Exhale

Hellohellohello! Just got back from my trip to Switzerland/Italy. No one believes the Italy is probably as hot (or even hotter) than Singapore. 30 degrees and I've got an uneven tan to prove it.

Some things I learnt about Europe.

1. It is VERY expensive.

Found a McDonalds on the 2nd day of the trip. Incidently, the McDonald outlets in Italy probably have the best designed interiors. Its black and gold with lots of plush cushions and dim lighting. Yum.
But! A burger meal there cost about S$12. That's like, double the price of Singapore outlets! And the burger was smaller and had more lettuce than beef >.< And they seem really into salads. I've never seen such a wide variety of salads in the Sg McD's.

2. Its REALLY REALLY expensive!

3. They think all Asians are Japanese.

Its really quite cute though. In the small streetside cafes, the waiters literally line the streets and try to get tourists to go in. And their menus are like in 20 different languages especially in the more touristy places like Florence etc.

Waiter: Moshi moshi! You come here? There's Japanese menu! *grabs a menu*
Me: Ok. Thanks. But -
Waiter: Arigato! Good Japanese food here. *sheperds us in*
Ian: We're not Japanese though.
Waiter: *reads off menu* Terriyaki chicken...Terriyaki pork...
Dad: Its ok. Can we have the normal menu?
Waiter: *rattles on*...and there's noodles...and...
Dad: Sorry can we have the English menu?
Waiter: *clueless* You don't want Japanese food?
Dad: We're not Japanese.
Waiter: *pauses. Then it dawns on him* Oh! I know! *slaps hands together* You from China no?

4. Toilets aren't free and in some places they're dead serious about this.

To the point where this woman actually got up and blocked the exit of the toilet when she realized people were just walking by her and not dropping coins into the bowl! Then she started jabbering angrily in Italian and we had to appease her by giving her 2 euros.
Earlier on people'd been just walking out without paying and pretending to be intensely interested in everything else around them when they passed by her counter. Some of the women in our tour group felt bad after a while and asked their husbands if they ought to pay. Whereupon their husbands remained strangely silent and again became intensely interested in everything else around them.

5. I saw my first Gypsies!

Begging outside the Vatican. My brother told me a supposedly very common gypsy trick:

Ian: *whispering* They have a fake arm which they drape a shawl over and they use it to carry a baby. With their other real arm they hold it out for you to give money. But while you're distracted, the other hidden real arm picks your pocket! So watch 0ut for people with babies!

And for the whole trip whenever he saw young mothers with babies - whether holding them or wheeling them in a stroller - he'd hiss 'Gypsy!' and give them an evil eye. Strange.

posted by Jeanne @ 1:20 AM