Firenze and Pisa, Italy by the kids

On the 19th, we went to Firenze by train. When we got there, we went to our hotel and set up, then we got some food. Then me and Emma played on our computer, then we went to sleep.
On the 20th we visited Firenze, the first monument we saw was the Medici chapel. First let me give you a bit of history of the Medici family. The Medici family was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first consolidated power in the Republic of Florence. The bank they owned was the largest in Europe in the 15th century, plus it facilitated the Medicis' rise to political power in Florence. When we got in, we saw lots of reliquaries, but then we went into the main room and it was like 60 meters high, it was ginormous, enormous, huge and immensely tall. It had big tombs of people from the Medici family. After that we went to Riccardi Medicis palace, it is currently a museum that has lots of stuff, mum asked me to describe one thing, and I will. I will be describing a boar statue, I could see its exact bits of hair, it was made out of what I think was stone. (Bonus thing) If you watch harry potter the last movie you will see the boar. After that we went to the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. It was a giant cathedral that was decorated all around, we couldn’t get in because there was a mass happening at that moment. There was a giant bell tower right next to it and a Baptistery in front of it. We had a look at it and then went to a shop that had hundreds of rubber duckys. My favourite one was a Viking one, after that we went to Piazza del Republica. It had lots of statues of people from hundreds of years ago. Then we went to Fontana del Porcellino, it is a boar statue that people rub the nose, then put money in the mouth, then the money falls out and into a little hole. I don’t know why but I’m going to do research why. They do it for luck and by the way the boar isn’t the original one it is actually a copy of the original one. The original was the one I describe earlier, but this one is more famous. After that we went to the Ponte Vecchio. It’s a big bridge that had houses on it, my first thought was if I lived there, I would go fishing out of my window. There was lots of jewellery shops. After that we went to Boboli gardens there was lots of trees and they have an Egyptian obelisk, we walked around looking at stuff (it is a big park). There was an area that me and Emma were playing taxis (I on purposely took ages to get to Emma). After that we went back and had a board game night, then we went to sleep.
On the 21st we went to Pisa, we are going to see the leaning tower of Pisa. I really wanted to go there, and mum asked me to explain why, so here it is. I wanted to go there because I wondered how much it was leaning, and I had heard so much about it, and I wanted to go there. When we got there, we went straight to it, it looked really cool. It is on a 4-degree angle and the top of the tower is four meters from where it should be. When we got to the front of the line you go in if you want to climb the tower we went in. It was so tall there is seven levels and at the top there is seven bells, the last time the bells were wrung were in 1990. At the top, mum did not like the height, though it was a really good view. When we went down, we went to a cathedral, it had a really big dome, we looked at It a bit then we went to baptistery. We looked at it again and then went to a museum. The museum had lots of paintings, we looked at them and then we went to another thing, this one had lots of sarcophagus, Emma first thought they were bath tubs. After that we went home and went to bed.
On the 22nd we went to the cathedral di Santa Maria, we’ve already been already but it was closed then, it’s very decorated on the outside, what will it be in the inside, wait for it, wait for it,… actually it’s not that great, the walls are a little bit plain and there’s not much on the roof, then I looked down, the floor was covered with inlay work and patterns, but then what’s that, up on one of the walls a clock. The clock is different, mum did some research and figured out it was twenty-four hours and ends when the sun sets. After that we went to Uffizi gallery it had lot of famous art work like ‘the birth of Venus’ and ‘Primavera’ and ‘Medusa’. It was really cool after that we saw some statues like ‘Laocoon and his Sons’. It was so cool, and the museum was so big I’m sure we missed some stuff. It was sort of like a labyrinths so many thing to see and so many rooms. After that we went to the hotel and slept.
On the 23rd we went to Galleria dell Academia, it has the famous statue of David, it is made by Michelangelo. It is made between 1501 and 1504, it is 5.17 meters tall (not including the pedestal it’s on) plus it’s made out of one block of marble. Also, he’s weight is 5,660 kg, there’s a sling on his left shoulder and a tree trunk near his right leg and they used to be covered in gold leaf. David became famous because he defeated goliath, the giant, he defeated goliath by cracking his skull with a rock fired from a sling, then he chopped goliaths head of with his own sword. When we got in, it was really cool all the veins on his hand and the detail. After that we looked at all the paintings, then we went into a room that had lots of statues but also hundreds of busts, there were a few paintings but there were mainly just statues and busts, it was cool. After that museum, we went to another one this one had more statues to, there were some big doors. After that we went back home and slept.
On the 24th we took a train to Rome.
Andrew (10 years old)

Hello again friends. In this blog we are visiting a lot of cool stuff like the leaning tower of Pisa.
On the 20th we visited Florence. We visited the Medici chapel. It was owned by the Medici family. I felt small. It was so big that I felt small. The Medici family was one of the richest families in all of Europe. Then we went to visit the Medici palace and thingy. It had a lot of sculptures and paintings. We came across something that caught my eye. It was an hourglass. It was in a sitting room so I thought that it might be if people came in, they would have a certain time to tell them stuff. Then we saw the outside of a church because it was closed. It was Sunday and everything is closed. Then we just walked around the place. We were walking around and guess what we found, a duck shop. There were loads of ducks, dragon ducks, ballerina ducks. So many DUCKS!! My favourite one is the dragon duck. Then we saw a big open space with sculptures. They were big. Then we saw a metal boar. People would rub its nose and make a wish. We bought me my new pandora charm. I chose a little pizza slice, because we are in Italy and I like pizza! Then we walked on the Ponte Vecchio. It is a famous bridge. Ponte Vecchio is the only bridge that survived World War II. There used to be butchers on the bridge, but now there are jewellery shops. Then we went to the Boboli Garden. We saw a sculpture that looked like the stature of liberty. Me and Andrew played some game like taxi driver. I would walk around and when I was ready, I would put my hand up and Andrew would pick me up. It was a big day, and I was ready to go back and play games.
On the 21st we visited Pisa. First, we visited the leaning tower. When we got in, mum did not feel the best, but they still made it up to the top. By the time we got down, the lean was starting to get to me. We walked around a bit after that, and it was a nice view. then we visited all the stuff around the tower which was a dome, a baptistry and a museum. In the baptistry, we went to the top and heard someone sing. They were demonstrating how it echoed in there. In the museum there were big chains, and stuff that looked like big bathtubs, but they were actually stuff to keep dead people in. Then we found lunch in Pisa. I had a chicken sandwich. Then we took the train back home. I really wanted to visit Pisa to see the leaning tower. I just wanted to see how big of a lean it was. Then we went home and slept.
On the 22nd we visited a church with a clock that showed you when the sun would go down. The walls were not so decorated, but the floor was marvellous. Then we visited the Uffizi Museum. There were lots of paintings and sculptures. I choose one piece of art that I liked the best. It was a frame. There was a painting in it, but I preferred the frame itself. The frame had flowers on it. The flowers were so well done. You could actually see the leaves, the nectar and the veins. The rest of the museum was cool, but the frame interested me the most. Then we went back and had a movie night.
On the 23rd we went to another museum and saw a statue of David. It was just a statue of a guy. I mean, I liked the detail, but it was just a guy. Then we saw music instruments. My favourite one was the Hurdy gurdies. The hurdy gurdy is a string instrument that makes sound by a hand turned lever. There is a rosined wheel that rubs against the strings. The wheel functions like a violin bow, and notes sound similar to a violin. The hurdy gurdy was made around 1775-1808. Then we had lunch. I had my first Italian lasagna. It was amazing. We had a rest and did some blog. Then we went to another museum. There was a lllllllllooooooooottttttt of statues. I was already over museums by the end. It was cool, but there is such a thing as too much information. Then we went to a baptistry. I am not that interested in baptistries. Then we climbed the tower next to the main cathedral. It was a very high tower, so it took a little while to climb. It was impressive, but the thing that impressed me the most was mum. They have a fear of heights, but they still made it up. They were wonderful. Then we packed.
On the 24th we took a train to Rome.
The end.
Emma (8 years old)Læs mere