February 18

There are no bike racks in Florence. The Florentines have what I call the Lock, Lock, & Pray method. Lock the front tire. Lock the back tire. Pray no one takes it. And you better pray hard because Florence has a thriving black market of stolen bikes. In fact, it's normal and expected to have your bicycle thieved. My Italian professor told us a funny story about a friend of his that had her bike stolen. A few days after the bike was taken, she saw the bike on a street corner and knew it was hers. She promptly went to a hardware store and bought a saw of sorts to take back what was hers. As she is sawing away at the lock, an angry Italian man comes running towards her asking what she is doing. She says back that she knows that the bike is hers and that he is the real thief. The man agrees, shrugs his shoulders, and goes on with his day.