our italian trip thus far, according to deb

so anyway. . . this week is the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Italy by us (and I do mean US) during WWII (the big one) and as far as I can see here in Tuscany, we are still here!  this place is crawling with americans --- esp. Texans.  you cant swing a dead cat without hitting a Texan  (and all those who know me as "the crazy cat lady" know that I would NEVER swing a cat -- dead or alive!) ANYWAY, in the week we have been here, we have met many americans, even one who lives in Austin and has a place here.  he grew up on delwood drive over off of berkman. he went to Reagan high school and is now a photographer here/there/everywhere.  once we met him (jay), we were dropping his name everywhere and it seems that all the locals know him (not sure if that's good or bad b/c we didn't get free things or deals for knowing him). another American (new York) who guided our wine tasting at one place, moved here to montepulciano about 4 yrs ago. she wrote a book about her first years living here and the 'scandals' going on in the town.  she had a torrid, scandalous love affair with the fruit guy at the weekly market. the book was published in English, so the people of the town didn't know they were being talked about (b/c not only didn't they speak English, they didn't  read English either). but word of the book and their personal stories got to them anyway and a certain fruit vendor no longer visits this weekly market.  Ok, so back to the liberation.  I think the Italians were so grateful that we came and kicked out the bad guys, that they passed this appreciation/we owe you one mentality  on to the next generation (like in their DNA) b/c they are so lovely when we butcher their language, not like the French who tell you very uppity (start using your French accent here -- "i only speak French" ). these wonderful italians go out of their way to make sure that we are enjoying our stay here (ok, I wont mention the other country, france, could care less if we are having a good time or not). actually, I think the Italians love americans b/c we tip -- even when we don't have to -- it's in our nature; we feel bad if we don't throw a few extra euros at the server. I think americans get thrown off b/c of the euro coins.  our highest regular coin is a quarter, the highest euro coin is a 2 euro so when we throw down a 1 or 2 euro coin, psychologically its like a quarter! so then we think "oh, that's not enough, we should give him/her more coins, so by the time you leave the table, you've given them about a $10 tip for just "due cappuccinos"!  but, I do love the Italians -- they are loud, talk with their hands, enjoy good food and drink a lot of wine -- just like me and my family! Lungo liberazione dal vivo! (Long live the liberation --- or that's what google says it is).  its late, 12 bottles down since our arrival.  tomorrow we train to venice.  time for some shut eye.  deb