Unconnected and connected.
Sunday morning I woke up to Marching Band music. My first thought was deja vu.
I threw open the window and saw something interesting.
I put on my clothes, a baseball hat and headed down the stairs. As it turns out it was some version of Veterans Day for either the Florentines or Italy.
There were 15 or 20 different uniforms dating back to Renaissance to present day Jet Pilots. They all set up tents and were showing off their specialty to the kids in the Piazza.
My landlord was even leaning out of his window to see what was going on.
I did notice there is one branch of some military organization that drive Alfa Romero’s. Seems like my style of service to my country. I believe that says Finance Guardians on the vehicle. I feel like I have failed my Finance Department by not providing a fleet of similar vehicles.
So a little out of sequence but Saturday night was the last night for Jeff and Rob to be with me. They were going to move to an apartment they had rented for the rest of the week on the other side of the Arno. This was the last chance for watching the families and their kids stroll on the Piazza.
And a last glass of Lemoncello.
Sunday morning we were up and off to Church and then a bowl of zuppa on the way back. They packed and I napped. About 3 pm we started the trudge to their new apartment. The walk involved crossing a river and some elevation gain as we in the army refer to steep mountains.
It is a cool apartment with an expansive view of Florence from the heights across the river. Once again I am sitting here thinking why didn’t I take any pictures.
We did meet for dinner at a very good restaurant and had a wonderful meal.
As we finished dinner the sky opened up and it poured rain. I had about a 20 minute walk to get back to my side of the river and spent considerable time trying to push little old ladies out of the protection of overhangs so I could stay dry. It doesn’t feel so bad when you can’t understand anything they yell at you.
On the walk / dash I saw how this dad was keeping his son dry.
Now for a few unconnected thoughts.
I want to reinforce the thought that “street justice” will always catch up with you if you deserve it. A truck or van had to come up 6 ft onto the sidewalk to deliver the message this is not an approved bike parking zone.
The most interesting man showed up on the Piazza again today. He invited me into his gold shop. Got to watch the design team put a couple of new projects together.
This is an interesting photo that shows the depth of the flood in 1966. This was the worst flood ever experienced in Florence. The water reached the height of the shaded area in the top photo. I have noticed several plaques around the city documenting the height of the flood.
On the front wall of our building is this little plaque which matches up with what I see in the photo. Interestingly there is also a plaque from the 1557 flood. Wouldn’t it be nice if Eugene built for the future as a city and we could document our history and learn from it. (There he goes again)
The next etching hangs in the living room of the apartment. This work was done in 1738 and shows the Piazza relatively as it exists today. There are a few changes. The Church has had the marble facade put on and the artist took artistic license and elliminated all of the buildings on the south side of the Piazza that would have been in the way of showing the north side.
And one for the Customer Service Staff at PakTech.
It is either time to eat, drink wine or sleep. I elect eat and wine.
Ciao!!!