italyIt's Your Hour - Use it Wellby leelefever (General | america | americana | italy | traveltips | USAroadtrip06) I suppose this is our 23rd time zone crossing of the year, into New Mexican Mountain Time and out of Texan Central Time. Remaindered Italy Photosby leelefever (General | italy | photos | town)We saw a lot on the latter part of our road trip in Italy, but moving around so fast it's hard to say too much. Luckily photos say more than we can (some say up to 1000 words!) So, here goes... Italy in photos. We can't talk about the Italy trip without mentioning our silver companion: An Alfa Romeo 147 without which little would be possible. Oh the places we would go. After Rome we headed to the west coast and to Lucca and Vernazza which is part of Cinque Terre. Lucca, like so many small medieval places, oozes charm... From there, it was off to Vernazza, a tiny coastal village whose main focus now is tourism - lots of it.
Vernazza led us through an area called Carrera where they pull huge chunks of marble out of the mountains. We got a piece of statuario marble in the shape of a cheese slicer - which is why we needed to use the Itailian Post Office.
And the drive back to Milan took us through Rapallo... And we can't mention Italy without a nod to a woman we met on the train to Switzerland. She spoke Italian, French and Spanish, but hardly a word of English. Yet, she charmed us with her Itialian gesticulations. I bet she lives to be a hundred and five. Siena, Italy: A City Preservedby leelefever (General | city | italy | photos | siena)I never thought about it during the first day there, but We were wandering and visibly excited (I’m sure) to be experiencing one of the most atmospheric cities on the trip. These cities are not practical for cars and thankfully, there were few. It’s rare to see a car parked within the walls and only regulated commercial cars run about consistently. This makes the cities very pedestrian-friendly and protective of their 12th century buildings. After a day of wandering, Sachi mentioned that if you looked at the city’s appearance from a modern perspective, I soon realized that Plaster crumbles and paint fades. Stone pavement covers nearly the whole surface as life finds a foothold among windowsills. Rusted horse ties, broken street lights and powerful doors adorn a city preserved. The city leaves us both comparing the ways in which historical cities and sites are managed. Compare this to many of Adventures with Poste Italianeby leelefever (General | home | humor | italy | milan) Sending packages home is how we manage to stay light, and usually it is not a problem. China, Vietnam and many other unexpected places make it a smooth, albeit paperwork laden, operation. On Love and Gelatoby leelefever (General | food | italy | rome) All gelato is not made equal. Its hard to tell until that first lick - when it desolves and leaves a sweet silky smooth taste in your mouth. You can feel the love when it's real. Today I met my new favorite - pine nut ice cream. I'm still feelin the love. Italian Halloweenby leelefever (General | humor | italy | rome)I'm not so sure this costume would go over too well in the US. That is unless you wanted to go as a Ku Klux Klansmen, which is surely one of the worst costume ideas ever. Meet a Roman: Robin Goodby leelefever (General | blogger | italy | newfriends | rome) I've known Robin through the Web for a few years now, but this is the first time we've met in person. When Rome came up on the itinerary, I looked forward to seeing Robin and he has been an amazing host. Last night we had a great dinner in the neighborhood where he grew up (near the Vatican). As an added bonus, we got aquainted with what he called "Tobasco Place", where he and his friends used to dance alone at 3am to Earth Wind and Fire on top of columns around Castle St. Angelo back in the day. From the picture above, you can tell Robin is full of personality and spice - I could totally see him busting a move out there. Today we get on motorbikes with his brother to "see places no tourist sees". Sounds like the Rome we'd love to see. Venice in Photosby leelefever (General | city | italy | photos | venice)Sorry to rush into this, but Venice is fairly self-explanatory...not off the beaten track by any means, but one of my favorite places. This was my third visit and Sachi's first, so I tried to play guide as best I could. here are the photos... Yup, that's UPS - and DHL has boats too... Venice Underwaterby leelefever (General | city | italy | venice)Most people agree that Venice, Italy is sinking, but it's only about a few millimeters a year. The real problem is that the water is rising more and more each year. We were surprised to arrive and find that a great deal of the city was inaccessible due to floodwaters. This short video is not our smoothest effort, but does show you what was happening...
This article has more info. Want Oneby leelefever (General | car | italy | transportation)We've seem these little "Smart" cars all over Europe - especially in Germany and Italy. They cost about USD 6-8,000 and we've been curious about their gas milage. Seems pretty smart to me. ![]() |