Always Make New Mistakes.....

      A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.
-- George Bernard Shaw

Anytime you take on a new challenge, there is a very steep learning curve for a while.  So many things about this trip were learning moments, and this blog will address some of them.  Some were funny, some could have been tragic, some were just stupid moments that were frustrating, and some were "duh" moments, but I can honestly say that if this was the way I would have to learn for the rest of my life, I would love to do it.

So, I am going to throw some things out in a list.  They are not in chronological order, and there is no particular importance between one or another.  Some of these things will cause people to wonder "what were they thinking", but others may prevent someone from making the same mistake.  I am going to just make some statements, and if someone wants further information about the statements, I will be happy to elaborate.

1.  Don't forget to make a reservation on a train for which you are using a pass in Italy.  Yes, you have the pass, but you need to make a seat reservation on some trains.  This is the reason they say that passes are not always a good idea in Italy, because there is not much of a time or money savings. And you can end up with a large fine if you don't have a sympathetic conductor.  Fortunately, we did.

2.  If you ask someone on the street in Italy for directions, they may or may not know where your destination is, even if they have lived there for years.  They will even sometimes stop other strangers on the street to get for directions for you (this happened twice to us).  The directions will usually involve "sempre dritto (straight ahead)", or a couple of "destre" or "sinistre"  (rights or lefts), and may be the actual opposite of the directions you just got from someone else,  The fact that they have no idea where they are sending you won't stop them from giving you directions on how to get there.  But they are so dang helpful while they are doing it, even if you end up twelve block further from where you wanted to go than when you asked them.

3.  When you pay someone in Italy for a counter service, don't give the money directly to the person, place it on the dish that is there to receive it.  The person will place the change on that same dish, not in your outstretched hand. No matter how long  you have your hand out. I have thought about this, but still don't have a really good expaination why.  Maybe it is easier to see someone count it into the dish than into a hand.  Just how it is done.

4.  "Clam chowder" means something SOOOO different from New England or Manhattan  clam chowder, but that gave me another chance to try something I have never tried. 



Zuppa della posteria
Note translation:  Clam Chowder



Zuppa della posteria
Note reality 

5.  You can't buy something "take-out/take-away" and then sit down at a table outside the restaurant.  If you want to sit at the table, you sit down and you will be waited on.  This was true in Scotland and in Italy.
             
6.  When the train stops, be ready to get off.  And if you get off on the wrong stop, be even faster figuring it out and getting back on the train.  You won't have much time to figure it out.

7. If you are a (Scotch) Whisky (no "e") drinker, don't even try Dailuaine 27 year old whisky.  You will regret it.  Trust me on this one.

8.  Homemade wine, however is easily found in Italy, and really good.  We were there for less than three weeks and had homemade wine three times and sent some home. It was always better than the house wines we had. Oh, you actually have to be in a "home" to have homemade wine, though.  Try to get friendly with some Italians.  Trust me again, here... not that hard.

9.  Haggis is neither bad enough to make fun of,  nor good enough to ever want again.

10.  Plan on pay toilets.  Have an assortment of coins, because if it says €.30, it means €.30, and you have to have exact change.
  
11.  If the nice person coming out of the pay-toilet offers to let you sneak in without paying, don't do it.  There is an automatic total bathroom cleaner that kicks in as soon as you exit and the door closes. There is a reason why there isn't a toilet seat, and why there is a drain in the floor, and it isn't for overflows.   On the up side, they are really clean, and you eventually get used to the cold seat.

12.  The dates and times of train strikes are announced several days to weeks ahead.  Pay attention.  Otherwise you will add the word "soppresso (cancelled)" to your Italian vocabulary.   You don't want to learn this word.

13.  Be really careful which parts of your paper work you throw away. Sometimes one part of a multipart ticket is the ticket, and the other parts are just seat reservations.   Say you have a train trip with two to three train changes, but only one ticket.  You will have 3 seat reservations.  If you use one of the seat tickets and then throw it away, that is alright, but if you  throw the ticket part away (by mistake), the seat ticket won't let you through the electronic gate, so even if you have the seat ticket....you get the idea.  This is one time that being a "foreigner" is a benefit; sometimes you can claim ignorance.  In any case, don't throw anything away until that part of the trip is complete.  The ticket also doesn't work upside down.

14.  On your way to Europe (or probably any other country), don't get upset with any of the security measures, delays, or other travel irritations you may come across. Believe me, coming home is a whole lot more frustrating.  For example, if you are in a duty free shop and you buy some liquids (Lemoncello, perhaps or olive oil in a really cute little bottle), they have no way of really knowing where you are going to be traveling after the purchase.  They will seal your purchase in a plastic bag along with your receipt, and you will think you are good to go.   After all, you are behind the security checks.  This is fine if you are going say from Italy to Switzerland, but if you are going to be traveling BACK to the USA, you will probably lose your purchase.  This is probably only when you leave a secured area and enter another country where you will have to go through security again, but I don't know that I would take the chance.  In Zurich, we did have a designated custome/security check line for US citizens. 

15.  Just after I mentioned to Becky that the drivers in Italy weren't as bad as I thought they would be, we took a cab from the hotel to the train station in Viareggio.  The sterotypical Italian driver is out there, just not so stereotypical after all.

16.  Ok, so we still don't quite have this one figured out, but don't try to have lunch at lunch time, like say from 1230 to 1300.  Even restaurants are closed during the lunch hour, except some of the Japanese or Chinese pizza places.  (Yeah, I know.  Why go to Italy for Bonzai Pizza?  Perhaps because they are the only ones open at "lunch time")Many stores close at 1230 and don't reopen until 1600.  Dinner is hard to find until around 1900, but is served until around 10.

17.  Coffee sold at a "bar" is about €1-2, and you drink it standing up, and usually pretty much taken as a shot, after you have stirred in a couple of teaspoons of sugar to the 30cc of liquid you have, in effect turning it into coffee flavored syrup.  If you want to sit at a table, it goes up about €0.50, but you will get service.

18.  If you do something, or meet someone and it is something or someone unique, take a picture.  Otherwise it will end up on the "Because we are idiots" blog that one of us may eventually write. 

19.  Take a list of names and addresses of everyone you think you even MAY want to send a postcard to, because as some of you know, you didn't get one, and even if we fully intended to send one, it was because we didn't have an address that you didn't get one.  Or we didn't think you actually are interested.  Or we just didn't bother.  Or we were busy doing something much more important.  Pick one.

20.  I really can't think of another one, but I don't like ending a list on an odd number.

Ok, so that is enough for now.  If we get around to the "idiots" blog, there may be some overlap, but not enough that it should matter.  I am sure Becky will have some to add to this, but for now:

Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.
-- Franklin P. Jones

Dee