The Younger Sisters' Five Week Journey Through Europe

Today we said goodbye to our home for the last four nights and headed to Florence. Corte di Valle was an awesome place to stay, very relaxing, the family that owns it was very nice and welcoming. I highly recommend this place if you are touring the tuscan region. Our first destination was dropping our rental car off at the airport, which thanks to Jen's excellent driving skills we finally made it. It can be tricky finding where to drop off a rental, especially when the signs are in Italian, but we figured it out. Then we took the shuttle from the airport to the main train station. Our apartment ( Residence Martin) was close by the train station, but it took us a few min to figure out where it was. When we arrived our host Veronica met us and showed us our room, then she sat down with us and gave us tons of advice on where to go, her favorite restaurants and places to get the best gelato. She was so nice and friendly, it was probably my favorite place...

Today we drove from Greve in Chianti to Pisa. Last night, Jen's friend Markus, flew in from Germany. He and Jen work together in Australia and he was on holiday in Germany spending time with his family. He flew to Pisa and would be traveling with us for the next five days. It was actually really fun and nice to have him with us. Not only was he an extra set of hands to carry luggage, but we also felt safer having a third person with us, safety in numbers! Pisa After we picked up Markus from his hotel we stopped at the Leaning Tower of Pisa. "The Leaning Tower of Pisa (Italian: Torre pendente di Pisa) or simply the Tower of Pisa (Torre di Pisa) is the campanile, or freestanding bell tower, of the cathedral of the Italian city of Pisa, known worldwide for its unintended tilt to one side. It is situated behind the Cathedral and is the third oldest structure in Pisa's Cathedral Square (Piazza del Duomo) after the Cathedral and the Baptistry. The tower's tilt began dur...

Today we drove from Greve, about 70 miles, to Cortona. "Cortona is one of the oldest hill towns in Tuscany and is featured in Francis Mayes book Under the Tuscan Sun, later made into a movie. Its medieval streets are pleasant to wander and you'll be rewarded with fabulous views of the countryside along the medieval town walls" ( http://goitaly.about.com/od/cortonatuscany/p/cortona.htm ) . I have wanted to go to Cortona since I saw the movie Under the Tuscan Sun. And after doing research I found that it might be one of the easier hill towns of Tuscany to explore because of its escalator. Don't get me wrong there are just two escalators and there is no guarantee that they will be working. But better than nothing. Also when we were there both escalators were only running up, not down so you we had to manage the steps and walk down. At least we had some help going up. To park we followed the P parking signs and the signs for the escalator. Only one lot is close to t...