Rome, Florence

Some pics from Rome. We  got off the train and took the open-top tour bus, in which you can get a good overview of the city and also hop off when you want, explore a bit, and then get back on. Rome is big, bustling and busy with modernity mixed in seemingly randomly with culturally iconic antiquiy. We'll go back Sunday and I'll hopefully pay a visit to my friend Alessandro.

Parking solution

Florence was amazing. We got going a little late and missed the 9:33am train, so we just said hey, we'll drive. You can't drive into the city or risk a 100 euro fine, so once there we parked on the outskirts and took a bus in. This type of endeavour (using local transportation) is always an adventure, but somehow it always works out. Using our bad Italian and the locals' bad, but usually better, English, we are usually  able to figure out how and where to pay and where to get off. And so we headed into Florence. We walked around heading for various sights, and the city is so pretty, so alive, and so vibrant. The duomo may be even more spectacular than the one in Orvieto, but here it's just another stunning edifice. We were on our way to the Uffizzi museum and passed a young woman in a piazza  playing classical guitar to a crowd of onlookers. She was playing a rather familiar number by a Tuscan composer-- Puccini or someone like that. She played with such feeling, with such mastery that I was compelled to throw a euro into her guitar case. I then went to take a photo of a sign with her picture and name so I would later know who she was. Our eyes met while she was playing and I instinctively smiled at her. She smiled back with a smile as sweet and as serene as the music she was playing. Quite a nice moment as smiles and eye contact with strangers seem to be quite rare on this continent. We also  passed another guitarist a little later also playing wonderful Tuscan music. So nice to have this soundtrack in the background intermingled with the other exciting sights and sounds of this Renaissance city.

The Uffizzi gallery was great, lots of Italian Renaissance paintings and sculpture. The landscapes and buildings and little hill towns we have been seeing so much of these last few days appeared almost verbatim in paintings done over 500 years ago.

Took the bus back to the car and ate a superb dinner at an obscure little restaurant opposite the car park. Waiters in Italy seem to have a lot of personality and flair, and the young man here was no exception-- he cleaned my grilled sea bass with consumate skill and told us of his own fishing adventures in far off places, explained local wines, and in general was quite genial and informative.

Some pics:

Recently we have also visited Civita Bagnoreggio and Siena, and I'll try to post some pictures of these places tomorrow.

The trip is winding down. We leave here Monday and head back to Venice for a couple of days before leaving for home on November 2nd.