Firenze!

Tom with his back to the Ponte Vecchio.

The river Arno....
Just the local drinking fountain! But then I discover that it is not just another water fountain, but a 16th century gargoyle designed by Buontalenti. Oh, well, I guess I have good taste?

Just another paint job? But no -- it turns out to be the home of a mistress of Grand Duke Francesco I, who apparently was fooling around behind the back of Joanna of Austria. See, you just walk along and history smacks you in the face!

For some reason this lovely set of doors and the Via Romana sign just appealed to me.


Saturday we took the 12:30 train from Rome to Florence, about an hour and a half, and found our apartment building without difficulty. By 3:30 we were happily ensconced in our new home for the next two or three weeks. We found the supermarket nearby for a few necessities, and got ourselves organized. Sunday we walked all over town, our objective being to find the car rental and figure out how to maneuver a bit, to be ready for Tom's fist day at work Monday afternoon. In the process we found a charming and very new restaurant with a E10 lunch special -- what a bargain. Tom had Tuscan soup, and a dish that turned out to be like raclette -- roasted cheese to be dipped by roasted vegetables -- zucchini, eggplant, tomato and potatoes. Mine was a pasta dish with porcini and prosciutto, and a pock chop and potatoes. I took the camera to take photos of the lunch dishes, but our plates were clean before I remembered that I was supposed to take a picture!

Monday we got the car, returned to the apartment for Tom to change and gather his stuff, then we drove out to the suburbs together, with me and the GPS trying to navigate. Much tougher than France and even Paris. but we got ourselves there, and thanked the gods that we had sprung for the GPS at the last minute on a whim. if not, we'd still be roaming about.

Now we are trying to plan our next couple of weeks, making the required reservations for various sites, and thinking about a few days in Venice before it is all over.