Florence and Rome

Wednesday morning we awakened in Florence.  After breakfast we checked our luggage, again walked along the Arno crossing the Ponte a Sacra Trinita and eventually climbing the Costa San Giorgio to the heights above the city.  We were seeking a "nice view" of the city below, but were surrounded by the walls of an ancient fortress.

On our descent I began taking close-up pictures of moss covered stones and other rocky arrangements.  More on this below.

We crossed the Ponte Vecchio and had coffee and ice cream at Rivoire on the Piazza Della Signoria.  The first photo below shows Rivoire to the left.  The second photo is what we saw from our table.

Jeannie visited Santa Maria Novella (below) while I returned to the hotel to retrieve our luggage.  We met at the train station, across from the Church, then took the Eurostar to Rome.

It was less than two hours to Rome.  We arrived early, about 3:30 and walked to our hotel on the Via Venato.  We are staying at the Boscolo Palace, again using Marriott points.  There was some seeming confusion at check-in regarding my Platinum status which may have contributed to us being given what is evidently the second-best room in the property.  The room is a typical first class accommodation, but also features a large wrap around terrace overlooking the city to the east. (Pictures will come with our Thursday post.)

Wednesday late afternoon was clear and warm.  It was an easy walk to the top of Spanish Steps (can you find Jeannie in the photo below?), then to the Trevi Fountain.  

While Jeannie rested  beside the Trevi Fountain I visited a small exhibition at the nearby National Institute for  Graphic Arts.  Previously I reported that in Florence I started taking close-ups of what I saw in the walls we passed.  Below are a couple of examples.

Florence

Rome

I have now collected over 50 of these "abstract expressionist" pieces.  It has been fun and has encouraged a closer look and a slower pace than I might have otherwise indulged.  I did not take it too seriously until I saw the exhibit in the building behind the Trevi fountain.  Here are two examples, surreptitiously photographed, from that exhibit.

These are marbles with various types of human incisions.  The technique is much more highly skilled than my mere observing, framing, and clicking.  But the outcome is not always so different.  In any case, it has been fun and I will frame some of my "works" when we return home.

We had a great dinner not far from the Trevi.  I had rabbit. Jeannie had a pumpkin ravioli.  More tomorrow.