The Auto"hell"

I walked through the revolving gate and stopped a good 20 feet from the food counter behind the mob of people waiting in "line". Unlike fast food at rest stops in the US, the food here is "more fresh" rather then frozen, deep-fried, prepackaged or nuked. You have ultimately three choices when you enter the rest area. There is a counter where you can order premade sandwiches (which by the way, are EVERYWHERE in Italy at every restaurant, grocery, café or bar) they also have baked goods like muffins and pizza type stuff. But, if you don't feel like spending an arm and a leg on hot food you have the option to spend both your arms and a leg on packaged foods like M&Ms, crackers, cheese, ect. The first rest stop we went to even had a full assortment of cold cut meats, cheese, wine and pretty much anything else you'd see in a regular supermarket. Oh and I can’t forget about the cappuccino bar where you can get your piping hot cup of cappuccino! Deciding which counter to approach is the least of your worries at a rest stop however. Here is a little word of advice for anyone interested in driving through Italy anytime soon. DON'T STOP AT AN AUTOGRILL! Or do so only if you’re willing to push shove and bump your way to the front of the line to get food, pay your bill or even use the bathroom! But I will say one good thing about the AutoGrill is that it is FREE to use the toilet! Most public places in Europe make you pay to use the bathroom. That is just something you get used to while live here I guess?  
Italian’s, women especially, are very pushy when it comes to waiting in lines, they just apparently don’t understand the concept! All us Americans where hysterical laughing by the end of the trip at how impatient the Italians were! First of all they tend to cut you in line if they don’t feel like waiting and if they don’t resort to cutting, they just get as close to you in line as possible because apparently it makes the line move faster? One lady behind me literally had her entire body up against mine in line, bumping into me like I could have moved somewhere!? It was quite comical and it’s probably a good thing we did speak the same language, if you know what I mean!