More rain today in Firenze.

Took advantage of a brief lull to run out for lunch at Bordino.

We sat at the big communal table there. . .

Also, walked far in the other direction, to Coop supermarket.

It's a stage-set getting there, across Piazza Santa Croce,

over to Borgo La Croce and along that marvelously alive pedestrian street,

through the arch at Piazza Beccaria, and along Via Gioberti to Coop.

Saw the old, familiar beggar lady on Ponte Vecchio,

"Grazie" she says in that low, most raggedy of smoke-stained voices,

"Grazie" to no one in particular,

whether she gets a coin or not. She plies the bridge 

for hours, back and forth, an institution there of sorts.

I look for her whenever I cross, and usually she is there,

as she has been, year after year.