Just Returned From Italy

realtraveller · #1 07-08-2007, 03:56 PM

Random thoughts while jet lagged of things I hadn't realized before about Italy:

1. There is too much graffiti everywhere. Milan was especially bad.

2. Everyone smokes on the street, but thankfully not in restaurants, except in the outdoor parts.

3. Food is horribly expensive as is housing. A small plate of pasta is $14. A two bedroom apartment in a so-so section of Rome costs 600,000 to 700,000 euros. Add 40% and you get the figure in dollars.

4. Restaurant portions are much more reasonable than here. Perhaps as a result the Italians aren't as fat as we are. The Roman women were really fashionably dressed. The Americans in our group always looked like they were going to the gym.

5. Traffic is really bad. Public transportation is really crowded.

6. There were thousands of tourists everywhere. Lines for the Vatican museum were horribly long as were lines for the Uffizi Gallery, San Marco in Venice and just about every well known site.

7. Litter is a major problem.

8. Italians venerate their fashion designers like movie stars.

It's a beautiful country and I had a fabulous time. The history, archeology, art and food are wonderful. Rome was the most beautiful of the places we went (Florence, Venice, Milan and the Amalfi Coast).

Travel is a wonderful thing. It really opens your eyes. In many respects, I've come home with a greater appreciation of this country.

**mjfrombuffalo**[$] · #2 07-08-2007, 05:55 PM

Welcome back!

realtraveller · #3 07-08-2007, 07:13 PM

Thanks, I'm crashing this pm from jet lag. Delta delayed the flight 2 1/2 hours in Rome, 2 hours in Cincinnati, 1 hour on the tarmac at LAX and 1 hour to get the luggage. Delta added 61/2 hours to an already 15 or 16 hour travel time.

Glad to be back to e-mailing and reading online. The Euro computers are slower and the keyboard is different making typing difficult.

mtbat · #4 07-08-2007, 07:18 PM

it sounds like fun-

**mtomm**[$] · #5 07-08-2007, 08:56 PM

Glad you had a nice trip and that returned safely if not slowly.

**thinkerlady**[$] · #6 07-08-2007, 09:08 PM

Welcome back.

**hadassahchana**[$] · #7 07-08-2007, 10:55 PM

WElcome back! Are you going to post pictures for us? I can't wait to see.

And I know what you mean about the keyboards. Pippa had to tell me how to stop getting the pounds stirling sign when I was posting fromt he UK.

**conradd** · #8 07-08-2007, 11:02 PM

Sounds like a great trip! Love to hear more about it.

**theworm**[$] · #9 07-09-2007, 12:06 AM

Sounds great!
The jetlag sucks, but the travel is great!
Rome is my favorite city! I love Italy!!

realtraveller · #10 07-09-2007, 12:17 AM

Well, the photos. We took about 1,000 (literally). You can just shoot away with a digital camera without worrying about all the costs of film and developing.

So I took photos of the lovely gelato stands, of the little corner shrines, every crumbled ruin of Pompeii (and the pornographic mosaics in the Pompeii brothel), the Venetian canal from my hotel balcony, everything.

It was all wonderful.

Most thrilling site: St. Mark's Square, Venice.

Most beautiful city: Rome with it's wide boulevards, and area pedonales (that's pedestrian areas) which makes it a very walkable city. Ancient ruins, obelisks, and Baroque fountains.

Best food: Proscuitto e melone. That's a salt cured ham wrapped around cantaloupe. Unfortunately, you can't bring proscuitto back into the U. S.

Fun ride: The chair lift on the Isle of Capri to the top of Mt. Solara. Fantastic views down high, sheer cliffs. The Emperor Tiberius is said to have thrown his enemies off those rocks.

Most helpful guidebooks: The Rick Steves guidebooks. A complete walk through of how to get around from the Metro stops to where the closest WC is, along with good restaurant suggestions and lots of art and history written in an amusing style.

We all had a great time. And the kids got so much out of it. It was a great experience.

**theworm**[$] · #11 07-09-2007, 12:21 AM

If you choose to share photos, I would LOVE to see them!
I haven't been in many years! I saw the porn at the bachelor pad in Pompei, but the brothel hadn't been excavated enough for the public to visit.
Rome is amazing - isn't it. I love the juxtaposition of old and ancient!

Uno · #12 07-09-2007, 07:00 PM

Quote:

realtraveller said

St. Mark's Square, Venice.
Rome
the Isle of Capri

How much time have you past in Italy?

realtraveller · #13 07-09-2007, 07:49 PM

Just two weeks, unfortunately.

BTW, the Naples garbage crisis posted on Current Events a few weeks ago must have been settled. There were no mountains of refuse in the streets.

Now back out to scout out Italian grocery stores for the perfect proscuitto.

**Prepoia**[$] · #14 07-09-2007, 08:28 PM

Boarshead is actually quite good if they don't carry authentic.

Uno · #15 07-10-2007, 04:34 PM

Quote:

realtraveller said

Just two weeks, unfortunately.

BTW, the Naples garbage crisis posted on Current Events a few weeks ago must have been settled. There were no mountains of refuse in the streets.

a scandal, in the 2007 those things cannot happen....

Quote:

realtraveller said

Now back out to scout out Italian grocery stores for the perfect proscuitto.

The better Italian prosciutto (raw, ham) is Parma, S.Daniele, Sauris (beatifull small town in mountain)
this are name of little town where this prosiutti (plural) are produced.
In english i creed that could be said prosciutto made in Parma, made in S.Daniele etc etc.
This have brand (or certificate) D.O.C (of origin controlled) that it means that from to very many years are always made in a sure studied way... one similar what certificate I.S.O in the alimentary field. Also many vini (wine) have the same brand/certificate.
perhaps i have bores to you

**hadassahchana**[$] · #16 07-10-2007, 06:12 PM

Here we can get authentic prosciutto. We still have a lot of the tiny Italian grocery stores which sell just a treasure trove of wonderful foods from Italy. They even sell Italian flour, which the ladies who shop there tell me is completely different from ours. I haven't bought any, but I could live from their cheese and meat section.

realtraveller · #17 07-10-2007, 07:27 PM

Whole Foods sells proscuitto from Iowa! (?) I'm giving it a try tonight with melon.

Uno · #18 07-12-2007, 08:19 AM

Quote:

realtraveller said

Whole Foods sells proscuitto from Iowa! (?) I'm giving it a try tonight with melon.

very summer food, rich of vitamins and useful substances.

I do not know if you know also the "caprese", is tomato cut to slices with up 'mozzarella' (kind of Italian cheese originally made from buffalo's milk)
seasoned with olive oil, basil (Ocimum basilicum) and kitchen salt.
for a lunch or one dinner (supper?) good and light

P.s. from what i write could seem that task always to eat

in truth i eat little

frazzledspice · #19 07-12-2007, 11:44 AM

What a great trip! Can't wait to see your pictures.