why?

So, lots of Italy makes perfect sense. The siesta is a fanstatic concept, and so what it every store closes from 2-4 every day. That just means you HAVE to take a nap. And the 2 hour lunch? Fantastic! Lunch should be the big meal of the day, and then you get to sleep it off with the siesta. So, in many ways, Italians have got it right.

However... there are a few things that puzzle me about Italy and Italians.

1. change
Apparently, there is some sort of change (ie coinage) shortage in Italy. When presented with a check for say, 13 euro and you try to pay with a 20, you will get a look. Then, they sigh, and ask if you have 3 euro. If not, they sigh again and then laboriously count out your 7 euro change. This is true EVERYWHERE, including the pharmacy, post office, and all manner of businesses. We've been hoarding change for this purpose.

2. "service"
Italians seem to have a different idea of what a job in the service industry requires. Peter and I went looking for a bus ticket to Lucca from Siena during the train sciopero. Seemingly, not a difficult task. We went to the bus station. As the bus systems are independent companies here, there are separate offices depending on where you are heading and which company runs there. We stopped at the first office. "autobus a Lucca?" "no" the woman scoffed. "office over there" So, we went to the second office. "no" the woman scoffed. "over there." "but but but" we protested that we had already been there and they didn't have the tickets. She sighed, and suggested that we try the travel agent office down the street. We wandered around looking for the travel agent. Found the travel agent. No, they were the airline agent, for the bus, we had to go downstairs. Down we go... only to be told by the downstairs agent that they only sold tickets for the train, that the train was on sciopero, and anyway, their computers were down so they couldn't sell us a ticket anyway.

It turns out that the entire time, we were asking the WRONG question. Instead of "bus to Lucca?" we should have asked "what city do I go to to get a bus to Lucca?" Because, there isn't a bus from Siena to Lucca. You have to take the bus to Florence and then change to go to Lucca. All with the same company, of course, and public info we found later online. But since we didn't ask the right question, we didn't get the answer.

So, this is my list in progress, I'm sure to be updated later. The thing that strikes me about this list is the odd similiarity with my experiences in less developed countries (Mexico, Thailand, Cambodia). Sometimes it feels like Italy isn't part of Europe after all.