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Author Topic: Italy  (Read 13389 times)

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theinevitable

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Italy
« on: June 06, 2016, 04:09:50 pm »
So, at the end of this month I am going to Italy. My parents are both turning 60 this year, and in addition my maternal grandparents announced that soon they will be too old to go on any more trips. So the whole maternal side of the family is renting a big house in Italy near Florence and going for a week. Very excited.

Any of you suckers been to Italy? I am planning on making a 1 or 2 day trip down to Rome. Otherwise my schedule is open.

We are going to be staying exactly as far from Florence (in travel time) as I live from NYC. I cannot escape commuter trains. But I think I can handle riding a train in Italy for an hour and looking out the window. Actually that sounds kind of great. Probably prettier than the parts of Jersey that I see from the train.
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jaydub

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Re: Italy
« Reply #1 on: June 06, 2016, 05:00:21 pm »
Rome, Florence, Venice, along with side trips to the Vatican, Pisa and Milan - all in 1987 during the summer after my HS senior year.  I really liked all 3 places, and would gladly have gone back many times.
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Carlos del Vaca

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Re: Italy
« Reply #2 on: June 06, 2016, 05:13:14 pm »
I have never been. But my mother, after retiring, got hooked up with volunteer/charity work in Italy through her church. First at an orphanage in Naples, which sadly closed after people embezzled funds from it. Then at a Protestant retreat center thing near Florence. She's gone almost every year for about ten years now. And she's audited Italian classes at local colleges. (We do not have a drop of Italian blood in us. Nonetheless, when we get a postcard from her on one of these trips, I shout "It's-a from Grandmama, in Eetaly!")

So, she's been around. It sounds pretty fantastic overall. I know I would eat like eight meals a day if I went.

From what I can recall her saying, the trains are usually fine, but there's sometimes a transit strike that can leave you stranded.

If you have specific questions, I can pass them on.
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wombat

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Re: Italy
« Reply #3 on: June 06, 2016, 05:35:08 pm »
Go to Pompeii and Herculaneum for me. I'm sure they're going to be covered up by another volcanic eruption someday and I will kick myself that I never went.
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AugustWest

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Re: Italy
« Reply #4 on: June 07, 2016, 03:14:43 am »
Rome, Venice and Turin in 1985.  I was 19 and it was beautiful.
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theinevitable

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Re: Italy
« Reply #5 on: June 07, 2016, 03:35:03 am »
I went to Italy when I was 14 or 15, I am really interested to see it almost 15 years later when I have learned to appreciate... pretty much everything... a lot more.

Ordered a big new backpack today (maximum carry on dimensions). So pumped.
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pmcd9

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Re: Italy
« Reply #6 on: June 07, 2016, 07:20:59 am »
Quote from: Carlos del Vaca on June 06, 2016, 05:13:14 pm
So, she's been around. It sounds pretty fantastic overall. I know I would eat like eight meals a day if I went.

As you should.
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miles

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Re: Italy
« Reply #7 on: June 07, 2016, 05:24:47 pm »
You'll be in Italy, so there's no real reason you should do this, but if I were there I'd take some time to visit Croatia. I've never been to the region so don't know how long it would take to get there, but I want to visit Croatia so bad.
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KeithHernandez

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Re: Italy
« Reply #8 on: June 08, 2016, 08:29:12 am »
Dalmatian Islands?  In college a professor said its why Italy entered WWII?  There was probably more to it, but she definitely said it.
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theinevitable

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Re: Italy
« Reply #9 on: June 08, 2016, 04:32:36 pm »
Pompeii is really tempting. Maybe after I spend a day in Rome I can go down there for a day.
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miles

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Re: Italy
« Reply #10 on: June 08, 2016, 05:15:02 pm »
Quote from: Asherdan on June 07, 2016, 05:53:06 pm
I approve the Croatia sentiment. Inev will have to go back to Europe again shortly and tell us all about it.

(unless I get there first)

I was aiming for 2017 but looks like it'll be 2018 at the earliest.
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theinevitable

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Re: Italy
« Reply #11 on: June 12, 2016, 08:05:55 pm »
Talked to the fam about when we are doing whole-family things and it looks like I can't fit Pompeii in unless I skip Rome. This is a tough choice.
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wombat

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Re: Italy
« Reply #12 on: June 12, 2016, 09:11:14 pm »
Well, Pompeii is more likely to have disappeared under a volcanic eruption again before you get another chance to visit. Wikipedia says the last time the volcanos near Rome erupted were in 40,000 BC and 5,000 BC. How the hell do they even know that? But anyway, I guess that is a weird way to decide.
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theinevitable

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Re: Italy
« Reply #13 on: June 12, 2016, 11:04:41 pm »
Hm. This decision seems less difficult now that I see that going to Pompeii directly would take 5 hours each way.
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theinevitable

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Re: Italy
« Reply #14 on: June 20, 2016, 12:23:26 am »
Plans have changed again. Going to Pompeii.

Just trying to figure out whether it's better to stay that night in Naples, or head back to Rome on a late train.
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Social pressures exist
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