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Italy trip report (long, with pics)
So after wanting to go to Europe for many years, specifically Italy, the mrs and I finally made it happen. This thread will include some of our stories and escapades during our two week stay. At the same time, I'll also try to impart some of the wisdom gained being a first time international tourist. I realize we have plenty of people from all around the world on here, so for many, this will be old hat. But, I'm sure there are a few others like myself - older than the student set, who are travelling abroad for the first time. Hopefully you'll gain something from this, and can add to the discussion as well.
I'm going to break this up Clarkmeister style, because I thought it worked well for his wine trip report. Here's how I'll break it up - basically by city to make it easier, plus a special entry. Part one - Rome Part two - Siena Part three - Florence Part four - Cinque Terre Part five - Venice Part six - Adsman: man, myth, or legend? Hopefully the report will be worthy of the El D forum, and perhaps will impart a little knowledge for those who want to travel to Italy. Here goes. Background The mrs and I decided that we wanted to go to Italy a number of years ago. I can't even pinpoint why we chose it specifically. The food and wine? The history? Regardless, Italy over the past number of years has represented to me some sort of accomplishment for us. I was never able to travel during my student days, and in my early professional career, it always seemed like we could never scrape together the money or time to make a trip happen. So when the stars finally aligned this year, we did the only feasible thing. Booked plane tickets for some dates in September through frequent flier miles, and figured we'd decide the rest of the details later. Over the past few months, we sorted those details out. Where to stay, what to see, etc. I've found that planning a trip for Italy is sort of like planning a wedding, or getting a house mortgage. I was surprised at how many people we came across who had been there, and each had their own very specific recommendation of what's the right thing to do - which was undoubtably whatever way THEY did it. After a while you're just better off not asking people at all. To help plan our journey, we utilized the books of Rick Steves. He's known for his Europe shows on PBS in the US, and since we weren't interested in any sort of an organized tour, yet weren't daring enough to book hotels as we went (and weren't going to be staying in any hostels), this was a good middle ground. His books provide a nice background on each city, with recommendations on hotels and restaurants. We'll have some more specifics about that later, but generally the recommedations all hit the mark. So, toting a mere two backpacks, and one small rolling suitcase (the married guys out there will certainly appreciate the accomplishment here, when you're going on a two week trip), we headed out from Seattle for the first leg of the trip - Rome. Rome We arrived in Rome after a LONG series of flights. Since we used frequent flier miles, we were limited on our hops, and to land British Air tickets we had to fly to Phoenix, to London, to Rome. All told, the trip took well over a day, and we arrived late into Rome. Managed to figure out the train from the airport into the middle of the city, and walked about 10 min to our hotel. On Monday morning, we headed out early to start our trip. First impressions of Rome was that it really felt similar to NYC. Same sort of energy, and sense of history - on a different scale of course. To me it was cool to think that at any moment we were a stone's throw from a building that's probably older than ANYTHING in the US of A. To coordinate our tours, we decided to pick up a Roma Pass. This is basically a pass that allows you entry into two selected museums, plus access to the subway and public transportation. It was well worth the cost of I think 18 eur each. To start off our first day, we took the subway to the Roman Coliseum. Outside of the coliseum: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...4/Italy008.jpg Mrs. nolanfan inside the coliseum: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...4/Italy017.jpg Your faithful author: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...4/Italy021.jpg Old starting lineup card for one of the championship gladiator teams. 5th name down translates to Julio Franco: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...4/Italy027.jpg Artsy postcard shot! http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...4/Italy034.jpg The coliseum was a nice way to check out a piece of Rome history right off the bat. The venue itself is pretty big, and it's amazing to me to think about how they built that kind of a place back in the day. After we had our fill of gladiator memories, we were pretty parched with the 80+ degree weather and looked to find something to drink. Checking out one of the nearby food carts, we learned lesson number one of travelling to Italy - never buy anything within 3 or so blocks of a major site. In the case of this cart, a nice small bottle of Gatorade - while beautifully icy cold - was going to set us back 5 euros. About $7 for a Gatorade? Maybe inside the coliseum, but outside, no way. Instead, we walked a couple of blocks away from the coliseum, found a small grocery store, and got the same stuff for 1 euro. This also opened the door to the magic of foreign grocery stores. For some reason, I always love to go into stores in different states and cities, just to see how it differs, and this was no exception. Especially entertaining was the meat section. I mean, check this out. Meat already on a stick! Genius. Get with it Safeway! http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...4/Italy050.jpg These were too funny to not take a picture. Heh heh. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...4/Italy051.jpg After refreshing ourselves, we headed back to our hotel, and found a little grocer for lunch. Picked up a couple of awesome panini's and beers, which were great. We were loving Italy so far. Another thing we enjoyed was the signs. Truth in advertising example #1. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...4/Italy081.jpg Rest of pic censored, obv. I'll pause to take a break here, and will continue with Rome in the next installment. If these pictures are too big to post, let me know that as well. More to come! |
Re: Italy trip report (long, with pics)
more plz
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Re: Italy trip report (long, with pics)
They don't do pre-prepared meat on a stick back in the USA? You guys are barbarians.
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Re: Italy trip report (long, with pics)
sick trip report
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Re: Italy trip report (long, with pics)
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Adsman: man, myth, or legend? [/ QUOTE ] All 3, right? |
Re: Italy trip report (long, with pics)
I hope you listened to all of those prior Italian tourists and got the Colloseo tickets at the Roman forum nearby, giving you the 2 for 1 package for no extra cost + no lineup? This was a necessity during the summer.
I'm struggling not to post almost identical photos to yours from my trip this past summer - I'm glad you were able to sneak in a trip with the Mrs. This is definitely easier while you're young/responsibility free, so I understand how satisfying it must be. |
Re: Italy trip report (long, with pics)
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This also opened the door to the magic of foreign grocery stores. For some reason, I always love to go into stores in different states and cities, just to see how it differs, and this was no exception. Especially entertaining was the meat section. [/ QUOTE ] I have the same desire (to visit different stores in different countries.) In particular, food stores are the most intriguing to visit to get a real flavor for culture differences. One of my favorites is the grocery store in Cozumel, called (phonetically) Sha' dwow wee. The store is probably 15-20,000 sq ft. Anyhow, here was a good example of how great it was. On the left side of the aisle you could get fresh fruit like pinneapple, mango, limes, etc. If you turned your head to the right, you could pick out a nice set of radials. Round the corner, behind the tires, and you could pick out a jar of milk, and look the other way and grab a case of Coronas to go with your limes. I mean, food, wheels and beer - it was a Mans store (oh and milk for the baby). (sorry for the hijack - nice trip report) |
Re: Italy trip report (long, with pics)
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I hope you listened to all of those prior Italian tourists and got the Colloseo tickets at the Roman forum nearby, giving you the 2 for 1 package for no extra cost + no lineup? This was a necessity during the summer. [/ QUOTE ] The Roma Pass accomplishes the same thing. So, no, he didn't have to wait in the line there. |
Re: Italy trip report (long, with pics)
I love these kind of trip reports...very nice and I'm looking forward to the next installment!
Rome is awesome, isn't it? |
Re: Italy trip report (long, with pics)
Awesome Still Life of Meatball photo.
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Re: Italy trip report (long, with pics)
Don't keep us waiting too long for the rest of this TR.
The wife and I are scheduled to arrive in Milan on Oct 11... |
Re: Italy trip report (long, with pics)
NolanFan, check out QFC for meat on a stick.
Keep it up man! Clarknasty style is how I like this TR's. SC, shoulda played football man! |
Re: Italy trip report (long, with pics)
Rome (cont)
After wandering the streets of Rome a bit, we planned out the rest of our day during lunch. In a city like Rome, with only two days to check it out, it's tough to decide what to see or do. One of the nice things about the Rick Steves books is for most of the towns, he gives a couple of self guided walking tours with some basic history, so you can check things out at your own pace. Speaking of this, Rome introduced us to the "flock of sheep" style of tour, with the guide at the front holding up some sort of windsock to keep everyone aligned. Some of the groups even had...shudder....nametags. Wow, I can see why for some people it's easier to take one of these tours, where you just pay your money and all of the details are taken care of. Personally though, I can't imagine being stuck with the same group of strangers for that length of time. Somehow I managed to not get any pictures of this phenomenon, but sadly it was always easy to pick out the American tours - just look for the fattest, most clueless looking group. Hate to say it, but that seemed to be the case wherever we went. OK, back to the trip. In the afternoon, we decided to hit the Vatican. We're not churchgoers at all, but there was an appeal to check out in person something like the Sistine Chapel and the square. We hopped on the subway and easily found the stop. The subway is certainly a great way to get around Rome, and was another part that made the Roma pass well worth it. mrs nolanfan at the Vatican: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...4/Italy082.jpg We ended up taking the Vatican Museum tour, which ends in the Sistine Chapel. My 2 cents? Make sure you do this tour after a full night of sleep, because it's looooonnnggg. Room after room of paintings, etc, which were really interesting, but the mrs in particular was sleepwalking through the last few rooms as we wound our way to the Sistine Chapel. A nice feature of the Vatican Museum is that they actually let you take pictures. This unfortunately is not the case in most other galleries, like the Borghese, which was a big disappointment for reasons that will be clear when we get to that part of the tour later in this post. Just your typical non-Sistine Chapel ceiling: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...4/Italy106.jpg This turned out a little bit dark, but I think the title of the painting was "nooooo, they be taking my rabbit!" Couldn't find the proceeding "I has a rabbit" painting: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...4/Italy093.jpg After winding our way around, we finally reached the Sistine Chapel. The place was packed with tours, with local museum workers fruitlessly trying to keep people from talking and taking pictures. We took some time to check out the ceiling of course, but given the packed, hot, muggy room, we didn't linger too long. I would recommend trying to get there early if you want to spend some time in the Sistine Chapel. One quick note on the no photography rule in museums. Doesn't apply to Japanese people apparently (racist ban, obv.). Regardless of where we were, Japanese tourist have this amazing ability to not be able to read picture signs that show a camera with a big "x" through it. They were also the worst tourist groups to be around, because they generally didn't watch where they were going, or care if they bumped into you or ran you into a staircase if you were in the way of where they were going. I remember the same phenomenon when I went to Hawaii a number of years back as well. After the Vatican, we hopped the subway back and rested up before heading out for our evening adventure, a nighttime Rome walk from our book. It basically started at Campo di Fiori, and ended at the top of the Spanish Steps, with the Trevi Fountain in between. Rome is a great city to walk at night, and the Campo di Fiori was a great place to start. It's a fun little square with a bunch of outdoor restaurant seating on the square. Very festive environment, and our first chance to check out these types of restaurants, which were pretty common throughout the rest of our trip. It was also a good chance to check out the prices of these places - you of course pay a premium to sit on the square itself through the prices at the restaurant. While we weren't trying to be total cheapskates, we did do a lot of comparison shopping before choosing a restaurant. I'm not baller enough to afford the best places in each city, so we tried to pick and choose to find some good deals. Overall, our general theme was to go a block or two from the main sights in any given place, and find menus with no English on them for the most part. Worked pretty well, outside of a few exceptions I'll mention later in the trip. After a decent meal a block off of the Campo, we headed out on the walk. As I mentioned before, walking through Rome reminded me of New York in a lot of ways, and walking at night was also similar. Crazy traffic, and your best bet for crossing streets is to just get behind a local and go for it. On the walk, we checked out the Trevi fountain. This was really a big hit with mrs nf, who really liked the sculptures. Tons of people were just hanging out drinking, smoking, etc, but it wasn't too crowded. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...4/Italy142.jpg (She is going to kill me for posting some of these, haha) On our way to the Spanish Steps, we passed by a great Truth in Advertising #2. Luckily the mrs doesn't really like shopping: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...4/Italy149.jpg The Spanish Steps themselves were packed with teenagers and others drinking and smoking again. I guess 500+ year old landmarks make a cool hangout in Rome. So ended our Monday journey. The next day was to consist of a tour of the Borghese Gallery, and then our journey to Siena. Tuesday Tuesday morning started early for me, at about 5:30, as I set out for a morning run around Rome. I'm training for the Portland Marathon, and had to try to keep up on my runs throughout the trip, which would be a challenge. Basic route for my 8 miles or so. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...34/romerun.jpg Got up early, and hit the streets. That early in the morning, you really have the streets to yourself. And while Rome might be a late riser, it certainly rises with a vengance, as the streets are hectic like someone flipped a switch. It was a great time though, you just haven't lived until you've dashed down the streets of Rome with Journey's Separate Ways (Worlds apart) blaring in your head. After the run, we packed our stuff, negotiated with the front desk for a late checkout, and headed off to the Borghese Gallery. The Borghese features an incredible collection of Italian paintings and particularly sculptures by Benini. Only a certain number of guests are allowed into the place, in two hour blocks throughout the day. We made reservations online about a week before, which is highly encouraged. And I would certainly recommend it. Amazing museum, with a great audio tour, which is worth paying for. I'm not a huge art guy, but I've been appreciating it more and more over the years as we start to check out museums and galleries. In particular, I've never been that overwhelmed by sculpture, but Bernini's stuff is amazing. I can't fathom how these guys carved this stuff out of marble. Seems like it would be even harder than painting. We really enjoyed checking out the works, and it heightened our anticipation to see The David in Florence. Of course the true highlight of the gallery was not any of the art. No, the real highlight was when we discovered the most awesome hairstyle known to man - the afro-dredlock mullet. Yes, it's as good as it sounds. We were in one of the last rooms, when we saw this older guy, probably mid-late 60s, with a young Japanese woman. And I'm not kidding, it was breathtaking to see. Somehow he had grown out the top of his hair into this gray afro. But in the back, he had these dreadlocks growing down, making it into this uber-mullet of awesomeness. At this moment I started to curse the fact you can't take pictures in the gallery. So I present to you this MS Paint replica. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6.../afrodreds.jpg I am not an artist, obv, but hopefully that sheds some light onto how awesome this thing was. All abuzz from the gallery and the afrodredmullet, we headed to the train station and hopped our first train for the next part of our journey - Siena. Back with the next part later, need to upload Siena pics. |
Re: Italy trip report (long, with pics)
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NolanFan, check out QFC for meat on a stick. [/ QUOTE ] Whoa, really? How have I missed that? |
Re: Italy trip report (long, with pics)
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My 2 cents? Make sure you do this tour after a full night of sleep, because it's looooonnnggg. Room after room of paintings, etc, which were really interesting, but the mrs in particular was sleepwalking through the last few rooms as we wound our way to the Sistine Chapel. [/ QUOTE ] Not-even-thinly-veiled brag post. |
Re: Italy trip report (long, with pics)
I'm assuming you loved Siena...great pics...love the "oh noes they be stealin' my rabbit!" [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]
The Vatican is a long tour, isn't it? It was great to see but I don't think I'd do it again. Rome is much more about the cafes and piazzas and bars and walking! |
Re: Italy trip report (long, with pics)
Wow, that ceiling pic is amazing.
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Re: Italy trip report (long, with pics)
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I'm assuming you loved Siena...great pics...love the "oh noes they be stealin' my rabbit!" [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] The Vatican is a long tour, isn't it? It was great to see but I don't think I'd do it again. Rome is much more about the cafes and piazzas and bars and walking! [/ QUOTE ] Agreed on the Vatican tour, worth doing once, especially if you're Catholic, of course, but I wouldn't feel like I needed to go again. I'd go back to Borghese for sure though. Siena was fun, yes, I'll have some good pics to post. |
Re: Italy trip report (long, with pics)
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NolanFan, check out QFC for meat on a stick. Keep it up man! Clarknasty style is how I like this TR's. SC, shoulda played football man! [/ QUOTE ] I wish I could have played football; I heard you were like a cross between LDT and Jerry Rice out there. Sadly I've been packing for like the past week straight. |
Re: Italy trip report (long, with pics)
Seth didn't tell you? I was a TD machine with 3.
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Re: Italy trip report (long, with pics)
No trip to Napoli or Palermo? You missed out on all the great southern cooking [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]. That northern stuff.... forget about it. But then again, not much to see in southern Italy either.
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Re: Italy trip report (long, with pics)
mmm eagerly awaiting florence portion
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Re: Italy trip report (long, with pics)
I, also, would consider the afrodredmullet to be the highlight of the trip.
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Re: Italy trip report (long, with pics)
This trip report is most excellent.
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Re: Italy trip report (long, with pics)
Part two - Siena
Tuesday afternoon we headed out on the train for the ride from Rome to Siena. We primarily relied on trains to get us from city to city in Italy. The cities we went to were so walkable, with the train stations centrally located, which makes it easy. We bought train tickets as we went as well - they have automated machines which make it easy. That reminds me of when we purchased our tickets to Siena. It was pretty busy, and I was wading through the ticket menus to get our seats, etc. The old lady was behind us, and suddenly she starts helping push buttons to speed things up, etc. I'm like WTF, but I guess maybe she's in a hurry, whatever. So I finish up getting the tickets, and she has her hand out now, looking all sad, asking for 1 euro for her "help" with the machine. All right old lady, well played. Gave her some spare change. So we rolled into Siena, which is one place where the train station is outside of town a bit. Our book recommended grabbing a bus, which sounded good because we didn't feel like walking 20 minutes uphill to the center of town. The challenge was, figuring out the bus schedules and where they were going was a little tricky when you don't know the street names and stops. Fortunately, there was another couple at the bus stop who were obviously facing the same dilemna. The wife basically would ask each bus driver if they were going to Piazza Gramsci, where we wanted to go. After a few "no's", we finally got on a bus that seemed to be a "yes". Or so we thought. Well, after looping around parts of the city for a few minutes, we realized the bus was heading out of town - to a town 10 miles away. After we realized this we had no choice but to get off at some deserted country road bus stop, and try to hop another bus back into town. Good times! You try figuring it out: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...4/Italy160.jpg After that detour, we finally made it into town and found our hotel. Siena is a very interesting medieval type of city, with really narrow streets. Lots of shopping, food, wine, etc, and really a ton of young Italian students as well. Average Siena street: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...4/Italy176.jpg The big draw in the city is the large Duomo and square in the middle of town (name always escapes me for some reason). It's a huge plaza with a bunch of restaurants and people essentially hanging out, living the Italian lifestyle. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...4/Italy169.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...4/Italy180.jpg So after checking out the square, we hit the streets to see some shops, etc. Mrs nolanfan is a dental hygienist, and was very excited to find a shop that carried dental supplies exclusively! She always has patients tell her they can't find any floss when they travel, dirty liars. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...4/Italy189.jpg We also found a couple of other good Truth in Advertising examples. Um, how much for cocktails? http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...4/Italy183.jpg Also, apparently to make pasta sexy, you just need alcohol. Lots, and lots of alcohol. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...4/Italy270.jpg That night, we went out to eat, and I had one of the most confounding meals of my life. It still toys with my emotions, I tell ya. We used a Rick Steves recommendation, and picked out a recommended bistro, which was supposed to feature some good food. So we were seated inside, and the waiting began. After getting our menus, we waited about 15 minutes before anyone came over to take our order. The guy running the place had been chatting it up with another table (also Americans), but was essentially ignoring us. So finally he comes over to order, and we try to place our order. We were ordering an appetizer, and when my wife tried to order a secondi, he stopped us. See, Italian menus are split up into appetizers, primi's, which are first courses, then secondi's, the heavier second course, with side dishes listed last. Traditional dining would dictate that you would eat in courses, but since it's a ton of food, most places will let you skip portions if you don't want them. For someone like my wife, there's no way she's going to eat a pasta dish and then want a filling steak dish after that, for example. Anyway, wasn't happening at this place. The guy starts explaining that can't order an appetizer and then go to a secondi, we have to get a primi, etc. Now, if the place was packed and busy I can sort of understand his logic, need to maximize the use of the table, etc. But it was early in the dinner hour, and the place wasn't that busy. So he leaves, and doesn't come back to take our order again for another 10 minutes or so. We decide to skip the app, and my wife gets a tuscan soup for primi, and braised beef for secondi. I get a ravioli, and a wild boar dish. And because some of the names are hard to pronounce, I make sure to point to the menu where appropriate. The food finally comes out, and it's fantastic. My ravioli was a cheese and vanilla dish, which was an interesting taste combination, and really excellent. Then our secondi's come out, and the runner brings me the wrong dish. I try to explain I ordered the boar, and she takes it back. A minute or two later, the waiter BRINGS THE WRONG DISH BACK to the table, and explains to me that he thought I ordered that dish, and shows me his notepad where he wrote it down, like that will somehow convince me "you know, you're right, I really did mean to have the rabbit, I'll just take that instead". He begrudgingly took the dish back, and told me I'd have to wait now for a new dish, which I said was fine. Finally my meal came out, and again, the food was incredible! It was such a weird experience, because on one hand the service was incredible slow and rude, but on the other hand we were having a truly fantastic meal. I'm still conflicted about the meal, as you can see. The nice thing about eating in Italy is you don't have to worry about tipping in a situation like this![/nittyness] Wednesday Wednesday morning, we got up and had to make a run to the grocery store. After the Rome experience, I was looking forward to this again. This is where I discovered the awesome Italian alcohol section. Despite the fact that most other items are relatively expensive compared to the states, alcohol for some reason is fairly cheap. Case in point - This would be about $10 or $11 US - thank god this wasn't that cheap in college: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...4/Italy190.jpg One Euro Chuck? Take that California!! http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...4/Italy191.jpg There was also a sweet lemon flavored vodka that was about 4 euro for a 2-liter, it was sick. I was also excited to find something I had never seen before - the beer 3-pack!! This was about $1.50 US. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...4/Italy194.jpg After our shopping trip, we had lunch, and headed over to the Duomo to check out the church and tower where you can get a good view of the city. Outside of the Duomo, we spent a while watching people take pictures in front of it. European women are awesome, they come up with these really serious poses for their pictures, looking at the camera like they are just really disgusted that someone is taking their photo. Awesome pose example: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...4/Italy210.jpg We watched the picture taking display for a while, then checked out the church. Took a bunch of pictures inside, but they didn't turn out that great due to the lighting. Regardless, it's hard to not be impressed by the size and grandeur of the place. Siena's Duomo has amazing marble inlay floors which we were lucky to see, because they're only uncovered for Aug-Oct. Next, we headed up the tower to catch some great views of the city. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...4/Italy263.jpg The view was really great, and you get such a sense of chaos looking at how the houses were built together, in a seemingly random pattern, that you can really feel what it must have been like in the middle ages in a place like Siena. Your author enjoying the sun, trying to get more tan than Dids: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...4/Italy260.jpg Unfortunately, as the day was ending, I started to get a migraine headache. This happens occasionally to me when I don't get enough sleep, and the jet lag took a little toll. Point of the story - with little appetite, we decided to just grab a snack, and stumbled onto the one location where you can see the greatest concentration of Italian locals - McDonalds. Seriously, the place was pretty packed, and there were basically no tourists in the place. And, the decor was really nice, like it was some sort of fancy modern bistro, compared to a US McDonalds. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...4/Italy274.jpg Weird stuff! Thus ended our trip to Siena. We went to bed, and planned for an early departure to our next stop - Florence, home of many Daryn look-a-likes. |
Re: Italy trip report (long, with pics)
mmm i loved Siena. And Cinghiale (wild boar) is great. Shame to hear about the haughtiness.
I much preferred Siena to Florence. |
Re: Italy trip report (long, with pics)
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After refreshing ourselves, we headed back to our hotel, and found a little grocer for lunch. Picked up a couple of awesome panini's and beers, which were great. We were loving Italy so far. [/ QUOTE ] You drank BEER in Italy. Heresy! |
Re: Italy trip report (long, with pics)
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[ QUOTE ] After refreshing ourselves, we headed back to our hotel, and found a little grocer for lunch. Picked up a couple of awesome panini's and beers, which were great. We were loving Italy so far. [/ QUOTE ] You drank BEER in Italy. Heresy! [/ QUOTE ] No way, beer is big over there too. It was funny though, basically every cafe or bar I saw over there had the exact same selection of beer, with a few exceptions - Peroni, Moretti's, Budweiser, Heinekin, and Ceres. Don't worry, we had plenty of wine, I'm getting to that. |
Re: Italy trip report (long, with pics)
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mmm i loved Siena. And Cinghiale (wild boar) is great. Shame to hear about the haughtiness. I much preferred Siena to Florence. [/ QUOTE ] Yeah, the boar was really excellent. Siena was fun, I think it would have been more fun without the migraine, we didn't get a chance to just hang out in the square that much that night. Florence of course is the next part of the trip. It's so hard to compare cities because they're just so different, but I probably prefer Florence if we could go back again. |
Re: Italy trip report (long, with pics)
Great report so far! My wife and I took a similar trip in Sept. 2001. We also followed Rick Steves' tour books. I can't wait to see your TR on Cinque Terre. There's a good chance you stayed in Vernazza and possibly in the same place we did. Anyhow, keep up the good work, thanks for bringing back the good memories.
P.S. Our photo album probably looks 95% like yours (different people, of course). |
Re: Italy trip report (long, with pics)
oh yeah forgot - i am subscribed to a Rick Steves podcast thing, is he good? haven't listened to any yet, get em once a week, just thought i'd get a heads up.
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Re: Italy trip report (long, with pics)
This is a great trip report, and reminds me of everything I liked about Rome: Trevi Fountain, Castel Sant'Angelo, St. Peter's, the food, random amazing sculptures on every other street corner.
Great stuff, keep it coming. |
Re: Italy trip report (long, with pics)
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oh yeah forgot - i am subscribed to a Rick Steves podcast thing, is he good? haven't listened to any yet, get em once a week, just thought i'd get a heads up. [/ QUOTE ] I've gone to about 5 countries following his recommendations. My wife and I are very happy/impressed with the recommendations. We first learned about him through his television shows, but we have purchased a number of his travel books. One thing I am curious about: One of his main attractions is finding attractions, lodgings, etc. of the beaten path. For example, Cinque Terre is presented as a good alternative to the Amalfi Coast and it is less "touristy." However, (and Steves would probably acknowledge this) some of his places have fallen victim to the very publicity he gives. I have heard that Cinque Terre is now like going to Disneyland, unless you are willing to take your chances and go after Sept. 15 (I was there in 2001 and it was a little crowded in early September). So ... I wonder if he removes locations/add new ones to reflect this phenomena. |
Re: Italy trip report (long, with pics)
Eccezionale!
(Outstanding!) |
Re: Italy trip report (long, with pics)
Nice report so far! I spent two weeks in Italy this past May. It was the best trip of my life.
Comments: - Oh, the cheap wine and booze. I expected the cheap wine, but I was dismayed to find the scotch prices so low. $35 for a bottle of Oban? $39 for lagavulin? Dammit, I came here to drink wine, not scotch! - You have to love that can walk into any decent restaurant, order the house wine, and obtain a lovely glass of wine incredibly cheap. - pictures in the Sistine. In my experience, the picture taking was pretty much rampant, not limited to just the Japanese tourists. It made me sad. - Did you miss the Pantheon in Rome? This was one of the big highlights of my trip, it was so very cool to come around the corner and all the sudden you're confronted with this huge building that's almost 2000 years old and incredibly well maintained. - I wish I had made it to the Borghese. - meat on a stick? standard in MN. - that strip of shops along the walk to the spanish steps... my wife decided to go look at purses along there. While I'm waiting outside, they come up and lock the door. Hmm... this doesn't bode well for me. It was only unlocked when it was time for me to come in and pay [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] - Siena duomo, the marble floors were uncovered in May, and they were incredible. I didn't explore every duomo we came across, but that one was my favorite by far. Was the big ass crane still on top of the building? |
Re: Italy trip report (long, with pics)
What a great place Siena is! We too had trouble figuring out how to get into town on the bus, but managed to do it somehow. Your pictures are great, but don't do the piazza justice (no picture can); it's one of the great public spaces in the world.
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Re: Italy trip report (long, with pics)
Ready for next part , Great so far ...
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Re: Italy trip report (long, with pics)
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Re: Italy trip report (long, with pics)
Florence
So, with the migraine behind me, we awoke on Thursday morning and hopped a bus to Florence. Bus is much easier than train apparently, because the train schedules out of Siena are limited, so the bus is actually faster. The ride to Florence was smooth, takes about 75 minutes. Or at least it was smooth until we got into the city, and discovered the joy of Florence traffic and streets. It was incredible, the streets are so narrow and the bus driver is taking us down alleys, side streets, barely making it around corners with this thing, like it was an F-1 car. But, we managed to make it to the station and headed to our hotel. Our hotel was south of the river Arno, about a 10 min walk from the station. Stashed our bags in our room, and headed out to check out the town. Couple of early shots: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...4/Italy291.jpg Another view of the Ponte Vecchio, from the other side: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...4/Italy286.jpg The Ponte Vecchio was pretty packed, with tons of merchants selling the same gold jewelry stuff. Had to navigate a ton of flocks of sheep here - Florence seemed to be the busiest city for tours while we were there. We had a reservation for the Uffizi Gallery for 1:30, so we searched out a place to eat while we walked around and waited. Florence is a great city to window shop, as we saw row after row of big name fashion designer or clothing line. Everything from Dolce, to Hermes, to Tiffany, to whatever, it seemed like every high-end store we've ever heard of was there. Again I thanked my luck that the mrs isn't really into shopping. For lunch, we found this little hole-in-the wall place that Rick Steves mentioned. And it was really a hole-in-the wall - just two guys behind a small counter, making 27 different kinds of fresh sandwiches for 2.50 euro. They also sold small glasses of wine, so we grabbed some sandwiches and a spot on the curb, and sat down to people watch for a while. Smallest. Restaurant. Ever. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...4/Italy276.jpg After lunch we hit the Uffizi Gallery. The Uffizi is a huge gallery, with some key Bottichelli's, Rafael's, and other Italian greats. Reservations are key - this helps you avoid the long lines to get in, and like the Borghese, they only let in a certain number at a time. Our hotel made the reservation for us, and did the same for the Accademia, where we went the next morning. The Uffizi is pretty cool, although it's larger and a little more impersonal than the Borghese was. Specifically, the audio guide was not as good, and I think we wish we had brought along a book or something to follow along with, to pick out the key items in each room. So while the art was once again great, the real highlight occured in one of the last rooms. I was checking out some paintings (madonna and child, obv), when I turned around to see AFRODREDMULLET MAN!!!!! We were pretty excited by this development, and since you can't take pictures inside the gallery, we did what any rational person would do. We followed him outside when we left. Behold, kind of a crappy pic on the fly, but you get the idea. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...4/Italy303.jpg Better shot. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...4/Italy304.jpg Buoyed by this exciting development, we got a second wind and headed over to check out the Duomo di Santa. Just your average church from the outside: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...4/Italy302.jpg Seriously though, the church was once again amazing. You could run a few full court basketball games in the thing it seemed. The highlight of the Duomo is of course the large dome. Legend has it that when they built the church, back in the 1100s or 1200s, they didn't even know how to build a dome of that size yet, but they built the church anyway, assuming that some Italian would figure it out. Gotta love that confidence! Here's a pic of the inside of the dome. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...4/Italy327.jpg After checking out the Duomo, we wandered back across the water to our side of the river, and searched out a place to eat. Found an awesome little neighborhood place, I think it was called Trattoria Sambino, or something like that. Handwritten menus if I remember correctly, and incredibly cheap prices - pastas were 3 or 4 euros, with secondi's being essentially the same. 1/2 litre of house wine for like 3 euros. The food was really simple, but fresh, and fast, and we had a great time. Friday Friday morning, we got up for an early date with The David. Headed out from our hotel and hit a little cafe for the standard Italian breakfast - coffee and a croissant or brioche. We were certainly starting to get used to Italian living. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] The Accademia, where The David is housed, is another place that you're better off with reservations, which once again our hotel set up. I really recommend that, obviously. The museum itself starts out slow, with a couple of rooms with some paintings, etc. Then, you enter this long gallery hallway, and BAM, there's David down at the end. The hallway gallery contains Michaelangelo's Prisoners, 4 unfinished sculptures that look like people trying to escape from the marble blocks. The whole thing is really impressive, and seeing David at the end of the hall was a lot more impactful than I had expected. By the time you get down to the end of the hall, you're pretty amazed when you see the statue up close and personal. Or at least I was. First, the statue is huge - much larger than I expected. And the level of detail is pretty incredible, much like the Bernini scuptures we saw. Overall, I really found myself awed by the work, and can certainly understand - OK, I see what the hype is about. The rest of the gallery is impressive as well, but after that seeing another 20 Madonna's and child paintings just doesn't have the same impact. After we left, we went and checked out the Science Museum. This was pretty cool, it was nice partially just because it wasn't busy, so you don't feel as rushed to move through the rooms. Specifically they have some cool early telescopes from Galileo, along with all sorts of different scientific equipments. Certainly worth checking out if you're a science nerd at all. Next we crossed the river and headed south to Michaelangelo's plaza. This is a plaza overlooking Florence, which has some nice views. Not a bad hike up the stairs at all, and a good place to relax and take it all in. Florence: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...4/Italy345.jpg The ol' nolanfans (note me rocking the awesome tourist white tennis shoes): http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...4/Italy355.jpg That night we went out for our one and only organized tour of the trip. It was a small walking tour through a group called Context Travel, who specialize in smaller group tours that are a little more informal and off the beaten path. For our tour, we actually toured south of the river a bit, into the Artesan district, and learned all about the history of the Medici dynasty in Florence. One of the tour draws was that it ended at a local wine bar for a glass of wine. While walking around, we found a great example of the skill needed to park your car in Florence. Not for the parallel-parking-faint-of-heart: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...4/Italy378.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...4/Italy377.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...4/Italy376.jpg That last one is the best, haha. Tour was fun, and we actually spent a while at the wine bar, chatting with some of the other couples. One of them, a couple of Australians, had on some Ironman gear, so we got talking about running, and my upcoming marathon. These folks were on quite a trip themselves - after Italy they were going to Croatia, for some sort of a tour where you SWIM from island to island in the Adriatic. Sicko's! We had a great time talking though, and it once again confirmed my theory that in social situations, you basically can't go wrong with people from Australia. Afterward, we headed out to find something to eat again. The problem was, this time around we were out somewhat late, and most places were pretty packed. We did find Borgo Antico, which Daryn recommended, because he used to live above it. Couldn't get in for a while, but we did snap a pic. Just imagine one of the many faces of Daryn peering out the window! http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...4/Italy393.jpg Next, we hit the sack and I set the alarm for a nice and early 4:45 am. Wait, am I on vacation or not? Well, unfortunately, my long run of the trip - and last one for my marathon training - awaited. Saturday So the alarm went off, and I got up, prepping myself for a nice 18 mile run around Florence. I had mapped out a basic route around the city, loaded up my Camelbak, and headed out. The first loop around the back end of the city was pretty easy. Then I crossed south again, and started climbing the back hills south of the city. Probably had about a mile and a half stretch of uphill running, which was tough, but OK. Eventually the sun just started to creep up, casting this awesome hue of light over the city, which I could see through my run in the hills. Very cool. Well, things were cool until about mile 12, when I ended up back in my neighborhood, with 6 miles to go, and no route left to run. Hence my approximation of my route on this map: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...lorencerun.jpg I ended up stopping just short of 18 - one, because the uneven roads, sidewalks, and cobblestone streets were just beating the [censored] out of me, and two, because we had more important things to get to - like the Cinque Terre. So, limping my ass back to the hotel, we packed up and headed out for our next destination: Riomaggiore. |
Re: Italy trip report (long, with pics)
gogogogogo NolanFan!
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