Another small village town we stopped at was Colle Val D’Elsa. This one was like the other little medieval villages that pop out of the top of hills in the Tuscan countryside, but unlike San Gimignano, it was geared for residents of the town, not tourists. Although people were friendly and seemed happy enough to have us wandering through their town with their teeny-tiny streets (we had to jump into doorways a number of times to avoid getting hit by vehicles), the shopping was negligible.
We did have two interesting finds along the way. One: a very dark, very damp, very long medieval tunnel that we walked through to navigate through part of the village. We all thought it would be great fun around Halloween – and they wouldn’t have to dress it up much!
Find two: the girls’ bathroom. Now mind you, we’d all gotten used to the water-conserving toilets with two buttons (not to be crude but, push the smaller button for #1 and push the larger button for #2 – saves water) and a bidet next to the toilet. We just weren’t quite expecting to find a toilet you had to squat on. Check out the pictures to get a better idea. The girls all laughed at me because I was even more confused than they were at first. In my previous trips to Japan, I’ve encountered similar squat toilets, however, in Japan you face the wall. I was not sure what to think of the Italian squat toilets and having to face the door. Ah well, such are the joys of traveling, eh? J
---Arielle
