MarcoAviator
06-20-2005, 08:03 PM
Ok, so someone here voiced the intent of having a flight fest in Italy.
Here's is a suggestion.
By all means I don't want to impose anything on anyone, so if you decide to do something different, go right ahead. Don't necessarily feel obligated to follow my suggestions.
First a big of background.
For those that don't know, I am 33, born in Rome, moved in the US in '97, married to Naturalized US citizen (she's half british half french) and I am getting my citizenship too.
I speak Italian (Agne can vouch for that :D ) and Since I spent the first 20 years of my life in Rome I kinda ... know the lay of the land.
In the early 90s my parents moved to the countryside but alas, now that both me and my sister moved away from home, they decided just this year to move back into the city.
So next year they will live in Rome.
Next year I have no choice but to go. I won't only stay in Rome. I plan to visite Nice, France again (Gosh I LOVE that place!).
And I would like to go see Florence, which I have NEVER seen (yep, born in Italy but never really went anyplace other than Rome. Dull huh?).
So it would be a 10-12 days trip, a good week in rome and 2-3 days in Nice and 2-3 days in Florence. That's the idea.
Rome deserves a week and even if I have NEVER been outside of it I never get tired of it. There's always something new to do and even if I don't like Italy much, of Rome, I am proud of.
My parents just now moved to an area called "EUR". It's a ritzy-upscale type of neighborhood (better be, since the apartment they bought sits in the $1.5mil range).
I have no choice but stay there for my Rome visit. They won't hear any alternative. Ironically my sister doesn't live that far away ... so I get to hang out with her too.
So, if you guys feel interested, here is my suggestion (again, feel free to do whatever you want).
The EUR is a sort of half commercial, half residential area. There's a few hotels around there. The advantage of that area is that there's many subway stops at walking distance from my house and the 2 hotels I found around there.
The subway is the ONLY way to move around Rome. Don't try to drive it and don't even think about buses unless you want to die (think overcrowded, filthy).
the subway ain't that clean but it's not worse than the NY subway in Manhattan (in fact it's a bit better) and it runs late hours.
The blue circle with the black flag is where my parents' house is.
http://indie-web.com:443/images/romemap.jpg
The two hotels I found are these:
Hotel American Palace
http://rome-hotels.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g187791-d205038-Reviews-TOP_Hotel_American_Palace_EUR-Rome_Lazio.html
This one ranges around 120 bux a room
According to my dad he's seen plenty of americans milling around this hotel. It's supposed to be international. He'll do more research and scout it out.
Villa Eur
http://www.villaeur.com/
This one ranges around 190 bux a room
It looks a bit more upscale to me (and it's more pricey). It's in the same area but my dad hasn't seen it yet. I'll tell him to scout it out.
The red "M" are the subway stops. The advantage of these hotels (in my opinion) is that they are not expensive, they look decent, they are not in the center of rome (which is VERY busy and VERY expensive) and they are at walking distance to the subway and the subway will drop you within 10 minutes anywhere between the Vatican, colosseum, ancient roman forum, all sort of shopping areas, you name it.
As for the area:
The little artificial lake you see there is an awesome little spot in the city where i used to go jogging a lot.
To give you an idea of what the EUR area looks like (I didn't take these pictures. I found these on the internet but i have been walking around these places many times):
http://www.italmarket.com/rm/hoteltrefontane/img/esterno.jpg
http://www.gdecarli.it/Circuiti/ITA/Foto/ITA%20Roma%20EUR/ITA%20Roma%20EUR%20F01.jpg
http://photos.jpeek.com/rome_2002/2_EUR/PC090234.JPG
http://www.lucianolombardi.it/Foto/Roma_eur7.jpg
(that's a pic of the lake)
http://www.lucianolombardi.it/Foto/Roma_eur3.jpg
(yes you can go on a boat on the lake. It's not that big but it's pretty).
http://www.lucianolombardi.it/Foto/Roma_eur6.jpg
Now, don't get me wrong. It looks pretty but it's like NY. You walk one block and it's really nice looking, nice shops, nice restaurants.
Then you turn around a block and all of a sudden you feel you are in fear of your life. It's dark, damp, seedy and there's a bunch of bums staring at you wondering how difficult it would be to peel your skin off and use it as toilet paper.
It's a big city, Rome. Grow eyes in the back of you head and keep your hands on your wallets at all times. Even in nice looking areas.
...
You guys would stay at the hotel, I would stay at my parents house. After breakfast we would meet in the lobby (or anywhere else) and me and my wife and (possibly) my sister would take you around the Center of Rome. CHances are in a week you won't see half of it.
If we take the chicks in a shopping area, forget it ... a month won't be enough ... :rolling:
Again, this is just a suggestion. By all means if you guys wanna do something different, we can just fly there togheter (on the same place) and then go our separate ways and then hang out someplace is Rome one or two days.
If you want me to take you around Rome, though ... :D ... I'm more than up for it! :thumbsup:
Here's is a suggestion.
By all means I don't want to impose anything on anyone, so if you decide to do something different, go right ahead. Don't necessarily feel obligated to follow my suggestions.
First a big of background.
For those that don't know, I am 33, born in Rome, moved in the US in '97, married to Naturalized US citizen (she's half british half french) and I am getting my citizenship too.
I speak Italian (Agne can vouch for that :D ) and Since I spent the first 20 years of my life in Rome I kinda ... know the lay of the land.
In the early 90s my parents moved to the countryside but alas, now that both me and my sister moved away from home, they decided just this year to move back into the city.
So next year they will live in Rome.
Next year I have no choice but to go. I won't only stay in Rome. I plan to visite Nice, France again (Gosh I LOVE that place!).
And I would like to go see Florence, which I have NEVER seen (yep, born in Italy but never really went anyplace other than Rome. Dull huh?).
So it would be a 10-12 days trip, a good week in rome and 2-3 days in Nice and 2-3 days in Florence. That's the idea.
Rome deserves a week and even if I have NEVER been outside of it I never get tired of it. There's always something new to do and even if I don't like Italy much, of Rome, I am proud of.
My parents just now moved to an area called "EUR". It's a ritzy-upscale type of neighborhood (better be, since the apartment they bought sits in the $1.5mil range).
I have no choice but stay there for my Rome visit. They won't hear any alternative. Ironically my sister doesn't live that far away ... so I get to hang out with her too.
So, if you guys feel interested, here is my suggestion (again, feel free to do whatever you want).
The EUR is a sort of half commercial, half residential area. There's a few hotels around there. The advantage of that area is that there's many subway stops at walking distance from my house and the 2 hotels I found around there.
The subway is the ONLY way to move around Rome. Don't try to drive it and don't even think about buses unless you want to die (think overcrowded, filthy).
the subway ain't that clean but it's not worse than the NY subway in Manhattan (in fact it's a bit better) and it runs late hours.
The blue circle with the black flag is where my parents' house is.
http://indie-web.com:443/images/romemap.jpg
The two hotels I found are these:
Hotel American Palace
http://rome-hotels.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g187791-d205038-Reviews-TOP_Hotel_American_Palace_EUR-Rome_Lazio.html
This one ranges around 120 bux a room
According to my dad he's seen plenty of americans milling around this hotel. It's supposed to be international. He'll do more research and scout it out.
Villa Eur
http://www.villaeur.com/
This one ranges around 190 bux a room
It looks a bit more upscale to me (and it's more pricey). It's in the same area but my dad hasn't seen it yet. I'll tell him to scout it out.
The red "M" are the subway stops. The advantage of these hotels (in my opinion) is that they are not expensive, they look decent, they are not in the center of rome (which is VERY busy and VERY expensive) and they are at walking distance to the subway and the subway will drop you within 10 minutes anywhere between the Vatican, colosseum, ancient roman forum, all sort of shopping areas, you name it.
As for the area:
The little artificial lake you see there is an awesome little spot in the city where i used to go jogging a lot.
To give you an idea of what the EUR area looks like (I didn't take these pictures. I found these on the internet but i have been walking around these places many times):
http://www.italmarket.com/rm/hoteltrefontane/img/esterno.jpg
http://www.gdecarli.it/Circuiti/ITA/Foto/ITA%20Roma%20EUR/ITA%20Roma%20EUR%20F01.jpg
http://photos.jpeek.com/rome_2002/2_EUR/PC090234.JPG
http://www.lucianolombardi.it/Foto/Roma_eur7.jpg
(that's a pic of the lake)
http://www.lucianolombardi.it/Foto/Roma_eur3.jpg
(yes you can go on a boat on the lake. It's not that big but it's pretty).
http://www.lucianolombardi.it/Foto/Roma_eur6.jpg
Now, don't get me wrong. It looks pretty but it's like NY. You walk one block and it's really nice looking, nice shops, nice restaurants.
Then you turn around a block and all of a sudden you feel you are in fear of your life. It's dark, damp, seedy and there's a bunch of bums staring at you wondering how difficult it would be to peel your skin off and use it as toilet paper.
It's a big city, Rome. Grow eyes in the back of you head and keep your hands on your wallets at all times. Even in nice looking areas.
...
You guys would stay at the hotel, I would stay at my parents house. After breakfast we would meet in the lobby (or anywhere else) and me and my wife and (possibly) my sister would take you around the Center of Rome. CHances are in a week you won't see half of it.
If we take the chicks in a shopping area, forget it ... a month won't be enough ... :rolling:
Again, this is just a suggestion. By all means if you guys wanna do something different, we can just fly there togheter (on the same place) and then go our separate ways and then hang out someplace is Rome one or two days.
If you want me to take you around Rome, though ... :D ... I'm more than up for it! :thumbsup: