We honestly knew next to nothing about Florence before coming here other than the city is full of great art. We chose the tour that included both seeing the Statue of David right in Florence as well as climbing the Tower of Pisa, in Pisa of course.

We started by visiting the Duomo where we learned about the history a bit then did a walking tour of the city. The tour included only a handful of highlights, including the Palazzo Vecchio, a quick look at the Ponte Vecchio on the river and some other minor spots around the city. We walked past the Ufuzzi Gallery only being told about the wonders inside. Again, no time to visit inside. However next to the Ufuzzi is a covered area with a variety of amazing sculpture. Outside the Palazzo Vecchio is a actual size replica of the Statue of David.

After lunch on our own and a little bit of free time we went to the Galleria dell'Accademia where we checked out a handful of objects by Michalangelo and then his masterpiece, David.

Again we had very little free time for shopping an gelato before we had to hop back on the bus for a 5 minute stop at Piazzale Michelangelo for a very nice panoramic view of Florence.

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Pisa, Italy

It's not one of the great Italian cities but we thought it would be fun for the kids to see the Leaning Tower. It's one of the few Italian landmarks they had heard of before the trip. It was also essentially on the way back from Florence to the city the ship was docked in.

We parked the bus in a lot nearby and the first excitement was the tour guide noticed some Gypsies were following another tour group. She warned the other tour guide and called the Police.

Once we fought our way to the site past all merchants selling stuff we finally got to see the Tower. It leans more than it looks in pictures. We had tickets for a specific time to climb so we avoided waiting in line. We went inside for some history and instructions on what to do at the top. The kids then practically ran up the stairs. They loved it and enjoyed checking out the views from the top. Hokey but worth it.

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