Top Ten Things I Learned in Italy and France

For the past few weeks, I’ve detailed some of the dramatic 2012 changes in Rome, Siena, and Amalfi since my book research trip back in 2005. Then last week, I listed my “Top Ten Things That Never Change in Italy and France.”

So today, I’m venturing on the other side of the adventure scale with my “Top Ten Things I Learned in Italy and France.” (Last week, I promised the Top Ten Things That Surprised Me in Italy and France. But frankly, some of these items don’t really surprise me…)

10. Italians still don’t believe in ice. Whenever I ordered water or a coke, I always asked for ice. “Ice? You want ice with that? Really?” Yes! This usually meant you received two or three pathetic cubes. And this also meant that you had to drink your beverage quickly – because those cubes melt pretty fast in the oppressive summer heat.

9. Internet cafes are still rare. So when you need one, and you see one, you better drop what you’re doing and use it. They were rarely an inconvenience. In fact, they were almost always air-conditioned and served cool refreshments (without ice). So often I’d stretch my one hour of business into two hours, just to escape the sun.

8. Despite the shame some Italian waiters might bestow on you for eating alone at their restaurant, there is a positive sign to your lonely table of shame…the omnipresent flower sellers leave you alone. If you dine with a woman, you will be asked repeatedly to buy her a sad little rose. After traveling and eating at restaurants on five different continents now, I have yet to see a man buy one.

7. The Paris Metro is the busiest subway system in Europe. And just like the Tube in London, the Paris Metro is easy to use and efficient and gets you just about anywhere in the city that you need to go. But that Metro seriously needs a good scrub! It is dirty! I suggest a 24-hour shutdown just so 1000 people can pick up the trash, empty out the overflowing garbage cans, sweep it, scrape it, mop it, paint it, Mr. Clean it. It stinks, Paris. Clean up your Metro. It’s hard to be the City of Love when your subway stinks.

6. Bottles of red Italian wine are back to being corked in a big way. In previous years, I had no trouble buying bottles of wine with a cap on it. But this summer I couldn’t find any. And yes, it’s a problem when you don’t have a corkscrew. I used to always pack a corkscrew in my carry-on bag, but increased security at airports means that they always take it away. So now I don’t bother packing one. So this summer, every time I bought a bottle of red goodness, I had to ask the frail old shopkeeper to open it for me and re-cork it. Now they always did it without complaint, but it always felt a little…unseemly.

5. A smiling waiter is not part of the customer service experience. As I mentioned last week, I found the French waiters more polite than their Italian counterparts – simply because they still treated me well if I dined alone. But it’s still next-to-impossible to get any waiter to smile. I got close… once. A man in Paris almost smiled when he brushed my wine glass and almost spilled my Merlot onto my pants. I almost wished that he did.

4. This might not surprise parents, but is it impossible for a young child to play quietly on a train? I love train travel. But this summer, I had no luck in finding a quiet section of the train. Not in first class. And definitely not in second class. Young Italian, French, and English kids talk constantly while they’re playing, providing their own colour commentary while badgering their parents for constant validation. And most parents freely give it. Unlike my mother and father, not one parent said, “Could you stop bothering me and just play quietly?” Maybe my parents were mean.

3. Italians have no problem arguing loudly with each other in public. And everything is worth fighting for. It can ignite quickly and it can escalate in leaps and bounds. But it never leads to fisticuffs. When my Rome train to Genoa was delayed for an hour, dozens of Italians huddled on the platform and screamed at the rail officials. And the unapologetic rail officials just screamed right back. Despite the incredible inconvenience it was causing, it was also incredibly entertaining. Good thing I don’t understand Italian swear words.

2. The annual Palio festival is much more important to the people of Siena than winning the Euro Cup football (soccer) tournament. I mean, I knew how important the festival was to Siena. I mean, I wrote about it in great detail for several chapters in Bullets, Butterflies, and Italy. But when Italy faced Spain in the Euro Cup final, I was still amazed at the city’s lack of interest. (Meanwhile, I watched the semi-final in Rome with 50,000 happy fans in the Piazza del Popolo.) However in Siena, the annual Palio potluck dinners continued unabated. There was no time adjustment for the soccer game. They simply enjoyed their dinner celebration just like they did last year and the year before that and the year before that… Meanwhile, I did watch the final game inside a small Sienese bar. But the bar was filled with tourists and disinterested students from the international University of Siena…and one angry Sienese bartender. Angry over the 4-0 loss to Spain? Or angry over missing his Palio dinner?

1. The number one thing that I learned in Italy and France is a purely selfish one. It was the first time that I traveled internationally since publishing my book, so it was quite gratifying to travel (and eat and drink) with my intended audience. Whenever anyone asked me what I was doing in Italy, and I told them about my book, they automatically asked for my business card, or wrote my name down. Back home, I usually receive blank stares. “You wrote a book? Oh.” Back home, it’s more fun to talk about sports or TV shows or the weather. However, my new traveling friends wanted to talk about my book! One night in Siena, after the Palio, a new friend from South Africa suddenly demanded, “Look, where can I get this book right now? I don’t want to wait until I get back home and order it online. That’s still a month away.” Good thing I had an extra copy in my bag.

And it was a good thing to be back in Italy again. Not only to reminisce and see my favourite things. But to finally meet my audience.
 

For more lists of things I learned while traveling, check out:

https://www.johnmeyerbooks.com/top-ten-never-change/

https://www.johnmeyerbooks.com/basic-french-for-beginners/

https://www.johnmeyerbooks.com/resolve-your-resolutions/