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08-27-2014, 01:46 PM | #16 |
No Keys, No Problem
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Denver
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Just is Assassins Creed 2. Been to the San Marco, the Vatican, The Dumo..lol
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08-27-2014, 02:10 PM | #17 |
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Italy should be a fantastic trip. The Colosseum is a wonderful place to see. If you want to go below, you need to prepay/reserve a ticket that comes with a guided tour. If you just buy a ticket at the gate for an entrance, you have some restrictions on where you can go inside the colosseum.
There are so many great places in Rome to see, from the Vatican, to the Spanish steps, to the Forum (my personal favorite), to Trevi fountain, that there are plenty of sites to see. My wife and I were in Italy for 11 days total (5 Rome, 1 Orvieto, 3 Cinque Terre, and 2 Venice). My one suggestion for Rome, is to totally surprise your with wife this amazing experience. Take one of your days to visit the city of Orvieto, which is just outside of Rome by about 35-40 minutes. We went to a vineyard named Decugnano dei Barbi where this awesome italian grandmother gave us an italian cooking class for just my wife and me. You then get a five course meal, tons of wine, and it was probably the best meal I ever had in my life. It was not cheap, but it was definitely worth it and remains the most memorable day that I had in Italy. CP won't let me link, but go to the trip advisor site and research Decugnano dei Barbi if sounds interesting to you. Venice was my least favorite by far; it was kind of repetitive as a city, and I feel it's overrated as a vacation destination. You probably don't have enough time to get to Cinque Terre and Rome, but it is an incredible place if you do find the time. |
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08-27-2014, 02:14 PM | #18 |
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I've not been, but the one rule I've heard is to make sure you refer to the locals as "eye-talians", otherwise they get pissed
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08-27-2014, 02:16 PM | #19 |
Bono & Grbac wasn't enough
Join Date: Oct 2000
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Kind of like in France you refer to them as "ass-holes"?
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08-27-2014, 02:33 PM | #20 |
Would an idiot do that?
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Arizona
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http://www.romapass.it/p.aspx?l=en&tid=2
I'm not much on tours... on my last trip to Europe, some people in the group would spend 150 euro on a bus ride and guided tour, and I'd spend 20 euro on a train ride and ticket. My recommendation would be to do it yourself, then if you really want to hear the history, do the guided tours once you're at the sites. The tour buses and vacation packages really take away from the experience, IMO. Make your own route, wander the city at your own pace, get lost for a few hours. Research the bus tours and then do it yourself for a fraction of the cost and more adventure. On my last trip, we took a train from Rome to Naples/Pompeii as a day trip (iirc, we left Rome around 6am and got back around 6 or 7pm)... definitely worth it. Rome and Naples (and of course Pompeii) are all very walkable.... in Rome, you can hit the Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Colosseum, Spanish Steps, Forum, and museums in a day or two (with a lot of walking or by subway/taxi), and the Vatican is a quick subway/taxi ride.
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08-27-2014, 02:34 PM | #21 |
Mahomes or GTFO
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No, but my fiance studied there, and I've been to an Olive Garden. Ask me anything you need to know.
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08-27-2014, 02:35 PM | #22 |
Stay down bitch!
Join Date: Jun 2001
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I'm looking at going next year. Along with the usual touristy stuff, one of things that looks interesting to me is the car factories. The Ferrari museum and the actual factory where they build Lamborghinis are right next to each other. It's in Northern Italy by Bologna.
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08-27-2014, 02:40 PM | #23 |
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Been there a couple of times since it's not too far from where I live. Rome is a very nice (but hectic) city! I love the Tuscany: awesome and romantic towns (Florence, Siena, ..), great landscape and very very good wine and food!
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08-27-2014, 02:41 PM | #24 |
Gimme My Berries Back!
Join Date: Apr 2006
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I plan to go when I can go for an extended time like a month. Rent a villa in Tuscany or Umbria, take cooking lessons and painting—visit family in the south. That is if I feel safe enough. Ya' know from being robbed by any of them.
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08-27-2014, 03:37 PM | #25 |
PLAY GOOD FOOTBALL
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Spent a summer there for a college class one year, mostly in the Rome area. My professor was basically my personal tour guide every where we went so that was cool but my wife and I still did a lot of exploring on our own. The DK tour books are awesome highly recommend, Naples is a dirty sea port but worth the visit for the seafood and take the ferry to Capri for the day. Florence is a must get reservations for the Uffizi and the Accademia do you don't have to wait in line for hours. Drink lots of wine...
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08-27-2014, 03:55 PM | #26 |
Emporer of Mongo
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Milky Way
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Ive been a few times and YMMV but you might be better off doing 'your own thing' rather than booking a tour....
For example you could fly in and out of one city, and take a train to city #2 So it might look like this: Arrive at city #1, spend 2 nights, take a train to city #2 spend 3 nights, head back to city #1 on the train spending your last 2 nights and fly home. Maybe plan on doing a couple day trips etc....like 1 day trip from each city...(a trip you can easily book yourself through your hotel or a tourist (i)nformation center) Sometimes booking the tours and being with other people can be more 'work' than fun...but YMMV I prefer exploring the cities, checking out menus, leisurely looking at the cool areas of the town (usually downtown & markets) , buying some local booze, food and produce and spending my time where I want rather than being on a schedule.....smelling the smells finding things on your own, asking people in crappy italian, saying Grazi & prego in bad accent is all part of a better time to be had...IMO...getting a smile from someone who can tell youre really trying and surprising them that their stereotype of dumb americans is wrong....just sitting on the sidewalk in an outdoor cafe watching the people go by (hot italian asses) and taking it all in while you enjoy the local food.. Again, this is just my own personal taste and I know some people love the group tours....
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08-27-2014, 04:26 PM | #27 |
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My wife's family is from there and we go for Christmas/Easter to visit them every year or two.
I can give you some pretty detailed guidance on your trip if you want to skip the guided tour (which I highly HIGHLY recommend if you're open to it). The thing about Italy is that you can do it several different ways and none of them are wrong. You can go stand in line all day waiting to see the Colosseum with a bunch of smelly Russian tourists. You can eat at packed restaurants where the menus are in English, French, German, and Mandarin. You can stay in big hotels by the train station and take the bus to the main sites. You can avoid walking. You can not worry about what to eat. Or.... You can see an Italy that is no more real than those sights (anyone who says that the Pantheon or the Duomo or ponte vecchio isn't real italy is missing the point) and yet is so much richer, deeper, and absolutely life-changing. You need to answer a couple of questions first. 1. How fit are you? Do you mind walking? 2. What time of year do you want to go? 3. Do you care about art? Culture? Food? History? You can tailor your trip to focus on ANY of these and still not do enough. 4. How many cities do you want to see? 5. Is this likely your only trip there? 6. Are you religious? Italy has a wealth of religiously significant locations, artifacts, and sights. 7. Do you just want a picture of yourself in front of the Colosseum and a plate of spaghetti? Because here's the thing... Every city is different. They have a different culture. A different food. You don't eat lasagna in Rome. That dish is served in Bologna. It's like clam chowder or gumbo or barbecue - you might be able to find lasagna or amatriciana or risotta nero or egglplant parmesan (melanzane alla pamagiana ) but they'll be watered down, shitty versions of it. You don't get burnt ends in San Diego, you know what I mean? So, I have recommendations and a few amazing places that we've discovered over the years (How about a church in Rome, where you go down a flight of steps to the 4th century basilica they discovered it was built upon another church, then down ANOTHER flight of stairs to ANOTHER CHURCH they discovered - literally history on top of history on top of history). So, the biggest question you need to answer (besides how fit/able to walk) is how adventurous are you? Because the Italians are an amazingly hospitable, welcoming, inviting people. All of the stereotypes about the french? Italians are the oppposite. You wanna try to order in Italian? They love it. You wanna ask questions about food? They'll happily describe it (mostly with their hands) with genuine smiles. Now... that might be a little less true when you're in a packed tourist restaurant across from the Spanish steps, but that's just human nature. Regardless of your answers, let me just offer one irrefutable piece of advice... No matter what you do. No matter how you travel. No matter what your schedule. The first morning you are in Rome, you will likely be jetlagged. Instead of laying in bed, wishing you could sleep, get up. It's four in the morning? Get up. It's five AM and it's dark and freezing outside? Get up. Get dressed. Go outside, and walk to Campo dei Fiori. This is the traditional open air market grounds. (Wife and I had an apartment there - right above the square). Walking from Trevi Fountain (I recommend the Boutique Hotel Trevi, linked below) you will pass: The Trevi Fountain The Pantheon , Piazza Navona with the Quattro Fiume Fountain And ending up at Campo Dei Fiori: Most importantly, the campo will be quiet. Dark. The workers are setting up their tents. They're peeling carrots, setting out meats. Produce fresh off the truck. The coffee shops (called bars) are some of the best. They care about their espresso there, so these guys need the good stuff. They're working stiffs. The bars there (only 2 or 3) are excellent and cheap. Oh, and one of the best bakeries in all of ****ing Rome is there. Get a hunk of ANY bread and never look back. boutique hotel trevi - affordable, clean, and you CANNOT BEAT the location. http://www.booking.com/hotel/it/bout...ighlight_room= Last edited by saphojunkie; 08-27-2014 at 04:34 PM.. |
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08-27-2014, 04:27 PM | #28 |
Resident Glue Sniffer
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Get the crazy bread.
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08-27-2014, 04:37 PM | #29 |
Would an idiot do that?
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Arizona
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**** the French.
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08-27-2014, 04:40 PM | #30 |
Emporer of Mongo
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