I thought it might be nice to give you all back home a better view of my regular walk to and from school so you can get an idea of the sights I see every day. To do this, I put together a photo essay of pictures I took along my walk home Thursday afternoon. It takes me about 25 minutes a day to make the trip, as traffic is rarely an issue that gets in the way. It just so happens that when I walked home the sun was just starting to go down, so you’ll see the sky get darker with each picture and a few that include the sunset. Enjoy the pictures, and as usual, the images can be enlarged if you click on them.
The gate to enter school
Check out those skinny sidewalks: fun for the whole family, with cars whipping by you at over forty miles an hour, one after another, almost constantly! For the best experience, strap a guitar on your back and try not to get hit.
This is where the bus stop lets out. We can catch it back into town across the street from the gas station just down the hill.
The nice looking gas station at the top of the hill. The driveway seen in the bottom right leads to some fabulous houses.
That's equivalent to $5.75 per gallon
A great sunset, looking off to the right of Via Bolognese where cars headed down the hill have to turn.
What an awesome house, with grape vines in the front yard.
There really is regular traffic on this hill, I just chose to take most of my pictures when cars had passed.
Typical Via Bolognese traffic: gotta love those skinny sidewalks!
Another nice estate towards the bottom of the hill
Almost at the bottom of the hill!
The canal at the foot of Via Bolognese, just outside the city center. I got there at the perfect time for the sunset picture. Behind me is a whole mess of traffic.
Approaching the huge intersection around Piazza Liberta
The big arch at Piazza Liberta
Piazza Liberta
I love these lamp posts
The onslaught of traffic I encounter while trying to traverse the main boulevard around the old city center: there are eight pedestrian crossings to make it through these three intersections.
Piazza Liberta from the city side
Turning down Via San Gallo
One observation I’ve made that I haven’t gotten to write about yet is the amount of dog feces on the street. There are no laws in Florence, or for that matter in Terni or Perugia, that push people to clean up after their dogs. Fortunately, dogs aren’t nearly as populous here as in New York, but it is still disturbing to see how much dog waste is on the ground. You might think that, if nothing else, the people would want to respect their city streets by picking up after their dogs, but clearly they have different standards for cleanliness. On the other hand, when I visited Verona and Venice this weekend, in the north of Italy, they did have laws governing the cleanup of dog waste, and I witnessed a few people cleaning up after their dogs. The streets were comparatively clean.
I love that many of the local cafes use the name "Jolly Caffe." I've since written a song about the mythical "Jolly Bar Caffe."
Turning into the last two alleyways; the supermarket is here at this corner
The alley that approaches Piazza Mercato Centrale
Mercato Centrale, across from my apartment
The piazza I live on
My apartment
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