languish meet in Italy : 7 - 11 May

[Barrister]

RH (and Pedrito) - can you think of anything we could bring from Yukon for your kids when you return?

Regulation curling stone, just toss it in the carry on. 

They can probably get their own brooms.

Actually every curling stone in the world comes from a quarry in Scotland - I bet RH could more easily get a regulation stone than I could.

[Grey Fox]

A Moose panache?

[Barrister]

Just finalizing our itinerary:

After coming back from Rome, I'm not quite sure where we should spend the last few days of our trip.    We're heading back north, need to be heading back towards Germany, but we're fairly open.

Any particular recommendations?  We will have already seen the mountains/lake country, Venice, and Rome...

[Richard Hakluyt]

The Tuscany/Umbria regions are on your route back, some very lovely places there.

The biggest tourist draw is Florence of course, mid-May could be a very good time to visit, the place gets horrendously overcrowded at peak season; but it is a "must do".

There are smaller places like Siena and Perugia that are well worth a visit. I stayed at a little place called Castiglione del Lago once, it is on a hill overlooking Lake Trasimene, scene of one of Hannibal's victories against the Romans. From there it is an easy drive to Siena, Perugia, Assissi and a score of smaller places of interest.

Further north you have Ravenna, very good for Byzantine stuff apparently, though I have not yet been there myself 

[Maladict]

If it's more than one or two days I'd suggest basing yourself in Bologna.
Really nice town without the mass tourism, and you can get to Florence, Parma, Ravenna, Mantua, Padua, Verona and tons of other interesting places within an hour or two.

[Admiral Yi]

The guidebook I read said Bologna has the best food in Italy and absolutely nothing to see.

[Maladict]

The guidebook I read said Bologna has the best food in Italy and absolutely nothing to see.

Which guidebook is that?

[Admiral Yi]

Which guidebook is that?

Let's Go series.  I exaggerate with *absolutely* nothing.

[Maladict]

Let's Go series.  I exaggerate with *absolutely* nothing.

I should hope so. Isn't Let's Go the one that's written entirely by teenagers?

[Admiral Yi]

I should hope so. Isn't Let's Go the one that's written entirely by teenagers?

College kids.

[The Larch]

Just finalizing our itinerary:

After coming back from Rome, I'm not quite sure where we should spend the last few days of our trip.    We're heading back north, need to be heading back towards Germany, but we're fairly open.

Any particular recommendations?  We will have already seen the mountains/lake country, Venice, and Rome...

Tuscany, no further questions allowed. For how long would you be there?

[Pedrito]

About the accomodation for BB and lady:
I second RH's opinion about staying in a hotel in Venice; it surely is more expensive, but it's way better for living the city. Unfortunately, as I live about 40 kms from the city, I don't know any hotels there because I've never had need of them. If you want a little less expensive accomodation, you can choose a hotel in Mestre, but it's a fugly place, and you'll need to go to Venice by bus or train.

About the presents for the kids: I thought the bear necklace gave +8 to Strength, not agility    I believe my 3yo will be enthusiastic about it; for the girl, that's 5yo, I'll ask her. And thank you BB, it's really a nice idea 

About the rest of your trip: Florence is definitely a must see: you'll see wonderful works of art, churches and the Uffizi museum (Botticelli, Giotto, Piero della Francesca, and many more); I'd suggest a visit to the Boboli gardens, too, very nice formal gardens where you can relax a bit.
In Tuscany other worthwhile places are: Siena, Lucca (very nice small walled city) and San Gimignano, a small medieval town famous for the many towers.
In Umbria, Perugia is beautiful, and some small centres like Assisi, Gubbio and Cortona are worth a visit, too.
In the Emilia-Romagna region, Bologna is a nice place to visit, although not comparable to Florence; in Ravenna there are the mausoleums of Galla placidia and Theodoric and the church of St. Apollinare in Classe that are filled with fantastic mosaics of the byzantine era.
My city, Padua, is a nice place, if you like gothic art there's the fantastic Scrovegni Chapel, almost completely covered in frescoes by Giotto.

L.

[The Larch]

About the rest of your trip: Florence is definitely a must see: you'll see wonderful works of art, churches and the Uffizi museum (Botticelli, Giotto, Piero della Francesca, and many more); I'd suggest a visit to the Boboli gardens, too, very nice formal gardens where you can relax a bit.
In Tuscany other worthwhile places are: Siena, Lucca (very nice small walled city) and San Gimignano, a small medieval town famous for the many towers.

If he doesn't take a picture with the Leaning Tower of Pisa I fear he won't be believed if he says back home that he visited Italy. 

And in Florence I'd recommend the Bargello museum, in the former barracks of the town, which has amazing sculptures, and for the it has a collection of antique weaponry, so you can picture yourself holding a fucking huge halberd.

[Barrister]

Thanks Pedrito.

We're finallizing everything.  We've booked into the same hotel as everyone else in Cortina.  Unfortunately while we'll spend much of the day on Sunday with you guys at some point in the evening we're going to take off towards Venice.  But we will be in Cortina on Thursday night, all day Friday and Saturday, and much of Sunday.

[Richard Hakluyt]

Oh that's fine, I know that me and Ank have to get an early start on the monday anyway, and Tamas has to drive all the way back to Hungary. So sunday evening was always going to be a bit quiet, it makes sense for you guys to relocate to Venice ready to get going there on monday morning.