Italian Shoes, Italian Bathrooms, Italian Men

So I’m not one of those that has to own a hundred pairs of shoes. I have a few favorites, and a few for special occasions only – but I don’t feel the need to own many styles and colors…. especially living in Hawaii since all we ever wear is “slippahs” and we very rarely get dressed up to go out. But then I came to Italy – aka shoe heaven! Shoe stores in Italy are more prevalent than Starbucks in the states or ABC stores in Waikiki. And the shoes are ridiculous – especially the Italian leather styles. Wow… I bought my first pair of Italian shoes the other day - - I HAD to buy them though, because we’re going to the opera and I couldn’t very well wear my slippahs or my Sauconys, now could I? But now I’m hooked… hope I can make extra room in my suitcase cuz I may be forced to buy another pair or two before we leave…

Thank you, Italy, for the bidet in our bathroom. I really appreciate the fact that you want me to have a clean ass. But I find it ironic that with all the fabulous bathroom fixtures I’ve seen here, Italians don’t seem to use them. The best example of this was a few days ago when Kristin and I took the metro (subway) on our way to the Vatican. It was rush hour so it was literally wall to wall people, standing room only – and Kristin got lucky enough to enjoy the armpit of a young Italian man. He would have been pretty hot – if it weren’t for the extremely disgusting odor emanating from his pits into Kristin’s nose. I had to laugh (at her expense), but I did feel bad for her. So thanks Italy, for providing me with so many nice fixtures in the bathroom… now can you please encourage your locals to use them?!

For months before I left for Italy, anytime I told anyone where I was going, I got the same warning: “watch out for those Italian men!” Rome was pretty uneventful - - no problems at all. Seemed like no one ever even noticed us (except for that one waiter that called Kristin “my love”), which was fine with us. Florence is a different story. Men here are more aggressive and definitely don’t hide the fact that they’re looking. The best so far was yesterday when we were walking down the middle of a tiny street past a café, while licking on our gelato cones. A waiter saw us licking around the edges of the cones (he was working in the crowded café) and called out to us, “Sweeties, how is your ice cream?” – I had a mouthful of gelato, so I just smiled and gave him the thumbs up. He replied in his thick Italian accent, “I wish I was your ice cream!” I had to laugh! Best pickup line I’ve heard in a long time… Now if only that guy would take a shower....

By the way, I just bought a villa in the Tuscan hills…

:) jen