Some takeaways from Italy

Since Ricardo explained some of our frustrations in a previous post, I thought I'd talk about the cool things we wish the US would adopt.

The first three involve grocery stores: 
-The Esselunga (Italy's version of Wal-Mart) has parking below the store.  To get your cart up a floor, you go on a moving sidewalk ramp.  The grocery cart magnetizes to the ramp so that doesn't slide around.  Ricardo and I were both pretty amused by this.
-You put a Euro in to get your cart that you then get back when you return your cart (kind of like the luggage carts at an airport).  This encourages people to put their carts back in the proper place and not leave them all over the parking lot. 
-Third, you have to pay for your grocery bags.  You can buy reusable bags (which we did), so you aren't buying bags every time.  I bet this encourages people to be more green.

-Instead of putting your own trash out once a week in front of your casa, you put your trash in a dumpster on the road.  They also have recycling "dumpsters" separated by plastic, paper, and even organics for composting.  I'm sure this saves the city time and money picking up garbage and sorting recyclables.

-At a bar in Bologna, each person receives a tab card.  When you order something, it gets marked on your individual card.  You have to pay the bill and get your card stamped before you can leave.  This is nice because you don't have to leave your credit card with the bartender and worry about forgetting it or getting someone else's drink charged to it.  It is also beneficial when someone wants to leave early; they just pay their individual bill rather than leaving money and possibly leaving the others stuck if they don't leave enough.


I'm sure there are others, but for now...

Arrivederci!