Strolling in Firenze

A lot of people have asked me
what florence is like.
and italy.
and this is the best way
i can find to tell you.
i'm going to show you.

Let's take a walk through Firenze.


Take a step out of my apartment
and you'll be greeted by a different scene
depending on the time you open
the large green, bulky entrance door.
If you are unfortunate enough to,
like me, have 8 am classes,
you'll meet delivery trucks
and rushed italians making their way
to work.
You simply join this small stream of people,
follow them,
past yet more deliver trucks,
and shop keepers,
find more people,
take a left at the magazine stand,
walk past tempting shoe shops
and small bars serving pastries,
until, finally,
you get dumped into Piazza Strozzi.

The Lorenzo de'Medici classrooms
are located in Palazzo Strozzi.
Palazzo. Palace.
this place is huge.
and we are lucky enough
to be on the 3rd floor of 4.
unfortunately,
that's Italian floors.
we are on the 4th floor.
with little half floors in between
the regular floors.
that's 94 stairs.
every morning.
at 8 am.
then later again that day.

...

let's just say.
I AM NOT taking an 8 am
when i get back to Clemson.
and i am certainly getting
tons of exercise between
the stairs and the constantly
walking across the city at least 4 times a day.

ok. so remember what i said
about the time of day
makes a huge difference on
who you will encounter?
we've gone over early morning,
let's try the walk to my noon mythology class.

First of all.
when leaving
past the hour of 10 am
and before 10 pm,
give yourself at least an extra 5-10 minutes.
you'll see why.

So, once again,
as soon as you open that
large, green, cumbersome door,
you are greeted by a mass mob of...
of...
TOURISTS.
with not a free cobblestone to see.
if you are really unlucky,
you'll see the characteristic
flower, umbrella, sign, or stick
that signifies the most evil
of hinderances in firenze:
tour groups.

now, the tour group is a whole
other creature entirely.
while a couple freelance
tourists are easily dodged and
handled;
a tour group is a giant,
monstrous mob of sidewalk-street
hoggers, picture tackers,
and souvenir gogglers.

while the group is made of individuals,
NEVER, i say never,
forget the fact that they are
one group.
so, when one happens to be crossing the street,
to reach Dante's house on the other side,
and you must go through it,
this is the best advice i can give,
from first hand experience of course:

first: ride your face of all emotions.
things like kindness will not help you here.
second: keep your bag close and put out your elbows.
any extra room gained will help you navigate
the river of living creatures.
and lastly: you must attempt the crossing at a fast pace.
if you try to lazily stroll through them,
you might as well take a seat and wait for
the migration to end.
i'm not saying it has to be a running start,
i think a mall walk or
a "i'm late to apertivo hour" walk
will do just fine.

now, if you thought the mobs
of history ravenous tourists was your
only concern at mid day,
you are wrong.
very, very wrong.
while the movements of distracted
foreigners is the most annoying thing
you can find in firenze,
it is not the most dangerous.
that belongs to the speedy,
seemingly careless, dangerous,
creatures in white.

may i introduce: the taxi.

taxis in firenze are white.
only white.
no other color.
and they have an orange taxi sign on top.
they seem pretty normal.
but the european cousins of our
eccentric yellow american vehicles
are not normal.

they appear to have no regard for
the laws of the road,
how big the road is,
if there is people in the road,
or even using the road.
more than once have i almost
been hit by one of these
things while they go up on the sidewalk
to avoid one of those tour groups
or even a parked delivery truck.
these things are nasty.
period.

while we're talking about driving,
there are no traffic laws in italy.
i'm convinced.
people park everywhere.
they drive everywhere.
the mopeds have free rain
of the entire city.

so, needless to say,
if you must venture out at the
noon hour,
keep your wits about you.
because you could find yourself
being corralled in the wrong direction
then stuffed into the tiny church of dante
with fifty other people.
or worse,
you could find youself on
the hood of a taxi.

finally, one last time
i must tell you about.
8 pm - 5 am.

i know, this is a long time.
but you'll see about the same thing.
and thats drunkards.
lots of them.
mostly american students
who don't have to worry about the
21 drinking age anymore.

so, when you open your heavy front door
at 10, about to head out on
an impromptu gelato run,
you are greeting by yells
and singing.
as you step into the night,
and round the corner from borgo dei greci,
you see them.
scattered along the road in small
to large groups,
all talking much louder than necessary.
there are also the groups of european
looking men also dotting the street.
these are the albanians.

now, if you remember my post
about the night club,
for some reason albanian men
go around pretending to be italian,
or at least not telling you they are from
Albania.
and they are everywhere at night.
so, you're bound to at least run into a few
of them on your walk to get gelato.

other than that,
you'll meet a musician or two,
a drunken serenader,
and countless other amusing persons.
if you ever get the chance to visit firenze,
take a stroll at night.
you'll be highly entertained.


so, folks, in the end:
if you want to meet the local italians,
you'll have to venture aways from the tourist attractions.
get yourself completely lost.
if you want to avoid tourists,
don't come to firenze.
if you want to get gelato at night,
expect some interesting encounters.

italy is many different things.
it just depends when you are out and about.