I can’t believe it went so fast. All the planning and the anticipation and then — boom — our twelve day vacation of a lifetime was over. Before we knew it, Italy became a memory and we were back sleeping in our own beds.

It was a beautiful country with a long violent history, delicious food, great wine, famous art and of course lots of traffic and tourists.

It was a fun place to visit, but there was some things I found different or even strange. First of all, no matter how fancy the hotels were they didn’t have wash cloths or shower curtains in the bathrooms. Each tub was very long and rounded at the bottom which made them slightly dangerous. On the top where a curtain normally would hang a mounted glass panel covered a little over a third of the area by the shower head to the tub. So when my husband showered and I was brushing my teeth at the vanity, I would get another shower. As for the washcloths, I was told by our tour guide and the clerks at the front desk of every hotel we stayed in that they don’t put washcloths in hotel rooms in Italy.

Our rooms did have a regular toilet and a bidet that we never used because neither of us knew how to. Most of the public bathrooms and ones at the basilicas required a half of an euro to use. All of the restrooms except for a very few had toilets without a ring to sit on. So a person had to squat and balance on your knees while you did your business. I often thought about little old ladies with arthritic knees attempting to go to the bathroom and decided I didn’t have anything to complain about.

Some of the shrines to the saints and popes in the basilicas had the actual pieces of the their bodies (lips, teeth, skin, heart …)  preserved in gold embellished glass decanters. Some of their bodies were mummified and displayed in glass coffins. So weird!

There was so many places to eat and every meal we ate at a ristorante was tasty and reasonably priced. Dinners were concluded with a complimentary shot of limoncello, which was very delicious. One thing I did notice was that most of the servers were men. When I asked someone they told me that being a server was a prestigious job in Italy. It made me wonder what’s going on in that country with women’s rights. I think I figured it out when we stood across the street in Rome and observed the senate enjoying a break. I was amazed to see that all of the senators were men except for one.

I guess we really need to appreciate our own country and the rights we have here. Like Dorothy said in the Wizard of Oz, “There’s no place like home.” 🇺🇸🇮🇪

Ciao for now,

Donna

If you would like to be notified in an email about the release dates of my books go to:  https://donnalovitz.com/contact/

These are my books:

The Keys to Paradise (A Tropical Romance) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1734084243

Only a Heartbeat Away (A Modern History Romance) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1734084235

Revenge in a Heartbeat (A Modern History Romance) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1734084227

Heartbeat of Desire (A Modern History Romance) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1734084219

Ryley (A Christmas Romance) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1734084200

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