SO you want to go to Italy?

Italy sounds glamorous doesn't it? Rome, Florence, Venice...even the cities sound exotic and beautiful, and beautiful they are, to look at. The architechture is amazing, the history is interesting, the people are pretty dang rude, not all of them but a majority that we came in contact with. I guess they get tired of tourists. I also was not expecting it to be so scorching hot and humid. The heat I can take for a few hours but in that country they barely believe in Air Conditioners. It is sweltering in the ristorantes, in the stores, everywhere, even in the lobby of the hotels. The Italian idea of A/C is about 85 degrees.
Okay, so you adapt and walk 8 miles a day sightseeing in soaking wet clothes and you get used to sweating but when you sweat you get thirsty...I would think, "How about a coca cola? WELL...their drinks are smaller cans and smaller bottles and they cost about $5.00 instead of fifty cents or a dollar."
SO plan on bringing extra clothes because you will sweat through most of them and plan on bringing double the money you thought you would need. A McDonalds happy meal is about $12.00.
Once you realize it is going to cost you so much to eat and drink you think you would adapt...well once again they have signs saying,"DO not eat or drink sitting down on the curb or ground , (and there are no becnhes but there are plenty of empty seats of the sidewalk cafes BUT you can't sit there unless you pay to sit down."
Oh yeah, i almost forgot you have to pay to use the toilet---if you can find one anywhere, you might walk 4 miles before you find the toilette and then when you find it it is closed for the night at 8 pm."
There cars and scooters don't have to stop at red lights either, but hey, that's kinda cool. They dodge each other-now i could drive like that, i already do. Italy has zillions of scooters and they don't have any trucks. They have those SMart cars and other cars that are even smaller.
Now here is a funny observation, "So you want some ice in your drink-wine or cola or tea-well, you have to ask for ice and when they bring you some----IT IS ONLY ONE CUBE!" Ha!
Ice is like a precious gem over there, I think.
Another funny observation is about the Pizza. They invented pizza but WE invented those round bladed pizza cutters! When you order a pizza it is not cut up for you and they hand you a dull knife and fork to cut it. They don't have pizza cutters. I think somebody should open a pizza cutter shop and sell all kinds of them-you could make a lot of money.
The Italian rudeness, I encountered in each city, but the best example is this: Gayln and I were searching for a boat taxi place in Venice and having no luck finding it. It was frustrating and we had walked the entire waterfront twice. I told her i would go in the next big nice hotel and ask for directions. I entered the massive hotel Metropole and asked the man behind the front desk, "Can you tell me how to find the Servizio Boat place?"
He made a face and said, "Let me see..Servizio...hmm...oh, Are you a guest of the hotel?"
I replied, "No, not this hotel."
He folded his arms and said, "I do not know."
And that was that. Since we were staying at a different hotel he all of a sudden didn't know where it was. We later found it about a block away from that hotel.
We discovered alot of things and were amazed with the art and the history. We also found out why alot of people from Europe want to live in America. It was the only place where we were ready to come home early. Learning about Europe was good and it made me appreciate the U. S. even more. We have REAL A/C and full size cars and trucks, big cool drinks for less money, we're friendly, and we have PIZZA CUTTERS!