A very personal encounter: the bidet

Bidets are extremely popular low-mounted plumbing fixtures that you'll find in almost any private house in Italy. Wikipedia can give you the full history of this very useful device, which I missed tremendously when I first moved to USA. You should consider giving it a try, if it's available in your hotel room. Upon your return, you may be tempted to consider installing one in you new remodeled bathroom (and that's exactly what I did in my house...).