The Letting Off Steam Thread

[buzzy]

Venice is supposed to be an incredible place

Venice is a shithole. Literally. It just sucks, there's not much you can do there and it's smelly as fuck. You can either rent one of those little boats and have a ride through water that's like 50% shit and urine or walk through the city and get shitted on by the thousands of pigeons. Don't waste your money and time on a trip to Venice, mmmkay.

Word.
And there are like a billion of tourists, you can't even move in those small alleys.

[Joe']

Cy if you want to go to Italy, I would avoid Milan anyways. I know quite a few people who have gone to all the tourist places in Italy and they all describe Milan as a complete shit-hole that they couldn't wait to escape..

*points at self*... Agreed. I used to have a very different opinion on this city, and maybe my opinion is biased because I've lived here for over six years and that aggravates it all, but still, pretty awful city except for downtown and a few selected areas.

Venice is great for like two hours, then, as has been said, there's virtually nothing to do, unless you wanna drive another two hours to get to the beach.

Rome is pretty awful too. For a city that big I would've expected more stuff to do/see, but after you've visited the Colosseum and Vatican City, that's pretty much it... The people from Rome are also disgusting so yeah, not worth it.

Florence, and pretty much all of Tuscany, is very small. You'll find it's a lovely place to visit yet you wouldn't want to return...

Cities not to visit: Naples, Turin, Rimini, Parma. Just completely shitty places, period. All of Sardinia.

Cities to visit: Verona, Trieste, Bergamo, some cities in Sicily, Bologna, Genoa (although not all of it,) Como, Stresa (small town on Lake Maggiore,) Lecco, San Marino, Padua, Treviso, parts of Savona. The boredom factor applies to most of these, though.

[el badman]

Cities not to visit: ... All of Sardinia.

I actually enjoyed Sardinia quite a bit when I was a kid, went to Santa Teresa I believe. Hot as fuck down there.

Cities to visit:

My best buddy went to Capri (accross Napoli?) and told me how awesome it was, very peaceful and "stuck" in time.

[Joe']

Cities not to visit: ... All of Sardinia.

I actually enjoyed Sardinia quite a bit when I was a kid, went to Santa Teresa I believe. Hot as fuck down there.

The beaches are just not worth it. I mean, they're beautiful and all, and the weather's great, but that's pretty much it. There's absolutely nothing to do, and I'm not kidding. We actually had to drive all the way down to Cagliari for toothpaste and shaving foam.

[cyanide]

Joe: What would you consider to have the best beaches in Italy? I always thought Sardinia was gorgeous. It also looked hot from Wild On!

For sure I'm visiting Florence. Being an art history buff, that's a must-visit.

[Joe']

If we're considering just the beaches then yes, Sardinia's got the best beaches in Italy, but Sicily and Calabria both offer beautiful beaches AND other attractions, which Sardinia does not. Sicily's particularly great if you're keen on architecture. Catania and Palermo are packed with Sicilian Baroque buildings. Some of the churches are just beautiful to look at.

If you're interested in art history, and history in general, you should definitely visit Verona. I know I've already mentioned it, but it's really a great city.

[[Q]]

what about Florence?

[cyanide]

what about Florence?

Florence, and pretty much all of Tuscany, is very small. You'll find it's a lovely place to visit yet you wouldn't want to return...

[[Q]]

lol i read the stuff right below it but i missed that part.

[Joe']

Florence's a lovely, very clean (which is rare for Italy,) charming city. It's really tiny though, 40-45 sq. miles at most. That's half the size of Milan, which already is a pretty small city. For comparison, New York City or Los Angeles are about 500 sq. miles in size.

When I say you wouldn't want to return is because you'll get to see everything there is to see the first time. No need for a second visit. And it's not like there are "new" attractions, the city's been virtually the same for over three-hundred years.

Most of the cities I listed are in the same situation, I just think they deserve to be visited as much as Florence. Padua and Verona are both as lovely if not more than Florence, yet most people don't visit them when they come here on a trip...

el_badman, Capri's pretty spectacular. Lovely place, never had the chance to visit it, though. It's located off the coast of Sorrento, about 50 miles south of Naples. The island you're referring to is Ischia, which is, as you said, right across Naples.

Another great place to visit, especially for its beaches, is Elba Island.

[el badman]

el_badman, Capri's pretty spectacular. Lovely place, never had the chance to visit it, though. It's located off the coast of Sorrento, about 50 miles south of Naples. The island you're referring to is Ischia, which is, as you said, right across Naples.

Thanks for the extra info.
That definitely sounds like the perfect destination if you're looking for some sort of romantic getaway with your girl, hopefully I can take my wife there someday, when I'm not broke...

[cyanide]

Awesome info, Joe. I copied and pasted everything you said into a file so I can plan my destinations. I'm really hoping I can afford to go this summer with my gf. For a 2 week getaway, how much money (Euros) should I save up for spending (food, transportation, hostels, tourist spots, etc), not including the plane tickets? Also, what would you recommend for transportation around Italy? Train or car rental?

[Joe']

I really wouldn't know how much money you'd have to save, especially since prices differ a lot depending on location. VAT's gone up recently, though (from 4 to 5.75% on food, from 10 to 12% on first-need goods and 20 to 21% on other goods,) and that can't be good.

As for transportation, I'd definitely go with the train. Those new Eurostar things are awesome. Italy's not a car-friendly country...

Car rentals are pricey, plus the highways are very narrow and, well let's just say we're not very good drivers. Not a good combination... Also, it's very common to get stuck in traffic here in Italy; the highways in the summer are always packed.

[Valor]

At the moment I am extremely pissed off.

me too

[shadowgrin]

VAT's gone up recently, though (from 4 to 5.75% on food, from 10 to 12% on first-need goods and 20 to 21% on other goods,) and that can't be good.

But goods are always good.


Joe, are the people in Italy mostly assholes or just some of them?
Serious question and in no way targeted at you.

[Lean]

My internet connection at home is all fucked up. The technician from the ISP came in last Monday and said that the reason why my connection is fucked up is because my computer is as slow as hell.

[shadowgrin]

The technician from the ISP came in last Monday and said that the reason why my connection is fucked up is because my computer is as slow as hell.

Right. If you believe him, then I'm the King of Italy.

[Joe']

VAT's gone up recently, though (from 4 to 5.75% on food, from 10 to 12% on first-need goods and 20 to 21% on other goods,) and that can't be good.

But goods are always good.


Joe, are the people in Italy mostly assholes or just some of them?
Serious question and in no way targeted at you.

Thanks for making fun of my English.

What's your definition of asshole?

[Lean]

My internets connection just got back from hell, I'm still gonna format my PC though.

Long live the King of Italy.

[Jugs]

GOD DAMN IT GEELONG LOST

[shadowgrin]

Thanks for making fun of my English.

I wasn't making fun of you. I thought you intentionally did that.

[Dramacydal]

I fucked up my right hand last night when I smacked some motherfucker in his face as hard as I could. I can barely type, it's all swollen.

I wonder how that dude's face feels though cause that was one hell of a hit. Cleanest knockout I ever delivered.

[Jing]

So last night my former roommate and I were driving through campus when we came upon this section all marked off by yellow tape and had several police cars, fire trucks, and ambulanes parked. We thought it might have been some accident or whatnot inside the horseshoe.

So this morning I checked the school and local news to see if there was any report on it, and apparently some Toyota Camry hit a pedestrian. What makes this all worse is that I actually knew the girl who got hit. She was a good friend of mine who lived in my dorm and was also my Finance TA for a semester. Like the reports were something like significant damage to the car's body, and apparently she was flipped over the car and thrown 20 feet away.

Just thinking about this makes me angry, I don't know why, and they put her condition as severely injured with no current updated status. You never really think seriously about these things until they directly affect someone you know.

[JaoSming]

that sucks man, I hated crossing the streets around that campus unless I was in a group of people. Drivers just don't pay enough attention.

Sorry to hear it though man, hopefully she recovers quickly and well.

[Lamrock]

Gamefly is the only way I get games now, due to the rising cost and slipping quality of video games. The credit card on my account expired, which is fine, but no matter what I try, the option to reinstate it is grayed out!

I have asked customer service (no reply of course, even after two weeks) about it, and tried all the help faqs but all the membership options are grayed out. I then tried to make a new account, but of course, the fuckers wouldn't let me since there is already an (in)active account on that average.

This is fucking bullshit. Fuck Gamefly. Fuck their customer service. Fuck their poorly coded site.