From: eeidsmoe@ncsa.uiuc.edu (Eric Eidsmoe)
Newsgroups: rec.travel
Subject: Italian Trip Summary
Date: 11 Nov 92 16:36:20 GMT
Organization: Dow Chemical
Originator: eeidsmoe@mars.ncsa.uiuc.edu

Our Trip to Italy

Overview:  My wife and I traveled in Italy 9/23-10/8.  We flew into Milan.
We also visited Verona, Venice, Bologna, Florence, Pisa, Rome, and Pompeii and
returned to the US from Rome.  We took trains between cities using an Italian
railpass (4 days unlimited travel within a 9 day span) and mainly toured the
cities on foot, with occasional half-day guided tours to get more background
and more easily see some sights.  This posting summarizes what we saw and
gives general impressions of the major sights.

Milan:  We arrived.  Our bags didn't.  It was a Thursday and we were told that
if we didn't receive our bags the next day it would be Monday before we'd get
them.  Evidently the delivery services don't work on weekends.  Our bags did
get there Friday though and they were delivered to our hotel.  The Duomo is the
most important attraction and if you can, climb up to the top.  You get a great
view of the city and of all the spires and scultures that are part of the
church.  The other important attraction is the Church of Santa Maria Delle
Grazie.  There you'll find The Last Supper by Leonardo DaVinci.  La Scala opera
house is worth a peek into and if you're interested, look into getting tickets
during the season, which I think starts in early December.  DaVinci Science
Museum is interesting, but it's tough to get much out of it unless you can read
Italian.  Sforza Castle is worth a visit if you have time.

Verona:  An interesting city.  We visited it on our way to Venice.  All major
train stations have a place to leave your bags.  It costs 1500 lira per bag.
We just dumped ours there and took a taxi to the area where most of the sights
were.  The market square, Piazza de Erbe, was a good place to start.  We
arrived at the wrong time to go inside the churches (most close from about 1 to
3 or 3:30) but the Arena is very impressive and "Juliet's House" was fun to
see.  The area along the river that flows through Verona was very scenic.

Venice:  Our favorite place on the trip.  The water buses can get you close to
all of the attractions.  Watch out for short-changing ticket sellers though!
St Marks Square is a good place to hang out in the evening and the Rialto area
is great for shopping.  We booked a group gondola ride through our hotel and
the rate (60,000 lira for the 2 of us for an hour) was about half of what you'd
pay on your own.  We enjoyed the Naval Museum and the other major churches (San
Giorgio Maggiore, San Giovanni e Paolo, Santa Maria del Frari) as well.  Take a
water bus ride from St Marks Square up past Rialto at night and just enjoy the
view.

Bologna:  We toured for an afternoon on our way down to Florence.  The Duomo is
about a 15 minute walk from the train station.  It's plain on the outside, but
typically ornate inside.  The two leaning towers are worth a visit and you can
climb up the taller one for a good view of the city.  San Stefano Church is
also very nice.

Florence:  Art, art, and more art.  The main cathedral, Michelangelo's David,
and Santa Croce Church (where Michelangelo, Galileo, and Machiavelli are
buried), and the Piazza della Signoria are  "must sees".  So probably is the
Uffizi Gallery, but we didn't get there since we encountered a one-day,
9:00-5:00 strike on the day we wanted to go there (our last in Florence).  By
that point we had seen enough paintings that our non-artistically oriented
brains weren't too upset.  We spent our admission-fee lira on ice cream
instead!  Similarly, we missed the galleries in the Pitti Palace.  Unless you
REALLY enjoy gardens, don't bother with Boboli Garden.  Maybe it's better in
the spring/summer...  If you can, go to the Piazzle Michelangelo.  You'll get a
great view of the whole city.  You'll also get a nice view from either the top
of the main cathedral or its bell tower.

Pisa:  An easy one-hour train ride from Florence, with trains leaving every
hour on the hour.  It's at least a mile from the Pisa train station to the
Leaning Tower.  We took a bus (#1 I think) and it was cheap -- only 1600 lira
for the two of us.  Unfortunately, our bus got in an accident (not serious) and
we ended up walking about half a mile anyway!  The whole "Field Of Miracles" is
spectacular.  The only thing that ruins it a little is all of the souvenir shops
that run beside the Field and even between the Baptistry and Cathedral!!  I'm
not sure the Cemetary is worth visiting but the rest certainly is.
Unfortunately, the Tower itself is currently closed to climbers.

Rome:  Our hotel was close to Termini train station, so we got pointed in the
right direction by the Tourist Info Office and walked there.  I'm not sure I'd
want to do that at night, but at 2:30 in the afternoon I felt safe.  The area
around the train station DEFINITELY is a little sleazy though.  We felt safe
walking around all over the city, even in all of the traffic, but we were a
little more on our guard near Termini.  The Vatican was very spectacular.  We
didn't allow enough time at the Vatican Museum (it closes at 1:45 during the
off months), so we rushed through to make sure we saw the Sistine Chapel.  We
attended a Papal Audience in the Audience Hall (only 15,000 people) and were
lucky enough to get seats very close to the center walkway.  The Pope enters
right down the middle and works the crowd for quite a while -- kissing babies,
letting people kiss his ring, etc.  Even though I'm not Catholic, it was still
exciting to be that close to him.  We got tickets by being a part of a tour
group, but I believe you can get them on your own too.  The Roman Forum was a
little disappointing, since so much has fallen down, but maybe if we had had a
guide to show us around (on this spot Caesar...) it would have been more
exciting.  The Collesium is impressive and the wide variety of fountains (I
think Rome has about 100) were spectacular.

Pompeii:  We visited as part of a one-day tour from Rome and we were glad we
did.  We got a very good two-hour walking tour of ruins and the bus showed us
a good overview of Naples.  We couldn't have done nearly as well on our own.
Plus Naples was VERY dirty and I would have hated to try to find my own way
around there and Pompeii.  From a distance Naples was very beautiful with the
bay and Mount Vesuvius nearby.  But up close, NASTY.  Few streets were clean
-- trash was left everywhere and the bay is very polluted.  Sad...

Summary:  We enjoyed our trip a lot.  The sights were spectacular and the
people were very friendly, although I wouldn't want to drive a car near them!
The food was great.  We stuffed ourselves with pasta and desserts, but with all
the walking we did, we each actually lost weight!  We ate almost exclusively in
Trattorias because they would let you order from only "First Plate" part of the
menu and not get upset if you didn't have a main course.  We were told some
Ristorantes did.  The 1st plate was always enough for us, especially with the
bread that comes with the cover charge.


Hotels:  All were rated 3 stars (out of 5).  They all had a private bathroom
and included a continental breakfast.  We could arrange city tours through our
hotels and the people working at them typically spoke at least 3 languages
well, including English.  All were expensive compared to what you'd pay for a
similar room in the U.S., but compared well with other places in Italy that we
considered.

Milan:    Centro Hotel, Via Broletto 46,  Phone: 011 39 1869 2821,  171,500 Lira
          Very near (5-10 minute walk) both the Duomo and Sforza Castle
Venice:   Hotel Flora, Phone: 011 39 41 5205844,  216,000 Lira
          A 2 minute walk to St Mark's Square and about the same distance to a
          main water bus stop.
Florence: Hotel Arizona, Via Luigi Carlo Farini 2, Phone: 055 245321
          152,000 Lira   About a mile from the Duomo and a 10 minute walk
          to Santa Croce Church
Rome      Hotel Tirreno, Via San Martino Ai Monti  Phone:  06 4880778
          173,500 Lira  2 blocks from Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica and 5 blocks
          from Termini train station
Organization: Sophomore, H&SS general, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA