ACCOMMODATIONS
- "Bed and Breakfast" generally means ONLY "Bed"
- B&Bs need an appointment for check in..it's not your standard 24-hour hotel reception
- sometimes an email reservation isn't really a reservation, it's best to call and confirm if possible
- a "single" room means a room for ONE, not one ROOM
- are there no king size mattresses in italy or are they all two twins pushed together with king sheets over them?! common, no one likes crack.
- sofabeds generally suck
- i missed full size showers where you can stretch your arms out without hitting your elbows on the walls
FOOD & DINING
- food: all i talk about when asked about italy because i basically ate and drank my way through the country. why did we stop in parma? because its the source of parmasean cheese, of course. and procuitto di parma.
- i'm a recent convert to thin-crust pizza. mmm mmm good when razor thin, made to order, quick to cook and piping hot. the pizza in rome was the best!
- ordering and courses are different than the typical americano meal. you have a antipasto, maybe a mixed cheese and procuitto plate or roasted veggie to start. then you have your first, typically a pasta dish, then for your second, typically its a meat or seafood dish, but there are no sides. if you order fried calamari as your second, you get fried calamari...no sauce, no rice pilaf of whatever, just fried calamari. along with your second you may order a salad or additional side followed by coffee and dessert if you choose. and you confuse the waitstaff by not ordering your food in the order that you would like to be served...so don't order the antipasto last if you want it served first.
- i'm all about pistachio gelato. loooooove it.
PEOPLE
- extremely accommodating and cordial...never got the feeling of "snobby locals."
- Without warning or introduction, a random old guy on the Venice water bus just started rattling off (mostly in Italian and hand gestures) some story of a fabled beheading that occurred in front of the palace we were just passing back in 1550.
- market clerks were patient and engaged
- friendly bystanders pointed you in the right direction when lost
- was warned many times about the potential for pick pockets and muggings, but fortunately wasn't targeted.
SITES
- most impressive to me -- age, detail, and scale. even being buddhist, you couldn't help but be awed-inspired by the sheer enormity and intensity some of the churchs like st. peter's basilica in vatican city or feel like san francisco was a baby compared with the history of the roman forum.
- we traveled in October, considered to be the low season, and yet in Rome, Cinque Terra, and Venice especially there were throngs of tourists...I can Not imagine the crowds (and heat) of high season!
TRANSPORTATION, etc.
- Milan train station in huge, under what i assume is renovation construction all over the place, but still impressive.
- We only had one late running train.
- Except for the larger cities in the North (Venice/Milan), we were never asked to show proof of our train/bus ticket after boarding.
- Venice's Rolling Junior (12?-29 years old) Pass paid for itself (4 euro) with the discounted water bus fee and admission granted at various museums, etc.
- it's best to ask a cabbie up front what the fare will be, especially from an airport
- you just gotta ride the gondola in venice...the pricey fare was worth it (60 euro)
RANDOM STUFF
- grocery store clerks sit down while ringing you up
- where the hell do the mosquitos come from?
- its crazy cool that vino is less expensive to drink than cocktails, and even beer
- yes, the bathroom facilities are better than most of southeast asia, but a) you better have good knees for all the squatting you'll do and b) why even waste square footage with a bidet?! here's an idea...ditch the bidet and make the friggin shower bigger than 32" x 32"!
- did the term "water closet" originate from a single room (with no interior walls) with a sink, toilet, bidet, and shower head? just a guess considering several of our bath accommodation "showers" as just described. if you can imagine, water splashes e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e
- still more on bathrooms, most Italian "Bar" and Tabacco shops are open to the public 's use of their facilities and are often nicer than the train station hole-in-the-floor of a toilet. if possible, the best is holding out until going to a museum or a nice restaurant for the most comfortable of bathroom accommodations ;)
- hours of operation...Italians and siesta. it's sort of eerie how it quiets down between 2 and 4pm. most shops and markets close between those hours, and if it's Sunday all bets are off no matter what time of day.
- i really enjoyed the walking tours. they gave each town, which otherwise would have just been a point on the map, some personality! historical details wove a story of battling families and positions of power and gave insight to how and why towns/buildings/streets were built they way they were.
