Europe Trip: Pisa and Florence

Day 77: Rome to Florence to Pisa

Driving north to Pisa we made a quick stop in Florence.

Beautiful drive to Florence (Firenze)

Quick visit to Florence and Ponte Veccio (Old Bridge)

The place we stayed in outside Pisa was a wonderful surprise. It was an old monastery that was now a Bed and Breakfast and we had a very big apartment with two bedrooms and two bathrooms, small kitchen and a beautiful big living room.

View from the former monastery

Where we stayed

Our apartment

Part of the ceiling in the living room

Day 78: Pisa and Florence, getting close to Venice (Marghera)

Leaving early after a great breakfast to visit the great (but not big or tall) leaning tower of Pisa!!! I never thought I would ever see this and suddenly we are there!

Getting close...

Getting closer...

It was smaller than I imagined but surrounded by beautiful buildings

Decorations on the tower

You had to be seven to walk up the tower so only Marlee could do it of the children. One of my knees were really hurting from climbing the 500 steps in the Vatican so it was an easy choice to send Alex up there with Marlee.

While we were waiting for Marlee and pappa to reach the top we did what everyone else do :-)

And there they are!! (by the black arrow)

View from the top, we are down there somewhere

On the top

One of the seven bells on the top of the tower

Romulus and Remus

We took the chance to go into the cathedral and it was really beautiful.

The ceiling

Time to leave this awesome place!

In a very cute bakery right outside the "tower area"

After Pisa we headed back to Florence to look for a wedding ring (better late than never, right!). Before looking for a ring on the old bridge Alex had a radio interview so me and the boys explored the square around and the inside of Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore.

It is such a joy to see them have fun together!!

We did buy a wedding ring for me in Florence before we left for our camper in Marghera. The camper was freezing and in an attempt to get some kind of warmth we ran all the burners on the gas stove. It worked pretty good :-)

Europe Trip: Rome, Italy

Day 75: (School) Work and Colsseum (from the outside)

We needed a break and to get some work done so most of the day was allocated for that. Me and the boys took a long walk, too. However, in the afternoon we headed downtown Rome, with the train to visit Colosseum. What an powerful building! Standing there and imagining what was going on there about 1500-2000 years ago. The arena could hold up to 80.000 people in the audience and the last record of gladiator fights held there is from 435 (according to the trusted source Wikipedia :-). When going to see Colosseum we only made sure to get there before they closed and we missed that they stop letting people in 2h before they closed, and we were 7 minutes late... So we could only see it form the outside. A little disappointing but still a great thing to see!!!

Sweet Gabiel found a friend in out apartment(!) outside Rome

Going into town! Trains are always so exciting, when you don't go on them a lot :-)

Arrived

Find us!

The Arc of Empire Constantine

Gabriel taking a picture the family

Inside the arch

Day 76: The Vatican. St Peter's Cathedral and the Vatican museum,including the Sistine Chapel

What an amazing day, and what amazing little boys we have who made it through this long day!!!! Honestly I was a little skeptic to spend the money and wait in line to go into the St Peter's Cathedral after everything we have seen during this trip. But man was I wrong!!!!! What an adventure, climbing 528steps with our four boys. You first climb to reach the top of the inside of the dome and then climb another 150 steps or so to reach the top outside. It was all worth it!! What an incredible view, both inside and outside!

Entering the Vatican...

Outside the cathedral

St Peter's square

Some of the stairs to the inside of the dome Notice the leaning wall.

Inside the dome

Amazing mosaic on the wall

Opposite side of the dome

Looking down from the dome

Next section of stairs, going to the top!!!

View from the top!

Going back down...

Safe back on the ground, inside the cathedral

The big "painting" is actually made of mosaic

Next was the Vatican museum and the Sistine chapel. It was just one unbelievable amazing thing after another!! Pictures say a lot but it is impossible to display the magnificence of this!

Just one of all the beautiful ceilings

One of my favorites, a miniature bronze sculpture "The good Shepard"

Ready to go down the spiral stairs!

These are actually two different stairs

Raphael’s ‘The School of Athens’

Entering the Sistine Chapel...

The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, painted by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512

(picture of a post card)

"Patterns of the Vatican"

We had some trouble with the hot water in the apartment so to make sure they all got clean...

What an amazing day!!! For sure one of the best on this trip when it comes to feeding our art hunger :-)