I think home cooking is different. We found an old taverna on the plaka in Athens that looked like nothing had changed since WWII. The roof was made out of corrrugated metal sheets, and some had been lifted to let the sun in; there was an old victrola with a big horn, and vines growing all over. There was an old man that popped out, and said, 'come back during the night-time.' We went. It was lunacy. First, the old man, who owned the place, was drunk, and didn't do much but socialize. His friends actually went back and forth to the kitchen to serve and get food. We had an amazing meal, listened to scratchy old 78's or whatever they were, and left late- they were dancing and carrying on, i'm sure, well after we left. Very warm, lovely thing.
Not a service friendly economy. We needed to get some plane tickets while in Athens to fly down to Santorini. We were staying at the big old fancy hotel in Athens, with full service, concierge, etc. We learned that you can't have the concierge handle it; in fact, we had to personally go to the airline office. It was filled with people behind a counter smoking cigarettes, ignoring the ringing phones, and generally ignoring the folks in line. At that time (mid-90's), we learned that people paid their bills by going to the local offices, (e.g. for electric, gas, phone, whatever, and stood in line to pay bills). Crazy!
And the train service is of a different order, at least in some parts of Western Europe, compared to the States.
And then there's the food. Did you say that?
Your wife wants to visit Italy...be smart and visit Italy!
Definitely take a week in Rome. We like staying near the Spanish Steps.
