Italy trip report (long, with pics)

[RJT]

Nolan,

Been enjoying your TR. A few comments/questions.

Getting back to Rome – glad you went to the Broghese gardens and museum. Great stuff – love Bernini.

Did you see the Pantheon, my favorite site in Rome?

You mentioned Campo de Fiore – used to be a lot of strung out druggies there – still? Although, in Italy one isn’t worried about getting accosted like most big cities. Worse fear in Italy is pickpockets.

Did you get to Piazza Navona (hopefully, at night) – kinda touristy, but great place – it’s really cool at Christmas time - Bernini fountain of the Four Rivers in the center of the piazza– hope you didn’t miss it.

I’d have a hard time choosing between Rome and Florence. Rome is ancient and still has all the hustle and bustle of the big city. Never a dull moment. I can walk it endlessly. In Florence one steps back in time (almost literally it seems) to the Renaissance. Did you notice how relatively quite the city is, I mean for a fairly large city? It is nice to go from the electric Rome to Florence for some quiet down time. (Fwiw, Donatello's David is probably my favorite in Florence. Well, if we exclude Michaelangelo's.)

I never got to the Cinque Terra, so look forward to that part of your TR. (And hearing about Adsman and his new venture.)

RJT

[daryn]

very cool man.. so sick to see pics of santo spirito with borgo antico, hot!

[plzleenowhammy]

the parking pictures put me on tilt.. i couldn't even imagine doing that

[HammerinHank]

Great TR. My wife and I went 12 years ago, before we had kids. In fact our daughter may have been conveived there! Loved Siena, Florence, everything. Looking forward to hearing about the Cinque Terra. Hope it isn't over run.

The key to eating in Italy. Get away from the tourists spots and find a small spot packed with locals. Go in and enjoy. Always get the house wine.

I broke the house wine rule once. The first week we spent in Orvieto, a smallish hill town, where my wife had a conference for work. Orvieto is famous for it's white wine. I was having lunch and wanted red wine. The waiter was explaning something to me but I didn't understand. Turns out he was telling me I couldn't get a glass of red, only a bottle. A table of local young guys were amused by this scene and I could tell from my limited Italian that I was the butt of their jokes. To save my honor I drank about 2/3 of the bottle with my lunch! I corked the rest and hit the streets. When my wife caught up with me later that afternoon I was in a very good mood.

[nolanfan34]

[ QUOTE ]
Nolan,

Been enjoying your TR. A few comments/questions.

Getting back to Rome – glad you went to the Broghese gardens and museum. Great stuff – love Bernini.

Did you see the Pantheon, my favorite site in Rome?

[/ QUOTE ]

We unfortunately didn't get to go inside the Pantheon. One reason that Rome can't really be done in a day and a half. We did go by it on our evening walk, so we got to check it out from the outside, but didn't go inside.

[ QUOTE ]
You mentioned Campo de Fiore – used to be a lot of strung out druggies there – still? Although, in Italy one isn’t worried about getting accosted like most big cities. Worse fear in Italy is pickpockets.

[/ QUOTE ]

I didn't see any druggies or anything there. It seemed pretty tame I thought, but who knows later at night. You do certainly see a lot of people hanging around drinking. Daryn's old neighborhood in Florence was a little sketchier, haha.

As for pickpockets, that's a good point. Rick Steves really stresses this in his book. We both ended up buying moneybelt things, that basically you tuck under your clothes in the front of your pants. Worked really well, and really I never felt like I was unsafe at any part of the trip. And hey, I can't say that's the case walking the strip in Vegas sometimes.

[ QUOTE ]
Did you get to Piazza Navona (hopefully, at night) – kinda touristy, but great place – it’s really cool at Christmas time - Bernini fountain of the Four Rivers in the center of the piazza– hope you didn’t miss it.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think we did, but everything kind of blends together at this point.

[ QUOTE ]
I’d have a hard time choosing between Rome and Florence. Rome is ancient and still has all the hustle and bustle of the big city. Never a dull moment. I can walk it endlessly. In Florence one steps back in time (almost literally it seems) to the Renaissance. Did you notice how relatively quite the city is, I mean for a fairly large city? It is nice to go from the electric Rome to Florence for some quiet down time. (Fwiw, Donatello's David is probably my favorite in Florence. Well, if we exclude Michaelangelo's.)

I never got to the Cinque Terra, so look forward to that part of your TR. (And hearing about Adsman and his new venture.)

RJT

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, I didn't mention it in my post specifically, but one of the reasons we liked Florence so much was that feeling that you are in old-time Europe. Having not been to Europe before, it was certainly more of the feel I had always imagined in my mind.

Can't go wrong with a city like Rome though.

Forgot to upload more pics last night, so the Cinque Terre report will be slightly delayed. It should be a good report though, and I'll certainly address the question of how busy it is and offer some thoughts!

[Yeti]

hey nolan, very sweet thread so far. i loved florence and this trip report has really made me want to go back and check out siena and other places. can't wait to see the remaining parts, nice job.

[SossMan]

awesome TR so far. I can't believe you saw the afro-dred-mullet man! Is it an epidemic there?

[OrangeCat]

Great TR man. I just came back from Italy 3 days ago.

Flew to Rome, train to Florence, stayed 3 nights. There was a museum worker strike one day so we didn't get to see the Academia. Bummed I didn't see the David.

We hired a car and drove to the Chainti region. Stayed there 4 nights. That was really cool. Much different than Napa. Drove to Rome and stayed there 4 nights.


What did you think of the line at the Vatican? Yikes!

IMO, the Borghese was the best art on the trip.

[RJT]

I wanted to post this pic of Bernini’s Apollo & Daphne, but I’m not very swift on linking pics. NH.

I also wanted to post the following – if someone can do it before I figure it out, that would be cool:

Bernini’s David
Michelangelo’s David
Donatello’s David.

[AK Fisher]

Great trip report... We really loved the food , The train ride from Paris was great . The trains are really nice way to see the country...

Looking forward to the rest of the story ...