My trip to the land of pasta

[nippinout]

I recently returned from a trip to the land of Italia. And if you didn't know, or are completely ignorant, they have lots of pasta and Italian people there.

Here are some pictures for your enjoyment. I fear this may kill my bandwidth account.

First part of the trip was in Venezia. (We call it Venice in America, because we're American!)

To get there, we travelled from America, to Italia. A 5 hour train ride through the snowy mouantains will make you pause, when all you packed was a light rain jacket.

A view of the Canal Grande at night.


Some random canal.


I was delighted to be awake early enough one of the days. I was able to see all of the delivery boats bringing in goods. The garbage would be picked up in wheeled carts and brought back to a garbage boat. It was kind of surreal.

And of course, we went on a gondola ride. Many people call them 'touristy', but of course it is. I think it's one of the better ways to see and experience Venice. The gondolier was sort of annoying though.







We also travelled to the nearby island of Murano. To my great surprise, the island is known for their glass-making, not manufacturing the car.



I don't have pics from Murano. So imagine some Italians selling and blowing glass.

[nippinout]

We finally got to Rome.

The damn Spanish Steps are amazingly located in Italy, not Rome. They were also under construction and lacked the pretty red flowers in all of the pictures that I had seen.

This is me standing midway up the Spanish Steps, terrorizing some poor Italians.



We got to see the Colosseum.


CRAZY staircase while at St Peter's Basilica/Vatican Museums.


The entire reason for travelling to the land of pasta was for my older sister's wedding. This is my woman and me prepared for the wedding.


And the beautiful bride and her hubby.


What I learned on this trip (or what annoyed me):
Pizza in Italy is freaking good.

I ate gelato everyday. I didn't learn anything about gelato, besides that it is delicious

I learned that I absolutely hate Europeans. Say what you will about 'rude' Americans, but I never wanted to punch every piece of Euro-trash that I met. Maybe I just had bad experiences. People were wearing offensive shirts (including the F word) INSIDE of St. Peter's Basilica!!! wtf? People were cutting in line left and right at the Basilica and the Vatican Museums.

At the actual wedding, which was performed just in front of the Pantheon, idiot Italian teenagers thought it would be perfectly fine to crowd the small wedding. They were shoving cell phone cameras IN FRONT of the pastor (hubby's mom). One idiot pushed my mom out of the way for a camera. Of course, maybe they thought she was just a bystander. But the bride is Asian, the old lady is Asian. Idiots.

In my best American, I told the idiots to backoff.

I think the most memorable moment was the gypsy beggar woman that stood next to the hubby begging for money. HAHAHAHAHAH

Don't ever go on a trip abroad when you have a bacterial infection in your face and need two root canals.

Even with the excrutiating tooth pain and annoying idiots, I had a grand time.

And finally, I wanted to share my souvenir with the fine people at the United States Customs and Border Protection as well as the fine folks at the Transportation Security Administration and packed my luggage accordingly.

[BobTheCow]

Hahaha, SHE looks excited! Cool pictures.

[magman007]

im glad you had a good time, awesome pictures as well. i should get my italy photos up some time. I went 2 summers ago, and it was nothing but fun we traveled to, and drank whole heartedly in florence, venice, asisi, rome, and vatican city, or atleast right out side of the small country

did you get to try la bierra del demon? the awesomely smooth 12% beer?

also, did you get to go to a glass blowing demonstration? we saw one in venice and it was nothing short of amazing, this little old italian guy created a $800 vase in like, 3 minutes, and a cute little horse. I got one for my mom

Its a cool country, and despite the faux hawks, and the annoying ITAI's(<3 eurotrip) who think that they are gods gift to the world, it was a fun trip. France sucked though, even the 3 hours we spent in the airport, it still sucked.

Side note, our gondolier was one of the funniest dudes, its clear its like a ****ty summer job to venicians, and they just cruise around, talk to their buddies, and smoke cigs, its like a refined ny taxi driver, you just end up in the same place

[lather]

funny pics, looks like you had a good time

[MicroMiniMe]

im glad you had a good time, awesome pictures as well. i should get my italy photos up some time. I went 2 summers ago, and it was nothing but fun we traveled to, and drank whole heartedly in florence, venice, asisi, rome, and vatican city, or atleast right out side of the small country

did you get to try la bierra del demon? the awesomely smooth 12% beer?

also, did you get to go to a glass blowing demonstration? we saw one in venice and it was nothing short of amazing, this little old italian guy created a $800 vase in like, 3 minutes, and a cute little horse. I got one for my mom

Its a cool country, and despite the faux hawks, and the annoying ITAI's(<3 eurotrip) who think that they are gods gift to the world, it was a fun trip. France sucked though, even the 3 hours we spent in the airport, it still sucked.

Side note, our gondolier was one of the funniest dudes, its clear its like a ****ty summer job to venicians, and they just cruise around, talk to their buddies, and smoke cigs, its like a refined ny taxi driver, you just end up in the same place

One thing I noticed right away is the Italians hate the French (clothing/fasion) more than anything. In Milan even the old grandmothers who walked around with a cane had shoes on that would cost more than my plane ticket if purchased in the US. And in neighboring Verona, the French travellers were pointed at and laughed at by the Italian fasion trash.

Murano is cool to get away from the main Venice hype and crowds. Though Piazza de St. Mark is just cool.

Florence is still my favorite. It would take a whole 'nother trip just for Rome though. But yeah Nippin', whodathunk pizza in Italia would be 1000X better than Pizza Hut?
For pizza, less is definately more.

Was in Italy summer 2002 during a record year heat wave. Last time I wore hard contact lenses. Part of the air pollution of Milan became 'one' with my contacts and converted to soft disposable contacts when I got back.

You still hanging around the U Nippin? I still have your email address, I'll get you out paintballing one way or another man.

[nippinout]

One thing I noticed right away is the Italians hate the French (clothing/fasion) more than anything. In Milan even the old grandmothers who walked around with a cane had shoes on that would cost more than my plane ticket if purchased in the US. And in neighboring Verona, the French travellers were pointed at and laughed at by the Italian fasion trash.

Murano is cool to get away from the main Venice hype and crowds. Though Piazza de St. Mark is just cool.

Florence is still my favorite. It would take a whole 'nother trip just for Rome though. But yeah Nippin', whodathunk pizza in Italia would be 1000X better than Pizza Hut?
For pizza, less is definately more.

Was in Italy summer 2002 during a record year heat wave. Last time I wore hard contact lenses. Part of the air pollution of Milan became 'one' with my contacts and converted to soft disposable contacts when I got back.

You still hanging around the U Nippin? I still have your email address, I'll get you out paintballing one way or another man.

There were a lot of Italian teens that looked like the typical fashion euro trash (which is also quite popular in America. I think it looks stupid- big huge sunglasses, torn up jeans, fur trim coats, sherpa boots...).

I am only on campus for a total of 6 hours a week and live in the northern suburbs now (graduating in May). I actually have a car now. But I'm still living the hobo life! At least I have a car to live in the next time I become homeless. :rofl: