Here you can browse through my blog posts prior to February 2022. Currently I'm sharing my travel experiences, candid opinions, and what's on my mind solely on my Facebook page. — Rick
There are three or four sights in Florence that have notoriously long lines. The Uffizi (on yesterday’s post) is one, and the Duomo (cathedral) is another. To illustrate how many people are waiting to get into the Duomo, here’s a jog down the length of the line.
If you can’t see the video below, watch it on YouTube.
I like to say that there are two IQs of European travelers: Those who wait in lines and those who don’t. Many tourists needlessly wait in lines when there are simple ways to see the sight with no wait. Here in Florence, you can easily avoid lines at the main and most crowded sights in two different ways: Buy the new Florence Card, or call in advance to make an appointment. My camera ran out of memory halfway through this clip; I intended to walk all along the hundred-yard-long line of people wasting time in an avoidable line to enter the Uffizi Gallery. I love the fact that a good percentage of the people entering the museum through the fast lanes (with the card or reservation) have my guidebook…and no one in the long line (with lower travel IQs) has my book.
If you can’t see the video below, watch it on YouTube.
Florentines love their Chianina beef. Joined by local friend Tommaso, our film crew shot and devoured a great steak dinner in a great steakhouse.
If you can’t see the video below, watch it on YouTube.
I struggle to appreciate the beloved Italian firewater called grappa. Finishing dinner at Rome’s Ristorante da Fortunato with a glass, my friend Stefano (who runs Hotel Oceania) explains that his greatest joy is grappa ‘ specifically, a chilled grappa with a Tuscan cigar on his sailboat halfway to Corsica.
If you can’t see the video below, watch it on YouTube.
Trains have bad acoustics, and big-city commuter trains in Italy must have about the worst. Still, street musicians perform, jiggling as they fiddle. We intended to shoot an “on camera” on the train here, where I would look into the camera and say something like “While Pompeii is great, it’s a three-hour train ride south from Rome. But Ostia Antica, Rome’s ancient seaport, rivals the ruins of Pompeii, and it’s just a quick 30-minute train ride away.” But the police busted us, and we couldn’t shoot on the train. So, here we are passing a few minutes musically ‘ without filming ‘ on the quick train ride from Rome out to Ostia.
If you can’t see the video below, watch it on YouTube.