umbrella icon because it's raining

[tsuki_no_bara]

it's raining and i'm very excited about that. i have to go into work tomorrow (instead of getting an extra hour of sleep and being able to work from home) and i'm not excited about that. altho my sense of time is off because monday was a holiday, so i'll probably think it's thursday anyway

Comments

[amberdreams]

Ooh where in Italy and when are you going? I'm down for two trips thanks to JIBs, but haven't yet added any extra days to either, because I can't decide where I want my add-on days to be yet.

I admit if I was to return to the US, Vegas would be bottom of my list LOL

[tsuki_no_bara]

we're going to lake como, bellagio (coincidentally also a vegas hotel :D ), verona, montecatini, florence, and venice, with optional side trips to siena (which we're not doing) and cinque terre (which we are). jib is in rome, isn't it? how far away do you want to go? because, i mean, venice. :D but i don't know how far from rome it is.

i actually really like vegas because it's just so ridiculous. it doesn't feel like a real place. but i get why it's not everyone's thing.

[amberdreams]

I haven't been to Lake Como or the mountains, maybe one day. I went to Verona when I was 16, always wanted to revisit. Siena is lovely, been there a couple of times, and of course, Florence and Venice are must sees - though I'd recommend doing Venice in the winter because in the summer it's HEAVING. Mind you, if you wander the back streets instead of hanging round the main tourist bits, it's not so bad.

My friend and I had a few days in Cinque Terre - it's just as pretty as the pictures and you can walk from one town to the next - if you're fit! Lots and lots of steps up hill and downhill - so you don't actually travel far in terms of a-b but do many kilometres up and down! The views are worth it though.

Italy has a good train service to virtually everywhere - one year we flew to Bologna, got the train to Ravenna then went back to visit Bologna itself, got the train to Rome for JIB 😂. It's pretty reasonably priced too, and you don't need to book in advance. But I'm assuming you're on some sort of curated tour, so you probably won't

[tsuki_no_bara]

we're going in the spring, so hopefully before the massive influx of tourists and definitely before italy itself goes on vacation. (years and years ago i went with some friends in october and we got rained on everywhere. >.< so i got to see the piazza san marco in flood, with the occasional cafe waiter standing around in his rubber boots.) i'm definitely expecting hills in cinque terre. i keep wondering if i should start going to the gym for the stairmaster.

oooh, ravenna. there's some nice early-christianity mosaics there that i want to see. some day!

[amberdreams]

Yes! That was my main reason for wanting to visit Ravenna and the mosaics did not disappoint - so fabulous! I love that period anyway - early medieval. There's a ton of it in Rome too, my faves. Lots of 4th-9th c mosaics.

I admit, I did use the stair climb machine in the gym for a couple of months before Cinque Terre. It definitely helped!