Something you'd never see in the US

I walk through the heart of Rome twice a week, because my Italian class is just off of Campo de' Fiori, home of the biggest outdoor market in Rome, and central to what is probably the city's biggest tourist area. The walk is actually really fun, mostly because I enjoy the company of the three friends who are taking the class with me, but also because it's good to come down off of our hill now and again to blend into the strange mix of Romans, pilgrims, tourists, and who knows what else.

I'd been to Campo as a tourist prior to the start of my class, so I'd already seen the strange motorcycle outfitted with...machinery?  I hadn't seen its owner, though, until I walked by with my friends the first week of our class. And then, there he was, sitting astride his strange machinery bike, whose machinery was whirring and spinning. I glanced at a a man standing next to him, who was holding a butcher knife, and I suddenly realized - this motorcycle was outfitted with a knife sharpener!

It was so crazy! I mean, this guy sits in the middle of a crowded piazza on a modified motorcycle, and sharpens peoples' knives! How does he do this? Does he ride from piazza to piazza on his bike? Does he have a permit? Do the police even care? Endless questions.

These pictures are actually here courtesy of the lovely Betsy, who was smart and savvy enough to have had her camera on her at the time we saw the man and his bike. ;)

Crazy.