Italy: Florence & Pisa

    Done with the work part of the trip (for Chris) and off to our part of the trip...ITALY!!!  We hopped on a train in Paris.  It was a 6.5 hour train ride to Florence from Paris.  The train was an AWESOME way to go.  We had Wi-Fi/movies/food carts, etc...It was also really nice to have to just sit and not worry about groups/directions/traffic.  And we past through some of the most gorgeous countryside and the Alps so I would highly recommend a train over a plane any day.  I was on a constant look-out for castle/fortresses on mountain tops--there seemed to be one on every other mountain top.  The only thing I wished I had was binoculars!  But since we had Wi-Fi, I was able to Google a few of the fortresses.  We found a couple that are abandoned and so it's now our joke that we will buy one for our retirement home someday😂 

    We arrived in Florence (aka "Firenze") and checked into our apartment.  Then headed out to see the sites of the city.  This is EXACTLY what I picture when I think of Italy--small/winding/cobblestone roads and brightly painted buildings, & of course..the cutest little old man playing accordion!!!

    For our only full day in Florence, we decided to take a quick day trip out to Pisa to see the tower.  The trains in Italy are AWESOME!  It was a quick 1 hour 10 minute train ride (only 9 Euros each) to Pisa and the trains come/go every 30 minutes or so.  We were NOT disappointed--this place was SO MUCH FUN!!!  It was a short walk from the train stop to the tower.  I thought the walk would be longer but we rounded a corner and BAM!  The tower was right there!!!  INCREDIBLE!!!  I of course read up on the history--the builders noticed the ground shifting after completing the 3rd floor (5 years into the project by this point).  The ground shifted because it is largely made up of sand and sea shells.  So instead of starting over, they continued building out the last 5 floors (8 floors total) but made sure to keep the center of gravity of the building exactly centered.  This is why the building still stands today--perfectly centered gravity.  So lazy or genius???  I can't decide😂. It is quite a site to behold!  We of course had to do the dumb tourist poses.

"Fallen Angel" statue

Duomo at Pisa

Pizza in Pisa!

    

    After our day trip to Pisa, we had to visit the most famous statue in Florence--the original MichaelAngelo DAVID in the Accademia Gallery!!!  We waited 45 minutes in line (because we didn't buy advanced tickets) but it was totally worth it!  AMAZING!

Beautiful ceiling in the Gallery

Dinner at Hard Rock Cafe

    

    The next morning we headed back to the train station to go to our final destination--Rome!  They cover the train station walls with large pieces of paper for people to graffiti on--since they're going to anyways.  So here was Max's scribbles: