Who remembers the glorious days when we were all kids and school was cancelled (YES!) sometimes for weeks on end thanks to the snow! I remember some particularly bad storms in my childhood when I was living in Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho which we celebrated by jumping off (parked) buses into the mountainous snow mounds. My brother and I used to get so bundled up we couldn’t walk, then spend hours in the yard without even thinking about the temperatures. Ah, those were the days!
I got to take a step back into time yesterday as Florence was blanketed with the most beautiful covering of fluffly, white snow! It snowed for eight hours yesterday in Florence and it was without mercy for the unprepared drivers and shoppers. I left my house around 11:30 in the morning to meet a friend for lunch and there were just a few flakes making a desperate flurry around my head. When I exited my Diner date around 1pm there was already about one inch of snow piled up on the railings of the outside seating area. By the time I made it to my office to drop some photos, another inch had accumulated on the hood of my jacket. The little boy I babysit/teach couldn’t get over it and kept telling me about all the exciting things he was going to get to do once I left and he went to his country home. Sadly, I’m not sure they made it for the night considering the entire city basically shut down.
Lorenzo works in Scandicci, which on a normal day is about a 15-20 minute drive to our house from his actual office. I talked to him on Skype around 5pm to find that he’d been attempting to text me all day and was just leaving work. He arrived home just before 9:30pm. He told me all about the adventures along the way and how peculiar it was that even though cars were parked every place and every-which-way the people walking around were fully suited for the slopes…
I tried to check the traffic or any weather forecasts on TV just to feel a little involved as I sat bundled up along at home. My facebook homepage was being constantly flagged with status updates about the snow ruining my students attempts to get home to the States this weekend, and I was curious if any other part of Europe seemed to be in such a debacle as we were. I found absolutely nothing on the TV. The news was reporting on the riots in Rome that happened a few days back (a worthy story, so I can’t really say much) and the other stations were playing the same old Italian movies and translated sitcoms. There was no mention of the utter mayhem that seemed to be about Florence.
I enjoyed the beautiful city covered in the clean snow and took the opportunity to snap as many photos as I could until my camera died. Walking home was a challenge but all it took was slowing down to prevent my slippery soles from flying out from under me. In all honesty, it made me appreciate the sites and the reactions of the happy Florentines and foreigners even more! Now that it’s Saturday the quickly melting snow can’t defer the holiday shoppers and all the city was out and about enjoying the sunshine and photo opportunities, paying no mind to the buses parked in the middle of the streets.
Have any of you ever had a snow experience abroad, good or bad? How did the city or the people react?
