Italy 2014 - Some thoughts

I want to jot down some random thoughts about our trip to Italy

• Onions. Almost non-existent on most menus. While it's a staple topping on most pizzas in India and the US, it was almost impossible to find onion as a topping for pizzas
• Tomatoes. Absolutely the juiciest, firmest and most scrumptious tomatoes I've ever tasted. No wonder their pizzas and pasta taste so good. I don't know what the secret is to grow such delicious tomatoes but I thoroughly enjoyed them
•  If you ask me, all the vowels that were taken away from Polish names were given to the Italians. I would routinely see names with 5 vowels strung together like "iaiou" or something. How in the world are we supposed to pronounce that?
• Antique water fountains in Rome. Water is always pouring out from them. Cold, clean, sweet water that was very refreshing for us on our long walks through the city. It's a harsh comparison to India where there's so much scarcity of water.
• The famed pickpockets. We didn't see them anywhere except possibly in the Termini (Rome's railway terminus).
• The standard feature in almost all multi-storeyed apartment buildings in and around Rome was a balcony with colorful flowers and shrubs.
• The underground metro is not as sophisticated (is that the right word?) as the ones in New York, Singapore, Hong Kong, London or Paris but they are pretty heavily used especially during peak hours.
• The Tuscan countryside is really very scenic and enjoyable. The ideal way (like one of my friends recommended but which we didn't do) is to rent bicycles, motorcycles or your own car and freestyle your way across the region visiting farms, tasting wine, cheese, etc. as well as getting to know the people. If you learn Italian, it would make it that much easier to blend in.
• Venice is a charming but a very, very confusing city to visit. Most tourist guides tell you to "get lost" in Venice and believe me, it's very easy! The streets are often unmarked and very, very narrow. Familiarity by repeated traversal is the only solution, it seems.