Italy - Things seen on the road

These are random things I saw at various times while on the road, so I could not really get a picture of them. They did all make me think, and generally I would talk to my cousins about them and learn something. I will now string them together here for your pleasure.

One was a staircase store. I saw the sign from a little up the road, and I thought that couldn't be right, but as we passed I looked in and saw multiple models of staircases. I had always thought of staircases as something that you built on site, rather than buying.

It made more sense as I remembered that at least that area (all of my time has been spent in the Veneto) is full of older buildings. The oldest building in Portland is from 1857, but even a 100-year old building here seems really old.

Well, telling my cousins that, they said 100 years old is nothing there. The building we were in was older than that. However, those buildings change too. We usually stayed with an aunt whose building belonged to her husband's parents (I don't know if they were the original owners). They had three children, so now there is one home on the first floor, and two apartments on the second story, all with their own entrances and functioning separately.

There are two children in the next generation, and they will inherit, so the upper floor could be joined into a single dwelling again, but then between those two there are three children, so maybe it should stay in three. One of my cousins lives in my grandparent's old house, and it has been remodeled a lot. So it makes sense that you might go browsing for staircases, and other things beyond the types of remodels we normally do here.

Another thing that really surprised me was the Autogrill. I think this is a picture of the same one I saw:

http://www.panoramio.com/m/photo/70391368

I just could not get over building what was apparently a restaurant across a highway. It seemed so impractical and dangerous. I guess ultimately it could be built with the same structural integrity as a bridge, but why? I was talking about that with my cousins, and they saw my point, but they pointed out that it's great advertising. Everyone notices it.

My brother and his wife went to a few when they were on their group tour, and they are not all built over streets - some are just at roadside - but they are all over the place, especially along highways, making them the place for travelers to stop and get coffee or water or food. I think they are sometimes connected to service stations. Understanding the kind of ubiquity they are going for, it was not a surprise later to find out that they have an alliance with Starbucks.

http://www.autogrill.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autogrill

Finally, I saw a wrecking yard.

Let me give some background though. It always felt like people drove really fast. It was not uncommon for them to drive after drinking (not drunk, understand, but still having drunk). It was common for people to drive with great enthusiasm, shouting and shaking fists. I can't imagine actual road rage, but sometimes on those narrow roads they did seem to cut it close. However, I never saw anything happen. The cars certainly seemed safer than the bikes, which were also everywhere.

So I was amazed that no one was getting in an accident, but then I saw the yard and lots of people get into accidents.

It stretched on too far for me to see the end, and I didn't see any actual wrecking equipment. I just saw lots and lots of cars, stretched out as far as my eyes could see. I suppose this could have been some central depository for all the wrecked cars in the country, but that seems unlikely. It appears that there are in fact lots and lots of wrecks.

I'm a nervous driver anyway, but if at some point I get over that, I still would be very reluctant to drive in Italy (or France). It is a beautiful country, hey - you can see it even better if you leave the driving to a native.