Florence

The final stop of our "tour of Italy" was Florence, which ended up being my favorite. The weather was wonderful and it was just a fantastic city. The faculty family for the Florence program are friends of ours, so we got to see them and had a wonderful time!

On the first day we went to the Galileo Science Museum.

Then we went to the Accademia di Belle Arti and loved the sculptures by Michelangelo.

On the second day, we walked to the Piazzale Michelangelo, which gave us the most beautiful view of the city.

 We looked at the Duomo.

The Leonardo da Vinci Museum was really interesting - they had built various machines based on his drawings, and you could play with them.

Outside of the cathedral was a living nativity scene, which was waiting for the wise men to come in their parade.

Venice

On the 4th, we left Rome and took a train to Venice. Unfortunately, it rained the entire time we were there, but we tried to make the most of it with a waterbus ride, and walk to St. Mark's Square.

Rome

During the kids' Christmas break we took a week and went to Italy! We left on the 1st, were on trains all day, and arrived in Rome at night.

On the 2nd, we went to the ruins of the Colosseum, Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum:

After lunch, we climbed the Spanish Steps,

threw coins in the Trevi Fountain,

and walked to the Pantheon and Piazza Navona.

That night we ate pizza from La Gallina Blanca, which was amazing!

The following day we spent the morning at the Villa Borghese, which had several places for the kids to play, which they appreciated!!

That afternoon we toured the Vatican, where the Sistine Chapel was the main thing we both wanted to see. It is truly amazing.

Then we went inside St. Peter's Basilica

 La Pietà, by Michaelangelo:

Rome at night:

We had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe.