The italians. Who knew they could be so friendly? After spending the majority of my time with the French, who are nice, though not always the most overly friendly people, taking a weekend break to Venice was exactly what the doctor ordered. Not only were the Italians nice, they went out of their way to be especially accomodating to us. And they were so nice about the language barrier. None of us spoke Italian, but amazingly enough they really seemed to understand our French and what little Spanish we could speak.
And Venice. I can't remember who told me they didn't like Venice, but are you crazy? What a great city! Even while overrun with Carnival tourists, the city was incredible. I got lost constantly, but everytime I turned a corner there was something new to see. New churches (they appear to have one every 10 feet), new stores, new gelato shops . . . and they we took a gondola ride. They are just as wonderful as Hollywood makes them out to be. I even got rowed past Mozart's house! And it was at sunset and beautiful.
Conclusion: get off your butt and get to venice, and forget your English at home, no one seemed to really speak it.