What better way to spend a day in Firenze than simply being out on the streets: walking, watching, tasting, listening? There are so many inside diversions here: Uffizi, ristorante, musee, shops, but everything that is elemental about the city is found in the streets.

 I came here with the rhetoric of Euro economic pain ringing in my ears from watching and listening to stateside pundits on CNBC, reading about it on Bloomberg, the usual investor platforms that benefit from creating a stir. What I see here is quite different. Yes, there is change; I've been coming here now each year for the past 7, and there are rotations. Rotations out of certain sectors, certain types of goods, restaurants, and into new avenues of commerce.

 Asian money has replaced American. Period. The Asian presence on the streets is breathtaking, and somewhat wonderful as they exude new hope, the hope that springs from the beginning of a growth curve such as they are experiencing, as opposed to the American presence, tepid, backward looking, trying to see Firenze still through the glory years for them of 30-40 years ago. The confidence Americans once paraded then through the streets, dictated in commerce, is now single handedly orchestrated by Asians, specifically Chinese.

 Firenze is doing fine. American financial pundits are caught in some sort of time warp, focusing on Euro problems while minimizing attention to those at home. 

 It is not to say that there is not pain here, there is. But it is less structurally economic than simply being positioned in markets whose time has passed. Leather. Generic leather is done, finished. The stalls and older small shops are full of it and it is not selling. Restaurants: those that cater to the iconic vision of Italian pasta, served up at traditional trattorie are empty. Next door are sushi places, fusion restaurants,  hip bars, quick grab-a-panini places, and wines by the glass places that are full. The days of charging for a fading reality are fleeting fast.

 I am so heartened to be here, seeing the resiliency that is inherent in human nature. The dichotomy between rich and poor is apparent here, but that is an old story, and one that has and will exist forever. The future is bright, belongs to the young and young thinkers: those who are willing to see the present reality and go along for the ride.