Today we had an early start, with breakfast! It was very interesting and delicious. We ate at our hotel for breakfast, they had quite the spread. The best item I ate was a verdure frittata. Then we were out the door just after 8 am. We walked to the Galleria Borghese by way of the Villa Borghese (park), and it was a really lovely walk, but it was not yet 9 am and we were already a bit on the warm side. The Galleria was very lovely. Two floors of works, they are especially proud of the Caravaggio's they have. I gave my mom some background to about 5 pieces in the gallery. Okay so you want to know which ones:
Correggio, Danäe, 1531
Raphael, Deposition, 1507
Rubens, Deposition, 1602
Caravaggio, Madonna of the Palafrenieri, 1605
Caravaggio, David with the Head of Goliath, 1609-1610
We, of course, looked at the whole gallery, and enjoyed our time there. Mom really isn't into the 16th-18th century, but I find it pretty fascinating. Of course then we walked to the Galleria Nazionale D'Arte Moderna which was full of 19th century works (which I am not particularly fond of) but my Mom seemed to enjoy. Their permanent collection was sort of closed off for renovation, so we really only saw the modern Italian artists, very interesting, their one Klimt piece (The Three Ages), and a lovely Modigliani. They also had two Cy Twombly pieces up, but I can only suspect that is because of his recent passing.
We then had a very long lunch at the museum café, Café dell'arte, or something along those lines. The food was delicious, and the smokers all arrived when we left.
Then we walked back to our hotel for a breather, but on the way we crossed a public fountain that everyone else was bathing in, so we joined them. Well just really waded in. Here is a photo:
After showering and resting we went out to the Spanish Steps, a few blocks from our hotel. We took some photos and then decided to have dinner before going up. We had a lovely dinner at a family-owned restaurant that was recommended in the guidebook, but wasn't really "inexpensive" as it was listed there. The food was great, we were both full.
After dinner we walked up the Spanish Steps and we made it to the top easily, well it was easy to climb but it was hard to combat all of the men trying to sell us roses and fake handbags. We took some photos up there and then walked down.
Kind of a relaxed first day, which ended with Gelato (Banana for me, Melon for mom).
Goodnight!!!!
