According to The New York Times, The Uffizi Gallery in Florence may be on its way to a long awaited expansion. It’s been a long and bureaucratic process, and the actual expansion process is expected to take five years and cost about $65 million.

They’ve also proposed a new modern exit for the museum. It’s a controversial proposition, as many fear it will be a grim contrast between old and new architecture.

I’ve been to Florence twice. I was really looking forward to visit the Uffizi the first time I was there. At that time I was quite familiar with the art inside the gallery, but I had no idea about the queues. I spent a week in Florence, but every time I passed the Uffizi there were an endless line of chattering tourists. I’m allergic to queues, and even though I’d love to see the art inside there was no way I was getting into that line. It’s a principle.

But when you’re in Florence there’s so much else to do. I visited almost every other site of note. I went to Il Duomo, Piazza della Republica, Boboli Gardens, Ponte Vecchio and any old obscure church that I came across. I wandered through narrow passages, sat down and listened to someone taking classical piano lessons from some apartment with the window open. I relaxed by the river and looked at rowers passing by as I was writing in my diary. I was able to ignore the crowd, and I fell in love with the city.

The last time I went there the same thing happened, though. I couldn’t bring myself to stand in line to get into the Uffizi. Oh well, maybe the next time, I thought. And now, maybe the next time I will. They expect that twice as many people can enter the gallery after the planned expansion.

On the other hand, it’s been 7 years since the last time I was in Florence, and there are probably twice as many tourists, I expect.

I’m a tourist like everybody else is, of course, but I’ve always been very skeptical about the whole effect that mass tourism has on the world. It seems, to me at least, that this mass invasion corrupts and dilutes history and society in places like Florence. But that’s for another entry.

I’m not an American, and I’m certainly not an expert on US politics. But I know and read a little about it, and I can’t help but wonder why one has attributed a kind of historically unprecedented coldness to Hillary Clinton. Is she really that cold and manipulative compared to any other politician in the US or elsewhere?

Sure, she probably has a strategy that started some 10-12 years ago. And yes, it seems that she has changed her appearance and general impression compared to her own self 20 years ago. But is that unique? Is George Bush, jr. the exact same person he was in 1981? Is he as soft now as he was then? Are any one of us? I’m not, that’s for sure, but then again I was only 10 in 1981.

A lot of things have happened to Hillary Clinton since 1992. And I think a lot of the transformation has been the result of the, in her case, nearly impossible streamlining / mainstreaming process of adapting to the role of the First Lady. During this time she’s been shaped by the media, by the opposition, by her husband and his merits, politically and otherwise. So where is the old Hillary? I think she’s still there, I don’t think she’s compromised her earlier position as much as she’s matured as a politician.

Of course she’s hard, manipulative, even cold. How could she not be? But I don’t think for one second that she’s any worse than the others. A poorer actress than the rest, maybe? But then again, she was flawless during the Lewinsky trials. More ambitious, definitely. That’s why she is the first woman in American history to be a real contender for the Presidency.

Her determination and stamina could prove to be a good thing at this point as well, and I’m thinking not just for the US. Who would you prefer to deal with the war in Iraq when Bush, jr. retires, after all? Bill or Hillary? I know my answer.

Hey, that’s my first lame attempt at analyzing US politics! I do make some sense, don’t I? Even though I’ll admit it would be more fair to leave Bill out of the picture and let you choose between Hillary and the other guy, the Republican, what’s his name? Have they got one yet? But anyway, you don’t want him, do you? Or any other Republican? I’m sure you don’t…

I love The Pages. I’ve been listening to them forever, and spinning one of their records is like coming home, musically speaking. Most of you’ve never heard about them, I guess. They never had much commercial success with either of their three albums released between 1978 and 1981, but to me, these are simply stellar. My friends at college once pegged me as a guy “searching for stuff no one else has ever found before him”. This is the closest I got in music - no one my age had ever heard of this band at the time, I don’t even think their records were released in Norway. That made me happy, of course, but even more so, the music!