Friday December 18, 2009
Florence
If you've been following along, I posted tons of pics of my trip to Italy as well as some notes and observations on my Facebook page. In looking through my photos of the first half of my two weeks in Italy which was spent in Florence, I was reminded of some observations I was able to make before I went to Rome and getting all distracted.
- I don't take very good photos, but what I lack in quality, I make up with quantity. I'll be posting pics soon.
- There are a million bikes and often, when they're parked, they're just locked to themselves. Here in New York, if part of your bike is not locked to something else, that part will get taken, if not your whole bike.
- There is a ton of graffiti, both in Florence and in Rome and some of the writers are amazingly prolific. The economy there is really bad so they probably have nothing better to do.
- Cars are tiny there. They've got a miniature Volkswagen Golf called a Polo. They've got an A class Mercedes that's about the same size. They've got these cars that are so small they've got motorcycle engines in them, can be backed up perpendicular to parallel parked cars, and can be driven without a driver's license. All of these cars are smaller than Smart Cars and are also smaller than the ubiquitous scooters.
- There are, only in Florence as far as I know, locks in groups with writing on them, huge numbers of them in some cases, all locked to something or to each other, perhaps in lieu of carving hearts with initials in them. I have a great photo of a million locks locked to a sign saying not to lock locks to the sign
Florence was quiet and lovely and I'm glad I spent the week there I did before going to Rome. It worked out so well it was spooky. More on the trip later but for now, know that it was cathartic, mind-expanding, and exactly what I needed, just like the last time.