Stupid Italian Strikes

I understand the value of a strike. You are not being treated fairly and it is the only way to make your company move. But it doesn't work that way in Italy, it is the dumbest thing I have yet to encounter in this European world.

There was a strike for the railroads planned for Sunday. Planned! For one day! They didn't even have demands, they just wanted a freaking day off. Now, the train companies don't mess around with some parts. The express trains running between the major cities (Rome to Florence to Venice, etc) worked just as planned, it was just all the regional trains that get cancelled or delayed by 4+ hours. Oh, and the ticket staff strikes too so you cant get refunds until the next day.

This is just ridiculous. You already get 4x the amount of vacation and time off that Americans do and yet you abuse one of the most extreme labor tactics to take an extra day paid? This just blows my capitalism filled mind.

So Ann and I didn't make it to Pisa since we couldn't get a train and no buses were running there (Sunday). We instead wandered Florence some more, got lunch, figured out our train for tomorrow to Bologna, and toured the Duomo and its bell tower (which is awesome).

We were both pretty tired today and it started to rain (kept it cool) so we decided to make for an easy day of relaxation. Walked around the town, went into some shops and just had us a good ol' time.

I walked a women I saw begging the other day selling her wares. This is another thing that I don't get and I know bothers a lot of Italians. There is a huge illegal immigrant population from India, but many of them are beggars. I can understand coming here to work crappy jobs (which a lot do), but almost every single beggar (possibly all) I have seen in any city has been Indian. The US has illegal immigration issues, no doubt, but I at least don't seem them out there begging for money once they get there.

Tonight Ann and I need to go to her friends to get her bags, we might go out and have decided to go to a nice dinner. Something more than 7 Euros. While in Italy, I should at least treat myself once. I will update you all (all meaning my mom, possibly my only reader, but I love her, she is the best in the world) on the rest of my evening later.

Ciao!