heavy rain, cooler heads

Today we went to a criminal court and watched a bankruptcy fraud case in front of the tribunal. In the class syllabus, we were to have instantaneous translation. I had visions of UN style headsets with english coming through. For this school's program, it meant a general translation of what the case was about, and that was about it. I got more from the classmates of mine that know some italian than I did from the Professor and his assistant.

I hold out hopes for actual translation when we visit the High Court in Rome, next week.

After the trial, I returned home, put on shorts, my riding jacket and slogged through a heavy downpour on my bike, to class. My shorts were wet as wet could be.

I added fresh pesto to my dinner routine, which remained unchanged from last night.

Tomorrow we are off to Siena for lunch, then to San Gimignano for some sight-seeing. Pics to follow. Here in a neat package is the baptistry, the Duomo and the bell tower.

just like home

It rained most of the day today. Liana tells me that is has rained in Bend the last four days. With the rain here has come cooler weather, something to be cherished.

Dinner tonight was fresh sausage from the butcher (sweet, not spicy), with tortellini, tomato, wine, bread. Tonight's wine was a Chianti Classico from 2003, 8 euros. The cork came out with a nice "pop" and the wine came out with a nice musky scent. Earthy notes with a hint of cherry. Very nice.

This morning I got up at 0530 and webcammed with Liana and Vinna. Vinna looks about 6 inches taller. They had roadtripped up to Issaquah, WA over Memorial Day Weekend for a wedding and had a great time. I wish I could have been in both places.

My lighter load is sweet candy. I noticed my front rack was lose and after a close inspection found I was missing the nut that attached the top to the fork. I stopped at Bici Sport and the nice machinista slapped a new nut and tightened it down. When I asked quanto costa, he replied no costa...no cost. That is service Les Schwab would be proud of.

"...Ferdinand, we salute thee...the bronze came from Turkish cannons."

You will recall from A Room With A View when Charlotte and Eleanor are walking about they salute the statute of Ferdinand I? Well here it is...

Also from the film, you recall the shots of the statutes prior to the murder scene? Here is the slaying of Medusa...

The loggia where George administered aid to Lucy after she fainted.

And here is Neptune...he stands in the pool where the crowd tried to revive the victim.

All of these (except Ferdinand) are found in the Piazza Della Signoria, where the Palazzo Vecchio and the Uffizi are. We toured the Palazzo Vecchio this morning. How beautiful it was. I did not take my camera, but had a classmate take some representative photos of me in the building.

class

You will recall I mentioned that rooms have only two outlets? Here is why: I checked in on the italian classes, and no one brings laptops to school. There is no room. In fact, today, I left my laptop at home and just took a notebook. I took notes old school style; pen and paper.

I also noticed that when I am reading my papers outside, trying to cool down, the italian students are all smoking. No one reads. Then today a classmate told me that she went to read in the university library, but it was completely packed with students...all reading. I guess they get it done in the library.

morning ride

Instead of simply talking about it, I decided to take some picture of my morning commute.
Here is the crazy roundabout. The safest side to photo it was from the outside. Even that dude knows he should stay out of it. That is three layers of cars you can see.Once out of the roundabout, the street I use is closed for construction of a new bridge, which you can see here. I suspect they will pave a trail down this stretch...As they have got going on here. I ride down this paved bike/walking trail, along the Arno. In the mornings, it is usually older men sitting and chatting or walking down the trail. In the afternoons, when I get out around 430, it is typically mothers, strollers and babies. After riding down the trail, I cross this foot bridge, where the scooter riders have to get off and walk across.

So there you go. Next time I take my camera, I will try to get some shots of the horsetrack, the velodrome and the market area.

Stick around...

running the gauntlet

Do not tell my wife, but cycling here is pure-dee crazy. The road is one lane wide, but people drive two across. The scooters are darting in and out, jockeying for position, cutting cars off, the busses simply behemoth down the road. At stops, there will be 4-5 motorbikes, three cars across and everyone moving at once. Somehow, everyone gets there. I have been surrounded by cars, in the middle of a three lane roundabout that puts Bend's to shame as far as volume, as I am trying to get across and every way I look, the driver is making eye contact with me, if not gesturing for me to go. What a change from Oregon, where people try to drive as close to me as possible, gesture, and honk at me.

The best part now, is that I have figured out the one-way and no traffic stretches to and from school and the residenzia (where the other students live).

I was worried about my heels when I walk across the sidewalk, thinking a car will run me over for not going fast enough. At the end of the day, this is a cake walk compared to home.

the beast is slain

Finally, this morning, I caught that mosquito chillaxin in the bathroom doorway, and punched his ticket. No more wake-ups at 3am from the high pitched whine.

Oh man was I sweating today. I was sweating in the shade, while a breeze was rolling through. HA! I finally had to accept that my bald head would be dripping sweat and my shirts would be soaked on this trip. no way around it, so I had to stop feeling uncomfortable.

Tomorrow morning we tour the Palazzo Vecchio. At 8am, that ride ought to be a bit cooler than this morning's ride.

I think I was able to hydrate completely today for the first time on this entire trip.

Classes are taught in the civil law tradition, where the prof simply sits in front and reads stuff to the class, all of whom dutifully try to get it down. No case discussions...rather one sided.

I have a plan for lightening my load so that I am not lugging my shoulder bag, nor my laptop, nor the huge binder of materials they gave me for enviro law, everywhere I go.

Speaking of lightening the load, the gellato I had this evening was primo...

hot getting hotter

It was hot today...I was sweating hard from my ride home. We are not that high in Florence and it is fairly humid. Makes for moist riding.

The law school/university we are having classes at now is quite interesting. It is fairly new construction, which does not explain the decision to have only two outlets, each with only one plug, in a room designed to seat >60 people. Further, the climate control is centralized (I was told) such that one thermostat controls the entire building as opposed to just one room.

As for the classes, we did not discuss any of the readings in comparative law. In environmental law, the professor read notes to us for two hours. She also read us, three times, a large paragraph regarding the single most important rule of international environmental law. I asked her if she might email this important rule of law to the entire class, as it was not part of our readings. She thought that was a wonderful idea.

My ride home included two things. One, I think I rode through either A. the neighborhood where the women are REALLY friendly or B. the neighborhood where the women are business persons and two, I had a women hoot at me as I rode by her on my bike, as she was waiting for a green light in her car. A green street light that is.

The weather was hot. Did I mention that? I also ran out of wine today. Too bad, I am in Tuscany. Better buy another bottle.

In other news, the butcher was very impressed with my improved Italian language skills, as I ordered all of my food products in italian. He gave me a couple of bravos.

moe-skee-toes

Yesterday, one of my classmates mentioned the mosquitos that infiltrated their room. They had to leave the windows open because their AC was "missing" upon check-in. Too bad for them, the recent rains had swollen the Arno. The numbers of mosquitos are up.

Just my luck, talking about it brought it home. One got in my room last night and I was unable to thwart its blood sucking intentions. It must have hammered me in six places last night. I recall waking up to the high-pitched whine a couple of times.

The upside, italian mosquitos have weak venom. All of my strike zones are back to normal.

Classes started today and they went pretty well. Lots of sharp kids in this program.

When I got back to the apartment, I went in search of food. Whoops, it is Sunday and all of the traditional stores are closed. I had to settle for two ham and cheese paninis, grilled, and some chips for dinner. With wine of course. Oh, and a tomato.

oh yeah, school

Today is the first day of classes. The whole reason I am over here. So I sat down with my readings this morning over my coffee out on the terrace. Last night at dinner, the Professor indicated that the reading would be about an hour. I did not need a second cup to finish the readings.

Dinner was fun, at least to meet everyone. The food itself was some what disappointing. The menu choice was arranged by the school with no input from me. The main course was sliced turkey breast with fries. Somehow, 7 vegetarians got basil, mozzarella, and tomato, which would have been my choice. The bread showed up with the turkey. Some of us did not have wine glasses; the ristorante ran out. That baffles me...if they have 100 seats, how could they not have a setting for each seat? Oh well, I figured out how to drink the wine anyway.

The Professor of comparative family law told everyone that attendance matters. Neither of my professors said anything about attendance. After two years of perfect attendance, skipping class will be hard to do. It is not like they do not give us enough time to do and see stuff. In fact, they are taking us on tours of much of the things to do and see, e.g. Palazzo Vecchio, Uffizi, city tour, etc.

13 euros and I am finally straightened out

Well, the rear wheel is at least. I noticed a wOw in the wheel. So this morning after my fruit and veggie run, I rode over to the residenzia again, to get my bearings, then a few blocks away to bike shop that rents to tourists. The machinista looked over my wheel, offered that simply riding around town would not bend it like that and obviously it was not in an accident. He suggested that it got bent while locked to the bike rack. For 2 euros he got it straightened out. He initially thought he could not, that it would need to be replaced for 30 euros. When he saw I was not pleased about that, he offered to do what he could. Now I am good to go. I told him to throw in a front basket. 13 euros later, booya. Molto bene.

So, I have the streets figured out that offer the smoothest ride, to and from the residenzia. Too bad, my route takes me by the Duomo both ways. Truly this is rough duty.

clean

After a day and a half, I figured the cleaning lady was not going to show up. Amazing how the dishes can pile up.

throw the stinkers out

Facing east, looking back at the Ponte Vecchio. Looking west, other side of the Ponte Vecchio. I have no idea what that dude is looking at. Look at the bridge, you fool.

The bridge was the only one not mined by the Germans as they pulled out of Florence. It used to house butchers and other similar shops, until the Medici grew weary of the stench (they used the passage above to cross). So, they tossed out those stinky stores and replaced them with jewelers and gold and silver smiths. One of the travel sites I read seemed to indicate I would be harassed to purchase cheap baubles. Not so, the products are high end and there is no one pushing people to buy.

I heard at least 4 languages I recognized and one or two that might have been eastern.

what have I learned so far

I have learned that the bell tower at the Duomo is very imposing. I chose this location for the bike meet...southwest corner at noon. After the bells rang noon, I realized that after 9 months, perhaps my contact was operating on italian time...a little more laid back. She was. But that was all right. I could find worse places to spend 15 minutes.
I also have learned that a biergarten on top of a mountian is something the americans could learn from. Here I am honcho-ing a dog, a nephew, and my beer. Nice view in the background, albeit somewhat hazy that day. I am fairly certain of two things in the next pic...one, this is at the Uffizi overlooking the Arno and two, a scene from A Room With A View was shot here, when George Emerson the younger flings Lucy Honeychurch's photographs into the Arno and exclaims that something wonderful has happened.
I bought fruit and veggies this morning at a local store/stand. I walked in, greeted the woman, and she said rather than asked, no italian? I said no, she raised her eyes and hands skyward in supplication. But we figured out what I wanted in the end.

Man's room

While I was at my older brother's house, he showed me video of his father-in-law schooling my younger brother about beer. It turns out, a man needs a room with a roundtable to drink beer away from the women. The beer should be earth-cooled, eight degrees (celsius). While visiting a nearby castle, I found the perfect room, albeit the table was square.

What would be better for men than a room with weapons, pipes, and small, stuffed, furry animals? Nothing.

new bike, 50 euros less in my pocket

That is my new bike. The husband/wife tag team are moving back to the states after 9 months of florentine living. Sweet ride. What took me 45 minutes to walk for, I rode back in about ten. This is critical when your school is >5 km from your apartment. There are worse things than having to walk in florence my wife reminded me. Good point.

After the bike foray, I needed food. So, I went home and had leftovers from last night:

Right...three meats, bread, wine and oil and vinegar. Not just any oil, the butcher's own label. Sweet.

I have noticed that for the most part, people do not make eye contact for any longer than a glance. Far cry from the germanic countries, where they stare at you. Usually, when I smile and nod, I get a surprised smile in return.

Being shaven headed in Switzerland meant always getting the sidewalk, or having the table to myself. At least until I spoke english, then I was ok. As far as I can tell, italians do not care so much about my clean look. In fact, plenty of hombres here sport a clean scalp. Cannot say that I blame them.

Apartment

My apartment rocks. I am right outside the Porta Romana and next to the Boboli gardens.

See that no entry sign? The green shutters, past the white flowers, are the door to my apartment. No the one upstairs.

Here is the view from the doorway, through those flowers. The terrace is nice and big and gets sun most of the day. Because most of the streets in town are lined with 4-5 story buildings, the sun does not penetrate everywhere, so I feel lucky to have gotten this location.

I am meeting some students at the Duomo to buy one of their bikes in an hour. We will see if I can last in this town on two wheels, better than that other American did.

out of order

Because I am now in Florence, but still want to write about Switzerland, I am going to write out of order...I assume you will keep up.


I just saw my first bike accident. I was coming back to my apartment from the north side of the Porta Romana:

A cyclist, opposite side of the arch to this shot, sped across the arch opening as a BMW came through. Too late, the cyclist got double tapped by the front end on his bike, then the windshield as he came off the bike. The driver, an older italian women, jumped out with concern on her face. The rider used some hand gesture, then walked his bike away. His bike appeared OK, and it also appeared to be the same as about 6 other nearby cyclists. As I walked by him, I heard him say, "She was going way too fast." I asked if he was OK, he said he was.

She had the right of way, he was doing who knows what.

Everyone here drives like they are racing, including the mulitudes of scooters.

waiting

I left the states 11 days ago and have just now had an opportunity to sit down and write.

My time in Heathrow was spent hydrating and rubber-necking. I saw all kinds, including a sweet mullet that I simply had to get. Note the split cuffs on the jeans...

I flew coach plus on British Air. Akin to first class domestic, sans leather seats, it was worth the extra 15-20k miles. The food was better than that depicted in fight club...I did not have a chicken cordon bleu hobby kit.

My flight to Zurich was a little late getting out, so my brother had to wait. It was dark, 11ish, by the time we got to his village.

His house is the yellow one peaking above the red leafed tree in the foreground.

Ha! I just learned that spell check wants to use italian, likely because my service provider is italian.

Leaving today

I am in the Redmond Airport right now, waiting for my 3pm flight to Seattle. From there I take a short hop to London Heathrow, followed by a flight to Zurich, Switzerland. I have 9 days with my brother and his family before heading to Florence.

I am studying law for four weeks in Florence through Penn State's Dickinson College of Law. My classes are Comparative Law, Comparative ConLaw, and International Environmental Law...6 credits for all of that and the added bonus of graduating a semester early: this December.

I am two years into law school, in what was supposed to be a three year program. How much can one learn about the law and the legal world in Salem, Oregon? Plenty if your life is in a box. But the world does not work that way, nor should we wish it would.

Law school is more than a case book; more than a three-hour exam to determine my worth. The curve can kill and it can cure, but it is not me.

I have one suitcase. My wife gave me Under the Tuscan Sun and I am taking The Count of Monte Cristo, The Cossacks, and The Sun Also Rises for my reading materials. I hope to spend more time on foot or on two wheels than sitting on my arse reading books.

Law school is the framework; the construct. Life is what fills in the blanks and allows one a context to apply what they learned (if they learned anything). My plan is to keep you informed, show you the world that I am seeing, and bring you a taste of what 100k in frequent flier miles can buy. Tomorrow is my 8th wedding anniversary. Thank you, Liana, for this trip.

Stick around.