OT: General Travel Thread - Italy 2K19 has come and gone

[DancingPanther]

Ugh. Won't be back until September. Pompeii is awesome, you can do the train if you want to go a little cheaper, but they offer bus tours on like Viator and all that from Rome where they drive you right to the area. If you do have to take the train down, please let me know I will help you! Napoli can be intimidating.

Also if you like cookies and milk, pick these up at the local Coop, Pam, or Conad.

We'll have to stock the airbnb soon so I'll remember this. Clutch

 

[usahockey22flyers]

We'll have to stock the airbnb soon so I'll remember this. Clutch

Are you based in Roma? Or are you staying in Firenze now? If so, what section of Roma?

 

[DancingPanther]

Are you based in Roma? Or are you staying in Firenze now? If so, what section of Roma?

Home base in Firenze on the other side of the river, right near the ponte vecchio

Got the cookies

And I hope our milk is milk lol

 

[DancingPanther]

Day #10: No new sightseeing. Today was a bit of a vacation from our vacation. Move in to the airBnB was a success. Stocked it, and met my brother and get this. Our family friend is here on his own school sanctioned craziness. He's been in Munich, Paris, and a few other places and arrived here, in Florence, today. So we all had early dinner/late lunch. Unreal. Then showed them around the city.

I bought a sweet tweed sport coat from Gutteridge and hopefully will be getting the almost white linen pants I want at the other store across town tomorrow. We'll see.

That and the Pitti Palace/gardens are on tap for tomorrow. Sorry for the boring day, but sometimes you need a vacation from your vacation! We've been cooking for 9 days now

I didn't take a pic of my panini but it was fantastic. Proscuitto with brie and picante with truffle sauce and olive oil. Hoooobaby

 

[DancingPanther]

Day 11

Went through the Pitti Palace and Bolboli gardens today as well as the Baptistry (oldest building in Florence) and walked up the bell tower at Santa Maria. Sounds like an easy day, but man was it long. Looking at all those crazy big museums is like info overload and can wear you out! Worth it though

Pitti Palace housed one of the royal families in the Renaissance days of Florence. The Duke and Duchess lived there and we got to walk through what was their living quarters as well as see about of exhibited artwork. Lots of Rafael.

For example, the Duke's bedroom

Unreal.

Additionally there was a HUGE garden in the backyard with miles of pathways and some insane views

Onto the Baptistry, across from the Duomo church. Shit is like the Pantheon in Rome. Of note, they found ancient Roman ruins of a temple underneath it.

Here's where you get baptized

Then you walk through the famous Ghiberti doors. Tough to get a good pic with the bars in the way

Finally we went up the bell tower on the church directly across from it, where the Duomo is.

Windy up there. Duomo in the foreground, Santa Croce in the background, where Galileo is buried. Went there a few days ago.

Dinner was pizza and a calzone at the local but top notch joint, Gustapizza. We we're ravenous and I ALMOST forgot a pic.

 

[landsbergfan]

Not to be that guy, but I am gonna be that guy. If you are staying near Ponte Vecchio and you need a nice bite, there is a panini shop close by that is a gift from the gods. Paninis are fantastic and they have self serve wine on the honors system (like 1 or 2 euro a glass IIRC).

All' Antico Vinaio, Florence - San Giovanni - Restaurant Reviews, Photos & Phone Number - TripAdvisor

Do the right thing, man

 

[DancingPanther]

Not to be that guy, but I am gonna be that guy. If you are staying near Ponte Vecchio and you need a nice bite, there is a panini shop close by that is a gift from the gods. Paninis are fantastic and they have self serve wine on the honors system (like 1 or 2 euro a glass IIRC).

All' Antico Vinaio, Florence - San Giovanni - Restaurant Reviews, Photos & Phone Number - TripAdvisor

Do the right thing, man

Hit it already, that's what I didn't take a pic of. Got The inferno

 

[landsbergfan]

Hit it already, that's what I didn't take a pic of. Got The inferno

DancingPanther: *dabs*

 

[DancingPanther]

DancingPanther: *dabs*

Got news for you. Didn't take a pic of half of tonight's dinner either

 

[landsbergfan]

Got news for you. Didn't take a pic of half of tonight's dinner either

Wow this thread has really gone to shit

 

[DancingPanther]

Wow this thread has really gone to ****

Listen when I'm hungry as f*** after 13 hrs and I have handmade macs in front of me the last thing I want to do is take a pic of it lol

 

[landsbergfan]

Listen when I'm hungry as **** after 13 hrs and I have handmade macs in front of me the last thing I want to do is take a pic of it lol

Just DM me the explicit version of that photo of you with David and we will call it good

 

[DancingPanther]

Just DM me the explicit version of that photo of you with David and we will call it good

You would want that wouldn't you. You're a sick man

 

[DancingPanther]

Day 12

Ufizzi round 2 (for the first floor stuff) and the Galileo museum of science. We also went back to see David with my brother, who hasn't seen him yet. In there is also a little musical instrument display.

The Ufizzi honestly is just breathtaking. Spent another 2 hours in there. Highlights were a few Rafael's and this sick Medusa shield that should be an album cover.

And you know THE Galileo picture? The one in the textbooks and the internet? The original one...

Which brings us to his namesake museum! Had loads of his telescopes, but it was much more than galileo. Really it was a display of 17th-19th century scientific instruments, like the Archimedes screw and "microscopes" and thermometers. Also a lot of map making equipment. Interesting so see. I didn't take many pics but my favorite thing was this HUGE celestial map of major stars and planets as they "orbit around the earth"

Here's a few experiments. Middle to show a ball will reach a point faster when rolling down an arch compared to an inclined plan even though the inclined plane path is shorter. Right to show that a ball will roll through those gates (based on the square of time since release) EXACTLY in time with a swinging pendulum:

Also here's a few of Galileo's fingers. Nbd

David was next. Refer to previous pictures. Will never complain about seeing him again.

Finally, the instrument museum. Just... Renaissance era stringed instruments which interests me as a Viola/piano player among others. Note the horsehair strings on this bass. Also there was a hurdy gurdy. f*** yeah

And the difference between a harpsichord on the right and a piano is a harpsichord plucks the string, giving it that distinct tink sound. Pianos use the hammers to hit them, as most of us are familiar with

Finally, dinner at the Central market. Not pictured: spaghetti a la carbonara (cheese and bacon), this rice ball with mozz and proscuitto in it and a pistachio cannoli

 

[1865]

Make sure you go to Janiculum hill for the fountain and maybe the best view in the city and to the baths of Caracalla... which for me are possibly the most impressive thing in Rome.

Enjoy! I have been to pretty much every capital in Northern, Western, Central and Southern europe and Rome is along side Berlin as ny favourites.

I loved Rome, didn't get much out of Berlin however. It's Paris and Rome for me.

 

[DancingPanther]

I loved Rome, didn't get much out of Berlin however. It's Paris and Rome for me.

Rome was awesome.

My favorite has been Cinque Terre though.

I think if I where to live somewhere I'd be Rome. CT is definitely more of a vacation spot. Same with Volterra.

 

[Chinatown88]

Didn't take a picture of the carbonara?

Looks like an absolute blast. I'm really enjoying all the pictures.

 

[Appleyard]

I loved Rome, didn't get much out of Berlin however. It's Paris and Rome for me.

I think the area of Berlin depends a lot tbh, such a massive city.

I like Paris, and have some amazing friends there... but I dunno, in the 2nd tier for me of Euro cities!

 

[DancingPanther]

Didn't take a picture of the carbonara?

Looks like an absolute blast. I'm really enjoying all the pictures.

I'M SORRY SOMETIMES I GET TOO HUNGRY AND FORGET. You will be pleased on my next post though. Glad your enjoying!

 

[DancingPanther]

Day 14

Lots of steps today. 450some to be (sort of) exact. To the top of the Duomo we go! The dome is designed as an out shell and an inner shell, connected by ribs, for structural integrity. We walked through that gap. You can see the inner dome here as we walked over it on the final stretch to the top of the dome

Next was the Duomo museum. Here, Ghiberti's original Doors of Paradise can be found. And here's a better picture. Hooray!

The museum did a great job at really looking at the incredible architecture of the dome on the Basilica of Cattedral Santa Maria. What's incredible is a) it covers an octagonal area and b) it covers a huge f***ing octagonal area. Apparently, Brunelleschi used an egg to demonstrate it:

"Hey numbskulls, stand an egg on this table"
*egg falls*
"ok, I'll show you how to do it" *smashes the egg shell so it's "flat" on the bottom*
"there you have it"

And that's essentially what he did. The "cap" on the top of the dome forces its tension down, through the support of it's "flat" base to the ground. If all 60 tons of it wasn't there, the dome's 8 faces would unfold like a flower. This is wild. In wood are the original models done by Brunelleschi himself:

You can get a nice view of the dome on my last post, with pictures of it from Giotto's bell tower.

The rest of the museum featured a few Donatellos, including the famed wooden Mary Magdalene. Look at her face. This is after Christ where she lived in penance.

Lot of relics in here too, but this one was the most notable. St. Peter's chains when he was captured and later crucified upside down.

Final stop of the day was Piazzale Michelangelo for the Tuscan sunset

Dinner was gnocchi with spinach in a gorgonzola sauce and honeydew+prosciutto. And gelato (blood orange and cheese cake)

Venice tommorow!

EDIT: more on dinner. The waiter was the man. Very charming, chatty, and a great server. He ended up giving us a decanter of limoncelo on the house as a digestivo, after taking our picture at the table (first sit down dinner as a whole fam, by ourselves, in italy. Brother just finished school today) after 2 good pics, surprised us by snapping a quick selfie! He got a good tip (not usual italian custom)

Wine count is up to 59 glasses in 13 days

 

[Beef Invictus]

Tidbit on the Castel Sant'Angelo:

It was originally the mausoleum of the Roman Emperor Hadrian, famous for wallbuilding and such. Over time Italy became less safe, and the location was turned into a fortress. It served as the Pope's personal fortress and several popes have taken refuge there in the face of foreign attack. It was also a place of local infamy/entertainment, because it was where executions where carried out. A scaffold used to exist between the front door and the Ponte Sant'Angelo where executions and corporal punishments would be doled out. If I'm not mistaken, a preferred method wasn't beheading, but rather cracking the condemned on the head with a Big f***ing Sledgehammer.

Tidbits on the Pantheon (no idea how much they told you): It isn't the original structure. The original structure was built by Augustus BFF Macrus Vipsanius Agrippa. It burned down and a generous citizen paid to have it rebuilt. Very generously indeed, he allowed the original inscription to remain. If my Latin is correct, that bigass sign over the door says "AGRIPPA BUILT THIS THING." Romans didn't do subtlety very well, and if you're gonna build that thing you might as well take credit. You were probably told that it is the largest unreinforced concrete structure in the world. What you may not have been told is that Roman concrete was far and away superior to what we use. Like, it's not even close. We are still sorting out how it was made and recently engineers are pretty sure they've figured out it was a mix of volcanic ash and seawater that made it so unique. It's far kinder on the environment to make and its lifespan is measured in millennia instead of decades or centuries.

My own favorite things about the Vatican: THE SIZE OF THOSE THINGS. My brain didn't properly process the scale. I'd be looking at a column across the way and think "doesn't look that big." Then it would take forever to get there and when you do, it's 6-8 feet wide and however tall. Same for the inside of St Pete's. The scales involved are just silly. I was also amused by all the popes laying around. If there's free space, there's a dead pope stuffed there, and it was kind of amazing how many of them were big-dick hulking historic figures. Gregory the Great? Yeah, shoved into that cubby right there, go say hi.

Museums there compared to the US: You go to a museum here. There will be a table from the 9th century or something. It will be behind ropes and stuff. It is a Big Deal. In Rome: That table is holding a vase that is thousands of years old. You can lean on the table. You feel guilt when you see the card saying "hey the table is old too" and then you laugh it off because it's a paltry 1200 years old. You return to the US and drive through MD and see historic markers for "early churches," AKA "regular buildings" in Europe, where "early churches" are literally that.

Also the Vatican Museum burned me out on it all. You see so many incredible, major pieces of art that you can see a Dali and go "yeah whatever. Let me get past that peasant art to this Caravaggio."

There just isn't enough time to do Rome without living there. It's so much.


Oh, one more thing: Looked like you couldn't go through the arch of Septimius Severus in the Forum anymore. That's the place where I had Terrible Soda and had to make a hard choice. Someone in our group bought an anomalous "black flavor" soda. She sipped it and was revolted. She handed it to the professor, a worldly woman who has tasted many a thing. She was visibly sad about it. She handed it to me. I f***ing gulped it. It was bad. Every instinct told me to spit it out. But I was inside the arch of Septimius Severus. What kind of savage spews soda on a Roman arch? So I had to swallow it. To this day it is probably the greatest self control I've ever practiced.

 

[DancingPanther]

Tidbit on the Castel Sant'Angelo:

It was originally the mausoleum of the Roman Emperor Hadrian, famous for wallbuilding and such. Over time Italy became less safe, and the location was turned into a fortress. It served as the Pope's personal fortress and several popes have taken refuge there in the face of foreign attack. It was also a place of local infamy/entertainment, because it was where executions where carried out. A scaffold used to exist between the front door and the Ponte Sant'Angelo where executions and corporal punishments would be doled out. If I'm not mistaken, a preferred method wasn't beheading, but rather cracking the condemned on the head with a Big ****ing Sledgehammer.

Tidbits on the Pantheon (no idea how much they told you): It isn't the original structure. The original structure was built by Augustus BFF Macrus Vipsanius Agrippa. It burned down and a generous citizen paid to have it rebuilt. Very generously indeed, he allowed the original inscription to remain. If my Latin is correct, that bigass sign over the door says "AGRIPPA BUILT THIS THING." Romans didn't do subtlety very well, and if you're gonna build that thing you might as well take credit. You were probably told that it is the largest unreinforced concrete structure in the world. What you may not have been told is that Roman concrete was far and away superior to what we use. Like, it's not even close. We are still sorting out how it was made and recently engineers are pretty sure they've figured out it was a mix of volcanic ash and seawater that made it so unique. It's far kinder on the environment to make and its lifespan is measured in millennia instead of decades or centuries.

My own favorite things about the Vatican: THE SIZE OF THOSE THINGS. My brain didn't properly process the scale. I'd be looking at a column across the way and think "doesn't look that big." Then it would take forever to get there and when you do, it's 6-8 feet wide and however tall. Same for the inside of St Pete's. The scales involved are just silly. I was also amused by all the popes laying around. If there's free space, there's a dead pope stuffed there, and it was kind of amazing how many of them were big-dick hulking historic figures. Gregory the Great? Yeah, shoved into that cubby right there, go say hi.

Museums there compared to the US: You go to a museum here. There will be a table from the 9th century or something. It will be behind ropes and stuff. It is a Big Deal. In Rome: That table is holding a vase that is thousands of years old. You can lean on the table. You feel guilt when you see the card saying "hey the table is old too" and then you laugh it off because it's a paltry 1200 years old. You return to the US and drive through MD and see historic markers for "early churches," AKA "regular buildings" in Europe, where "early churches" are literally that.

Also the Vatican Museum burned me out on it all. You see so many incredible, major pieces of art that you can see a Dali and go "yeah whatever. Let me get past that peasant art to this Caravaggio."

There just isn't enough time to do Rome without living there. It's so much.


Oh, one more thing: Looked like you couldn't go through the arch of Septimius Severus in the Forum anymore. That's the place where I had Terrible Soda and had to make a hard choice. Someone in our group bought an anomalous "black flavor" soda. She sipped it and was revolted. She handed it to the professor, a worldly woman who has tasted many a thing. She was visibly sad about it. She handed it to me. I ****ing gulped it. It was bad. Every instinct told me to spit it out. But I was inside the arch of Septimius Severus. What kind of savage spews soda on a Roman arch? So I had to swallow it. To this day it is probably the greatest self control I've ever practiced.

Fantastic post Beef. Thanks!

It's ridiculous about the concrete, isn't it? Never written down, never used again.

Completely agree with the scales in St Pete! That ceiling is like 400 feet high. The columns are like 20 ft in diameter in the square. The propaganda works. I feel like the smallest, most insignificant motherf***er alive walking in there.

I've made the "pfffft" joke many times. "hah! This thing is only 400 yrs old. Gimme a break

Now think about ancient Egyptian works! 3-4000 yrs old!

 

[Beef Invictus]

Fantastic post Beef. Thanks!

It's ridiculous about the concrete, isn't it? Never written down, never used again.

Completely agree with the scales in St Pete! That ceiling is like 400 feet high. The columns are like 20 ft in diameter in the square. The propaganda works. I feel like the smallest, most insignificant mother****er alive walking in there.

I've made the "pfffft" joke many times. "hah! This thing is only 400 yrs old. Gimme a break

Now think about ancient Egyptian works! 3-4000 yrs old!

Egypt was already ancient when Rome was coming out of the 1st Punic War with the first hints of empire in hand.

Romans were just stupid-good at building. They had concrete that could set underwater. I mean so do we, but they achieved that at a time when bird guts were used to predict the future and sometimes you'd start pooping and wouldn't stop until you died and it was just blamed on evil spirits with an accompanying shrug.

 

[Appleyard]

Egypt was already ancient when Rome was coming out of the 1st Punic War with the first hints of empire in hand.

Romans were just stupid-good at building. They had concrete that could set underwater. I mean so do we, but they achieved that at a time when bird guts were used to predict the future and sometimes you'd start pooping and wouldn't stop until you died and it was just blamed on evil spirits with an accompanying shrug.

The Baths of Caracalla are maybe the most impressive thing I have seen with my own eyes. Insanely large (like ~35m high), and that is without the domed roofs they had before the damn Goths destroyed it. And the aquaduct that supplied it worked until the 1800's... 1600 years of being "in date".

And it was "just" a public baths.

 

[DancingPanther]

The Baths of Caracalla are maybe the most impressive thing I have seen with my own eyes. Insanely large (like ~35m high), and that is without the domed roofs they had before the damn Goths destroyed it. And the aquaduct that supplied it worked until the 1800's... 1600 years of being "in date".

And it was "just" a public baths.

Pretty sure some of the original aquaducts are still functioning today

When you recreate ancient Rome...it's literally a modern city. It's a wall of buildings on each side of you, stories high. It's really really incredible. Think about traveling 5 days to Rome and seeing that in its heyday...there literally hadn't been anything like it. It'd be like an alien landscape. Unimaginable