Firenze to Roma

 

Back to our itinerary I'm writing this from Rome. Since we couldn't get tickets for anything and the queues were unreal anyway we had another morning to wander around Florence. 

First up breakfast which was avocado toast with 1 x egg scrambled on the side at Ben's Caffee sitting in a medieval square, was really lovely. Then the photographer wanted some more pics of things with his camera (vs his phone) so we did a loop of the major sites before heading away from the chaos and up to Piazzale Michelangelo, which is a park on top of the old walls of the city. 

These pics. David up closer. Steve sitting in the square smiling after eating his half of the pain au chocolate we shared. Neptune's backside and David's mates who I looked up and are Hercules again and Cacus (who was killed by Hercules apparently). 

Was lovely to walk out of the historic centre and see apartment buildings lining the river and the layers of fortification as we walked up to the Piazzale.

To the right - apartment buildings line the river, this crazy modern statue on one of the bridges, one of the towers we assume were used to see enemy ships coming up the river, and the wall of the city from above. 

At Piazzale Michelangelo we took in the spectacular view from many angles before buying an aperol spritz from a street vendor - wishing I had cash because I was very worried they had cloned my card - and sitting on the steps to listen to a busking band (right next to people sitting in an expensive cafe). Also single use plastic cups with plastic straws didn't sit well for us, nor do the single use plastic bags everywhere! 

We had stripped down to 1 layer by this stage and then with no notice if started to rain so we scurried back down the hill, which was kinda slippery on the stone paths. The rain passed pretty quickly giving us more time to wander. 

Look at these views though. Nothing can beat an aperol on the steps (top of the blog pic) listening to live music with this view really, was fabulous.  

For our last Florence tourist activity we crossed the Ponte Vecchio, the bridge that is covered in tiny jewellery / gold shops. Florence''s most famous bridge, it's the oldest bridge completed in 1345, there is a secret corridor across it that was featured in one of Dan Brown's books but we didn't go there. Instead we waded our way through the tourists, glanced at the shiny things in the windows and looked at the amazing old buildings. 

Pics to the right - Just as many tourists on the bridge as everywhere else. The Bridge from the bank. A pic of the shops from on the bridge. And we randomly came across a classic car race of some kind, took lots of pics for Paul, not vintage but all in mint condition and lots of very happy people polishing their cars. 

After that crazy experience we wandered down the river taking a different route back to our hotel, collected our backpacks and headed to the station. 

So far we have been using the self service ticket booths but we spotted a couple of last minute ticket places with signage in English so we went to one and got tickets for a fast train to go in 14 minutes from then which was awesome. 

The train cracks along at an amazing pace, 248km was the fastest I spotted (but it was down to 247 before I got the phone out to take this pic). Steve had an excellent nap and I watched the countryside (which is beautiful) and a bit of tv on my phone, then in seemingly no time we were in Roma. 

Photos on left - about to board the train, I got obsessed with tiny cars, this one is a two seater - front and back. Proof of the speed bottom left and me sitting in our room when we arrived in Rome. 

We had a bit of a faf getting into our accommodation which wasted an hour or so but it's clean enough, 15 minutes walk from Roma Termini (train station) and they are bringing us breakfast at 8:15am (which is shortly). After a quick phone charge (should have done it on the train I know) we headed out. 

By now it was after 6pm and I was starving cause we kinda forgot to have lunch, so reading reviews as we walked we chose a Trattoria - these are the more casual pasta restaurant class in Italy. There we had a yummy salade caprese to share (I do love the basil, tomato and mozzarella combo) and ok pasta mains. It was 7pm by the time we sat down and the place was full of tourists, but when we left it was filling up with Italian diners. 

Pics to the right - should have included in the last bunch, me fully loaded waiting in Florence station for which platform our train was leaving from. Our building in Rome is built around a square. Just as many tourists in Rome as there were everywhere else. And my Salad Caprese with free bread and a glass of prosecco. 

I wasn't feeling flash and should have taken my pseudoefedrina before heading out so we did a quick lap to the Trevi to astound ourselves at the volume of people, not the fountain which was obscured, then back to our accommodation via one of the many tiny Pam supermarkets along the route. 

Welcome to the Trevi - well we couldn't really see it but we could see the crowds (reminded us of 8 years ago waiting for Donovan here for a good couple of hours, it wasn't this crazy tho). Also had to take a pic of the Pam's. 

Lovely feeling being here in Rome with no plans and a full day ahead of us, and a forecast of 22C. 

Ciao!