1. When you are very tired and rather clumsy it is perfectly possible to lose one of your cute new sandals between the train and the platform. We were trying to catch a train from Leonardo da Vinci Airport and I tripped going up the stairs. The sandal bounced down the stairs and fell on the tracks between the train and the platform. Also, I learned that it's not really possible to retrieve the sandal and so it's better just to say farewell. 2. Mephisto sandals are cheaper in Italy.
3. Americans are really screwed by car companies in the small, efficent car catagory. Seriously, as someone who spent a long time trying to find the perfect balance of function and fuel effciency, I was really annoyed to find out that all the car companies have adorable small cars that we can't get here. INCLUDING, a four-door Yaris that would have been my car of choice had I known it existed. I'm sure many others are already aware of this but for me it was a surprise. Also, Americans are denied the mid-range sized motorcycles. Here there's not really anything between a 250cc and a 750cc. Mickey had a great time pointing out all the styles and makes that were unavailable here. In fact, that might have been his favorite part of the whole vacation.
4. May seems to be off season for the famed gypsy children pickpockets of Italy. Not only were we never bothered but we never saw anyone else bothered. Before we left so many people warned us about being robbed that I started to get worried. I was imagining wading through a never ending sea of pickpockets where ever we went. People even tried to warn against going to Naples at all because of rampant thievery. We had a great time in Naples, we were treated very well and had no problems. Keep in mind that none of this kept me from leaving my wallet in a cab in Treviso........Today it's off the the MVA to replace my license.
5. It's really hard to keep Mickey from walking out of a restaurant when he notices that sliced fried lard is on the menu. For those who don't know, Mickey has some food issues and was very concerned that he would starve in Italy because he wouldn't know what to order. Overall he did very well but sometimes there's a downside to being handed the translated menu.
7. There is a big difference between Vicenza and Venezia. Choosing the wrong one at the train station causes you to miss your flight home. (i would like to point out, that it was the only navigation mistake i made on the whole trip. sadly, it was on the day that actually mattered)
6. Sometimes it's really refreshing to have no idea what the people around you are saying. Yesterday coming home was a little shocking. I preferred not being able to understand inane conversations around me.
We had a great time in Italy and hopefully someday we'll get to go back. For now it's really nice to be home and see the dogs. (and our friends)