MY 78 YEAR OLD MOTHER AND I WILL BE GOING TO ITALY FOR NINE DAYS. SHE HAS BEEN BEFORE, BUT IS ASKING BECAUSE SHE DOES NOT REMEMBER. DOES SHE NEED TO TAKE A ROLL OR TWO OF TP WITH HER? SHE SAYS SHE DOES NOT WANT TO USE THE BIDET! I WILL BE GOING TO ITALY FOR MY FIRST TIME. CAN ANYONE ANSWER THIS QUESTION? ALSO, ARE WE ALLOWED TO TAKE SOME OF OUR OWN SMALL BOTTLES OF WATER IN OUR PURSES AND LUGGAGE?

There is American-style toilet paper everywhere in Italy. Bring pocket size packets of Kleenex to have with you for places where there is no paper provided - like public restrooms or restaurants in bars that sometimes run out.

Don't put water in your luggage - what if it leaks? There is good bottled water available in stores in Italy.

Note: When typing on a message board, do not use all caps. It is interpreted as "shouting" and is difficult to read.

If your mother doesn't want to use the bidet, get her few packages of wet wipes for intimate (sp?) hygiene. They are also very popular in Italy and can be bought at supermarkets.

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Originally posted by May16Reader:
MY 78 YEAR OLD MOTHER AND I WILL BE GOING TO ITALY FOR NINE DAYS.... SHE HAS BEEN BEFORE, BUT IS ASKING BECAUSE SHE DOES NOT REMEMBER. SHE SAYS SHE DOES NOT WANT TO USE THE BIDET!

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Please, can anyone tell me why people from other coutries (except for Spain) are so "scared" by bidets? probably insofar as we Italians feel lost and confused without them!!!

Thanks.

Corinna

Corinna,
I wouldn't use the word "scared" .... for whatever reason, they're just not part of the culture here.

A while back, we had a loooooonnnngggg thread which included discussion of Americans and bidets. If you search on "bidet" I'm sure you'll find it and be informed ... and entertained!

quote:

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Originally posted by corinna:
Please, can anyone tell me why people from other countries (except for Spain)...

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Not only Spain! You have to add people from South America too. It is very common to find a bidet in "Latinos" households. In Lima, capital of Peru, every house has a bidet. Like Italians, "we feel lost and confused without them"!!! When I moved to New York, I was lucky to rent an apartment that has a bidet!!! The owner wasn't Italian but a German lady.

One of the reasons why people are "scared" of bidets must be related to their personal hygiene custom. I've seen many women coming out of the toilet stalls (office buildings, movie theatres, airports) and leave the premises without even washing their hands. That tells a lot...

Colleen!

...I didn't mean to offend anybody!
my "scared" was just ironic.

Anyway thanks for the input on search fuction....I will try!

Ciao.
Corinna

Everything you wanted to know about what travelers think of bidets, but were afraid to ask

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Originally posted by Pauline:
Everything you wanted to know about what travelers think of bidets, but were afraid to ask

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And no sex involved!

Just curious, Westsider. What does a "personal hygiene costume" look like?

Thanks Pauline!

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Originally posted by rbrazill:
What does a "personal hygiene costume" look like?

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Do you want me to post a picture? Or you are making fun of my English? Maybe I should say "habits" instead of costume? My command of the English language is very poor, so help me, please!

Westsider;
Maybe you meant to use the word custom? (A practice followed by people of a particular group or region.)
Costume is what people dress up in at Halloween. Just a couple letters difference, but like in any language, it can make a big difference in the meaning!

Thanks Diana! That's exactly what I wanted to say It was an unfortunate misspelling
I know about costumes. I wear them every year in Venice, for the carnival

Not to flog a dead bidet, but there are even some Italians who don't feel a great need for it, perhaps because they shower at least once a day. There are pieces of furniture designed to fit over the bidet and add cabinet space (above) for extra storage, in which case the bidet clearly is not going to be used.

Besides, if you have a bathtub with the usual showerhead-on-a-hose arrangement, you can, er, hang over the tub and accomplish everything you would otherwise normally do with the bidet, no?

There was a cartoon in a recent New Yorker showing a man in a shower standing on his hand, pointing his rear at the shower head and a maid saying to him "Sir, would you prefer a room with a bidet?". He replied "Oui".

The first time I went to Italy with my kids, the youngest was 3 years old. After using an Italian bathroom (equipped with bidet) she came out and announced in a loud, delighted voice, "This bathroom has a sink just my size!"
Marie

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Originally posted by Italian Connection:
"This bathroom has a sink just my size!"

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When I was a tiny child, like, I think, most Italian children, I used the bidet exactly that way, at least until I was tall enough to use the sink.

Thanks, Alice, I did not know that this is common practice - I will tell my daughter as she is still embarrassed about this, thinking that she committed a faux pas...
Marie

My husband happens to think a bidet is the perfect place to soak one's tired feet after a day of walking all over Rome, Venice, wherever!

Louise

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Originally posted by Lou:
My husband happens to think a bidet is the perfect place to soak one's tired feet after a day of walking all over Rome, Venice, wherever!

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It is. Where do you wash your feet where you don't have a bidet and when you dont' want/need to have a shower?!

Yes, bidets are for washing feet... I did that the whole time while in Portugal and Spain... My shoes still have dust permanently filling the cracks. The stuff is called albero and it has left a lasting impression on my mind... similar to its effect on my shoes. Picture the light colored surface of the bullring. That is what the earth looks like in most parts of Spain... I don't know how anything grows in it... You just had to wash your feet everyday before sticking them under your clean sheets.

But now I wish I had a bidet for that and other reasons. They are just so practical and I really don't understand why they don't have them here in Germany and why we Americans haven't caught on to them as well...

I think the question "why are people afraid of bidets?" has just been answered. Why would I wash myself in a basin where others wash their feet... haha

The only bidet I use is the one in my own home. Rarely do I even see public bidets, except in hotels.

Also - bidets are not meant as a replacement for TP.

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Originally posted by American Girl in Italy: Also - bidets are not meant as a replacement for TP.

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Nor for a good refreshing shower in the morning. Bidets are for freshen-up (or whatever you want to do with it). But, since in America we are famous for being practical, there is a replacement for bidets: the wet wipes! (not only for babies but for adults too)

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Originally posted by Westsider:
[...] the wet wipes!

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Guess what? We have them here in Italy too! And we use them too!!! ^_^

I know that, Alice. Read my previous posts above. They are sold at the Italian supermarkets. I still have in my suitcase a "morbide e spesse" Fresh & Clean pack made by Sodalco S.p.A. Corsico (MI) Italy and distribuited by Vitadis (France) I don't know who came with this idea first, but it was about time, if you ask me

Personally, I think bidets were invented for those hot-blooded mediterranean and their passion for.....well, passion. haha

Bidets really are a wonderful thing.

(I was reading the old chain - so funny - and I think your position on the bidet depends on your clothing, or lack there of. It really is easier facing the wall, but if you are wearing pants, better to face forward.)

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Originally posted by American Girl in Italy: Personally, I think bidets were invented for those hot-blooded mediterranean and their passion for.....well, passion. haha

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I am not Mediterranean but South American (Latin blood) and I used to place the electric desk fan not on top of it but on the floor... under my desk

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...and I think your position on the bidet depends on your clothing, or lack there of. It really is easier facing the wall, but if you are wearing pants, better to face forward.)

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Absolutely! The main thing is to keep yourself nice and

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Originally posted by American Girl in Italy:
[...] It really is easier facing the wall, but if you are wearing pants, better to face forward.

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I bonk my knees on the wall when I try to do it like that... And I am not all that tall!!!
Have you read about the Milano GTG on June 16?

I just read it. Wednesday might be a little difficult, but I would love to make it.

Do they have a turk? :S haha

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Originally posted by American Girl in Do they have a turk? :S haha

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YOu mean the toilet? Actually they have a brand-new nice toilet, all in blue ^____^

that is good news! I still haven't mastered the turk! hahah especially when I have been drinking wine.

On a related tangent...Can I ask a question about those public toilets that are just a ceramic hole in the floor with "footprints" pointed toward the door placed on either side...I've seen them in numerous places...I guess one just squats the old fashioned (cavewoman) way?

Those are the turkish toilets I call turks. Read thru this chain and you will have all the answers to your questions... and more!

Actually, the the turk discussion was in the link that was added to this discussion - about bidets, etc.

Actually It seems that people from anglosaxon and northern countries are so diffident about bidet because they were associated (in a wrong manner) with "easy women".
Puritains and Calvinists misunderstood it for a BAD WOMEN "tool".
I know that Americans have one shower a day, I am Italian and I do it too, but other than toilet paper, don't you people wash yourself in the "delicates" after using WC??

I saw that in a previous thread there was mention of German toilets. For those who haven't had their fill, here are two links:

http://www.spies.com/~scott/misc/toilet.htm
Be prepared to laugh!!

And finally a discussion from the expat community in Munich.

http://www.toytownmunich.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=764&hl=shelf

One of the results of these toilets, is that in companies and public places there are often signs posted reminding you to use the toilet brush... some of them even reprimanding an anonymous streaker... Not exactly my idea of ideal reading material while in the bathroom.

Thanks, that will be a great addition to my own page on toilet flush mechanisms in Italy

You people? Are you referring to "we the people" who grew up without a bidet?

I can tell you that most of the people I know rarely jump from the WC to the shower in the middle of the day. Makes it a little tough to do when you are out and about or at the office.... I am sure there are times during the day when you have been in a position where a bidet is not available - what do you do? That is what we do too.

Americans now have the option to buy moist towlette wipes similar to those used on babies - they work quite well.

I think Americans are perplexed by bidets because they have never seen them before, never used them before, and never experienced the benefits of them before. Trust me - Americans do not shy away from cleanliness - just look in the grocery stores - there are 5000 different products to clean each and every inch of a human being! haha

Possibly when our puritan forefathers arrived from Europe to settle American they thought bidets to be associated with easy women, and therefore never incorporated them into their new lives in America. However, now I think more people are discovering them and incorporating bidets into their new homes and they are becoming more common place.

You might think it is strange that Americans don't use bidets, but they think it is strange that Italians don't use clothes dryers... it's all relative on what you know and how you grew up, I suppose.

I personally am a huge fan of both (now that I have a bidet).

Clean and dry in Bergamo,
Sara

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Originally posted by American Girl in Italy:
I can tell you that most of the people I know rarely jump from the WC to the shower in the middle of the day.

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Which reminds me of the "Greek bidet". Bidets are not unknown in Greece, and most modern houses where I have been have one. But they are not that common in cheap room rentals toilets, which are often tiny cubicles cut out of the room. These tiny toilets (hey, for a week they do!) have a WC, a sink and a shower with no curtain and no "dish" (the porcelian lower part), just the handheld shower, a support to hang it from on the wall and a hole in the floow for the running water (usually the floor is made so that the water runs into the hole). In these cases, when I need to wash, i pick up the shower and sit on the WC. Easy and comfortable!

I don't know about you guys, but for some reason I find the idea of a public bidet really raunchy. I guess I am a little skeptical of bidets in hotels... I have heard from friends of mine that hotels look spic and clean but have a lot of germs becasue many maids can't be bothered to do thorough cleaning...

Included in the warning was to never drink out of glass cups in the hotel rooms. Maids are known to rinse them with just water and then dry them with the used towels from the last guests.... and this was at a respectable hotel... Thinking about that makes me wary of bed covers, carpets, and bidet faucet handles... eew.

I am right there with you! ewe! bad enough having to use a public toilet, but a public bidet....

I have a hotel horror story. Well, it was super gross but maybe not "horror" level...

While in Santorini for my honeymoon, my husband and I requested to change rooms because the one we were in had a tv hanging from the wall that he constantly hit his head on. So anyhoo, the hotel said "no problem" there was a couple checking out of the room next to ours. We could move our bags in right away and the front desk called the maid and told her to be sure to change the sheets because a new couple was moving into that room - and our bags would already be in the room. Me, being the paranoid sceptic that I am, smeared a small amount of lipstick discreetly on the sheets so I could check the new ones to make sure they were in fact new. So, anyway, we return to the room later, everything looks fine, don't see the lipstick, and we go to sleep. The next day I am straightening the sheets, and notice to my horror, that the sheets were flipped, but not changed!!! There was my lipstick smear! eweeeee!

Yes, I complained. Didn't do much good...

Someone commented earlier that they often see people not wash their hands in public bathrooms, but you know, as soon as you rinse them off, and reach for the water faucet, you are covered in everyone elses disgusting germs. And then you touch the bathroom door...

I always use a paper towel to touch the faucets and try not to touch the door. You are probably better off using an antibacterial wash and not touching any public faucets or doors. At least you only have your germs on you! haha

One thing I like of cheap Greek hotels is that they don't dress the beds, just leave the folded shets on the bed and you have to dress it yourself, so you get to check the sheets as well ^___^.

if it were a cheap hotel, i would be a little more lienient...but it wasn't cheap. but i felt cheap after.hahahaha