01/23/2008 Fiesole 12:25 p.m.
As I mentioned yesterday, I was scheduled to go to Lucca today, so I got up early, grabbed a quick breakfast and caught the 7:50 bus to the train station. On the way down, some fellow SMU students said that Bob had mentioned the possibility of a railroad mechanics' strike today. We all had our fingers crossed that we would be able to continue our journey. But at the train station we were met with disappointment. The train to Lucca had already been cancelled by the time we got there. It is quite common for workers to strike in Italy, as they have very strong workers' unions for almost every industry. This time they chose to strike on a Friday because it would affect the greatest number of people that way. They are able to pretty much get whatever they want as far as wages, hours, and working conditions go. Since I have been here there have also been strikes at Alitalia, the Italian airline. It looks like I may just get stuck here forever if the transportati
on workers keep it up.
There is also an Italian/European notion called "holiday," which I first encountered today. After we found out the train was cancelled, a group of us walked around with Bob a little bit. He was going to buy us all hot chocolate at the place he claims is the best in Florence. He says that you can stick a spoon in their hot chocolate and it will stand up straight because it is so thick. However, when we arrived at the cafe, the metal gates were pulled down over the facade. There was a paper taped to one of the gates, which said that they are "on holiday" from January 19 until February 2. I guess businesses here can do that since they are family run and usually only have a handful of employees. But honestly, closing down business for a two week vacation would be unheard of for most businesses
in America. So I guess this is the negative side of having small, family-run businesses dominate the market. They set the hours, and the hours are going to be at their convenience, not the customers'. I guess it would be alright if you were a shop owner though.
Oh, I forgot to mention one thing in my blog yesterday. When we went to Santa Croce for art class yesterday, we were pleasantly surprised by a chocolate market in the piazza. There were rows and rows of chocolate vendors set up beneath white tents. They were selling everything from chocolate liqueur to chocolate fashioned to look like rusted iron tools. Many of the booths had free samples, so that was a decadent little surprise for the day.
As I mentioned yesterday, I was scheduled to go to Lucca today, so I got up early, grabbed a quick breakfast and caught the 7:50 bus to the train station. On the way down, some fellow SMU students said that Bob had mentioned the possibility of a railroad mechanics' strike today. We all had our fingers crossed that we would be able to continue our journey. But at the train station we were met with disappointment. The train to Lucca had already been cancelled by the time we got there. It is quite common for workers to strike in Italy, as they have very strong workers' unions for almost every industry. This time they chose to strike on a Friday because it would affect the greatest number of people that way. They are able to pretty much get whatever they want as far as wages, hours, and working conditions go. Since I have been here there have also been strikes at Alitalia, the Italian airline. It looks like I may just get stuck here forever if the transportati
on workers keep it up.There is also an Italian/European notion called "holiday," which I first encountered today. After we found out the train was cancelled, a group of us walked around with Bob a little bit. He was going to buy us all hot chocolate at the place he claims is the best in Florence. He says that you can stick a spoon in their hot chocolate and it will stand up straight because it is so thick. However, when we arrived at the cafe, the metal gates were pulled down over the facade. There was a paper taped to one of the gates, which said that they are "on holiday" from January 19 until February 2. I guess businesses here can do that since they are family run and usually only have a handful of employees. But honestly, closing down business for a two week vacation would be unheard of for most businesses
in America. So I guess this is the negative side of having small, family-run businesses dominate the market. They set the hours, and the hours are going to be at their convenience, not the customers'. I guess it would be alright if you were a shop owner though.Oh, I forgot to mention one thing in my blog yesterday. When we went to Santa Croce for art class yesterday, we were pleasantly surprised by a chocolate market in the piazza. There were rows and rows of chocolate vendors set up beneath white tents. They were selling everything from chocolate liqueur to chocolate fashioned to look like rusted iron tools. Many of the booths had free samples, so that was a decadent little surprise for the day.
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