When in Italy...

Nothing much really happened today. Pretty much routine - woke up - went to the lab - worked until 6pm and went home. I did manage to smash my finger in the door as I was leaving - ouch! So I thought I would talk a little bit about cars in Italy. The roads here are small - most are one way since only one car can fit - barely. Lots of FIAT's can be seen. Sometimes you'll see a fancy car like a ferrari but most are family style. Today while drinking my morning Caffe' I watched the school bus pick up children. This was a full size school bus - it must have come from some secret way that only bus drivers know. I can't imagine it coming down my street - I can almost reach out and touch the other side. Truthfully a VW bug would be the best way to give you an idea. If I put a VW on the street there would be just enough room for a person on one side of it to walk. So I am not sure how the bus made it - but it did. I am sure the kids weren't happy. I saw the kids climb on and do something no Wisconsin student ever does - sat down and put on a seat belt! Shoulder harness and all. Wow - a bus with seat belts - now that is a novel idea. Perhaps they need them in case the driver hits a wall? It is possible, although this one didn't seem too banged up.

At night the moon was cresting over the mountain I can see from my room window. I climbed up onto the window sill (they are really robust here) and just watched the clouds float past. I tried to get some pictures, but point and shoot camera's just don't have the delicate settings I needed. So I sat and watched without the aid of technology. It was really peaceful and I felt so comfortable that I climbed down, grabbed a book and sat back in the window and read by moonlight. It was wonderful.

A little later some of the students saw me and came up to my room - we sat and talked, watched some Italian TV - including an episode of "South Park" and then headed to bed. Tomorrow is Saturday and the students have the day off. I get to work on the network for a while and then the day is mine as well. Shopping here I come!