We left for Florence the day after the wedding. This was our first experience on a train but we did OK - except for the time estimate.  We thought the ride was going to be about 2 hours but it ended up taking almost 4.  But at least we got seats on the train all next to each other.  It started out pretty empty but filled up as we neared Florence.  Luckily Florence was the last stop because we were a little worried about how we were going to get all our luggage off the train before the train took off again (they don't wait very long at each stop except for the last stop).  By time we arrived at 3:00 pm we were all starving so we set off (walking of course) looking for our hotel.  The hotel was not very far from the main train station but the sidewalks and streets were very narrow and there was lots of people out so dragging all kinds of luggage through the crowd was not easy.  We stayed at Hotel Basilea.  Sarah had a room to herself (the triple room was split into two rooms for privacy), which she liked very much.

Our first mission was to find some food.  It was raining pretty hard and we found out that not many places were open for dinner at that time of the afternoon.  So we ran into a pizzeria on the corner of our hotel.  We ate while we waiting for the rain to slow down, which luckily it did. 

That afternoon we were able to see the Duomo and Bapistry and San Lorenzo Church.  We did not go into the Bapistry but the outside was beautiful and we got to see the famous golden doors.  We did go into the Duomo though which was absolutely amazing.	The Duomo
Our second day in Florence was beautiful - it drizzled a little bit in the morning but nothing hard enough to stop us from doing anything.  We walked down near the Fiume (river) Arno and saw the Piazza della Republica, Tabernacolo Orsanmichele, the Nuevo Mercato (a souvenier market), the Piazza della Signori, the Uffizi Museum, the Ponte Vecchio bridge, the Plazza Pitti, and the Boboli Gardens
Our third and last day in Florence was another day of walking and sight-seeing.  We saw several more churches: Santa Maria Novella, Ognisanti, and Santa Croce.  And we also saw the National Library, the Badia Fiorientina (ancient abbey), and the Piazzo di Santissima Annunziata.  After a few hours Sarah and Dad got tired so they went back to the hotel while Amy, Joe, and Mom kept going.  We met up for a late lunch in the afternoon. We spent the evening of the last night in the laundry mat.  We were lucky enough to not have to wait very long.  But while we were doing laundry, Joe and Sarah found an Internet Site.  You pay per minute and are able to get out to any internet site, including hotmail so we could check our email.

Unbelievably low fares on Air France right here.

ITALY - Unlimited travel with a Trenitalia Pass