Dave & Meredith's Travel Blog

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve looked at a sign, a menu or something in a store window here and spent the brain cycles to decipher the Italian only to realize once I’m done that the English was already there right below. But that said, it’s been amusing reading the English because it usually isn’t 100% right. Sometimes it’s technically correct but very flowery or awkward. Sometimes it uses wrong grammar or is misspelled. Sometimes it’s amusing such as the pizzeria in Florence with a handmade sign on the wall. The English part read, “Please retain your paper plate for the inevitable second slice.” Then there’s this one in a public toilet in Manarola where I felt compelled to take a picture:

Now, unless I’ve been doing it wrong all these years, I think you need to flash the toilet before and during the act, not after. Maybe things are different here. I hope I’m not unfairly judging another culture.

– Dave