Around the World in 43 Days! 2007-2008

The next few places we visited were via train. Some would say we made the train from Rome to Florence with only minutes to spare, but I would say that it was just “perfectly-timed”!?! Training was a great way to trip through the Italian countryside; we saw lots of scenery - these guys can build a vineyard anywhere!

We could walk to our motel in Florence, which was really handy, where we dumped our bags and found out about how small the bathrooms can be in European hotels.

We ducked off quickly to Pisa. Apparently (we’d heard rumours) there was some old leaning building there.

After viewing the leaning tower and the other leaning buildings at Pisa, and eating Pizza in Pisa, we returned to Florence and all had a ball shopping in the markets/shops there. The boys were interested in local Italian items such as Jamaican hats with braided hair (!?),

whilst the rest of us tried on all sorts of leather apparel – Florence is famous for its leather as well as its art.

Of course we went and visited the works of Michelangelo, including his magnificent statue of David. This one is the copy in the Piazza della Signoria..

There were also a number of other statues in the Piazza della Signoria. This one is Neptune, god of water.

We really enjoyed the tour through the Academia museum, where the guide really explained all about Michelangelo's works of art. Shopping and bartering in the local market was also a bit of fun, as was walking through the local food market and seeing rabbit and quail and very mouldy looking cheese as well as ravioli being made.

We also found many strange vehicles -