Roma
- We found out Michael Jackson died when we checked in the hotel.
- Ensalata Capreze and Spaghetti alla Carbonara. All you gotta know.
- WAMU (sorry, Chase) sucks for international travel banking. I had made sure to let them know I was going to Italy and not to flag my account if I used the ATM (Bancomat). I am now $65.72 poorer from the cell phone bill after I had to call WAMU to unblock my debit card.
- Fiats are cool little cars. Everyone has a Fiat hatchback in Rome.
- Everyone and their mom has a scooter. Everyone and their mom.
- Croissants filled with Nutella is the second best dessert in Italy.
- Dark Chocolate Tartuffo from Tre Scallini is the best dessert in Italy.
- The Colosseum was not the largest Roman stadium. The Circus Maximus was.
- I don't crave curry very much anymore. Every dude smells like armpit curry out there. Some ladies too.
- Next time, I am going to spend 8 hours at the Vatican Museums. I'm gonna bring a full strobe kit too.
- Moretti > Peroni Nastro Azzuro beer. Drinking is legal everywhere and anywhere.
- The Pantheon is awe-inspiring. The way it has been so perfectly preserved is hard to comprehend. Especially when you see the other ancient landmarks.
- Waking up at 2 in the afternoon is awesome.
- Everyone in Italy wears Nike Shox.
- Piazza Navona is the place to be at night!
- The worst experience of all time was going number 2 in the Fulminco Airport bathroom with 7 dudes in line yelling in Italian.
- The 17-40mm f/4.0L is the best lens for Roma or any urban environment. That is assuming you have a full frame Canon DSLR. Except if your camera dies, like mine did.
- The second worst experience is running half a mile under a damn runway then up four flights of stairs to our gate in Frankfurt because I got pulled out of the security line so they could scan my camera and netbook.
- One of my best experiences of all time is attending Sunday mass at St. Peter's Basillica.
- I couldn't find a single credible camera store in Rome.
- Rome is pretty dirty as you get away from the historical center. It seriously reminded me of Mexico or the Philippines. The only thing missing where shanty-towns.
Venezia
- The only way to get from Marco Polo Airport to the city of Venice is by water taxi or water bus.
- A water taxi ride costs 100 euros ($150).
- We got lost for an hour as soon as we got off the water bus at Rialto stop. Had we known that we were 2 minutes away from our hotel if we just went straight we could have avoided that.
- The food in Venice is no where near as good as Roma.
- There are THREE Gucci stores on an island the size of SDSU campus.
- San Marco Square was poppin! We saw Andrea Boccelli perform on night! ; )
- Pizza Roll is the most tourist food I have ever heard of. But damn it I craved that motherfucker every day!
- We still can't find the chocolate that our hotel had out on the reception counter.
- FREE INTERNETS EVERYWHERE!!!!
- I bought a Louis Vuitton iPhone case. Yeah, I am an idiot. But a flossy idiot.
- The Hard Rock restaurant was a great break from Italian food. Yes, it is actually hard to eat delicious pastas day in and day out.
- "This dessert is brilliant. Its just wonderful"
- Grace was scared of the canal sharks that didn't exist.
- Dropping Murano glass will probably break it.
- There was a Canon EOS 5D Mark II in the window at the camera store. I almost bought it for $4000. (It retails in the US for $2600) Lucky for me Grace stopped me.
- The best experience was sitting next to the Grand Canal and drinking a beer. The best part of Venice is the tension/anxiety of the big city (Roma) is not there at all.
- The Gondola ride was worth the money and is something everyone should do once in their lives.
- Yay for 50% off at the Gucci store.
- Next time we will go to Florence and Venice, right?
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