firenze

after a wonderful start to our vacation, we were excited to explore another italian city we had heard a lot about. so after hiking back from the vatican, meeting our driver at the hotel, hearing all about how he just found out he's about to have his first baby, and narrowly avoiding a pickpocket at the train station, we caught the train from rome to florence.

they were so excited to see all of the trains up close!

 when we arrived in florence, we found out that it was a holiday for them. and guess what? the holiday celebration included FIREWORKS over the river, which was right in front of our hotel! i was so bummed about missing the 4th of july fireworks while we were gone, but we ended up getting to see fireworks anyway! and nothing can really beat fireworks over the river in florence. 

we ate dinner at a cute little italian restaurant and then walked around the town for a bit.

when we got back to the hotel it had stopped raining and there was a beautiful double rainbow in the sky. it was pretty amazing!

the second one is very faint - just to the right of the first one

the fireworks didn't start until 10pm, so we had to kill some time in the hotel room and keep the kids awake until then. unfortunately, our child that usually stays up until past 10 fell asleep before the fireworks started so john stayed in the room with him while caroline and i went downstairs to see the fireworks.

caroline started getting sleepy and wasn't liking the loud noise so we put the earmuffs on her and before i knew it she was asleep in my lap with her big squishy cheeks. :)

john came down and joined me and we sat on the hotel steps with our sleepy girl and watched the fireworks over the river. it was the perfect end to our first day in florence!

after a delicious european breakfast (which I miss so much!) the next morning, we were off to see the sights in florence.

we walked into this square first and i fell in love with florence. this is what italy should feel like. it was beautiful! 

another view of the piazza della signoria

the basilica di santa maria and the duomo in the center of florence

open air market

 we walked around in the markets and ate lunch before deciding to climb the 463 steps to the top of the duomo. quinn led the charge by running up all but about 50 of the steps!

sweet daddy carrying his babies when they got tired

a beautiful view and we're not even to the top yet!

look at these happy kiddos taking a break while we waited for our turn at the top. they loved this!

we made it! 

we found a carousel after a little more sight-seeing and these cuties were in heaven! they loved handing their coins to the worker and choosing their horse.

they have their coins and are ready to ride again!

the arno river

ponte  vecchio

a tiny soccer field on the side of the river!

relaxing in the room before dinner

view of florence from the piazzale michelangelo

we all slept in one bed for 2 weeks while we traveled. we never knew where everyone would be when we woke up - it made for some funny pictures!

that morning we ate another amazing breakfast, said "ciao!" to our wonderful hotel staff, took one last walk around florence, and then headed to the airport. we were really sad to leave florence!

 

 one last view of florence as we walked to the plane

and we're off to switzerland for our next exciting adventure!!