I'm in Florence Italy and having a blast although it's raining, big deal, we're in Italy! Got in yesterday from Venice where we spent 3 nights.
Anyway, my wife is watching over my shoulder waiting to go see David...so I'd better go.
Ciao.
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
Hey, welcome to Old Europe. You ARE going to visit Rome, right? I have some requests for pictures queued up for when you do. B)
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
Enjoy Jay!
Posted by Balaam Xumucane (Member # 419) on :
Nice, Jay! Eat out. Enjoy!
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
If you visit Rome, you must yell out "I'M SPARTICUS!!!" at least once. It's required.
Posted by Pensive's Wetness (Member # 1203) on :
I have 3 "96 Hour" trips to Roma during my time stationed in Sicily. 9 hour drive with a rented Fiat with no 2nd gear to speak of, ending with chilling on the Spanish Steps with the college kids there. good times... Posted by Wraith (Member # 779) on :
Interesting use of tenses there...
Hope you're having a good time Jay!
Posted by Jay the Obscure (Member # 19) on :
Buon giorno from Siena!
Oh, my goodness, this place is cool!!
We just spent 3 nights in Florence and got in today from a night in Lucca.
Florence was AMAZING. The city, the food, the traffic (and I thought Los Angeles drivers were nuts).
Siena is awesome as well...Il Campo is breathtaking.
We're going to take a day trip to Pisa tomorrow to do the tower thing, and another night in Siena, and then off to Rome.
And yes, Cartman lad...well maybe...I think I can score some pictures for you. Post what you want and I'll see what I can do. I've got some great ones as it is. Some of Mrs. Jay waondering why she married this guy...2 weeks together can do that.
Anyway, we're having a blast!
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
Italy is something else. I try to get over there at least once a year, although I suspect the whole moving to the other side of the world thing may get in the way of that.
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
Cheers, Jay. I haven't been to Rome since 1998, but I did live there for a year, so while I couldn't tell you if my favorite pizzeria and coffee bar were still around, I could probably navigate you to most of the landmarks from memory.
Here goes. Start at Piazza di Spagna, walk down Via Condotti and onto Via del Corso (warning: traffic is MURDEROUS here), then south past Piazza Colonna, onto Via Delle Muratte to Piazza di Trevi, south again on Via del Luchessi and Via Pilotta, then west on Via Novembre and Via Cesare Battisti to Piazza Venezia, negotiate the stairs down to Foro Romano, hop onto Via Fori Imperiali (aka Mussolini Road) to Piazza del Colosseo, head down Via di Gregorio (or, if you're so inclined, make a small detour up Piazza di Maria Nova and Via di Onaventura for a really kickass view of Trastevere), along Via dei Cerchi and Circo Massimo, onto Piazza Rocca Verita and down Via Petroselli, onto Piazza di Savello, across Isola Tiberina onto Lungotevere Anguillara, back up over Ponte Garibaldi, follow the river westward along Lungotevere Vallati and Lungotevere Tebaldi up to Ponte Mazzini, then north onto Via Filippo Neri, Via Moretta and Via Cartari to Piazza Chiesa Nuova, and then head east down Via del Governo Vecchio and Via Pasquino until you reach Piazza Navona. Catch your breath, you're halfway through.
Now walk east some more down Via Staderari and onto Piazza di S. Eustachio, head north on Via Rotonda to Piazza della Rotonda, north again on Via Rosetta to Piazza Maddalena and Via Maddalena, west over Piazza Campo Marzio and Via Stelletta, then down Via Portoghesi and Via Dell'Orso to Piazza di Omberto, along Via Tor di Nona to Piazza Ponte S. Angelo, then cross Ponte Vittorio Emanuel II, west again over Borgo Spirito and onto Piazza San Pietro, head back east along Via Concilliazione, Lungotevere Vaticano, Lungotevere Castello and Lungotevere Prati, then cross Ponte Cavour onto Piazza Porto Ripetta and Via Tomacelli, and finally crawl the last few meters back to Piazza di Spagna through Via Condotti.
Oh, and don't take the bus or the subway unless you absolutely have to. Roman pickpockets are legendary. And try not to behave like a tourist, eh? B)
Posted by Jay the Obscure (Member # 19) on :
My obsrvations so far:
More people in Old "Yerp" needs to learn to speak English. We become the only world superpower and invade Iraq so I have to speak Italian in Italy!
I am, of course, only kidding. The language barrior hasn't been too bad...even when we and the other person share only a couple of words in common, the general pantomime thing works pretty well.
Traffic is crazy. I've been trying not to look out the front window while driving in a taxi cause I don't really want to see what's coming up. But despite all the pedestrians, cars, buses, scooters, tourists, locals...there is an amazing lack of accidents.
Trains are cool. We had intended to drive in to Tuscany from Florence, but decided against it when we got to the city. Other than needing to change trains at Empoli, the station we seem to spend a great deal of time at...and at Florence...the train situation has been great, on time, and a great deal less stress than trying to navigate around Siena.
My feet hurt! We walk all over the place and no one in Venice, Florence, Lucca, or Sienna circa 1400 thought to put in grass. Stone, stone, and more stone. It's getting to be rather rough on the peds of mine.
Food, good. Like there was any doubt.
Again, we're having a great time, and we're off to Rome tomorrow.
Posted by Jay the Obscure (Member # 19) on :
Oh, and Cartman, I'll have to run that walking tour by Mrs. Jay...she may have a thing to two to say about a thing or two. Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
.
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
Heh, I expect she might.
No, but since I was playing guide anyway, I thought I'd talk you through my old scenic route... I know it's much more fun to explore Rome on your own, but there are so many things to see that a few short days really aren't enough, so just believe me when I say you'll be covering a LOT of ground. B)
One place where you MUST make a pit stop though is Torre Argentina, Rome's cat sanctuary on Via Marco Papio (you can't miss it if you follow Via Plebiscito from Piazza Venizia). It's as awesome a sight as the Colosseum.
[ January 22, 2004, 09:20 AM: Message edited by: Cartman ]
Posted by Jay the Obscure (Member # 19) on :
I am home now....oh, I love my own bed!
My cats miss me...and I'm sick. Got a nice head cold the last day in Rome. It's really flowered today and I've pretty much been laying in bed watching television.
Anyway, my impressions of Rome later.
Oh, we went to see the cats....very cool.
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
Home sweet home, eh? You'll be going back before you know it. B)
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
Oh, God, you were so wise not to try driving. When we were there in September we drove in convoy from Venice to Tuscany, and it took all day. My father-in-law was miffed because my wife drove first, so he refused to drive and made her do almost the whole trip. Then he sat in the back seat and smoked the whole way, and bickered with Kate's wife. By the end of that day we knew we couldn't take a whole week of that - I was only there for the first half of the week because I had to come back to work, and Christ was I grateful for that! As it turned out, Kate couldn't take any more of it and insisted she wasn't going to let her husband go all the way back to the UK by himself, and so she came with me.
So, the upshot of that is, we got a train back to Venice to catch our flight. Had to change in Pisa and Florence, but it only cost us 60 Euros each, first class. A much nicer return journey. . .
But the whole thing was so fucked up. Kate's cousin lives over there, he organised the whole thing. . . And he knew we wanted to do some diving while we were there. We had about a one-day window of opportunity to do so given the time you have to wait between diving & flying, and it turned out we couldn't get anything sorted out. And he, and his Italian fiance's brother and sister-in-law who ran the place we stayed, were all like "well, if you'd let us know in advance. . ."
Actually, that reminds me - anyone know a good place to buy scuba gear in San Francisco or Seattle?
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
quote:Originally posted by Lee: Then he sat in the back seat and smoked the whole way, and bickered with Kate's wife.
I knew there was something odd about her...
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
Mother, dammit, mother. Or, his wife.
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
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