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Published: March 15th 2012
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5 Seats Across
About to take off at Newark airport Wow, the last 2 days seem like a blur right now, mostly because they kind of blur together. Our flights from DFW to Newark and on to Milpansa airport in Milan were mostly uneventful with the kids. They handled the long day very well, and even a delayed dinner on the transatlantic flight was taken in stride. After about an hour of Happy Feet on the plane, it was bed time for them, and they did well. Our sleeping pattern was much more erratic trying to keep them comfortable, still, and in their seats, however.
After fly-bys of Boston, Dublin, Paris, and the Alps, we landed and rarely stopped running. Most of the day was spent browsing the streets of Milan, although our plans to visit the Duomo were foiled by a complete closure of the subway. We then boarded a TrenItalia train to Florence. The train was NICE, and the girls even snuck in a cat nap.
In Florence, we found our hotel, a little boutique place very near the train station, and then headed out to see what we could find. Overall, Florence was very lively compared to Milan, which seemed to be more fast paced and
business minded. Also, it seems that there are more tourists in Florence, so more of the locals speak English.
Unfortunately, most of the sights had already closed by this time, but we have already started making a list of places to visit. The shopping here is amazing, and the crowd seemed comparable to the Magnificent Mile in Chicago. Overall, everyone has been very friendly, and most of the language problems were resolved or forgotten. Brecklyn thinks we're in Mexico, though.
Some of todays highlights included Alex chasing the pigeons in a Piazza in Florence, the girls singing "We are in Italy" on the top of their lungs in the train to Milan and Grace skipping down the streets of Florence.
Now the kids are all nestled snug in their beds with visions of gelato dancing in their heads. To be frank, the lack of sleep on the flight here has us a little over tired, and the kids are literally bouncing off the walls, so this first day has been a little hard. Hopefully with a good night's sleep we'll be ready to go in the morning!
Day 2 We woke up this morning to
the sound of church bells which are probably older than our grandparents. Luckily the kids slept in until after 8:00, so we caught up on sleep. A good buffet breakfast in the hotel lobby set us out on our way to see the city.
We saw quite a few things today and don't want to bore you with the details. Some highlights include the Leonardo di Vince museum for the kids (no actual relics, but instead we got to see and interact with some of his more famous inventions - a good science lesson!), the Uffizi Gallery (an amazing collection of art including those most famous artists of our generation - Leonardo, Michaelangelo, Donatello, and Rafael), some more pizza, pasta, wine, and gelato, and a lot of open air markets and shopping. Today we really got to see Florencian people, from classes being taught in the plazas to street performers trying to get the attention of visitors. The kids enjoyed our conversations about history from Roman to Medieval to Renaissance as we strolled around various statues and conversation pieces. Occasionally we catch Brecklyn chatting with the locals (she only knows 'Ciao Bella'😉. I even ordered my first meal in
Italian, which I know nothing about other than it sounds a lot like Spanish!
Tomorrow, we might see Pisa if we can get out early enough, and there are a few sights left in Florence for us to see before we leave on Saturday for Rome. Make sure to check out the other pictures below the blog.
Ciao!
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sounds like you are all having a blast love the pics