We stayed in a Eurocamp just outside of Florence. I'd compare it to a KOA, except much nicer. We rented a modular unit that had 5 beds, a bathroom and kitchen area. It was very comfortable, and much more affordable than hotels in the Florence area. They had 3 pools, 3 restaurants, ice cream parlor, market, playground, theater for children, disco for teens, and just about everything you can think of for a traveling family.
Through Eurocamp, we rode a shuttle to the nearest town, and then took a train to Florence. While we were on the train, Kaylea was just relaxing and put her feet on the chair in front of her. The conductor came walking by, and really got after her, he made her take her feet off, and actually wipe the dust from her feet off the seat, it was pretty funny.
I loved the streets of Florence, they were so narrow, and all cobblestone. There were a lot of people, and a lot of traffic, but it was quite a site to see.
I like this picture because it shows how the shops were set up. The streets were lined with street vendors on both sides. You couldn't even see the buildings behind because of all the vendors.
The following pictures are of
Il Duomo. Basically, The Dome, it's incredible. Each of the different colors is inlaid stone. We went up inside the tower and got pictures of the cityscape.
Walking up inside the tower, 414 steps in all, quite a climb.
On top of the tower. What a view!!!
This is "Palazzo Vecchio" a huge plaza that is full of famous statues, the most famous is Michelangelo's David. This is actually a copy, the real one is inside of a museum, but this one was placed in the same spot as the real one resided in the 1800's. Kaylea is trying to "keep it clean".
This is Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge). There are jewelry shops on both sides of the road that have been there for hundreds of years. During World War II every bridge across this river was blown up except for Ponte Vecchio, instead, the Nazi's blew up old buildings on each side of the bridge so nobody could cross it. Not sure why all these locks were beside the river, but thought it looked really neat. I'll have to look into it.
Florence is such an amazing place. The feeling there is so different from anywhere in the world I have been. Very cool. I have always preferred Italian food, and love the look of the Tuscan landscape, I didn't realize that I know very little about the country of Italy. It was completely different than I expected.
Of course we stopped for food. Look at the size of the water bottle, that was for all of us. I did miss all you can drink water like we have in US restaurants.
After lunch, the girls visited the Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens while the boys tried to find some cool souvenirs.
We found a spot where a statue was missing from the garden, Kaylea decided to become "ART". Not sure I like her choice of art.
A view of Il Duomo from the top of the gardens.
When we got off the train, we were waiting for the shuttle to take us back to our Eurocamp. We were a little bit surprised to see this "train" come to pick us up. It was quite embarrassing to see everyone in Figline, Italy stare at us as we rode by on our way back to camp.
Sunday morning we drove to Florence and found an LDS branch to attend. I was so surprised to see that this church was located on the bottom floor of an apartment complex. We had a couple of people translate the lessons for us. One of them was a missionary from Gilbert, Arizona. He did a really good job. We really enjoyed the meeting.
Our trip to Firenze was an incredible, memorable experience. Arrivederci!
