FI-PI-LI

We had a few days to spend in Firenze, our last stop before Kristin and I head to Rome! During our day in the city we wandered and saw the main historic sites, like the Duomo and the Ponte Vecchio.  It's actually an old wooden bridge that used to house inhabitants, but the kind at one point decided to turn all the houses into gold workshops.  It's mostly touristy now...

Sadly we didn't get tickets to go to the Uffizi in time, since the reservations fill up way in advance, so we had to be satisfied with the replicas out in the square. They were still pretty impressive! 

The Uffizi

We checked out the Duomo, but neither of Kristin nor I planned in advance, and we couldn't go in since our knees and shoulders weren't covered.  We did climb to the top, and on our way up we got to see the whole interior! The view from the top was super beautiful since it was a clear day.  We took a picture of an American couple at the top, they were really nice.  This detail may seem unimportant, but remember it, it will become relevant soon!!

The Duomo and the view fro the top

On our way home we grabbed some great gelato and did our best to stay cool.  That evening we found a really good restaurant right down the street that was also broadcasting the Italy-Germany soccer game.  It was definitely the determining factor for our choice.  I had melon and prosciutto, homemade amaretto ravioli, and cannoli. Italy won the soccer game and the night was a success!

The next day we rented a car and headed to the coast.   Driving, or at least navigating a car through Italy, was pretty darned nerve-wracking.  

 Roadside View

We made a quick stop in Pisa so that we could check out the leaning toward.  It was pretty cool how much it was leaning, but also not as big as it had always seemed.  We had a good time walking around Pisa, but we didn't linger since we were all excited to get to the water. 

PISA!

We eventually made it to the beach town of Fiumaretta. We spent the whole afternoon lounging on a beautiful beach on lounge chairs and under umbrellas.  The water felt super refreshing and we swam lots! We had to sprint to get to the water since it was so hot and burned our feet, haha.  We also had great views of the nearby mountain ranges.  

The beach :)

On our way home we stopped in a little hillside town called San Miniato to grab some dinner.  We had great views of the plains below.  We all had pizzas and headed back to Florence on the FI-PI-LI (the freeway between Florence, Pisa, and Livorno) so that Kristin and I could pack our bags and head to Rome the next day.