All over Europe travelers forget guidebooks or leave them behind in hotels, and the hotels fill their shelves with them. They can be a fine source of supplemental information for the good student traveler. Hotel Bernini, a long-time favorite of our readers, in Siena.
The best five euros you can spend in Siena is for a pre-dinner cocktail on Il Campo, one of my favorite squares in Europe for lingering and people watching.
When you enjoy a full-blown Italian dinner, you don't get out until midnight. And when you leave, the table is a mess, with plenty of evidence of high-calorie and firewater fun. Waiters provide lots of drinks that seem designed to keep you from leaving. This is Karin Kibby, one of my ace Italy guides, who helped me out with my research in Florence.
All over Europe, museums are closed one day a week. And on this day they are very busy with film crews, VIP tours, and routine dusting, arranging, and maintenance. At the Uffizi this Monday, the Botticelli masterpieces were draped to protect them from flying dust as holes were being drilled.
Comments
8 Replies to “Snapshots of My Time in Italy”
Thanks for the photos. They make me want to return to Italy.
We don`t have fond memories of Siena. We didn`t like the crowds. Parking is non-existent. We couldn`t turn around in our shower. It seems like a place to go if one wants to say one has been. Seems a lot like other highly touted places in Italy: lines; pilgrims; tours; students; traffic. Just as we prefer villages elsewhere in the world, we prefer villages in Italy. But of course nobody ever heard of Norcia or Castellucia.
The first time I went Italy, many years ago, the first billboard we encountered read, `Vota Communista.” That was long before the Euro and sometimes change would be given with small bits of candy. I have often wondered how those countries got used to the idea of paying 20 or 40 Euros instead of thousands of Lira. It must have been a difficult adjustment.
Thanks for the pictures, gets me exited about our upcoming trip to Italy and Spain. This will be our third time in Rome and I can`t wait. I don`t know what will happen when we finally decide we cannot go anymore. There is something about that city and I have been to many including living 2hours from San Francisco and it just brings out so much happiness to be there.
Thanks to you Rick for sharing your Europe pics with us…Visiting a country like Italy is itself a great experience to have in the life…
The stacks of guide books on the shelf above the key rack dropped my jaw. I cannot conceive of leaving a guidebook behind! Oh, sure, I have unintentionally left my share of things behind in hotel rooms. After a trip, as I am happily arranging my photos into home videos, I usually find my journaling to have been inadequate. The old guide book is one of the resources I turn to for help to recall the context.
I am put off visiting Italy because of that cultures widespread and apparently accepted devaluation of women. l don`t think that women police officers is much of an advancement while Berlusconi openly plays with under-age hookers, and makes smutty jokes about it. It`s too late for that sort of behaviour, it`s no longer acceptable in the larger world.
In response to some of the other comments…Going to Italy for the first time (on a Rick Steves “Best of Europe” tour) was a life changing experience for me. We have returned to Italy many times since & I cannot wait to go back. As a whole, Italians are happy, friendly & proud. Italians do not devalue women. Women of all ages, shapes & sizes are admired in Italy. As for leaving travel books behind…My husband & I travel to Europe for 6 – 8 weeks at a time, using carry on luggage. We sometimes ask hotel staff if they would like us to leave relevant travel books for others to enjoy (which makes room in our suitcases for travel literature we gather along the way).
Thanks for the photos. They make me want to return to Italy.
We don`t have fond memories of Siena. We didn`t like the crowds. Parking is non-existent. We couldn`t turn around in our shower. It seems like a place to go if one wants to say one has been. Seems a lot like other highly touted places in Italy: lines; pilgrims; tours; students; traffic. Just as we prefer villages elsewhere in the world, we prefer villages in Italy. But of course nobody ever heard of Norcia or Castellucia.
The first time I went Italy, many years ago, the first billboard we encountered read, `Vota Communista.” That was long before the Euro and sometimes change would be given with small bits of candy. I have often wondered how those countries got used to the idea of paying 20 or 40 Euros instead of thousands of Lira. It must have been a difficult adjustment.
Thanks for the pictures, gets me exited about our upcoming trip to Italy and Spain. This will be our third time in Rome and I can`t wait. I don`t know what will happen when we finally decide we cannot go anymore. There is something about that city and I have been to many including living 2hours from San Francisco and it just brings out so much happiness to be there.
Thanks to you Rick for sharing your Europe pics with us…Visiting a country like Italy is itself a great experience to have in the life…
The stacks of guide books on the shelf above the key rack dropped my jaw. I cannot conceive of leaving a guidebook behind! Oh, sure, I have unintentionally left my share of things behind in hotel rooms. After a trip, as I am happily arranging my photos into home videos, I usually find my journaling to have been inadequate. The old guide book is one of the resources I turn to for help to recall the context.
I am put off visiting Italy because of that cultures widespread and apparently accepted devaluation of women. l don`t think that women police officers is much of an advancement while Berlusconi openly plays with under-age hookers, and makes smutty jokes about it. It`s too late for that sort of behaviour, it`s no longer acceptable in the larger world.
In response to some of the other comments…Going to Italy for the first time (on a Rick Steves “Best of Europe” tour) was a life changing experience for me. We have returned to Italy many times since & I cannot wait to go back. As a whole, Italians are happy, friendly & proud. Italians do not devalue women. Women of all ages, shapes & sizes are admired in Italy. As for leaving travel books behind…My husband & I travel to Europe for 6 – 8 weeks at a time, using carry on luggage. We sometimes ask hotel staff if they would like us to leave relevant travel books for others to enjoy (which makes room in our suitcases for travel literature we gather along the way).