Thanks for your note, Jeff. I do have to quibble with you on one thing – in that review you’re linking to, the phrase “The Autogrill is reasonably priced and the food is pretty good for a rest stop on a highway!!” does not seem like a resounding endorsement. “Pretty good for a rest stop on a highway” isn’t my idea of good food. Sometimes it’s necessary or all there is, and for those times it’s fine. But would I choose to eat at an AutoGrill in the center of a city when there are dozens of other choices around? No way.

]]> http://www.italylogue.com/about-italy/welcome-to-italy-one-day-of-soccer-riots-coming-up.html/comment-page-1#comment-11573 Jeff Tue, 13 Nov 2007 04:47:28 +0000 http://www.italylogue.com/about-italy/welcome-to-italy-one-day-of-soccer-riots-coming-up.html#comment-11573 This is undoubtedly a bigger event than what I saw, but I get the feeling that you're not seeing authentic Europe until you see a protest or two. In October we saw marches in Florence and Rome, and there was some sort of protest going on in Milan, in Duomo Square no less, although I'm pretty sure that was on Election Day. And of course there was the red dye/paint that someone threw into Trevi Fountain. It seems to me that young Europeans have a much stronger inclination than Americans to use public protests to air their grievances. It seems like in the US, the police would have to shoot an 80-year-old grandmother to get a reaction like that, especially in cities far from the incident. BTW, your description was more unfair to AutoGrill than the protesters were. As highway rest stops go, AutoGrill isn't bad, and the food at the restaurants is actually pretty good. And I found somebody who agrees with me: http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/driving/autogrill.htm

This is undoubtedly a bigger event than what I saw, but I get the feeling that you’re not seeing authentic Europe until you see a protest or two. In October we saw marches in Florence and Rome, and there was some sort of protest going on in Milan, in Duomo Square no less, although I’m pretty sure that was on Election Day. And of course there was the red dye/paint that someone threw into Trevi Fountain.

It seems to me that young Europeans have a much stronger inclination than Americans to use public protests to air their grievances. It seems like in the US, the police would have to shoot an 80-year-old grandmother to get a reaction like that, especially in cities far from the incident.

BTW, your description was more unfair to AutoGrill than the protesters were. As highway rest stops go, AutoGrill isn’t bad, and the food at the restaurants is actually pretty good. And I found somebody who agrees with me: http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/driving/autogrill.htm

]]> http://www.italylogue.com/about-italy/welcome-to-italy-one-day-of-soccer-riots-coming-up.html/comment-page-1#comment-11546 First Night in Milan | Italy Travel Guide Mon, 12 Nov 2007 21:10:30 +0000 http://www.italylogue.com/about-italy/welcome-to-italy-one-day-of-soccer-riots-coming-up.html#comment-11546 [...] was when we were leaving the restaurant that we started hearing the chants of the protest which had formed in Duomo Square, which of course we had to investigate. We ended up getting gelato midway through, even though it [...]

[...] was when we were leaving the restaurant that we started hearing the chants of the protest which had formed in Duomo Square, which of course we had to investigate. We ended up getting gelato midway through, even though it [...]

]]>