Florence, Italy

Hello from Florence, Italy! After hiking in the hills around Zurich on 12/29, we took a train up to St. Gallen, Switzerland on 12/30 to check out the cathedral and abbey library, which has books dating back to 800 A.D. We then took a ferry across foggy Lake Constanz to Friedrichschafen, Germany, where we caught a dirt cheap flight to Pisa, Italy. The RyanAir flight was every bit as low budget as you would expect for a $80 round trip ticket, but Italy proved to be well worth the hassle. We took an hour-long train ride to Florence, where we are staying for 3 nights.

On New Years Eve, we saw a bazillion majestic cathedrals and hit the Uffizi to see its famed Renaissance art collection, with a special exhibit on Leonardo di Caprio, er, da Vinci.

At night, the streets were packed with New Years revelers and people setting off random fireworks. We watched the fireworks from a bridge on the river Arno.

On New Years Day, we took a train ride to beautiful Siena and enjoyed the view of medieval architechture and wine country... and more cathedrals and museums.

Today (1/2) is our last day in Italy. We head back to Friedrichshafen, GER and bed down for the night. Tomorrow, we wil take the ferry and a train to central Switzerland (Interlaken) via Lucerne.