Florence

We were in Florence for 4 days two weeks back. You will enjoy your stay..
We took three tours and now we feel that it would have been better if we had just taken
1) The original David tour
2)HIGHLIGHTS of the Uffizi GALLERY Tour

http://www.artviva.com/uffizi.html

I hope you have Rick's Steves:Italy 2009 or something, he has everything so well explained that you will find it great.

We took a train to Pisa and spent half day. I really liked it for my husband it was ok.

We went on a day trip to Sienna and San Gimignano on our own taking the SITA bus.

Florence is just too beautiful you will find it to be really wonderful.
The food was just amazing.

You dont need a tour to enjoy Piazzale Michaelangelo.
This is a city park. It is located across the river from Florence proper and is high above the city. The views in all directions (except back) are fantastic.
Don't miss it

We are going on The Best of Tuscany Tour which has gotten great reviews on TripAdvisor. http://www.walkaboutpass.com/nqcontent.cfm?a_name=bestoftuscanytour_homepage

We enjoyed the city walking tour arranged through the TI. Happened to be a middle age, Am art students who came to Florence as a student to study art and never left. She was great.

Just returned last Thurs. from 3 weeks in Italy. Spent 5 nights in Florence and didn't do any tours. Did it all on our own--trained to Pisa one day and took the bus to Fiesole another day. Reserved our tickets to climb the Pisa tower from home before we left. Were planning on taking the bus to Siena and San G. another day but my sisters decided they would rather stay in Florence as there was so much to see and do there. I had already been to Siena and San G. several times so I was fine with that. I reserved our Accademia and Uffizi tkts. by phone before we left and glad we did as there were lines at both of these places.

"There is nothing there except the tower (Pisa)."

In the interest of factual accuracy, there are four World Heritage Center structures at the Campo, not just the tower.

This from Michelin: "Campo dei Miracoli: In and around this famous square are four buildings that form one of the finest architectural complexes in the world, including the Duomo, the Torre Pendente, the Camposanto, and the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo."

Michelin gives Pisa its highest rating and 5 pages (but what do they know, those bunch of European stuffed shirts, they only give the Cinque Terre a 1/4 page).

blah blah blah....altars by Paisano, World Heritage Center (yawn) booorrriinng, not big on the fun-meter, I suppose (where's the gelatto).

For anyone interested in a more balanced discussion of what's actually at Pisa:

http://www.ricksteves.com/graffiti/helpline/index.cfm/rurl/topic/27380/pisa-i-disagree-with-ricks-45-minutes-detour-comment.html

Personally, I don;t think Pisa is worth the trip. There is nothing there except the tower. If you have time to kill I guess it would be ok to do it. If you are on limited time, skip it, it's just OK!!! Have fun.

We were in in Florence for 4 nights in early July and we went on the Best of Tuscany tour which went to Siena, a winery for lunch, San Gimignano and then to Pisa. It was good tour overall, but not much time in any one place - like an hour tops and we felt like that wasn't enough. We took the cheesy pictures of each other holding up the leaning tower, but the tour didn't allow for enough time to go up in the tower. If you go, I would take the train and get tickets ahead of time to go up in the tower. We were glad we saw the tower though, but there is nothing else there. If you want to see the Tuscan coutryside I would go to Siena or San Gimignano instead or do the Best of Tuscany tour for an overview and to see lots of the countryside.