QUESTIONS ABOUT ITALY!!! PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!
#31
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 2,710
Re: QUESTIONS ABOUT ITALY!!! PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!
Wondered where you had been! Glad to have you back!
Italy is fab. We have had three fab trips there, never rome though. One the dolomites, beautiful. Then two Ryanair specials. One to Turin and we went up to Lake Orta which was breathtaking and then umbria, southern Tuscany. Assisi and san giminiano were just fab. Liked Sienna too. Can recommend the book, 'walking and eating in umbria and tuscany', just what a fab name for a book and it turned up a few trumps!!!
Anyhow , the UK is great, in places it is entirely beautiful. We just fancied an adventure and skiing!!
Gryphea
Italy is fab. We have had three fab trips there, never rome though. One the dolomites, beautiful. Then two Ryanair specials. One to Turin and we went up to Lake Orta which was breathtaking and then umbria, southern Tuscany. Assisi and san giminiano were just fab. Liked Sienna too. Can recommend the book, 'walking and eating in umbria and tuscany', just what a fab name for a book and it turned up a few trumps!!!
Anyhow , the UK is great, in places it is entirely beautiful. We just fancied an adventure and skiing!!
Gryphea
#32
Forum Regular
Joined: Mar 2007
Location: Victoria,B.C
Posts: 65
Re: QUESTIONS ABOUT ITALY!!! PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!
As a fellow Canadian I feel i could have written your OP Judy!
Every time I go to England or anywhere in Europe I think- why would anyone want to leave the culture, the history, the trains to come live in boring old Canada?
Then I arrive back to a smiling (usually) Canadian customs agent, I hear and see the sounds and sights so familiar and so comforting. I see smiling, pleasant people, fresh air and space and I know I am where I belong.
But dang a couple of months in Greece would sure be nice.
Glad you had a wonderful trip.
Every time I go to England or anywhere in Europe I think- why would anyone want to leave the culture, the history, the trains to come live in boring old Canada?
Then I arrive back to a smiling (usually) Canadian customs agent, I hear and see the sounds and sights so familiar and so comforting. I see smiling, pleasant people, fresh air and space and I know I am where I belong.
But dang a couple of months in Greece would sure be nice.
Glad you had a wonderful trip.
#33
Binned by Muderators
Joined: Jul 2007
Location: White Rock BC
Posts: 11,682
Re: QUESTIONS ABOUT ITALY!!! PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!
We went to Rome for our honeymoon. IIRC they still spoke latin.
During our "Grand Tour" before we came to Canada we visited Florence, Sienna, and Pisa and then stayed a few nights on the shores of Lago Maggiore. I wish we had allowed more time in Florence. The city is overwhelming and far too much to take in in two days.
During our "Grand Tour" before we came to Canada we visited Florence, Sienna, and Pisa and then stayed a few nights on the shores of Lago Maggiore. I wish we had allowed more time in Florence. The city is overwhelming and far too much to take in in two days.
#34
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Oct 2006
Location: BC
Posts: 1,361
Re: QUESTIONS ABOUT ITALY!!! PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!
Welcome home Judy! Glad to hear that you had a wonderful time.
Yoong
Yoong
#35
Re: QUESTIONS ABOUT ITALY!!! PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!
Welcome back Judy!
I know what you mean about Italy. It gets under your skin. I lived there for a while, many moons ago and loved it. The language is beautiful. My only regret is that I have lost most of the italian I knew.
I know what you mean about Italy. It gets under your skin. I lived there for a while, many moons ago and loved it. The language is beautiful. My only regret is that I have lost most of the italian I knew.
#36
Re: QUESTIONS ABOUT ITALY!!! PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!
Italy is great, spent a week in Sorrento/Bay of Naples in 2000 on honeymoon with Mrs ARH. Wonderful scenery - especially on the Isle of Capri. Some of the best food I have ever eaten as well. Will go back eventually, it's just a bit more expensive to get there now we've moved to Canada and sprung two kids!
However, on the downside, it is one of the few places on earth where the drivers are worse than those in Calgary!!
However, on the downside, it is one of the few places on earth where the drivers are worse than those in Calgary!!
#37
Re: QUESTIONS ABOUT ITALY!!! PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!
Nice to have you back Judy, and glad to hear that Italy was all you hoped it would be...
Lorraine G
Lorraine G
#38
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Feb 2008
Location: St Margarets Bay, Nova Scotia
Posts: 361
Re: QUESTIONS ABOUT ITALY!!! PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!
We also fell in love with Italy, we spent our honeymoon in Sorrento in 2001. Have been lucky to have visited a few times, and a few places, Rome, Venice, Capri and down the Amalfi coast, and one of my favourite places Pompeii. We will go back sometime, maybe even retire there ( but that is quite a few years off!) We have in the past considered moving there, but practicality always prevailed, IE. work, language, Italian bureaucracy. We still have a love of most things Italian though, food, style, culture, cars, motorbikes (its mostly me that loves the last two!) Its a country that just gets under your skin and seeps into your sole.
Can you tell I love Italy?
Thanks Judy, your post has brought back many happy memories.
Can you tell I love Italy?
Thanks Judy, your post has brought back many happy memories.
#39
Re: QUESTIONS ABOUT ITALY!!! PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!
My take on Italy is far different from what is often romantisised by film and the tourist industry.
Yes there is abundance f culture. Yes, the museums with original Michelangelo and Da Vinci is a sight not to be missed. Venice IS beautiful. Verona is fantastic. However - it is not a country I would like to live in.
I have travelled the length and bredth of Europe many times over as a roadie. Italy is the one country that most roadies hate going to. Right up the top of the list with Greece. I've done both.
In Italy, the best way to get the truck unpacked/packed is to send a girl in to it. On a big production tour I was busy as I had to jump in to the back of every truck. If I didn't it would take hours but as soon as I was in there, the local stage hands would run to get in to impress me with their strength and speed. The one thing we feared was getting a promoter who would pay the local crew before the end of the day because then we would stand there with no stage hands and trucks to pack.
In Greece it is pretty much the same. A roadie mentality is "the show is today - not tomorrow" so when you send out a runner to get something so simple as a mirror you would expect them to return with the mirror same morning. You'd be lucky if you saw the runner at all.
Germany is efficient but sadly too many people are set in their ways and afraid/unwilling to think outside the box. I love Germany. If I was to spend the rest of my life in Europe I would do that in Germany. Especially in Hannover.
France - beautiful country. Beautiful architecture. Picturesque villages. What more could you ask for? Well, polite people would be one.
I've found service in Finland and Norway excellent. Be it in a hotel, local lunch restaurant, shop, transportation etc.
I have an issue with Denmark. Everything goes wrong for me in Denmark I try to avoid it, although I do like the place and the people.
UK - well, most of you here are from there. Rest my case.
Belgium and Holland are great. Spain, well, I'm half spanish and grew up there and I don't live there.
I love Slovakia! That's another place I could consider living in if I was to stay in Europe.
But when I am to board a plane to Canada my heart fills with warmth and I am calm and serene. I love it here. I love it being a melting pot of friendly people from different cultures. I love watching the mixture of old and new. I see buildings that remind me of Sweden, Germany, Spain, UK. Everything (almost) that you can find in Europe you can find here.
I even like the french I meet here because the immigrants in Canada are the ones who didn't want to live in the downtroddenness of their own country and instead searched out a place where they could be happy.
Every single human has a need to belong and to be surrounded by likeminded people. If you don't find it where you are born, you could find it somewhere else. And I found it here in Canada.
Yes there is abundance f culture. Yes, the museums with original Michelangelo and Da Vinci is a sight not to be missed. Venice IS beautiful. Verona is fantastic. However - it is not a country I would like to live in.
I have travelled the length and bredth of Europe many times over as a roadie. Italy is the one country that most roadies hate going to. Right up the top of the list with Greece. I've done both.
In Italy, the best way to get the truck unpacked/packed is to send a girl in to it. On a big production tour I was busy as I had to jump in to the back of every truck. If I didn't it would take hours but as soon as I was in there, the local stage hands would run to get in to impress me with their strength and speed. The one thing we feared was getting a promoter who would pay the local crew before the end of the day because then we would stand there with no stage hands and trucks to pack.
In Greece it is pretty much the same. A roadie mentality is "the show is today - not tomorrow" so when you send out a runner to get something so simple as a mirror you would expect them to return with the mirror same morning. You'd be lucky if you saw the runner at all.
Germany is efficient but sadly too many people are set in their ways and afraid/unwilling to think outside the box. I love Germany. If I was to spend the rest of my life in Europe I would do that in Germany. Especially in Hannover.
France - beautiful country. Beautiful architecture. Picturesque villages. What more could you ask for? Well, polite people would be one.
I've found service in Finland and Norway excellent. Be it in a hotel, local lunch restaurant, shop, transportation etc.
I have an issue with Denmark. Everything goes wrong for me in Denmark I try to avoid it, although I do like the place and the people.
UK - well, most of you here are from there. Rest my case.
Belgium and Holland are great. Spain, well, I'm half spanish and grew up there and I don't live there.
I love Slovakia! That's another place I could consider living in if I was to stay in Europe.
But when I am to board a plane to Canada my heart fills with warmth and I am calm and serene. I love it here. I love it being a melting pot of friendly people from different cultures. I love watching the mixture of old and new. I see buildings that remind me of Sweden, Germany, Spain, UK. Everything (almost) that you can find in Europe you can find here.
I even like the french I meet here because the immigrants in Canada are the ones who didn't want to live in the downtroddenness of their own country and instead searched out a place where they could be happy.
Every single human has a need to belong and to be surrounded by likeminded people. If you don't find it where you are born, you could find it somewhere else. And I found it here in Canada.
#40
Joined: Dec 1969
Posts: 2,484
Re: QUESTIONS ABOUT ITALY!!! PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!
Welcome back judy
The uk has some great things about it, all us expats for one
One thing that wont happen when we get off the plane in manchester is a guy stood there saying "Welcome to England"
I was really shocked to get off our 9hr flight to a man saying to everyone "Welcome to Alberta"
How friendly they all are at the airport, the kids loved it.
Gill
The uk has some great things about it, all us expats for one
One thing that wont happen when we get off the plane in manchester is a guy stood there saying "Welcome to England"
I was really shocked to get off our 9hr flight to a man saying to everyone "Welcome to Alberta"
How friendly they all are at the airport, the kids loved it.
Gill
#41
Re: QUESTIONS ABOUT ITALY!!! PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!
Glad to hear you had a great time in Italy, Judy. Still find it a little startling to believe that there are some fully paid-up born-here Canadians on here.
Italy is wonderful, in parts, like most places. Rome can be absolutely hellish (try crossing a road with scooters bearing down on you – it sounds like a swarm of enraged hornets is descending on you). I also remember the underground being one of the dirtiest I've seen.
On an architectural note, St. Peter's was too hyped up for me. It was way, way too big for me to have any sort of spiritual connection or thoughts. It just reduced everyone to the size of ants. Having read other descriptions of the place, I think St. Peter's strong reactions in people in both directions.
If(when!) you go back, you might want to check out Spoleto. Only a couple of hours away via autostrada, beautiful countryside and some jaw-droppingly beautiful churches. Quiet, too.
Italy is wonderful, in parts, like most places. Rome can be absolutely hellish (try crossing a road with scooters bearing down on you – it sounds like a swarm of enraged hornets is descending on you). I also remember the underground being one of the dirtiest I've seen.
On an architectural note, St. Peter's was too hyped up for me. It was way, way too big for me to have any sort of spiritual connection or thoughts. It just reduced everyone to the size of ants. Having read other descriptions of the place, I think St. Peter's strong reactions in people in both directions.
If(when!) you go back, you might want to check out Spoleto. Only a couple of hours away via autostrada, beautiful countryside and some jaw-droppingly beautiful churches. Quiet, too.
#42
Re: QUESTIONS ABOUT ITALY!!! PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!
But when I am to board a plane to Canada my heart fills with warmth and I am calm and serene. I love it here. I love it being a melting pot of friendly people from different cultures. I love watching the mixture of old and new. I see buildings that remind me of Sweden, Germany, Spain, UK. Everything (almost) that you can find in Europe you can find here.
I even like the french I meet here because the immigrants in Canada are the ones who didn't want to live in the downtroddenness of their own country and instead searched out a place where they could be happy.
Every single human has a need to belong and to be surrounded by likeminded people. If you don't find it where you are born, you could find it somewhere else. And I found it here in Canada.
I even like the french I meet here because the immigrants in Canada are the ones who didn't want to live in the downtroddenness of their own country and instead searched out a place where they could be happy.
Every single human has a need to belong and to be surrounded by likeminded people. If you don't find it where you are born, you could find it somewhere else. And I found it here in Canada.
#43
Re: QUESTIONS ABOUT ITALY!!! PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!
I went on a trip to Italy, fell in love with it, and want to move there. Can anyone tell me which would be the best part of Italy for me -- the one that has the cheapest houses, the highest paying jobs, the best schools, the most pleasant climate, the most beautiful scenery, the most stunning art, and the most delicious food?
Just kidding.
But I really did love Italy.
There were a lot of splendid sights / sites in Rome but, if I was forced to choose just one, I would vote for St. Peter's Basilica. That would not have been the tourist attraction that I would have wanted to have liked best. I'm a bit of a Recovering Catholic, who hasn't quite got over sociopaths like Sister Helen at my convent boarding school. But, even if the Catholic Church is represented by human beings with the full range of human frailties, St. Peter's is what it is. When I was standing in the middle of it, I was unable to deny that it was drop-dead gorgeous.
It also was tough to pick a favourite in Florence. There were many features of the city that vied for first place. But again, if I was forced to name Florence's most delicious offering, I would have to say it was Michelangelo's David. When I say that, it sounds to me like another cliché. But again, the facts speak for themselves. When I looked at that statue, it was impossible to deny that it was stunning.
While I was sight seeing, I was thinking about this whole immigration thing. Some of my companions on day tours were people from Greece, Spain, France, Germany, etc. -- countries that have their own history, art, monumental buildings, charm and so on. Every one of those people sighed and said I was so lucky to live near the Rocky Mountains in Canada.
But my tour companions who came from "new" countries -- the USA and Australia -- all raved about the old buildings and cobbled streets of Italy. An American couple who had been living in London, UK for the last year were representative of this group. They said that they loved London, its museums, and everything else it had to offer. The other thing they loved about London was its proximity to the Continent. They were in Rome that weekend, and two weekends before that they'd been in Paris. They were using the opportunity afforded by an intra-company transfer to soak up as much of Europe as they could.
Sometimes it's hard for me to understand why you guys walk away from the UK when you have all that stuff on your doorstep. But then it's also true that I've never lived in the UK. I'm very conscious of the fact that it's one thing to visit a place as a tourist and another thing to live in that place.
I also was struck by the fact that, much as I loved Italy, I experienced a sense of having arrived home when I reached the departure gate for the Air Canada flight that would take me to Toronto for my connection to Calgary. This has happened to me on every overseas trip on which I've been in the last 15 years or so. When I've reached my departure gate and found myself surrounded by Canadians, I've felt safe.
Not that I feel threatened in foreign countries. But, when there are Canadians chatting all around me, I get that feeling that some of your describe when you visit the UK -- the feeling of sliding into a comfortable old sweater and pair of slippers. Canadians are people whom I've come to understand.
It's true that Canada doesn't offer everything I want, and I expect I'll always need to travel to experience what Canada cannot give me. But, after 31 years here, I do feel as if Canada is my home base. It was nice to have that confirmed.
x
Just kidding.
But I really did love Italy.
There were a lot of splendid sights / sites in Rome but, if I was forced to choose just one, I would vote for St. Peter's Basilica. That would not have been the tourist attraction that I would have wanted to have liked best. I'm a bit of a Recovering Catholic, who hasn't quite got over sociopaths like Sister Helen at my convent boarding school. But, even if the Catholic Church is represented by human beings with the full range of human frailties, St. Peter's is what it is. When I was standing in the middle of it, I was unable to deny that it was drop-dead gorgeous.
It also was tough to pick a favourite in Florence. There were many features of the city that vied for first place. But again, if I was forced to name Florence's most delicious offering, I would have to say it was Michelangelo's David. When I say that, it sounds to me like another cliché. But again, the facts speak for themselves. When I looked at that statue, it was impossible to deny that it was stunning.
While I was sight seeing, I was thinking about this whole immigration thing. Some of my companions on day tours were people from Greece, Spain, France, Germany, etc. -- countries that have their own history, art, monumental buildings, charm and so on. Every one of those people sighed and said I was so lucky to live near the Rocky Mountains in Canada.
But my tour companions who came from "new" countries -- the USA and Australia -- all raved about the old buildings and cobbled streets of Italy. An American couple who had been living in London, UK for the last year were representative of this group. They said that they loved London, its museums, and everything else it had to offer. The other thing they loved about London was its proximity to the Continent. They were in Rome that weekend, and two weekends before that they'd been in Paris. They were using the opportunity afforded by an intra-company transfer to soak up as much of Europe as they could.
Sometimes it's hard for me to understand why you guys walk away from the UK when you have all that stuff on your doorstep. But then it's also true that I've never lived in the UK. I'm very conscious of the fact that it's one thing to visit a place as a tourist and another thing to live in that place.
I also was struck by the fact that, much as I loved Italy, I experienced a sense of having arrived home when I reached the departure gate for the Air Canada flight that would take me to Toronto for my connection to Calgary. This has happened to me on every overseas trip on which I've been in the last 15 years or so. When I've reached my departure gate and found myself surrounded by Canadians, I've felt safe.
Not that I feel threatened in foreign countries. But, when there are Canadians chatting all around me, I get that feeling that some of your describe when you visit the UK -- the feeling of sliding into a comfortable old sweater and pair of slippers. Canadians are people whom I've come to understand.
It's true that Canada doesn't offer everything I want, and I expect I'll always need to travel to experience what Canada cannot give me. But, after 31 years here, I do feel as if Canada is my home base. It was nice to have that confirmed.
x