Friday: conference duties

So, yesterday was the day of my conference.  As I missed the entire day yesterday, I felt like I had to stay for all the talks today, particularly as other people were leaving and the poor saps who had to present in the afternoon were obviously getting nervous that they'd be the only ones left.  My talk would've been first today, but yesterday spilled over, and we got later and later, which added to the nervousness of the late presenters.  But fortunately a string of people failed to show up to give their talks, so it all wrapped up on time.  My talk was a bit of a disaster as I thought that, because my paper was the required length for the website that it would be the right length to read in 20 minutes, when in fact it was about twice as long.  So I had to cut out all the interesting parts.  I don't think anyone noticed.  But the people were nice and the food was excellent (and we had our own barista for the coffee break).  (Incidentally, I discovered that it is INCREDIBLY GAUCHE to order a cappuccino after 10 AM.  Supposedly you will get mocked MERCILESSLY.  Apparently there's a good reason: a cappuccino, although it looks low-caffeine is apparently actually the highest caffeine of the coffee drinks (something to do with temperatures) and thus only suitable to get you going in the mornings.  The other coffees are just "refreshers" and won't cause you to crash afterwards).  Afterwards the few that remained went for dinner and then I walked back to my hotel, which turned out to be nearly 3 miles, and it is very sultry in Florence right now, so my dogs were barking when I got back.  But very few photos were taken that day.  Here are the few that merit any attention:

 A taxi ride to get there...

 It's the yellow building.  Dunno what that statue is of, but I like it.

 Nice stairs, but our conference is on the ground floor.

 The bathroom was interesting.  One toilet but two sinks.

 Where we sat to present our talks.

 Three of the attendees.  That's James on the right - an Irish psychology/philosophy student arguing that twins have a perfectly healthy sense of self, thank you.

 Famous buildings in Florence.  Apparently the facade is 19th century.  It is a bit garish if I'm honest. [NOTE:  This is the Florence Baptistery, which dates back to the mid-11th century.]

 Finishing off the night with some ice cream.  Italians know ice cream.  Gave me something to walk off.