languish meet in Italy : 7 - 11 May

[Pedrito]

   I was afraid about how my fellow citizens could treat them.
BB and lady are nice people 

L.

[Richard Hakluyt]

Welcome back BB and Mrs 

Hope the rest of your holiday went well.

[Barrister]

In the past two weeks I've compulsively read local newspapers to see if there were news about a couple of canadian tourists being robbed/their car stolen/hit by a crazed scooter driver/poisoned by toxic pizza.

Did you enjoy your italian holiday?

L.

Yes, very much enjoyed the holiday. 

Rather than do an AAR (which would be pretty dull, honestly), I'm just going to type a few thoughts/anecdotes:

-Ank/Rich/Tamas, why did we largely order beer in Cortina?  I did the same the next night or two after you left, and generally found Italian beer to be expensive and mediocre in quality - a poor combination.  But once I switched and starting ordering house wine (vino rossi del cassa por favour) like the Italians did I realized it was good and cheap - a most excellent combination.

-Rich, you're missing out by not seeing Basilica San Marco.  It was amazing.  I'll take it over the Cistine Chapel or St Peter's any day.  And the line at least for us wasn't bad at all, under 10 minutes to get inside.

-Ank - we went back the next day to see the Naval Museum (all of us went the day before, only to find it was closed on Sundays).  You'd think we'd have learned to check the guidebook before showing up.  But no - we arrived on Monday to find that it was only open in the morning.

-Food.  Perhaps we went in with too high of expectations.  But initially we were somewhat disappointed with the food.  We were finding it to be similar to what we'd find in Canada, pretty average in quality, and very expensive.  But as it went on we made a bigger point to get away from tourist areas (except we found that all of Venice is a tourist area) and then yes, we did find some very good, reasonably priced food.

-White wine gelatto. 

-I am SO GLAD we parked the car in Rome.  There was no exaggeration about the drivers there.  Northern Italy I could manage though.

-I remembered people like Caliga and Crazy Canuck saying their favourite parts of Italy was the lake district.  I could see why, but personally I think I left my heart in Tuscany.  After staying in camp grounds in Venice and Rome (which were fine by the way, although not at all fancy) we stayed in an agroturismo in San Gimigniano, Tuscany.  The price was only slightly more than the campgrounds, it back right into the vineyards, and the food was superb.  We had been planning to take the car and then drive to Siena that day, but we enjoyed that town so much we just stayed there.

-But also without a doubt one of my favourite moments on that trip was the late-night wine-driven religion debate in Cortina.  That was the one moment in felt like a languish thread come to life (but with an absence of ad hom attacks).  I'd definitely love to do something like that again.

[Tamas]

-But also without a doubt one of my favourite moments on that trip was the late-night wine-driven religion debate in Cortina.  That was the one moment in felt like a languish thread come to life (but with an absence of ad hom attacks).  I'd definitely love to do something like that again.

[The Larch]

-I am SO GLAD we parked the car in Rome.  There was no exaggeration about the drivers there.  Northern Italy I could manage though.

Told you so. 

-I remembered people like Caliga and Crazy Canuck saying their favourite parts of Italy was the lake district.  I could see why, but personally I think I left my heart in Tuscany.  After staying in camp grounds in Venice and Rome (which were fine by the way, although not at all fancy) we stayed in an agroturismo in San Gimigniano, Tuscany.  The price was only slightly more than the campgrounds, it back right into the vineyards, and the food was superb.  We had been planning to take the car and then drive to Siena that day, but we enjoyed that town so much we just stayed there.

Tuscany is really stunning, and San Gimignano is truly a charming place. 

[Pedrito]

-I am SO GLAD we parked the car in Rome.  There was no exaggeration about the drivers there.

Even Milan that's pretty up north is unmanageable.

-I remembered people like Caliga and Crazy Canuck saying their favourite parts of Italy was the lake district.  I could see why, but personally I think I left my heart in Tuscany.  After staying in camp grounds in Venice and Rome (which were fine by the way, although not at all fancy) we stayed in an agroturismo in San Gimigniano, Tuscany.  The price was only slightly more than the campgrounds, it back right into the vineyards, and the food was superb.  We had been planning to take the car and then drive to Siena that day, but we enjoyed that town so much we just stayed there.

I'm glad my suggestion has been a good one     Siena is a wonderful town too, well you'll visit there the next time you'll come to Italy - possibly during the Palio race days.

But also without a doubt one of my favourite moments on that trip was the late-night wine-driven religion debate in Cortina.  That was the one moment in felt like a languish thread come to life (but with an absence of ad hom attacks).  I'd definitely love to do something like that again.

I couldn't be there 

L.

[Legbiter]

Where are the pics you ravenous pot-bellied whorescum?   

[Neil]

Interesting fact:  the all-big gun portion of dreadnought design was first articulated by an Italian.

[Pedrito]

We knew our engineering back then 

L.

[Neil]

We knew our engineering back then 

L.

To some degree.  Still, because they left in the reciprocating engines, they would not have been true dreadnoughts.

[Syt]

Footnote: 2009 marks the 200th anniversary of Andreas Hofer's rebellion for independent Tyrol (and against modernization/Age of Reason). South Tyrol is also still an issue; recently the vice mayor of Bolzano/Bozen said in an interview he views the 9th September 1943 (when Nazi troops arrived) as day of liberation.

Kind of weird that this is still an issue in the age of EU. 

[Neil]

Footnote: 2009 marks the 200th anniversary of Andreas Hofer's rebellion for independent Tyrol (and against modernization/Age of Reason). South Tyrol is also still an issue; recently the vice mayor of Bolzano/Bozen said in an interview he views the 9th September 1943 (when Nazi troops arrived) as day of liberation.

Kind of weird that this is still an issue in the age of EU. 

Not really.  Can you imagine how bad it must feel for a group of Germans (even low-grade Germans like Austrians) to be trapped in a country full of Italians.  Imagine that you work for a tiny subsidiary of a corporation, you and two of your friends.  Now, years and years ago you were sold by a somewhat efficient corporation to a corporation run and staffed entirely by retards.  Now, all of the sudden, you and your two buddies are the only non-retarded people working at the new corporation.  How would you feel?

[Barrister]

Footnote: 2009 marks the 200th anniversary of Andreas Hofer's rebellion for independent Tyrol (and against modernization/Age of Reason). South Tyrol is also still an issue; recently the vice mayor of Bolzano/Bozen said in an interview he views the 9th September 1943 (when Nazi troops arrived) as day of liberation.

Kind of weird that this is still an issue in the age of EU. 

I was surprised to find that German was still largely spoken in the south Tyrol and in Bolzano/Bozen.  Heck in Cortina I think Rich and I at one point were surprised when Pedrito ordered a German white wine - only to look carefully and discover it was south Tyrolese "Italian" wine.

[Syt]

Saying that South Tyrolians speak German stretches the definition a fair bit, though.

[Pedrito]

Not really.  Can you imagine how bad it must feel for a group of Germans (even low-grade Germans like Austrians) to be trapped in a country full of Italians.  Imagine that you work for a tiny subsidiary of a corporation, you and two of your friends.  Now, years and years ago you were sold by a somewhat efficient corporation to a corporation run and staffed entirely by retards.  Now, all of the sudden, you and your two buddies are the only non-retarded people working at the new corporation.  How would you feel?

It depends. If my wage (i.e. tax reductions) is way higher than the one of people around me, if my office (i.e. region) has special laws and regulations that give me the largest of autonomies, well, maybe I could accept it.
OTOH, who says that low-grade germans (or germans at all) are better than italians?

L.