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A little Italian insight. Also found on the Calgary Herald Q website.While away on my 3 week jaunt to Italy, where according to Catherine Ford, "the light makes every complexion look like peaches and cream; the men are wonderful, and the scenery and history spectacular", I never thought I would have come back to appreciate things more and less. Courteous drivers: Stepping off the bus at the main train station in Milan, I wasn't told how to cross streets. I just thought that if there was a crosswalk, drivers would act the same as they do here. Well. After 10 minutes of waiting at a street corner for someone, anyone, to stop and let me cross the street, one of the random loitering dudes who I was sure was about to rob me, pushed me into the street. My heart stopped, but so did the car. He said, "just walk- they stop". Rrrrright. This was something that I got very good at. The whole motto was "Be Bold- show no fear". Our tourguide in Rome had taken us to one of Rome's busiest intersections. He had a couple choice words for us "Italians can smell fear- show no hesitance when you walk on the streets or they will keep driving. If you are bold and show no fear- they will stop and let you cross". This was something that stayed very prominent in my mind for fear of being thrown across the roads by some crazed Italian driver. It was true though, the cars do stop as do buses, trucks, motorcycles and bikes. But the minute you show slight hesitation, they will continue on their path and will attempt to run you over. I grew accustomed to this way of being a pedestrian in Italy. But, if I attempted that here, I would be slapped with a very ugly fine after being hit by a speeding car- crosswalk or not. Toilet seats: I had a slight idea that there would be the occasional time that I would have to pay to use the washroom, maybe use a not so nice facility- but those were things I could deal with. What I was not prepared for was the lack of toilet seats; something I take very much for granted here. My advice to you ladies, go to the gym and learn the simple exercise called the "squat". You will be forever grateful for it if you travel abroad- unless you enjoy cold porcelain against your ass. Metro system: You want to get somewhere? No problem- there are probably about 20 buses heading in that direction at any given time. You don't want a bus you say? How about the Metro? Sure you have to walk down quite a few levels of stairs and argue with the ticket validation system, but once you're there, it's not a problem. It will take you anywhere you want to go. Something about Italy, and Rome in particular that I enjoyed the most was the transit system. Although, it is handy to know the basics of Italian in order to talk to the bus driver or train station attendant in order to make his destination your right one. Something that I envy about Rome is that everything you need, everywhere you want to go- is all so close together, not like Calgary. In Calgary I wouldn't dream of walking downtown from my house. And if I did, it would take me hours. In Rome, to walk to wherever you wanted to get to took mere minutes. If the Calgary transit was as efficient as the Metro system in Rome, we would all be much happier commuters and I am sure there would be far less drivers clogging the streets. Good ol' home cooked food: Catherine was right. Everything was spectacular- including the food. When you think of Italian food and you think pasta, pizza and paninis. I figured I would come back from the trip about 50lbs heavier because of all the pasta and pizza I was going to indulge in. I came back quite the opposite actually. The food was fabulous but something I missed was my morning bowl of Life cereal. Something that the Italians aren't so big on is eating breakfast. Some of the Americanized hotels and hostels serve breakfast to accommodate the travelers but even then you're lucky to find toast in some places. Although the food was splendid, my bowl of Life here was a fantastic welcome home meal. === Although it's good to be home so I can sleep in the comfort and privacy of my bed, enjoy toilet seats and not worry about getting my ass pinched by overly aggressive Italian men; the pace of life the Italians enjoy was something that left me longing for much more. Posted by Bella at 8:12 PM# 1 Comments: Yes, there is something about Italy, after you have visited it, that never leaves you. By
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