Began snowing early this AM and turned to a very unrelenting storm about 7, very heavy and wet snow. Traffic was rather chaotic in our apartment complex, probably indicative of everywhere else, those few folks who had chains and could get them on were fairly successful in getting out but it seemed the majority stayed in. We left at 8:15 to catch the 8:23 bus, and found several locals waiting as well. Bit by bit the others drifted away from the stop as no bus showed up. We waited until about ten till 9 and then headed back home and checked with our landlord to see what was happening in town. (We could tell from our apartment window that there was very little traffic moving on at least one of the main roads around Siena.)
Alva, our superintendent, said that nothing was running so we decided this would be a snow day – in Italy of all places. About 10:30 we got restless and decided we would try to walk down a shortcut we thought we had seen the day before from the bus. Sure enough we found it and it got us down the hill and onto a main thoroughfare but the snow was really coming down, and to get to the city would have meant walking in the street with the trucks and the snowplows so back home we went. On the way we saw our bus and then decided to try and catch it the next time around which we did. (The first time I’ve ever seen city buses with chains.)
We got to school and found that only three instructors had showed up but one of them was Egina our instructor and we had a great last hour of work. After class we stopped at a local Osteria for soup and this is one place we can certainly recommend. The food was creative, delicious and very reasonably priced: “Boccon del Prete” (Via S. Pietro, 17, ph & fax: 0577-280388). Since this is near school we will certainly be returning for lunch occasionally.
We then headed back to get the bus home, returning to our apartment about 5. While we were doing homework (that’s right kids, homework, “comptiti”) Roberto called to ask if our boxes had arrived (they have my tripod and sound equipment). We have two interviews scheduled for Saturday, one in Prato and I believe one in Florence, the second being an interview with an organic farmer whom we will join afterwards for a trip to watch another organic farmer give him a lesson in how to prepare sausage (“salsicce”) in the old style and will film that as well.
After I got off the phone with Roberto I called FedEx to check the status of our boxes and was informed they should be delivered tomorrow. We’ll see,
Alva, our superintendent, said that nothing was running so we decided this would be a snow day – in Italy of all places. About 10:30 we got restless and decided we would try to walk down a shortcut we thought we had seen the day before from the bus. Sure enough we found it and it got us down the hill and onto a main thoroughfare but the snow was really coming down, and to get to the city would have meant walking in the street with the trucks and the snowplows so back home we went. On the way we saw our bus and then decided to try and catch it the next time around which we did. (The first time I’ve ever seen city buses with chains.)
We got to school and found that only three instructors had showed up but one of them was Egina our instructor and we had a great last hour of work. After class we stopped at a local Osteria for soup and this is one place we can certainly recommend. The food was creative, delicious and very reasonably priced: “Boccon del Prete” (Via S. Pietro, 17, ph & fax: 0577-280388). Since this is near school we will certainly be returning for lunch occasionally.
We then headed back to get the bus home, returning to our apartment about 5. While we were doing homework (that’s right kids, homework, “comptiti”) Roberto called to ask if our boxes had arrived (they have my tripod and sound equipment). We have two interviews scheduled for Saturday, one in Prato and I believe one in Florence, the second being an interview with an organic farmer whom we will join afterwards for a trip to watch another organic farmer give him a lesson in how to prepare sausage (“salsicce”) in the old style and will film that as well.
After I got off the phone with Roberto I called FedEx to check the status of our boxes and was informed they should be delivered tomorrow. We’ll see,
Comments
Joe Woll was his name and he was a bombadier on the plane named
Emperor Jones.
The plane had bombed the oil fields and was returning when it got hit with flack and attacked by German fighter planes. Some of the crew were killed right away, some bailed out and Joe was ready to bail out when it blew up.
There is a book called THE IRWIN NINE: written about some of the crew. Very interesting.