Facciamo un giro?

After a long weekend of studying, also known as watching movies and eating pasta in Mallory Warner's "dorm" room, I made Maried get out of her (Mallory's) house to take a giro with me.  This concept is completely foreign to all Americans.  At any time of day you will find hundreds of Italians roaming the streets taking a "giro" or a walk.  It doesn't matter if it is a weekend, a Tuesday morning or a Thursday night.  There is no predetermined destination, no ending point and most of the time nothing at all get accomplished.  No errands, no shopping, no buisness deals, nothing. But why would you just go walking around the city you ask? Why not?  Most of the time when I would go for a walk at home with my mom our destination would be Starbucks.  A reward for making it the few blocks at a slightly fast pace.  Here in Italy, they just stroll, look in a few store windows, maybe bump into a friend also taking a giro and share a few words or perhaps a cigarette, or sit on a bench or pause in a square to watch the other people taking their giros.  While most of the time people in giro infuriate me while I am running to work or a class late or trying to get to the store before it closes at the ungodly hour  of 8:30pm, I decided that I needed to start participating in this cultural phenomemnon and see how it feels.  

Maried and I started our giro in Piazza Maggiore, the main square in Bologna.  It had been snowing all day long but still there were people everywhere just enjoying the outdoors and walking under the portici and looking at the snow.  Apparently when it snows in Italy it is perfectly acceptable to walk around with an umbrella so we giro-ed back to my apartment to grab one.  After we slowly meandered the streets we found ourselves seated at an outdoor cafe, gaurded from the snow by the portici ,sipping on a spritz and munching on a few chips.  Now I understand exactly why these Italians are so into their giros! Cheers!

Baci xx