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How has everyone been? Lets see, two sons in college now. One in HS and one in JH. My wife and I took a trip to Italy FINALLY. Spent 16 wonderful days. CAN NOT WAIT TO GO BACK.
Hope everyone has been doing well.

Re: Been a while

wow...you sweet wonderful people...we love you all much. Happy you got to go to Italy.

Re: Been a while

jaxfam,

Congrats on the family and trip! I have not been to Italy since 1976 when I was 17 years old but my wife and I are taking a mega vacation next May that leaves Miami for a 15 night cruise across the Atlantic to the Canary Islands off Africa then on to Spain, France, then Florence Italy and finally docking in Rome where we will spend four nights before heading home. I can't wait! Our hotel in Rome is right next to the Vatican and in fact our bedroom window overlooks the Papal apartments.

Re: Been a while

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaxfam6 (Post 1081894)

Jax, sounds fun! Sixteen days was worthwhile too.

Did you go to a variety of destinations? What was your favorite? Kristin and I enjoyed Rome but preferred our time spent in the foothills of the Alps - the Vigezzo valley.

Re: Been a while

My memories of Italy from when I was 17 was that the food was awesome. I enjoyed the Isle of Capri probably the best then visiting the leaning tower of Pisa and Florence. Of course the leaning tower thing really appealed to a 17 year old guy! LOL.

Oh, and Pompeii made a huge impression on me. Very, very cool.

Re: Been a while

We arrived in Rome and took the train to the central station because our hotel was supposed to be just minutes from the station. TOOK US 3 HOURS to find it. That was not fun. The next morning we got up and headed out to the station and found it was only about a 5 minute walk away. :)
We took the train down to Sicily and stayed a few days in the city of Catania. There were so many north African refugees there. They are very bold and not so polite. AND being that they are all there illegally they mostly live on the streets and do not get a bath very often and so the smell is not very pleasant.
The first day was very hard on me there. I was ready to leave and come back to the states. BUT the next day it got better and God gave me peace with things. We ended up loving Catania and the island of Sicily. We then took the train back north to a town outside of Naples called Caserta. Everyone asked us why we would come to Caserta for more than a day. We ended up staying 7 days. Walked the city till we knew it almost as well as we do Phoenix. :) There is a Royal Palace in Caserta that is beautiful and their gardens they have are amazing.
Next we took the train to Venice. It has to be the coolest city I have ever visited. My wife described it as a carnival with the rides. WELL that is almost correct, they just have WATER RIDES. lol Walked all over Venice seeing the sights and enjoying the people. Took a taxi out to the island of Morano to see the glass blowers. ABSOLUTELY AWESOME.
Next we went back to Rome. Now Rome was not a place I thought I would care to spend much time. I was WRONG. I loved the day we got to spend there and look forward to getting to go back and visit that city more.
If you tried to communicate in Italian they would try to communicate in English. In the tourist areas English was very common but outside of that you had to TRY Italian or you were not going to get much out of them.
Very wonderful and beautiful people.
Made some friends and look forward to going back over. Now for the eastern coast and some more time in Sicily.
THE FOOD WAS AWESOME

Re: Been a while

Jax, I agree about Venice. I only spent one day there those many years ago but it was cool. If my wife likes Florence and Rome we may try to go back in a few years and see Capri, Venice, and Pompeii. The only bad thing about going to the isle of Capri is that you have to go to Naples where the garbage men have been on strike for several years now and garbage is piled all over the town and it stinks to high heaven (unless it got resolved since I last checked). Also the highest crime rate in Italy.

Re: Been a while

actually liked Naples. Yes the garbage was piled high and luckily when we were there it was not stinky. We did a day trip to Naples and walked around. One of the friends we made in Caserta lives in Naples and travels to Caserta to work his Pizzeria. He has told us when we come back to Naples let him know and he will show us the BETTER parts of the city. Honestly yes they same crime is bad but if you avoid the tourist traps you are much better off.