Museums with kids

Leonardo DaVinci Museum * Museum of Precious Stones * Bargello * Uffizi * 

Piazza San Michelangelo

21,500 feet (9.23 miles)

Florence is a city of Museums.  We are leaving tomorrow morning and there are several top rated museums we could still visit - but, there are only so many museums a 9 year old can stand.  Today we did 4 museums, that was about 3 more than Charlie could handle.  Maren on the other hand could have spent all day in the Uffizi - we might have to drop her off at the Louvre several hours before we arrive with the rest of the family.  Sydney is easy going enough that she'll do anything.  Emma and Charlie on the other hand turn into 11-year old scouts - touching and poking, (the art work and each other).  In fact, we hadn't been in the Uffizi 5 minutes when Charlie pointed too close to a painting and the alarm went off.

Actually, we knew it would be a long day so we picked a few kid friendly museums to get us going.  We started with a small interactive museums - touching was good!  A museum where Leonardo DaVinci's inventions had been built and the kids could play with them.  It was fascinating.  Then we spent 30 minutes in a precious stones museums (The kids get in free to most of the museums, so 30 minutes was no problem).

After lunch we went to the Bargello - the best statue museum in all of Florence.  We found our favorite statues and tried to pose like them.

Finally we met Eric's family at the Uffizi.  (We sat in the Piazza Della Signoria first to have a sweet just to get our sugar buzz and energy level up). Our first stop was the book store where each kid picked out a postcard of a piece of art they needed to find in the museum. Then we dove in.  The postcards helped the kids "own" a piece of art and they were excited to learn more about it.  We used our Rick Steve's audio guide to pick out the more famous pieces and learn more about them.  Actually, the Uffizi is manageable, not over crowded, and pleasant.  The art work is comfortable and familiar.  Next to the Louvre, Maren had studied more pieces of Art from this museum than any other for her AP test.

To say good-bye to Florence we hiked up to the Piazza Michelangleo for an amazing view of the city.  At the top of the hill we wandered into a church and listened to their evening service (a Gregorian chant) for 20 minutes.  It was relaxing.  On our bus ride back to the city, we ran into a political rally from the communist party and the bus drive told us all the streets were blocked and we'd need to get out and walk.  It was a peaceful rally, but just to be sure, there were police and swat teams everywhere.

Our final dinner was with Eric's family at the apartment they are staying in.  They had a nice roof top terrace and we enjoyed a late evening of dinner and talking.

Piazza Michelangelo

Bargello

Leonardo DaVinci Museum

Bargello

sweet treat on the Piazza della Signoria