yesterday, i went out to chianti to visit my butcher friend, where he was hosting an afternoon snack for 300 motorcyclists who were on a tour through the valley. something like that seems to happen every time i go out there. i also got to meet the people who run neal's yard dairy, and i lavished praise upon them for how wonderful their shop is, and how much i love the people who work there. for there is another nice cheese shop, which shall remain unnamed, but is located on the 1500 block of shattuck ave., and is notorious for its crabby employees (or coop members, if you will). they laughed when i said that and said that it was probably just some hippie holdover from the 60s. but weren't hippies nice?

(**edited to add: well, i'll be! i just checked out the daily candy archives to catch up on what i missed while i was gone, and they put dario on their list of stuff to see in italy. ha!)

today, instead, i didn't do much at all. i had a nice bollito sandwich for lunch, and some gelato (melon, strawberry, and lemon). i went to santa maria novella and got some almond soaps and lovely lotion; i walked regrettably close to the ponte vecchio and piazza della signoria (regrettable because it's june and impossible to move through florence); i picked up the photo album i was having hand made by this wonderful place; and S had made me promise to see Troy with her before i knew what it was about. all of those years studying ancient greek and latin caused me to spend most of the movie cringing at its complete and utter inaccuracy, but i have to say, it was nice to look at all of those beautiful people for 2 hours.

i wish i were more interesting, but alas, life here isn's so much about being interesting as it is about just plain being.