Italy, Day 4

June 7, Florence. We woke up early so we could wait in line for the Uffizi Gallery to see too many Renaisance paintings, including Botticelli's Birth of Venus (although perhaps more than one would be too many). Then we waited in line an outrageous four hours to see Michealangelo's David. Pictures were not allowed at either location but picture two shows one of the many recreations strewn about the city. We ate some more gelato and left for Sienna.

Pic 1: Lego tiger outside a toy and hobby shop.
Pic 4: Another skyline view of Florence.

Italy, Day 3

June 6, Florence. In Firenze (its actual Italian name) we walked around the city and stopped for a quick lunch outside of one of the churches in the city. I brushed off a couple of crumbs and was immediately swarmed by dozens of hungry pidgons. Then we visited a purfumery that has been doing business for over 800 years, which, as you may imagine, smelled very nice (see picture 2 for the hallway onto the shop). We also toured the Galileo museum and saw various scientific instruments and a few fingers from Galileo's hand. . . We also stepped into Florence's huge cathedral, followed by two servings of Italy's best gelato.

Los Gatos de Europa y un perro

Todos los gatos en Europa dicen miau aunque todos los no viven en Espana. Que interesante.

Italy, Day 2.

June 5, Lucca and Pisa. We spent the day strolling around Lucca's well preserved Renaissance era wall, and then headed to Pisa to see the tower. Then we moved on to Florence to spend the next couple of days.

Pic 1: Tower and cathedral at Pisa.
Pic 2: Mural in Pisa that I liked.
Pic 3: Slightly blurry skyline of Florence, taken from Piazza Michaelangelo.

Italy, Day 1

June 4, Cinque Terre. Pronounced Chink-wey Ter-rey, this is a series of five cities that we visited. There are hiking paths connecting the towns but the two middle ones were closed due to rock falls. We parked at the first city early in the day, explored, and then took the grueling and very hot hike to the next town, where we ate our first Italian pizza. We took the trains between the next towns, and then hiked the "lover's way" to the last one. There are hundreds of locks along the last trail because it is symbolic in italy to place one with your sweetie. Right in the last town, at the end of the day, on an even stair I managed to twist my ankle, but I hobbled back to the car with Loren.

Monaco

June 3. There was plenty to do in Monaco, even though the whole county is less than a square mile in area. We took a picture of the Monte Carlo, saw the cathedral and royal palace, strolled in the gardens, and visited the Jacques Cousteau aquarium (the outside of which, can be seen in picture 3). Then we headed for Italy.

France, Day 3: Nice isn't nice

June 2. We made our way to Nice, France, stopping to see the Gorges du Verdon and driving through France's grand canyon. However we were disapointed when we actually got there since the beaches are really rocky and the entire city is overcrowded- people were double parked along entire streets lined with "No Parking" signs, essentially reducing them to one lane roads. So, we spent the night, but planned on going to Monaco the next morning.