Florence and Pisa: castle corridors and the leaning tower

On the morning of August 2, 2024, we finally went inside the cathedral in Orvieto, and then drove to Siena along a very scenic road.

We had planned to stop in Siena but changed our minds: finding a place to stay and parking there turned out to be hard, and besides, the town itself didn't seem particularly interesting, as far as we could tell. In Siena we went into a small shopping mall, bought some food, and drove straight on to Florence, where we had already booked a place.

Florence

Florence turned out to be a big city. On the very first evening we looked at it from above.

Then, of course, we had to give some time to the third, but not least important, member of the trip: we went to a park by the river, to a playground.

The next day, August 3, we spent the morning walking around the streets and sights. There were a lot of people. You walk along these streets and imagine how in the Middle Ages crowds walked here in the same way, and there were markets in these very places.

We posted a video of our walk from Piazza della Signoria to our channel with a caption saying that this is actually Assassin's Creed II. The game is set in Renaissance Italy, and its hero is a young Florentine aristocrat. Palazzo Vecchio on this square was built in 1299–1314, and today it houses the city government.

Here we finally tried Italian ice cream. We also saw a man posing as a statue: standing still in that heat and in those clothes is a real feat.

We also came across an interesting road sign.

After the morning walk Leia was completely worn out and even fell asleep in the stroller. She slept for half an hour while we were going back to the hotel, and didn't sleep any more after that. And in the evening we went to a playground.

Florence left us with a somewhat strange feeling. There is little greenery there, and it feels as if you are walking through the corridors of a castle.

Pisa

On August 4 we stopped in Pisa. As in all the main tourist spots, it was packed with people, and hot on top of that. Alexandra only took a quick look inside the cathedral, and we didn't climb the tower: we quickly went in, looked around, took some photos, and drove on.

Of course, like proper tourists, we tried to keep the tower from falling. First Alexandra, then Leia, and then we joined forces. So far it's still standing.

The sea

From Pisa we drove to the coast and stayed at a small hotel in the town of Marina di Massa. When Leia woke up, we went to the beach, and there turned out to be a playground with swings there.

We bought Leia a little shovel to dig in the sand. In the end only Alexandra went swimming: the rest of us passed, and she swam to her heart's content.

On one side there is the sea, and on the other, mountains.

On August 5 we drove on, to Milan.