Paying to Pee

Bathrooms in Italy are a challenge for Americans. You have to figure out if the flusher is a wall-mount flat panel, a pushbutton, or a foot lever. The flat panel flushers are easy. The push buttons can be really hard. Thank God I'm flexible enough to put my foot 3 feet up on the wall to push the damn thing in--one was way too hard to push with just my hand. Same issue with the sinks. How do you turn on the faucet? Some have sensors, some have knobs, some have foot levers. It's a game to figure out which it is and we spent a lot of time looking around every bathroom we were in. Then the big issue: paying to pee. What a racket! We want to open public pay toilets in the US. Most toilets cost .50 to 1 Euro. It's not cheap! There were a few places without attendants and one where we could squeeze past the turnstile--what a bargain! We were happy on those occasions when we got a free pee.

Italy is a Workout

I spent 2 weeks in Italy. I ate a ton of food. I drank a few tons of wine. And I lost weight! So did my friends. The tour we took was titled "Leisurely Rome and Tuscany", plus we added Sorrento and Venice to our itinerary. I need to check my Webster's because either the tour company or I have the wrong definition of 'leisurely'. We were constantly on the go. Not that I'm complaining--we saw everything! We estimate that we walked 40 - 50 miles over the 2 weeks we were there. Italy is hilly. That's why they have better skiers than golfers. And it's why most of our miles were up and down hills and steps. The climb to the top of St. Peter's Basilica was brutal, but the view was worth it. Plus, it was good for bragging rights in our tour group--no one else attempted it. The subway in Rome is way underground, lots of steps to get to the trains--although I admit we cheated and took a few of the escalators. In Sorrento, it was quicker to take the steps down to the port than to wait for the bus--even if I did whine about the climb back up to town. On the Isle of Capri, the signs for the Blue Grotto were probably meant for cars, not walkers. After what seemed like a marathon, we caved in and flagged down a bus for the last few miles. Even Venice, built over the water, has only arched bridges: up the steps, over the bridge, down the steps, bridge after bridge after bridge. Italy is a great stairclimber workout. And every second of it was awesome!

Italian Customer Service

Italian Customer Service is kind of a funny thing. You just have to laugh and take it with a grain of salt. It started on our Alitalia flight to Rome. A 12-hour ride and not a single flight attendant even cracked a smile. The food cart rammed my friend's seat evey time it came down the aisle, and she never even received a 'sorry', 'excuse me', or any kind of acknowledgment whatsoever. When they needed you to do something, like move aside if you were standing in the aisle, they didn't speak--they just pointed. At a hotel in Rome, we needed to buy bus and metro tickets from the front desk. We knew how many tickets we needed but the desk clerk wouldn't even let us finish a sentence and kept interrupting us when we were trying to explain it all. My favorite 'customer service' experience was at Termini, the train station in Rome. We needed information on the times and prices for the train to Venice. I had already researched this from home, but we wanted to verify it in person. After waiting for half an hour, our number is called and we go to the window. Some Italian woman pushed in front of us and he waited on her first. Only Americans stand in line, Italians push to the front. Once she was done, I told him what we wanted. He presses a few buttons on his computer--and this is my favorite part: turns his computer monitor towards us, then promptly turns around to talk to his friends who were gathered in his cubicle. I had to get his attention in order to get him to scroll so we could see the next page of the train schedule. It was unbelievable and funny at the same time! But, I guess, in their defense, it all worked out: we landed safely at Fiumicino, we successfully hopped the correct bus and subway to get into town, and we made that train to Venice. And for what it's worth, I'd do it all over again!!