Wednesday, January 08, 2014

Thoughts from our trip to Italy in Sept 2013

  • Nine times out of ten, if you ordered drinks only, they'd serve some kind of nibble to go with it. From simple ready salted crisps, to olives, to more complicated crosinti. Or a small biscuit with your coffee. I liked this. Made having an afternoon prosecco more of an occasion.
  • There was tactile pacing with a linear pattern to help blind people to get from the road crossing to the next road crossing, or from the metro platform to the exits.
  • I saw two instances of glass fronted cupboards in kitchens that opened up to reveal plate racks above removable trays. Much more space saving than draining boards if you have vertical space to work with,
  • Old sockets used to be three dots in a row.
  • We ate a very tasted breaded seafood stick skewer from the little supermarket in Como. It had been shaped to look like prawns.
  • Our best meal in Como was at the Fontana d'Oro where we had pizzas, and a 0.5L jug of house white that cost 5 Euro. Pizzas started at 5 Euro for a Margherita.
  • Some places served their prosecco in standard wine glasses not flutes.
  • All the trains seemed to be different rolling stock, and you sometimes saw mismatched train sets
  • There was no fabric upholstery on the trains, either vinyl upholstery or hard plastic seats
  • There seemed to be no stigma in lingering for a very long time after you finished your drink in a bar.
  • We stayed in a 'residence' in Milan, which had a kitchette attached to our room. You could rent pots and pans from reception.
  • You can buy Alpine butter in supermarkets
  • In Milan, if you stood at the bar to drink your drink, you didn't have to pay a cover charge.
  • I loved looking at all the buildings, including domestic houses with beautiful frescos
  • We saw few freestanding domestic houses, and lots of appartments.
  • You could buy eggs in 2s and 4s.
  • They doors keys were interesting shapes. One we used had two bits, either side of the shank, making it look like a butterfly!

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