All we did today was eat breakfast at the B&B, which consisted of yogurt and cookies, then we took a train to the airport, which is not interesting at all, but we wanted to share our Jerry Springer final thoughts on Italy.
Italy is beautiful, and there are a few places that I would love to see again. A trip to Italy was my dream vacation, and I am so very happy we were able to see this wonderful country.
The scenery is so diverse--ocean, mountains, rolling hills, and wonderful greenery. It really is a beautiful country with wonderful people and I hope to re-visit certain areas someday.As much as I loved our trip and had high expectations for Italy, I must say I was a little let down on a few fronts. First, many parts of it were very dirty. We saw lots of trash--water bottles, cigarette butts, and just general junk lying around on the sidewalks and street. This was especially obvious in Rome, but Milan, Venice, Florence and Sorrento all could have used a good scrubbin'. Graffiti was everywhere. EVERYWHERE!
All over train stations, the trains including the seats, on buildings, highway signs, construction sites, historic monuments, and the worst--churches, even St. Peter's. Basically, if something had a surface, some jerk was going to write or paint on it. Some places tried to control the graffiti, but with the sheer amount of it, you could tell many cities gave up. It was really angering to see that Italians, and even some idiot Americans, Texans even, have such little respect for public property and historic relics.
Another disheartening experience was the beggars. They were everywhere. All colors, all ages, always wanting money. Some of them would carry a baby around and tell you the money was to feed the kid. They would approach everyone they saw. Seriously, you could not go anywhere without getting hit up for money. The only time I was tempted to give money was to an old man on the street with two cute little dogs. It broke my cold, cold heart! I was a little torn, because I know we are supposed to be sympathetic and helpful to the poor, but if I would have given money to every person that asked, I don't know that we would have had the money to feed ourselves on our trip. I'm sure some of those people legitimately needed some help, but I know there were others that were scamming on the sympathies of tourists. One lady in particular was begging in the square of the Duomo in Florence. Every time we walked through the square, there she was, asking us for money. She probably walked that square 20 times in one day. Granted, I don't know her situation, and it's not right for me to judge, and I hope she's able to get away from that life someday soon.
Eva, our innkeeper in Tuscany, told us that Italy has a huge problem with immigrants from all over the world. She said the immigrants usually end up on the street begging or picking pockets. When they get caught, they don't usually have a passport, so the Italian government doesn't know where
to deport these people to, so they let them stay. It's sad, and I hope the Italian government does something about it.
Another drawback of Italy is the traffic. You hear stories about Italian drivers...they're all true. They drive like psychopaths. They pass on curves, pull out in front of people, cut people off, speed, and honk...oh, those Italians love to honk the horn. Then there are the motorcycles and scooters. If I lived in Italy, I would drive a scooter. They're cheap to operate in a country where gas is very expensive, and apparently the rules of the road do not apply to them. They weave in and out of cars, which worked very well for them when there is a lot of traffic. They make up their own lanes and drive in between cars. The photo above is the only one I got of this mess, and it doesn't clearly demonstrate how awful the traffic really was.
We really didn't see much law enforcement on the road while we were there, so it seemed to us that we could go as fast as we wanted, weave in an out of traffic, bump into other cars, pull out in front of others...just as long as we didn't kill anyone.
To avoid driving, Italy has a pretty good public transportation system. It's very dirty as evidenced by me gagging on the train in the photo to the left, but we were able to get everywhere we needed via trains, trams, buses, subways, ferries, and an occasional cab. As long as we were in the water or on some sort of rail, we also didn't have to worry about freaky Italian drivers, either.
Driving aside, the Italian culture was very interesting to us. We really liked most of the people we encountered. They were very friendly and hospitable. The culture, from what we saw, was strongly rooted in family. It was not uncommon for grown kids to still live with their parents, and working for the family business was very common. At our B&B in Rome, the owner's daughters worked for her, and they seemed perfectly happy hanging out at home with their family.
Italians didn't seem to be into their careers as Americans, although I'm told that in Milan, the residents are very career centered and the culture there seemed similar to New York or DC. Italians also don't seem to be in as much of a hurry as Americans. This is really nice, until you’re famished and need a piece of pizza ASAP. They rest for an hour or two every day and they take long vacations. Tell me again why Americans don't do this??
Europeans in general--not necessarily Italians, and not all Italians--are well travelled. They have seen all or most of their continent, but when you can cover three countries in the amount of time it takes to get from Lubbock to Dallas, it isn't hard. A vast amount have spent a significant amount of time in the US, and many other parts of the world. They keep up with US news and they're very interested in our politics. Nearly all of them speak English, possibly Spanish, sometimes German, and maybe French. We felt really ignorant. The Italian language is really pretty. Instead of saying Rome, it's Roma. Instead of Naples, Napoli (NAP-o-LEE).
Italians are very dramatic. They talk with their hands a lot and get really loud in a conversation. Sometimes that pretty language doesn’t sound so pretty. At the B&B in Rome, the owner and her daughter were engaged in what appeared to be a very heated argument. We asked the daughter what was going on, and she said they were discussing how to sell their puppies. They weren't mad, just dramatic about their conversation.
In Europe, many, many people smoke and it's not a big deal. However, all those smokers throw their cigarette butts on the ground, littering the streets. If an area is posted non-smoking, you won't see anyone violating the rule. But if it's not marked, you'll be standing in a blue cloud for a long time. The owners of the B&B in Rome smoked, so all the bedding had a stale smoke-mixed-with-detergent smell. It wasn't horrible, but noticeable.
Mealtime is very important to the Italian culture. It’s not uncommon for dinner to last three hours. We had a typical Italian dinner at our agritourismo and it was four courses. It really was a great way to enjoy a meal, albeit expensive.Many restaurants expect you to order the full four courses, and some people do, but that was a little out of our price range. Appetizers were $5-8 (Euros, not dollars), pasta was $8-12, main dishes were $15-20 and did not include a veggie or potato, and dessert was $5-8. This did not include drinks.
Several times we asked for tap water, but they told us they didn’t have it. Really?? Funny? They want you to order bottled water which was about $2 for a large bottle, which doesn’t sound bad, but you’re looking at U.S. $2.60 for water. Ripoff! The wine was fairly reasonable. We found bottles as cheap as $5, yes for a bottle, but most places had more expensive wines. We always asked for the house wine and were never disappointed.
One of the wonderful things about Italian restaurants is that they always bring you a basket of bread. I fell in love with Italy with that first basket-o-bread in Venice. I think I could survive on bread, wine and cheese, but that’s a conversation for another day. The drawback of the bread is that restaurants charge about $2 per person, but that also covered the tip.
Italians, and in general, Europeans, have coffee after dinner. In fact, they look at you like you have two heads if you don’t order coffee after your meal. Cappuccino is a breakfast drink, and if you ask for coffee, you get espresso. I don’t understand why those Italians couldn’t grasp the fact that I really didn’t care for coffee and didn’t want any.
I focused on a lot of negatives in this post, but the trip was awesome…a dream come true, really. I hope to return there someday, but only to Tuscany and maybe Sorrento. I would really like to see the Italian Alps, called the Dolomites and possibly the Lake Cuomo area…home of the original Bellagio.
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