Today, we officially started our ninth month on the road living out of suitcases and exploring the world. Nine times! We boarded a train from Rome to this wonderful Italian jewel of a city we’re in now. Rome was challenging. All of the tourist sites were crowded and lines were long. We’ll fill in the details soon in another post. We’re in an almost equally touristed Italian city today, but the vibe is much more mellow. When you see the pictures, it won’t be hard to guess where we are.
Our hotel rooms in Rome were small and expensive. Our second literally was a room with a bed. The refrigerator was mounted on the wall and the actual depth of a bottle of water. We had no idea such a thing existed. Crowds and crowded was how we felt while out touring sites and then when returning to our room. We were looking forward to a change in our current city, and our room didn’t disappoint. As is usual with last-minute travel, we got the last available room in the “starred” hotel in our guidebook. We always try to stay at the recommended hotels if we can, but they’re often booked. Our confirmation email said “economy double room with 1600 frescos.” We were a little puzzled and thought maybe it was a bad translation.
Not a bad translation. The frescos on the wall in our hotel room were actually painted in the 1600s. The room was a chapel in the convent. You can see where the altar was above our bed. Guessing there was probably a crucifix bracketed by those angels on either side. And talk about wanting some space. Here is the entry way into our room with another spectacular fresco on the ceiling.
After settling into our room, we went for a short walk and immediately saw this city’s iconic building dominating the skyline. Not a hard guess. It is probably one of the most recognizable buildings in the world.
To make it even easier to guess where we are, here’s a close-up taken from the front. A really, really impressive edifice that can be seen from almost everywhere in the city. We can’t wait to visit inside tomorrow!
We’re here for four days to visit churches and museums to see some of the world’s most precious art treasures. Here’s hoping we get to enjoy them here a little longer and with a bit fewer people than the ones in Rome. We made it pretty easy to guess where we are today. Any guesses where we’re starting our ninth month of travel?
well, since you texted us from there… not going to guess!
Did I mention lately that I am a little jealous?
Clearly you are in Firenze. Which I loved when I visited many years ago. And from where my leather jacket came that I still have even though it doesn’t fit anymore!
It is still lovely! We resisted leather shopping but loved the smell of leather on every street.