BootsnAll Travel Network



Archive for the 'Italy' Category

« Home

Rome, Italy

Wednesday, February 6th, 2008

Hello everyone, we’re finally back online. I’m going to rewind things a bit and conclude our stop in Italy before telling you about Egypt. There were two reasons for the long delay between posts. First, we have been traveling down the Nile River for the last four days and there was no Internet onboard. Second, when we arrived in Cairo last week, we learned that the entire country lost its Internet connection. Apparently the fiber optic line that connects Egypt to the Internet was severed so everyone was without the Internet for several days. That’s life in Africa, now back to Europe…

We had a nice time in Rome and were able to mix taking care of personal business (laundry, Nate got a haircut, etc.) and seeing the sites. For the first time on our trip, we stayed at a bad hotel. To keep things fun, we kept telling each other “it’s perfect” in a sarcastic tone. We learned about the Hotel Nardizzi Americana from a Rick Steves’ Italy book we picked up for free at our hotel in Venice. Based on Rick’s recommendation, we booked at the Nardizzi in Rome and were sorely disappointed. Our room lacked a telephone, a safe, a shower door, towels, an Internet connection, and several other things promised when we booked the reservation. The best part was that our room wasn’t even located in the hotel, it was in another building mixed with residential appartments. When we checked out, Shelly handed the hotel clerk our “punch list” of things that needed to be improved and he immediately launched into why it wasn’t their fault. He took us to the wiring closet to show us that they had phones connected, just that our room wasn’t connected yet. He showed us a dirty room with a safe to show us that most rooms had one. This tactic was a waste of our time and we still don’t understand why he did it. In the end, we didn’t even get 1 Euro knocked off the price, but hey “it’s perfect”. When we get a chance, we’re going to drop our fellow Washington state resident, Rick, an email asking him to remove the hotel from his guide books. We should have known we were in for trouble when Rick’s personal Christmas cards from 2006 and 2007 were prominately displayed at the front desk. They clearly are living off of his recommendation and care little for their customers.

Aside from our hotel issues, we did manage to work in seeing the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, the Vatican (which was our favorite site), and the Colosseum. We enjoyed our time in Rome and actually found it much more enjoyable than some of the other parts of Italy. My haircut was also an interesting experience. My barber didn’t speak English and I can’t speak Italian. We did a pretty good job of communicating through hand signals and I managed to escape with a decent cut. So with that, here are some pics from our last days in Italy:

IMG_0951.jpg

The Trevi Fountain

IMG_0973.jpg

The Colosseum

IMG_1030.jpg

… and finally the Spanish Steps

Florence, Italy

Tuesday, January 29th, 2008

We’re a few hours away from catching a train to Rome, which will conclude our brief stop in Europe. We spent the last few days walking around Florence, seeing Michealangelo’s “David”, and eating lots of good Italian food.

We ate two of our best dinners, thus far on the trip, in Florence. The first night we ate at a local establishment called Osteria Vineria Brincello. We were served by these two crazy guys named Max and Gabry. Max, unfortunately, had to say goodbye the day before to his girlfriend from Spokane, WA. He was a little sad when we got there but happy to meet someone else from Washington state. The food was simple, fresh, and tasty and was just what we were in the mood for.

For our second dinner we ate at “All Aqua al Due”, which has two restaurants in the world… one in Florence and the other in San Diego, CA. They’re known for their balsamic steak, which we each had, it was good but was a little tart after eating the whole steak.

This morning we went to the Accademia Gallery where the David is on display. I didn’t know what to expect, but I have to say it was amazing. My only suggestion would have been a loin cloth for David since he was a little overexposed for my taste. Shelly and I just sat there and looked at the statue for a good 15 minutes. If you are ever in Florence, I would recommend a quick stop to see it.

O.K., we have to run because my Internet session is about to run out of time. We’ll post again after spending some time in Rome.

Venice and Florence, Italy

Sunday, January 27th, 2008
IMG_0840.JPG After two days of fun in Venice with Tim and Sondra, we sadly had to say goodbye and catch a train to Florence. The last two days have been incredibly fun and Venice was ... [Continue reading this entry]

Milan and Venice, Italy

Friday, January 25th, 2008
For the first time in a week, I finally have a keyboard that I'm accustomed to using. Those French are always trying to be different... Anyway, to get everyone caught up, Shelly and I have spent the past few ... [Continue reading this entry]