bwagy, the blog of Ben Young

In line for the Medici art gallery, Capelle Medicee, Florence, Italy, there was a public tap, and I thought surely you can’t drink from that. But in the heat, a couple of people went up, filled their water bottles,  and it turns out, sure enough they do. In fact they have to be drinking level quality.

Later that day, I discovered that in the Piazza della Signoria, not only is there more water on tap. But sparkling water! Now that is civilization. 

The public water service is provided by the local water provider in Florence, Publicaqua. Whom are held to quality standards set by legislation. 

There are 61 parameters, divided into the following categories: microbiology, chemical, indicators and accessories; the quality of the water distributed by Publiacqua continuously and fully satisfies the requirements set forth by the law.

What a wonderful public good, and in the heat wave of this summer, a necessity. I wish more cities did this.

Colin recently put together, the Foreign Morning Run. Something I am a big fan of.

When traveling, I like to plan a run whilst I’m there, it does help with jet lag – but it’s also nice to just get out, to see where you’re staying, before everyones up. You come back feeling great and can start your day.

We spent two months over summer traveling and a few of the highlighted runs were, running through nature in Tuscany, up over a small hill in the Peak District, quiet Milan streets, getting lost in the Englisch Garden in Munich, the sweltering heat of Florence and taking a wrong turn in Provence.

No photos unfortunately, I should really start taking my phone.

You can run where you’re going to visit that day to scope it out, for a view of the city, or round a park. Often I see things that we may go and do later, or find that cafe near where we’re staying, or just get a feel for a place. Seeing the square before everything open. Oh and it has the added benefit of keeping you fit, coming back ready to start the day.

Getting lost is particularly good because then you need to find your way back. This is how I ended up doing a couple of circuits of the Englisch Garden in Munich. One run in Cologne, I’d got some local tips and they estimated the run at 5km, as I got half way through it, it was more like 12km. But still enjoyable.

I’ve started feeling like you can’t get to know a place till you’ve done a run, to see it, as it is. Not through the sheen of tourist sites, language barriers, a plan set for the day.

Of course they don’t always happen, you oversleep, the kids are awake early or you just run out of time. That’s all good too, there’s always next time.