When you travel the world, it becomes the best classroom to learn, explore, experience, and see for yourself! This has been our goal as we venture out from one place to another. We’ve created lessons and opportunities for the kids to learn and discover the history behind a lot of what we want to see and as requested by our kids; Pisa was the first place they wanted to go visit. I mean, who wouldn’t want to go see a tower that’s still standing after centuries of leaning? As you can see, the kids had a great time creating their own poses with the iconic tower. I wont go into too much detail about our “field trips” in my posts because we’re trying to encourage our kids to take part in sharing their own experiences with you. But I’ll add a brief summary of where we went and what we did while you wait to hear from them, mostly to keep my ocd mind sane with keeping things in chronological order.

Phil was able to take Gavin and Claire to the top of the tower while Hallie stayed on the ground with me. They unfortunately don’t allow anyone under the age of eight to go up. Afterwards, we all enjoyed exploring the large cathedral, baptistry and the cemetery for those who were considered of great importance.

My favorite structures are the old churches that date as far back as AD 208! I am mesmerized by the architectural structure that goes into these buildings to cause them to last this long. As well as how they constructed such buildings with limited tools for construction. These people were truly gifted and intelligent as well as artistically talented. The intricate details that went into the churches and cathedrals are breathtaking. We of course ended the day of walking with some gelato, before making our way over to Florence to continue our trip for the following day.

Florence or Florenze, is my favorite city in Italy! It’s full of character, life, history, art, and is also very clean. Plus it’s in the heart of Tuscany. You can live just outside of Florence, enjoy the Tuscan fields and scenic views while staying close to all that the city has to offer. I was very excited that Claire’s school lessons included learning about the designs of Giotto because it meant we could include Florence on our trip. Not to mention, a Leonardo Da Vincci Museum became another benefit of seeing the historic city as well.

We started the day at a cafe with delicious pastries, hot chocolate, and even American pancakes with bacon. Then we took to the streets to explore the sights before heading to the Leonardo Museum.

At the Leonardo Da Vincci Museum was pretty great! Lots of hands-on designs to explore and play with, with explanations to how they work and how these designs have been used over the centuries to benefit humankind, even today. Pretty genius man.

There was also a section showcasing replicas of his most famous paintings like the Mona Lisa, the Last Super, and the head of a maiden, La Scapigliata.

After the museum we did a tour of the Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral.

Then ended our trip at the Piazzale Michelangelo, overlooking of the city.

This past weekend, we took the kids to see the Colosseum. We used a guided audio tour so we could skip the long lines and enjoy our own personal tour. I’m pretty sure Phil and I enjoyed it more than the kids. We wore them out, but I think it was still worth it.

I’m truly in awe over all the stones and bricks that are keeping this structure together, and I didn’t realize the variety of uses this structure was being used for. The Colosseum was used for gladiatorial contests and animal hunts. After all the blood sporting died down, it was used as a theater filled with water to reenact famous naval battles for entertainment and to demonstrate the power of the emperor. Then as Christianity took over, it was used for shelter, a market, then plans were made to build a church in the middle of the structure, but it never evolved. Anyway, I found it extremely fascinating!

One last fun discovery we came across was the Rome water fountains. We were all pretty thirsty from our walking around and came across this fountain. We noticed people using it by cupping their hands as scooping down to drinking from them. I wasn’t keen on this idea without a way to wash our hands first, so I advised the kids use it as a drinking fountain. When we walked by it again, we saw a guy use it properly by covering his hand over the running water and that enabled the water to be forced through a smaller hole to make it easier to use as a drinking fountain. It was a much easier way to use.