From Venice, we took the train to Florence. We arrived in the afternoon about 5pm. Our hotel was right in front of the train station but it took us awhile to search around. Our location was very convenient. The best way to explore Florence is on foot. There's a bus but you don't really need it. All the attractions are within walking distance. We finally settled down and put our luggages in the room. It was a very spacious room for a 3 star hotel in Europe. The AC worked perfectly and it was very cool inside. First place to visit was the Uffizi gallery. On the way, we saw the Duomo, a famous church in center of Florence. We didn't go inside though. Uffizi was not a very large building but the line was very long. We got the ticket in advance so we just went inside and explored the place. There were some important paintings and sculptures. For the rest of the day, we ate dinner and took some photos at the piazza della Signoria where there was a copy of the David. We didn't get to see the real David in Florence though because we didn't book ticket for the Accademia Galleria. That was probably one of the most important sculpture I wanted to see but oh well.
At night, we walked around the city and went to Ponte Vecchio, a very old Medieval bridge with houses on top where blacksmiths, butchers, and tanners used to live. Now, these houses on the bridge serve as shops and jewelry stores.
On the bridge, there was a guy singing in Italian, Spanish, and English. The crowd gathered around and listened to him. Some gave him money. I guess that's his job. His singing of "Mad World" made me think a lot about life, people, and many things going on in this world.
5 Hours in Pisa
In the morning, we took the Terravision bus at the train station to Pisa airport. I bought the ticket in advance. It costs 16 euros for a round trip. Pisa is about 1 hr 30 mins away from Florence by bus. We only spent about 5 hours here as that was plenty of time to explore the city and the leaning tower. Not much to see here besides the Church, the Baptistry, and the leaning tower itself. There were many people taking pictures trying to push the tower. It looked kind of silly and funny.
In the afternoon, we headed back to Florence and visited the Palazzo Pitti, a castle near Ponte Vecchio. Nothing special here, just an old castle and it's not as great as the castles we've been to in Europe. There was a garden with some interesting sculptures.
1 Day in Naples
From Florence, we took the train to Rome and then to Naples. Since we didn't do much in Naples (we stayed there 1 day), I'll combine that part here too. By the time we reached Naples, we were very very tired, exhausted. Our hotel was right in front of us but we couldn't recognize it. It's a 4 star hotel named UNA. Compared to other places, Naples was very cheap. From the hotel, to the food, and the souvenirs all were pretty reasonable prices. That's the reason why we stayed at a 4 star hotel. Here in Naples, no one spoke English but the people were very nice and honest. We found a very good restaurant that we ate both lunch and dinner there. We visited the National Archaeological Museum via bus. There are some really great sculptures. Some of them are huge...
We got on and off the bus heading toward the coast. There weren't that many tourists in the city. We were probably the only tourists. The bus was full of old people. We walked along the coast and took some pictures. The view was beautiful with the steep village on the cliff of the mountains.
After enjoying the food and the peaceful views, we packed up and getting ready to return to Rome, the Eternal City.
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