Day 10- Florence

 Today we took the train into Florence to explore. It's about 1h 20 min on the regional train

We arrived at the station, and went to the Piazza Santa Maria Novella for a snack. Oscar loved chasing around the pigeons, and the pigeons loved all of the crumbs that our snack left behind.

Next, we headed over to the Duomo. We had to stand in line, but not for very long. 

We went inside the cathedral, but didn't climb the bell tower or the dome.

Then, we walked over to Ponte Vecchio.

The kids were fascinated by all of the jewelry stores, but I'm not sure they really understood that it's strange to have stores on a bridge.

Everyone was dreaming of pizza for lunch, so we stopped in to a restaurant for pizza and calzone. Luckily, the bulk of the rain came down while we were inside eating.

After lunch, we went to the Museo del Palacio Vecchio. It's a bit tricky to keep the kids attention in a museum like that, but the intricate paintings on the ceiling were a hit.

As a reward for not screaming (too much) in the museum, we got some gelato and walked along the Arno river.

Penny doesn't like the gelato much, but she loves the cones.

We walked along the river for about 20 minutes, to a parco giochi right on the river.

The kids enjoyed playing on the ship. They had some sort of elaborate fishing game going and were cooperating pretty well.

Then it was a sunset walk back to the train station to head back to Lucca.

The kids did amazingly well on such a busy sightseeing day. Penny and Oscar both had on-the-go naps, and I put in over 17000 steps, Jasper and Ellis walked just as far (though probably more steps from little legs).

Hopefully everyone sleeps well tonight!

Day 9- Rainy day in Lucca

Today was a rainy day in Lucca, so we mostly stayed close to home. We walked in the rain over to the Duomo di San Martino to climb the bell tower.

The climb was similar to the Torre Guinigi, starting with stone stairs around the edge of the tower, and continuing with metal grate stairs as you get higher up.

The top of the tower held the duomo's 6 bells. They did not chime while we were up there. 

The view wasn't too great because of the weather, but you could still see the whole walled city.

After the duomo tower, we walked to the other side of the train station to see the Lucca aqueduct.

It was raining pretty hard by the time we got there, so we took a quick look and headed back towards town.

There is a trail that runs alongside the aqueduct, and the sign said that it was only a 7.5h walk to Pisa from there.

We were all wet and chilly by this time, so we stopped at a café by the train station to get a warm beverage.

The kids got warm milk with cocoa, and the rest of us got coffees or teas.

The kids also got smile cookies. Jasper chose not to smile for his smile cookie photo.

The kids have started playing a game around town, where they count the number of vespas that they see. They were up to 45 Vespas as of this afternoon. 

This afternoon,  Grannie took Oscar for an outing to the park for some puddle jumping. The rest of us stayed home and dry at the apartment.

Day 8- River Park Lucca

Today was another day spent in Lucca. We walked North, outside of the walls this morning to the Serchio river park.

The park is in a floodplain along the banks of the Serchio river. There are trails that run the length of the river, all the way to Pisa.

We stuck to the grassy area near the bridge. Jasper got to use his new soccer ball to play with Grandma and a dog who wandered by.

There was also a huge pipe in the park, that provided an hour of entertainment for the kids. 

Oscar got one minor injury in the pipe.

We were back at the apartment for lunch and naps, then Ellis prepared us a snack platter.

We rented bikes again for a sunset ride around the wall. This time, Pat and I were on a tandem and Ellis and Jasper each had their own bikes.

Ellis had a spill, since she wasn't used to the hand breaks. She crashed right near a seniors tai-chi class, so lots of people ran to her aide.

Jasper was so fast on his bike that we couldn't keep up. We ended up having to leave Ellis behind for a minute to race ahead and tell Jasper to slow down, otherwise I think he would have biked past our end point. Each of the gates to the city look very similar once you're up on the wall.

Oscar also got to try out a pedal bike with training wheels. He still rides a balance bike at home, but he got the hang of pedaling pretty fast.

After all of that hard work, we had to get gelato on the way home. Pat also found an English used bookstore to purchase some reading material.

Day 7- Pisa

We went back to the train station today and got ourselves to Pisa for a day trip.  Pisa is only about 30 minutes from Lucca by train, so it was an easy voyage.  The tower leans exactly as advertised, and is actually pretty impressive to see in person. There is also a bunch of other old buildings in the vicinity of the leaning tower, overall a neat place to go and walk around.

After the tower region we strayed from the tourist area somewhat and found an old roman aqueduct that is still standing today.  A nice park that included some outdoor exercise equipment was conveniently built right beside it, so we set up for a good play after we got there.

We got lunch at one of the few restaurants that was open on Sunday.  The kids were thrilled to find cheeseburgers and hotdogs on the menu.  Everyone else got massive sandwiches.

We then walked along the river to a museum containing artifacts from Pisa dating back to the 7th century BC that tracked human inhabitation in the area through various eras up to today.  

We then caught the train back to Lucca and ate supper at home.  The kids were nice and tired, should get a good nights sleep for whatever we decide to get up to tomorrow.

Day 6- Rest day Lucca

After yesterday's epic train journey today was a rest day before tomorrow's big plans.  We stayed in Lucca and checked out a few of the spots that we have not been yet, plus some parks of course.  We also purchased a soccer ball so that Jasper will never be bored as long as he can find a patch of grass.

Once we returned home we watched a "Luca" an animated film set in the Cinque Terra region that we visited yesterday.  The kids were on the edge of their seats from start to finish.

Jasper and Ellis even managed a rare moment of friendly cooperation over some Legos.

We caught the sun set over the wall.  Also tried to grab a rare photo with all 6 of us in it where no no one looks weird.  Close enough!