Italian observations: hotels
Some observations about Italian hotels:
- hotel rooms do not include clocks or Kleenex.
- windows have shutters, blinds, and can be opened but do not have screens; this was particularly weird in Venice, where mosquitoes are a problem.
- Europeans like firm beds; that's firm as in sack of bricks firm. Think of the firmest bed you've laid on in America -- the Europeans probably think it's a soft or medium bed. Our bed in Venice was so bad we were thinking of sleeping on the floor...
- the light switches are quite weird; instead of the our three-way switches, they have pairs of toggle switches.
- I've never seen so many ways to trigger to flushing a toilet; levers, buttons, rocking switches, you name it, we've probably seen it. Some toilets even have "start flushing" and "stop flushing" buttons. One common design features a large triangle and a small triangle; after some experimentation, I'm pretty sure the large triangle flushes longer than the small triangle.
- bathrooms are, of necessity, very small. This leads to very interesting designs. One bathroom had a shower in front of the toilet with no walls or separation; when used it got everything wet and one had to use a towel to wipe off the toilet, et cetera. Another had a shower curtain, but a fair amount of the rest of the bathroom still got wet.
- we didn't run into any squat-only toilets or the like; it is true that the European train toilets empty directly onto the tracks. (I'm told they have special trains that come along periodically to clean things up.)
- the hotel breakfasts varied; in Venice, we got bread rolls, butter, and jam. In Rome, we got a buffet including hard-boiled eggs, croissants, pastries, cereal, ham, fresh mozzarella, and a bunch of other stuff I don't remember. I think they were trying to make tourists of several nationalities happy.
- the cinque terre hotel had prepackaged (i.e., in plastic bags) filled croissants; I tried part of one and I can't believe anyone eats them they are so bad -- don't even really qualify as food in my book.
- hotel rooms do not include clocks or Kleenex.
- windows have shutters, blinds, and can be opened but do not have screens; this was particularly weird in Venice, where mosquitoes are a problem.
- Europeans like firm beds; that's firm as in sack of bricks firm. Think of the firmest bed you've laid on in America -- the Europeans probably think it's a soft or medium bed. Our bed in Venice was so bad we were thinking of sleeping on the floor...
- the light switches are quite weird; instead of the our three-way switches, they have pairs of toggle switches.
- I've never seen so many ways to trigger to flushing a toilet; levers, buttons, rocking switches, you name it, we've probably seen it. Some toilets even have "start flushing" and "stop flushing" buttons. One common design features a large triangle and a small triangle; after some experimentation, I'm pretty sure the large triangle flushes longer than the small triangle.
- bathrooms are, of necessity, very small. This leads to very interesting designs. One bathroom had a shower in front of the toilet with no walls or separation; when used it got everything wet and one had to use a towel to wipe off the toilet, et cetera. Another had a shower curtain, but a fair amount of the rest of the bathroom still got wet.
- we didn't run into any squat-only toilets or the like; it is true that the European train toilets empty directly onto the tracks. (I'm told they have special trains that come along periodically to clean things up.)
- the hotel breakfasts varied; in Venice, we got bread rolls, butter, and jam. In Rome, we got a buffet including hard-boiled eggs, croissants, pastries, cereal, ham, fresh mozzarella, and a bunch of other stuff I don't remember. I think they were trying to make tourists of several nationalities happy.
- the cinque terre hotel had prepackaged (i.e., in plastic bags) filled croissants; I tried part of one and I can't believe anyone eats them they are so bad -- don't even really qualify as food in my book.