Now THAT’S going to take some getting used to! Part 1

There are a lot of things that are different in Italy than in the States.  Note, I am not complaining about them, because some are better (but some are not).  I only thought you might be curious about certain things.

The grocery store: 

The carts move forward, diagonal, and sideways.  All four wheels rotate a full 360 degrees.  This makes them much easier to maneuver, but when they get really full, it is quite a workout to turn the direction you want to go.

The fresh fruit and vegetables.  I already wrote about how delicious they are, but they are a bit complicated to buy.  You have to put on a plastic glove before you can touch anything.  The gloves are right next to the bags, and the bags are just like in the states.  So you put your produce in the bag, then you have to look what number it is, 1-99.  Then you take it over to the scale, push the number button, and it prints out a sticker.  Just don’t grab the sticker with your glove hand.  It’s quite tedious if you are buying several kinds of produce, but it is organized, and very quick at the checkout.

The milk.  Most of you know that I bought milk several gallons at a time in the States.  Here you buy it by the liter, so that’s a lot of containers, and I now buy them by the case.  But, it’s only 70 cents per liter, so it’s not that much more expensive.  Turns out that I’m not drinking it as much here anyway (may have something to do with the excellent wine).  Also, you buy the milk at room temperature (but we still drink it cold).  It has been treated at a ultra high temperature, and it is good for 2-3 months.  You can also get fresh (cold) milk, but it’s only good for about 3 days, and they only have whole and part skim, not full skim.  The UHT milk has a bit of a funny taste, like it’s been cooked, but it is available in skim, I decided that I like that better than the fresh, part-skim.