Feel free to skip this post. It’s kind of a roughy, but I don’t want to not mention the other parts about traveling in Europe. And there are some interesting and helpful tidbits about using a public restroom here haha.
So I still remember a man outside the Vatican when Katie and I visited in 2012. He had no arms and no legs, and was maybe 40 years old. He was on the ground and in front of him was a collection tin, like the other people near him. I put some coins in his plate and tried to offer some kindness, all the while wondering, how does a person with no arms or legs get by in life? I found myself looking for him the other day but of course I did not see him.
That same trip, we flew to Paris and stayed in a most amazing AirBnb across from Notre Dame Cathedral. Each morning while Katie was sleeping I would go to a pastry shop and get two pastries for each of us. Every day the same young man was outside, maybe 14 years old, a little younger than Todd at the time. He did not say anything and did not have a cup or plate for money, but clearly he was in need. After ignoring him the first day and walking away with a broken heart, I bought him a pastry and orange juice every day thereafter. Merci, he would say quietly. We were there for a week and on the last day I tried to tell him that someone cared about him.
When we arrived in Naples yesterday, there was an entire row of people resting under blankets immediately outside the train station. Homeless people, just like every city I have ever been to, but more in your face.
On the lighter side, the bathroom situation here is pretty hilarious! The good news is they are mostly clean. Most of the public bathrooms are squatty potties with virtually no way to sit. In the one at the Forum, the lights kept going out unless you flapped your arms around every 10 seconds. Any time you find a bathroom at all, it’s kinda like winning a small prize, so when the one at a restaurant a few days ago did not have toilet paper no problem. Except I left my purse with tissues at the table. Note to self, tissues in pocket!
Some of the bathrooms are verrrrrry small. Very few have paper towels and sometimes the air dryers do not work. The one at the Coliseum had a Y-shaped metal faucet thing that included auto-soap and water, and left most of us with wet hands until you realize the air dryer is also on the faucet thing.
Many times in order to get the water to turn on, you have to use a foot pedal under the sink. Sometimes, even at our hotel, the tank to the toilet is mounted on the wall several feet above the toilet. In one bathroom I could not figure out how to flush the toilet, like for a couple minutes and of course people are waiting. Finally I realized there was a chain hanging down from the tank!
And, like the train station in Naples, some bathrooms require a euro, and it has to be a 1 euro coin. Another note to self!
The best bathroom so far was a unisex single room bathroom in a small cafe in Gaeta. It included an ancient Roman pillar with explanation in English! Excellent!
So now we are in Naples and getting ready to venture out with tissues and euros in my pocket!
Very moving and then hysterical…. I’ll have to remember these tidbits for when I travel to Italy…. someday. ?