Although there was plenty to do in Venice, we decided to adventure forth and take a train down to Florence (Firenze) on Friday. The weather in Venice was supposed to be awful, and it ended up being mostly sunny where we went, so it turned out to be a great idea. Now the actual travel piece of the trip was stressful, but after 2+ years in Ukraine, I think we all weathered it remarkably well - we are now used to things not quite working out. We took a water taxi to the train station, but missed the soonest train by about 2 minutes (poor M had to go to the bathroom, which threw us off, but to our credit, no one blamed him. I mean, if you gotta go... better to do it when you can!) 
So then we took the train from the train station to the proper train station (a fact which had not been made clear when A booked the tickets online.) So we arrived at the proper train station literally 2 minutes too late. Thankfully, being a civilized country, we changed our tickets to the next train, and paid an additionl fee, but nothing too hefty. With small kids the nice thing is that the travel piece is equally as fun as the being there piece of the trip. Above Miss G is enjoying the family time. Upon arrival, we walked into the center of town, grabbed a bite to eat, and I unveiled my ulterior motive for coming to Firenze. In 1999 my mother bought me a leather jacket at the Tattanelli's store, and it was just too big, so I wasn't wearing it. I brought it in to have it adjusted. It was great to see Jennifer (http://www.casinifirenze.it/) and catch up - she is so busy with the store and two little boys! Below we are walking the Ponte Vecchio after buying our leather (the store is down the street behind us, near the Pitti Palace, if you're in town.)
Michael on the river. The weather was great - it did drizzle a little bit, but we had umbrellas and boots, so we weren't too concerned, and after the water-logging we got in Venice, we found the weather to be quite pleasant.
The very center of town, in front of the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, and then a photo of the inside of the main cupola, which you can see behind us. 
And of course we managed to find a merry-go-round in the center of town. It was doubly fortuitous, S really enjoyed it (unlike the last time at the Please Touch museum in Philly, where she cried and refused to ride on the horse, only sitting on the bench seat with me), and it provided excellent cover for Dad and brother to run around the corner to the Disney store to buy the beloved Belle castle that she'd seen just before. We tried to hide it until Christmas, but Disney bags are rather obvious. We used a variety of distraction techniques, and hid it in the suitcase, and then in the apartment, and it really did seem like a surprise.
The Uffizi gallery has a huge number of statues in the main courtyard, including a giant and lovely statue of Michelangelo's David. Our son was a bit disturbed by the nudity on display - not on the statues themselves, but on the tacky souvenir items like aprons and underwear. God bless capitalism (I already mentioned the Disney store...)
Michael on the river. The weather was great - it did drizzle a little bit, but we had umbrellas and boots, so we weren't too concerned, and after the water-logging we got in Venice, we found the weather to be quite pleasant.The very center of town, in front of the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, and then a photo of the inside of the main cupola, which you can see behind us. And of course we managed to find a merry-go-round in the center of town. It was doubly fortuitous, S really enjoyed it (unlike the last time at the Please Touch museum in Philly, where she cried and refused to ride on the horse, only sitting on the bench seat with me), and it provided excellent cover for Dad and brother to run around the corner to the Disney store to buy the beloved Belle castle that she'd seen just before. We tried to hide it until Christmas, but Disney bags are rather obvious. We used a variety of distraction techniques, and hid it in the suitcase, and then in the apartment, and it really did seem like a surprise.The Uffizi gallery has a huge number of statues in the main courtyard, including a giant and lovely statue of Michelangelo's David. Our son was a bit disturbed by the nudity on display - not on the statues themselves, but on the tacky souvenir items like aprons and underwear. God bless capitalism (I already mentioned the Disney store...)
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