…and other unrelated phenomena.
While walking the streets it seems I am never very far from a Conad Store (Grocery.). They simply find some ground floor space and start cutting holes in the walls and connect several rooms together. Put a sign up outside that says Conad and you are in business.
Below is the entire beer and soft drink section. The wine section is 4 times the shelf space. Not sure why I did not think to take a photo of the wine section but I will try to remember to get a photo as I go for water.
Speaking of water. There are these watering stations all over the city where you see people drinking directly from the spout out of their hand or see them put their thumb where you see the water coming out in the photo which causes the water to go up like a water fountain. These are clearly fountains that have been here for centuries. The one below is in the wall of the Palazzo Vecchio.
This one is on the Piazza Santa Croce. This has the added feature of watering the dogs and pigeons out of the lower basin.
Here is an example of where you and 6 of your closest friends can go out for a drink on Via Nazionale.
This is what you see as you look up after taking a drink.
And back to the river for one more water themed photo. The rain in recent days has brought the river level back up to normal.
Now for the most interesting man in Florence. I bet most of you think I am going to put a photo of me in this space. Even with my Italian shoes, my Italian scarf, my Italian hat and Italian skinny jeans (try to get that image out of your head) I am a distant and sorry contender compared to this man. On the south side of the Piazza Santa Croce there is an open air cafe with a canvas roof to protect us wine drinkers from the elements. Since I have been here I have noticed a fellow who is always dressed in very exotic attire going from a Gold Shop that faces the Piazza to the “tent” for espresso or inside the trattoria that owns the tent to pick up a plate of food to take back into his shop. Two days ago, my friend and waiter, Malamud, was chatting with me when this exotic gentleman came out of his shop. I asked Malamud who is he. Instead of answering he motioned for this fellow to come over to my table. As he walked over it looked like he was wearing two Pomeranians for shoes and would make Mr. T (that may be too old of a reference for most of you) look like a piker.
Turned out his name is Fadi. He sat down and visited with me about shoes. He told me “…we Italians have screwed Italy up very badly, with the economy, with the environment and with the politics but there is one thing we do very, very well and that is shoes.” He saw my design book on the table and was excited to find out I had an interest in jewelry. He has invited me to tour his production facility in the next couple of days. He has also promised to wear some of his best shoes over the next few days. He is one of the nicest guys I have ever met and much fun to just visit with.
Later that day I went to my cigar park and was reflecting on my own shoe situation. I think I will need to go back to the shoe factory.
On the jewelry front I had very productive days on Thursday and Friday. So productive I forgot to take any pictures. I will get some on Monday. The last two days were spent on techniques to weld two different metals together instead of soldering. In soldering you add a tin component which melts at a lower temperature than ether gold or silver. This is fine except you have now added a third metal to the piece that is of less value and probably does not exactly match in color the metals you are soldering together. With welding you are managing temperatures to actually make the two metals or components one metal.
And finally here is response from Michael, a friend at the office, explaining the sun dial thingy on the Santa Maria Novella Basilica.
The Sundial on the Santa Maria Novella is awesome. There was some very significant science going on there.
Using these instruments, Ignazio Danti computed a more accurate length of year, leading the Pope to correct the calendar by 10 days ( in 1582 )
http://yourcontactinflorence.com/santa-maria-novella-facade-scientific-tools/
http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM9EGY_Danti_Sundials_at_Santa_Maria_Novella_Florence_Italy
That is all for today.
Ciao!!!