picture is the best one we got thanks to Paula.
After Acedemia and lunch, we began Rick Steve's walking tour and made sure we didn't miss the city's sights.
And we had a little bit of fun on the way.
Palazzo Vecchio.
Us in front of Bartolomeo Ammanati's Neptune.
The "Purse Guys" who loved to hate us as we went to their store three nights in a row at closing time to get the best deal!!!
Wow, what more can I say?? We left Florence on day four and headed back to Pisa. Walking up the street towards the tower was an amazing event for me.
Paula and I just before we go "full on tourist".
At first we laughed at the tourists taking these kind of pictures, then we decided how could we not???
The Duomo.
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This was the building our apartment was in, the one with the green shutters. The apartment was at the top. The location was amazing, just steps to the center of town.
What do you do in Alsace???? Visit the wine caves of course!
Peek-a-boo!
This was the town of Eguisheim, a favorite of ours! We bought lots of wine here!
Fountains were everywhere.
We just loved this village.
Some days, I just wish I was French.
Day two, we drove to Belfort, France for a flea market and to see the town. The market was very big and had lots of great things. We had no idea that a citadel this size encircled the city center. While I shopped, Bill took the kids climbing.
We did not buy these at the flea market, even though Bill wanted to.
French bread, still hot from the oven......mmmmmmmmmm.
Day three began with a trip up to the top of a mountain to see Haut Koenigsbourg Castle, quite a beautiful castle.
A true highlight of the trip for the kids, Montagne des Singes (monkey mountain). Where you get to feed popcorn to monkeys. Nolan was delighted to say the least. Katie was not really willing to feed them, but she liked being there.
Just priceless.
"So, what's up??".
Day four began with a trip to Ribeauville. A beautiful village.
The kids loved this statue of a piper.
A visit to Jean, the tablecloth guy. And I did not leave empty handed.
So, we were driving home on some back roads with Tomtom navigating and randomly come across an American tank. We stop of course and find out that this spot is a bunker in the Maginot Line, right along the Rhine. The bunker has been converted to be a small WWII museum. Very neat!
The was a piece of bridging equipment from WWII.