One thing I noticed on our trip to Italy was how little they seemed to be concerned with safety particularly involving kids. I observed a couple riding a scooter on the Amalfi coast, the man driving and the woman sitting behind him. They were driving down the middle of the road to avoid the slow line of traffic in both directions. Every once in a while they had to swerve to avoid a scooter doing the same thing in the other direction. This would cause cars to swerve to avoid hitting them. The man driving the scooter was smoking a cigarette and talking on his cell phone. To top it off the woman in back was carrying a small baby with one hand holding it against her body like a loaf of bread. Second story -the next day I was on a local train and noticed a cement balcony jutting out from an apartment building. It was on the second floor and was just a cement slab -there were no railing around it of any kind. On the balcony were a number of kid's toys including a tricycle similar to our big wheels. It blew my mind. Anyone else observe things like this? I know we may be overly paranoid about safety in the U.S. but this really amazed me.

No, I really didn't notice things like that.

I am not an advocate for taking risks with children- no multi tasking in the car/vespa for me. However I have noticed that kids are less "protected" or sheltered outside of the US. For example a child would have to work very hard to get hurt on a US playground- all the risks and "dangers" have been eliminated- as have the skills to aviod becoming hurt as well.
Not sure how we all avoided a seatbelt free childhood!
The toys outside on the balcony might have been stored there- not used. Space is certainly at a premium in most places.

As for the vespa. Perhaps the family doesn't have a car? drivers learn how to weave in and out of traffic safely- and even avoid the tourists- when thats their main route and means of transport.

(by the way, my kids all buckle up in the car and ride their bikes as close to sea level as possible.)

"On the balcony were a number of kid's toys including a tricycle similar to our big wheels."

Must have been Michael Jackson's pad.

I've observed similar traveling in Mexico.

Seen on the Grand Canal in Venice earlier this year (not dangerous, just funny): A motorboat driven by a woman whose right hand and arm were fully engaged craddling her puppydog inside her coat. A cigarette dangled from the centre of her mouth -- smoke presumably obscuring her vision. With her left hand she was punching in numbers on her cell-phone. She steered the boat -- which was heading straight for a gondola -- with her left ELBOW.

Sitting on the terrace of the little castle in Vernazza over the sea having a glass of wine. Suddenly there is a tremendous noise in the sky. We look up and see two small boats - yes BOATS flying by. The guys dressed up with long scarves, those funny old flying helmets and goggles. They looked at us with deadpan expressions as if it was the most normal thing in the world. They had attached something that looked like a hanglider on poles to the boat and had some kind of engine. I'll tell you, that Cinque Terre vino is powerful stuff.

Not crazy in that way.... but what is the Italian obsession with Nutella? We thought it strange enough at a Subway-type outlet in Rome when their "Italian-style" filling was Nutella, but subsequently everywhere we went they seemed to have Nutella everything. At one Autogrill on the autostrada, the Nutella display seemed to take up most of the store, including one bottle that must have held about 20 gallons! I never thought of Nutella as being typically Italian, but I guess it is made by Ferrero ....

Nutella is a commercial version made on an industrial scale of gianduja, a traditional Italian sweet that combines chocolate and the flavor of hazelnuts.

While in Paris, we went on one of those boat rides on the Seine. It was after dark and we had to walk down these slippery stone steps, down to the water to board the boat. If would not have been difficult to slip and go straight into the water. There was no handrail and no light. I remember saying to my husband, "This is dangerous. Back home this would be a lawsuit waiting to happen".

krpp75, in Paris 2002 I slipped on the algae covered steps as I reached to touch the water in the Seine. My feet slipped out from under me and I landed on my bum with my feet in the water. Had that happened in the US, I think the end of the story would have involved a lawyer instead of a good laugh..

Hmmm ! Must be fewer trial lawyers in Italy.

Italians are just the most amazing drivers. Picked up from the airport in a Mercedes mini van we were driving at breakneck speed (over 140kms per hour) in (I'm not kidding), bumper to bumper traffic - if anyone was in the driver's way he just sounded his horn and they moved to the other lane very swiftly - we did not slow down. My husband (who up till that moment had thought my decision NOT to hire a car ludicrous)- suddenly understood exactly what I'd been talking about.

Oh yes, I've witnessed this same reckless type of behavior on every Italy trip I've every taken. Ever notice that as you drive from Zurich to Stresa there are guard rails on the Swiss roads but suddenly none on the Italian ones?

Used to be the Tower at Pisa had no guard rails at all. When we were first there years ago on a rainy day, you could have walked out of the stairway onto the top tower platform and slid right off!

I've seen Italians on vespas performing unbelievably risky moves in traffic. And on the road south from Rome along the beach, there's a road that leads to, e.g., Sperlonga, with a "chicken" lane in the middle - OMIGOD! (In other words, a lane that is designated for drivers in either direction to use to pass others or to get in a lane for making a turn)- drivers just hauled **ss down that lane with no regard for anyone else. At the same time, drivers were doing the same in the breakdown lane, which effectively made a 2-lane highway a 4-lane highway. All of them going 160kph.

I think Italians in general are risk takers, particularly on the highways where they like to show off their "skills." I'll admit they are skilled drivers in general, but their habits are a bit over the top for the average American, whose driving skills are deficient and who thinks these things should be regulated.

As for the apartment with the slab of concrete with kids' toys, my first thought was the same as MaiTai's, but one hopes that it was just extra storage space - Italian apartments are small and with little storage space. Let's just hope.....

When cell phones first became available in the early 90s, I remember seeing people in Rome practically standing in the middle of major avenues like Via Nazionale using (or pretending to use) their new toys.
I don't notice that behavior any longer. Perhaps the odds caught up with them?

Time to do a search for the Amusing Things I Have Learned on My European Trips and top it off!

I am sure one could find reckless behavior anywhere,
but once on a trip up the very steep road to the Abbey at Montecassino we stopped to take a picture overlooking the valley .
(the road is a 8km drive and one goes pretty high up)
I was carefully positioning my children on the road side of the guardrail , while another family was taking their own picture .
the father was perched on the outside of the guardrail, hanging onto the rail with one hand and holding his baby in the other! then he repeatred it with his toddler .

I am sure they got spectacular shots but......

The crazy world of Italian drivers is best recalled with this experience: Zooming down an Italian highway with our Italian friend at the wheel, my wife asked the driver, "Fausto, what's the speed limit?" He responded, "How fast do you want to go?"

Not that anyone cares..but I wanted to clarify my statement from last night..I would not have sued anyone had I been in the states and slipped on the steps...someone would have, not me.

There, I feel much better...carry on.

Good one, Howard!! LOL