Initial Impressions of Italy

It's been a long time since we visited Italy, and last time the travel was much cheaper. The overall impression though was that the people were a bit stand offish at times and good service wasn't really a priority. These day things couldn't be more different.

Speaking Italian / Speaking English
Firstly, the locals knowledge of English is amazing - embarrasingly so. We're now having to force ourselves to master some basic Italian phrases so that we are atleast seen to be making an effort. Our first experience was at the Airport, when we wanted to go to a particular part of the terminal to sort out our bags. The two machine gun toting policemen, who didn't want us to go through the door both spoke perfect English and were really friendly and helpful in pointing us in the right direction - not what I would have expected from machine gun carrying policemen. Most times when you go into a shop or a restaurant, you are greeted by "hello, how are you today"

Driving
Fortunately, we didn't have to drive in Rome, but the driving that we have done suggests that many Italians drive with only half a mind on what they're doing. Indicating is definitely not done, and if your on a dual carriageway or motorway, they wander in and out of lanes and I'm forever having to toot at them to move them back into their own lanes when I pass. Speed is pretty reasonable - there are signs everywhere intimating that the speed limit is 90kph, but everybody does about 110 and at 130 you'll pass most people and there still be someone regularly passing you.

Doing the basics
Most things are pretty obvious and you don't have to say much to get what you want - two people standing at the entrance to a restaurant - I guess they'll want a table. They've finished their food and look like they want to leave - I guess they'll want the bill. Filling the car with petrol has been the most problematic, as many of the service stations are self service (nobody anywhere to help and you just feed money into a machine). The instructions about what you have to do (yes, I did read them) bear no relationship to what you actually have to do to get petrol in the car - fortunately, there's always been a friendly person to sort it out for us. Other than that, we're getting along pretty well. The roads are all well sign posted, people are very friendly and nothing is too much of a hassle. I guess if I manage to break the car, things will change fairly quickly, but so far nothing untowards has occurred.