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...There's no place like Home

Monday, Nov. 08, 2004
8:26 AM

Kevin and I woke up at roughly 3:00 am, after about five hours of sleep. Neither of us could get back to sleep, as our internal clocks were still thinking it was 9am. It's going to take a day or two to readjust (and it didn't help that we had to set all the clocks in the house back an hour) and right now I'm feeling discombobulated and out of whack. Not unpleasantly so; I have today off and will spend it unpacking and doing laundry, running errands and labeling digital pictures (of which there are many). I feel like I've been wasting time but it's only 8:30! I know I'll pay for it later, though. However, it should be a low stress day and I can nap later if I want. We went to the Amphora Diner at 5:00 for breakfast, which was a fine thing, though the coffee was a real letdown after drinking caffe latte every morning for two weeks. It's good to be home, though.

I don't know how much detail I'll go into about the trip; it was awesome, of course, but I think I'd be in real danger of turning my diary into a tedious travelogue that nobody really cares about, kind of like having to sit through slides of your great-uncle Joe's trip to Dollywood after Thanksgiving dinner. So maybe I'll just post some observations, hit the major highlights and have done. And unlike great-uncle Joe's slides, you can fall asleep or wander away and nobody will mind (me included).

Some thoughts on Italian culture: Italians are very into fashion and looking very put together. In addition, very few of them are overweight (I'm not sure why, Italian food being what it is and gelaterie on every corner). So for most of the trip I felt like an unfashionable, fat American, a perception only important or remarkable in my own mind. Still, it's depressing to be surrounded by skinny women in tight shirts and very low-rise jeans. In other fashion news, very pointy-toed shoes are really big there, kind of like... poulaines. Everything old is new again, apparently. I also noticed a bit of retro-'80s style here and there (leg warmers! no kidding!), mostly being worn by people too young to remember when leg warmers were worn the first time around. Now I feel like an unfashionable, fat, old American. Sheesh.

Italians spend a lot of time window-shopping, with the unfortunate side effect of clogging traffic on sidewalks. When you're out for a stroll, this isn't a big deal, but when you're trying to get somewhere, it's maddening. I'll admit that one of my pet peeves is people who stop dead in the middle of the flow of traffic, so trying to get anywhere in a crowded area (and most of the old city center of Florence is crowded) is an exercise in frustration. The phrase for "excuse me" when trying to get past someone is "permesso" but I noticed that I used it more than the Italians did. When they did use it, it was more of a polite way to say "get the f--- out of my way". Italians are also not that into the concept of maintaining personal space and don't really pay attention to when they are about to walk into you. Thus a walk down a public sidewalk becomes a perpetual game of chicken - who will have to step aside or off the curb and into the street for a few steps? I found the best way to play that game was to walk straight ahead and show no intention of moving, and most of the time people will just veer around you with minimal bumping. Or, just let Kevin go ahead of you and trail along in his wake. =)

While Florence is not the same in terms of traffic craziness as Rome is, it does pay to make absolutely sure that all is clear before you step out to cross the street. People drive too fast and it seems like some of the traffic signs are suggestions rather than rules, especially for drivers of scooters, who will happily drive the wrong way on a one way street. It seems also that parking illegally and then putting on your hazard lights to make it OK is a universal thing. While we did see a couple of SUVs and larger vehicles, most of the cars are fairly modest in size. The little one or two seater SmartCars are just so cute.

If you are one who is allergic to cigarette smoke, Italy is not the place for you. Everybody smokes, almost everywhere. Only once were we asked if we wanted to sit in a non-smoking section in a restaurant (most don't have them at all) and even then I was pretty sure I smelled smoke from somewhere nearby. (Too bad the restaurant was mediocre and overpriced...) Museums and churches are smoke free, of course, but pretty much everywhere else is fair game. You'll also sometimes see people smoking in places where no smoking signs are posted - again, more of a suggestion than a rule. It's a wonder the entire country isn't dying of lung cancer.

It sounds like I'm complaining a lot about Italians, though I'm really not, so I should say that most Italians are very friendly, even toward silly tourists. If you attempt to say a few things in Italian, they are very happy. Most of the folks who work around the old part of town speak at least some English, so it's possible to get around with little to no Italian. We had one nice lunch in a little bar/caffe, attended to by a wonderfully old fashioned gentleman who fawned over us, pulling out my chair, bringing us glasses and opening up my diet Coke (Coca Cola Light in Europe) for me. Then he went back to the doorway of the bar to greet people passing by and present them with a litany of lunch items available for purchase. It was a nice experience.

OK, this has gotten way too long already and I have laundry to do so I'll quit for now and cover what we actually did later.

Ciao tutti!


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