Cat Walking: The brothers arrive in Cinque Terre and plenty of peonies

Early morning both-smiling selfie. They're so cute!

This morning the brothers left Florence for Cinque Terre but not before some breakfast gelato, Italian salami sandwiches and the strongest espresso Henry has ever experienced.

Mountains of fresh gelato put out this morning:

This was their first train ride in Italy and Henry's research paid off well because he knew they had to get their tickets validated before they got on the train. Others didn't and got fined and kicked off the train even though they had tickets.

And they arrived in Cinque Terre a place that Henry has been dreaming of for years. This is the view from their room. 28 Piano terra. Great street name! The are staying in the village of Corniglia. The third of the five villages that make up Cinque Terre. Henry said he could see over to the next village from the top of the hill. They'll be hiking and seeing the other villages over the next three days as knees allow.

They say the room is small but very clean and they have their own washroom this time.

They are in the pink one on the left:

These pictures are not even with Henry's good cameras as the wifi hub only works with his phone here. But still!

They said the water was great. Really sad I didn't think to send my water camera along. Somehow it never occurred to me that they'd be swimming and not just gazing at the sea :-)

Looks a little more modern close up. Have asked Henry to be on the lookout for potted flower gardens.

Blasphemy Alberto. Ice cream not gelato but that sign might be for tourists. The English was my first clue.

Pretty cool huh? Told you!

This is a view of the Pitti Palace from yesterday.

Wikipedia says:

"The Palazzo Pitti (Italian pronunciation: [paˈlattso ˈpitti]), in English sometimes called the Pitti Palace, is a vast, mainly Renaissance, palace in Florence, Italy. It is situated on the south side of the River Arno, a short distance from the Ponte Vecchio. The core of the present palazzo dates from 1458 and was originally the town residence of Luca Pitti, an ambitious Florentine banker.

The palace was bought by the Medici family in 1549 and became the chief residence of the ruling families of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. It grew as a great treasure house as later generations amassed paintings, plates, jewelry and luxurious possessions.

In the late 18th century, the palazzo was used as a power base by Napoleon, and later served for a brief period as the principal royal palace of the newly united Italy. The palace and its contents were donated to the Italian people by King Victor Emmanuel III in 1919.

The palazzo is now the largest museum complex in Florence. The principal palazzo block, often in a building of this design known as the corps de logis, is 32,000 square metres.^[1] It is divided into several principal galleries."

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Today was my favourite summer weather. If summer has to happen then I like a day that starts out in rain and turns to sun - preferably DURING my walk like today.

If you don't care for peonies then the rest of this blog might not be for you. We have studies in shade and in sun and in lots of colours. Also we have poppies from across the street, one of my favorite flowers.