The MacDonalds: Day TWO: Florence, Italy

The bus ride from Pisa to Florence was supposed to take just over an hour, but we stopped twice in two separate traffic jams (it was raining and apparently the roads were very slick!) The trip ended up taking twice as long, but we were grateful that we weren't driving and just relaxed on the bus. Navigating from the airport or train stations to our hotels was a stressor for us, but I was able to print detailed maps and wrote down specific directions and handed that over to Leevi to guide us there! :) It was always definitely "high-five" worthy once we arrived at our destination! ;)

We dropped our bags at our hotel, which wasn't as nice at the first one, but the location was perfect! The main downtown of Florence is easily walk-able and there are quite a few pedestrian only zones. We were able to walk from the train station to the hotel and then throughout Florence. Petty crime is horrible all throughout Italy; I can't tell you how many times I read about pickpocketing while I was researching my trip. (My biggest fear was handing my camera over to a person to take a family photo of us because I read about thieves disguising themselves as tourists...we opted for my iPhone for the family shots which was so much easier for a person to operate anyway!) For the hotel, we had a key to get into the building, a key to get past an iron gate, a key to get into the hotel lobby door (which is the door in the picture below) and then a key to get into our hotel room. Friends of ours drove to Italy last year and their car window was busted and their car looted while they slept one night (NOT FUN!!!)

We headed out to The David and had to wait in line for about an hour. Leevi held our spot in line while Luke napped in the backpack and the girls and I wandered around and got some gelato! I illegally, quickly snapped this picture with my iPhone...it's quite impressive and the detail is amazing, not to mention the fact that Michelangelo was only 26 when he started this! We were bummed that we couldn't pose for a picture to prove we've seen it and I couldn't find any concrete reason online as to why photos aren't allowed (I guess they were a few years ago?)

We left The David and wandered toward the famous bridge, Ponte Vecchio, and passed this carousel. We were desperate to find kid friendly fun this entire trip, so we more than willingly paid the one euro for a ride!

Ahhhhhhhhh, gelato!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Heading into Palazzo Vecchio (Old Palace)

We loved this square...Piazza della Signoria

The replica of The David standing where the real David stood for almost 400 years. Had I seen this one first, we might have skipped the wait and expense to see the real one. Friends of ours were doing this exact same trip just a few days behind us (same stops, but different hotels) and I would message them every evening with the "do's and don'ts" and our agenda of the day. It was fun planning our trip with them and they were the ones who convinced us to do public transportation vs renting a car (sooooo glad they did!!!!)