Today was a travel day and I had an enjoyable and uneventful train ride to Florence. I found my hotel easily enough (more on that in a future posting – this is a great hotel!) and after getting settled, took a walk to find lunch. Sightseeing in earnest will start tomorrow, so in the meantime, I thought I would amuse you fellow travelers with an accounting of some cultural peculiarities.
-Tabacchi shops are the convenience stores of Italy. As the name suggests, they sell tobacco products, but they also sell all manner of essentials including bus tickets, phone cards, lotto tickets, candy, lighters and postage stamps. You must buy your bus ticket at a Tabacchi – you can't buy one on the bus or pay cash.
-When paying for something at a tabacchi, gelato store or cafe, don't hand the money directly to the seller. Instead, place your money in the small tray or dish that sits adjacent to the cash register. The seller will pick it up from there and place your change in the same dish.
-Like Americans, Italians stop off for coffee on the way to work. However, you don't see anybody rushing around the streets holding paper Starbucks cups. Instead, Italians stop in at a cafe and stand at the counter where they quickly down an espresso or cappuccino (I'm not sure, but I think cappuccino, with all the milk, is only for us wimps). The price for your coffee drink is higher if you wish to sit and relax while drinking it. A standing cappuccino may cost 2.50 euro whereas a sitting one may cost 5-6.00 euro. Ask for your coffee 'to go' and you will receive an incredulous look.
-We Americans are used to – and expect - immediate attention from store clerks and other service providers. An Italian proprietor, however, will get to you in his own sweet time, and this often means he will finish up his phone conversation or magazine page before acknowledging you. While this may seem insulting at first, it is nothing personal and only indicates that everyone's time is equally valuable. Your best bet is to wait patiently until the person is ready to serve you; do this and you will be rewarded with courtesy, respect and efficiency.
-Televisions in Italy, and elsewhere in Europe, don't just turn off and on. They also have some sort of 'sleep mode' in which the set is powered on but the screen is dark. Activating a channel will bring it back to life. For some reason (perhaps user error), the TV always comes on back at channel one and you have to re-tune to whatever channel you wish to see.
-European bathrooms have no place to put or hang anything! There are generally no hooks or shelf space, and they mainly have pedestal type sinks with little room for more than a toothbrush. Likewise, there are no American style towel bars, although they all have a towel warmer. I don't use the warming feature since I'm here in summer months, and the design of these things makes it difficult to get your towel situated on it. Bathrooms also have bidets as standard equipment. My hotel bathroom here in Florence is the first I've seen without one, but there is a shower nozzle installed right next to the toilette as a substitute.
-When you check into a hotel, you must hand over your passport. Post 9/11, hotels and other businesses are required to keep careful records of visitors. Still, it is unnerving at some hotels because they keep your passport for 20 minutes or so while they do whatever with it. I also had to show my passport to be issued a user card at an internet cafe (!) and to purchase a cell phone sim card.
-There seems to be an inordinate number of underwear shops, and they are eye-catching on account of the rotating mannequins that display all angles of the underwear being sold. Thus, the prospective purchaser can imagine how the underwear might look on her from the back, although the mannequins reflect Italian fannies that are much trimmer than their American counterparts. Many storefront mannequins also provide a startling image of how one might look wearing the proffered clothes in cold weather without a bra.
-It's hard to imagine, I know, but Europeans are more addicted to cell phones than Americans are. Italians on their way to work rush down the streets with cellphones to their ears, despite the noisy traffic from scooters and buses. While we answer the phone with 'hello,' Italians answer by saying 'pronto.' Many people are also smoking – smoking seems to be more common and acceptable here than currently in the US (or maybe just California). Maybe that's why nobody gets coffee to go – between the phone and the cigarettes, there is no more carrying capacity.
Click here for photos depicting some of the above and more!
Interesting photos!!! And I forgot to say on the previous blog that the walking tour sounds great! I love it when someone ~ even a digital someone ~ points out interesting stuff that I would have otherwise missed.
ReplyDeleteInteresting cultural differences, too... I think store clerks in the US are offended when someone puts the money on the counter, rather than handing it to them.