Saturday, September 23, 2017

Carspotting in Italy

A friend just came back from Italy and shared the following photos and insight (at the end):














  • Pisa is a waste of time. 
  • The hill towns are amazing. We stayed in Orvieto and visited Civita Bagnaregio. Both awe inspiring. 
  • Pedestrians do not have the right of way. 
  • Italian drivers take lane markings very casually. 
  • Cars are tiny so they can drive down small alley ways that you don't think should really be streets. 
  • If you get just a little bit outside the tourist areas you are more likely to encounter people who speak no English. 
  • Trains work pretty well, buses are ok. We almost got stranded by a bus strike though. 
  • There's a 50/50 chance that anyone is going to check your train ticket. There seems to be a zero percent chance that your bus ticket will be checked. 
  • Sienna is pretty awesome. 
  • The train station with the name that's the most fun to say is Firenze Santa Maria Novella. 
  • Italians basically don't believe in washcloths. 
  • Do not use the small towels hanging above the bidet as washcloths. They are for your butt. 
  • Children spend a lot of time trying to kick pigeons. 
  • Restaurants do not server olive oil and vinegar with bread. 
  • The bread really isn't that good. The Italians could learn a thing or two from the French on appreciating good bread. 
  • Some words don't have an exact translation but are more of a general use like allora and prego. 
  • Many public restrooms don't have toilet seats. 
  • Wiener dogs are very popular. 
  • I met a lot of cats that seem to be just hanging out living their life in amazing settings. The cats (like the cars) are pretty small. 
  • Capri is beautiful but a total tourist trap. 
  • We had a nice kosher meal in the historically Jewish district with some fried Jerusalem artichokes. 
  • Romans will go out of their way to tell you that they're Roman. They consider that additive to being Italian. 
  • We had a tour guide that spoke Italian, English, Spanish, French, a little bit of German and could speak passably in Japanese.

1 comment:

  1. I wasn't impressed with Capri.

    I did, however, love Anacapri.

    ReplyDelete