The Off Topic Topic

[Ed Anger]

Mine was type 3. Came at its regularly scheduled bowel movement(8-9am)

[CountDeMoney]

The youngest niece's 7th birthday is Saturday;  she doesn't know it yet, but the flight to Disneyland takes off at 10:30.  My sister's gonna videotape the announcement when she gets their asses up to pack.  Getting her up in the morning is like pulling teeth, but I don't think it'll be a problem then.

And the 9 year old got her braces this week.  She loves them.  Weirdo kid.

[Neil]

The youngest niece's 7th birthday is Saturday;  she doesn't know it yet, but the flight to Disneyland takes off at 10:30.  My sister's gonna videotape the announcement when she gets their asses up to pack.  Getting her up in the morning is like pulling teeth, but I don't think it'll be a problem then.

And the 9 year old got her braces this week.  She loves them.  Weirdo kid.

Cute.

[CountDeMoney]

I get mail and animal duty, and unfettered access to their fridge.

[Ed Anger]

Seedy is gonna do his laundry over there.

[garbon]

Funny how tourism works. The cathedral and baptistery next to the leaning tower are way more interesting and get completely ignored (the other interesting places in Pisa even more so), but a roughly equally interesting cathedral in Siena is suddenly a must see.

Anyways, visiting Italy in August? I'd avoid the usual tourist hotspots like the plague, basically everything you mentioned including San Marino.
The South is out too, because of the heat. I'd stick to the north and visit Turin, Bologna, Ravenna, Mantua or Padua instead. 

Yeah I'm kinda surprised Funk didn't mention Rome as touristy. I went in March and bits like the Vatican were still pretty packed, so I wouldn't want to imagine August.

[garbon]

The youngest niece's 7th birthday is Saturday;  she doesn't know it yet, but the flight to Disneyland takes off at 10:30.  My sister's gonna videotape the announcement when she gets their asses up to pack.  Getting her up in the morning is like pulling teeth, but I don't think it'll be a problem then.

So their shooting a Disney commercial?

[CountDeMoney]

   Yeah, why not.

[Josquius]

Anyways, visiting Italy in August? I'd avoid the usual tourist hotspots like the plague, basically everything you mentioned including San Marino.
The South is out too, because of the heat. I'd stick to the north and visit Turin, Bologna, Ravenna, Mantua or Padua instead. 

Turin is kind of tempting me due to the Juventus connection. Didn't know there was much worth seeing up in those towns though.

Rome and Florence are great, of course. Florence is overwhelmed by tourists. Pisa only has the leaning tower where everyone has to take their obligatory "IM HOLDING UP THE TOWA MOM" photo, and it costs 18 euro just to climb to the top 

Lucca is beautiful and I advise spending some time there. Fewer tourists and when I was there they were having a festival and the main piazzas were filled with people. The old town walls have been converted into a giant park and walking around the town on a beautiful sunny day on top of an old and intact Renaissance wall is a great experience.

Siena is really cool. The town hall has some great medieval frescoes and the cathedral is a sight to behold. I also really liked Assisi, though it's kind of touristy too, trying to cater to the pilgrims visiting St. Francis' tomb.

If you get a chance, climb Vesuvius. I got some pretty cool views of Naples from the top of the volcano. 

Pisa is that lame huh?
It does seem to have a pretty major airport so felt it might have more. I shall head elsewhere I guess!
Don't think I'll head down to the south. I'm looking far more around central Italy and maybe the north. Really want to see some awesome historic architecture.
Tourists do suck but alas they're inevitable. Any less touristed old and awesome towns?

Barcelona - Valencia - Madrid in August? Do you enjoy sweating?

I do traditionally hate hot weather. But through living in Japan I've grown used to it.

[derspiess]

In Pisa one person I was with pissed off some Nigerian peddling some cheap sunglasses and he followed us for a couple minutes screaming "FOOK YU!" 

I had a pissed off hooker do the same to me in Amsterdam. 

[lustindarkness]

My one trip to Rome was a short one day trip. I arrived at sunrise so I sneaked in the forum area before they started selling tickets, by lunchtime I saw all of that area for free.

[garbon]

  Yeah, why not.

I used the wrong they're.

[garbon]

My one trip to Rome was a short one day trip. I arrived at sunrise so I sneaked in the forum area before they started selling tickets, by lunchtime I saw all of that area for free.

I wonder if they changed that. I don't recall paying to see the forum when I was in Rome. Now that I'm looking up it looks like Colosseum, Palatine and forum are now on one ticket.

[fhdz]

TYPE 7 ALERT

Bad sushi

[crazy canuck]

My one trip to Rome was a short one day trip. I arrived at sunrise so I sneaked in the forum area before they started selling tickets, by lunchtime I saw all of that area for free.

I wonder if they changed that. I don't recall paying to see the forum when I was in Rome. Now that I'm looking up it looks like Colosseum, Palatine and forum are now on one ticket.

You can wonder the Forum grounds for free.  To get up on the Palatine hill you need a ticket.  There is a ticket booth in the Forum area at the base of the stairs up to the Palatine hill.  The same ticket will get you into the Colosseum.  The line up for the Palatine ticket booth is very short while the line up for the Colosseum ticket booth can be very long (especially during the tourist season).  So going to the Palatine booth a good way of avoiding the line up.