So, you’ve been reading this Italy Logue for awhile, wondering who the heck this Jessica character is. You may have seen the teency picture near the top of the front page of the girl with the dark hair stuffing herself with pizza, but that is neither big enough to see what I look like or informative enough to know what I’m like (except that I like pizza). And although I generally don’t like to be filmed (this is, after all, why I work so hard to stay on the other side of the camera), my bosses have been grabbing employees one by one and subjecting them to the bright lights of our very own mini-TV studio so that anyone visiting our websites can know who the heck we are.
It is with some trepidation, therefore, that I bring you my video profile:
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I’ve met several people who walk into the Piazza della Signoria in Florence, look over at the statues flanking the entrance to the Palazzo Vecchio and think, “Oh, wow, there’s Michelangelo’s David! Right out there in the open! How cool - and I didn’t even have to pay an admission fee.” My goal here is to keep you from being one of those people.
See, while there’s a statue outside the Palazzo Vecchio that looks like Michelangelo’s “David,” it’s actually a copy. The copy stands in the exact spot where the original once stood, so you can get an impression of what it might have looked like in its “natural environment,” as it were. You can start to appreciate what the rulers of Florence were trying to convey to their would-be enemies by putting an image of David outside their offices. But to see the original, you’ve got to look elsewhere - you’ve got to stand in line and pay an admission to get into the Accademia.
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This is from yesterday night before my head hit the pillow, heavily:
Well, we’re here. We’re in Milan. It’s been a helluva long day, with some downright lows (neither of the husband’s bags made it here because of a too-short connection in London, so we’re just hoping they appear mysteriously in the night), but I had a couple nice moments that just made my day. The final one is what I wanted to share with you.
Because we’re here for six weeks, and because I’m not the best packer under normal circumstances, I had with me today two carry-on bags and two checked bags. Wheeling these through an airport is not a big deal, but getting from Malpensa Airport to our hotel required no less than three train changes (two of them being on the Milan Metro) and lots of stairs. By the time I emerged from the last Metro stop to begin the trek down Viale Umbria toward the hotel, my arms were already screaming ENOUGH at me.
I took lots of breaks, stopping alongside the sidewalk to rest my arms and catch my breath, and (uncharacteristically for me) not caring what I looked like to anyone else. I am quite sure I looked like a sweaty and dissheveled tourist with too much luggage, but I can’t get too annoyed at that - because that’s precisely what I was.
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I’m sitting at the airport killing time before my flight to Italy this afternoon, and as I was cleaning out my email inbox I found something I thought I’d share with y’all. It had the words “Italy” and “free trip” in the same sentence, so I figured you might be interested.
Gourmet Magazine, that fabulous foodie mag, has recently launched a new website - and to celebrate, they’re giving away some really cool prizes. The biggest of them all is the $5,000 trip to Italy, courtesy of Expedia, but there are also other foodie prizes that you can win daily throughout the duration of the contest.
To enter, visit the Gourmet website for the “Volare! Video Sweepstakes” and register your information on the site. You don’t need to subscribe to Gourmet to enter. Some of the other cool prizes you can win include tickets to a Broadway show, a Caribbean cruise or dinner at the Eiffel Tower. All of those sound quite cool, but it’s the $5,000 trip to Italy that sounds the best to me!
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As I’ve mentioned, I’m going to be in Italy for the next six weeks, during which there is likely to be lots of campaigning for the upcoming April election. I keep reading articles I find about the election, but the whole process still kind of eludes me. I get it on a grand scale, from the 35,000-foot viewpoint, but the closer I get the more confusing it becomes.
At any rate, the very excellent Sylvia Poggioli had a good story on NPR this morning talking about the elections - she’s particularly focused on the two men who are vying for …
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For this Italy photo of the week, we make a stop in Venice:
One of Venice’s iconic images, the Bridge of Sighs (or Ponte di Sospiri in Italian) is inaccessible unless you go on a tour of the Doge’s Palace. That’s the palace on the left, and the building the bridge leads to on the right is the prison. This romantic-looking bridge leads from the courtroom in the Doge’s Palace straight into the prison, and it got its name because prisoners would sigh as they caught the last glimpses of their beloved city before being led into …
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Milan isn’t usually the kind of city people come to spend more than a day or two, usually at one or the other end of a trip and only because they’re flying in and out of Malpensa Airport. Italy’s financial capital isn’t swimming in what most people would consider tourist attractions, but it’s an interesting city nonetheless - and if you’ve planned ahead you can make the most of your time here rather than just watching bad Italian TV in your airport hotel room.
In addition to the regular things to do in Milan, however, if you’ve got …
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There are places that seem to generate only strong feelings from people who visit - usually either in the “love” or “hate” categories only. It’s rare, for instance, that I hear anyone who’s just lukewarm on their feelings toward Venice - and anytime I hear someone say they hate Venice, I’m a little sad. Yes, this sinking city can generate sinking feelings if you don’t do your homework before you arrive, but a few simple steps is all it takes to turn hatred of Venice into a city-based love affair. So, even though it may mean that more people love Venice and therefore crowd its tiny streets more than they already do, here are my four steps to romantic Venice.
Step 1 - Get lost.
This is always my first rule when visiting Venice, regardless of what time of year you’re there or what your goal is with seeing the city. If you’ve only got a few hours in Venice because you’re there on a day trip from a cruise ship or something, then you are well-advised to get yourself over to the Basilica San Marco ASAP and stand in line until you get in. This experience alone should teach you that you need more time in a city like Venice than just a few hours - you’ll know better next time, right? For those of you who have rightfully given yourselves at least one full day to appreciate Venice, you should have plenty of time to see whatever sights you want to see and still spend a few hours wandering aimlessly through the streets and bridges. It’s only by strolling through the city, walking in the opposite direction of whatever tourist crowds are there, that you’ll find the peaceful corners of Venice. You’ll stumble upon a gondola workshop. You’ll find a quiet piazza where residents sit and chat. And you’ll find that elusive good food Venice hides from most visitors. The further you get from the crowds, the better off you’ll be. So go ahead and get yourself good and lost. I mean, you can’t get too far away - you are on an island, after all.
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I love Italian idiomatic expressions - those sayings you just can’t translate directly but which make the Italian language the colorful and charming language it is.
Today’s saying will put hairs on your tongue:
Non ha peli sulla lingua.
The idea this phrase is meant to get across is that “He/she speaks his/her mind.” But rather than say it so literally, the Italians have come up with a more interesting way of indicating this. The phrase above literally translates to “He/she doesn’t have hairs on his/her tongue.” No hairs on the tongue presumably means there’s nothing to get in the way when someone’s …
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There have been songs written about “April in Paris,” but April in Italy is just as worthy of a musical tribute. Spring has pretty much sprung by this time throughout most of the country, and while that means that the weather in Italy won’t necessarily be 100% reliably wonderful, it is still a great time to travel in Italy.
April is when the tourist season starts ramping up in Italy, although it is still generally considered part of Italy’s “shoulder season.” Even though it is not the height of the high season yet, however, you are likely to find higher prices in Italy’s most popular tourist destinations. If you are prepared to perhaps pay a bit more for accommodation and airfare, Italy in April is still a real treat - it’s typically not very hot anywhere and the onslaught of tourists hasn’t hit yet.
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