Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler OT: Mr. Bear's next adventure!

Thanks for all the tips guys. Keep them coming!

i wish i could remember more when we lived in italy when i was a kid.

the town we lived in was down near the 'heel' of the boot of italy. it was called speckiola(dont know if the k is supposed to be there?). i havent been able to find it on a map, but i know it exists. my dad was stationed at San Vito AFB, but it has been long since closed down. i do remember going to pompei, and thinking that was super cool. and i remember going to get real pizza, that they cooked in the walls over real fire stones. i remember olive trees being the ugliest tress i had ever seen.. they look evil, scary as a child. i remember driving the country side and watching people actually stomping on grapes in HUGE vats with their bare feet, to make wine. i remember Fiats, and all the older men smelled funny, and all the buildings were made of marble and cut stone.

guess i do remember a few things....

bigjohn

I HIGHLY recommend a trip on the lake while in Lucerne. If the weather is warm and clear it's going to knock your socks off. The whole town is gorgeous.

I wish you were going to Austria. I'd like to see Mr Bear re-enact the I am 17 song (Sound of Music) at the Gazebo. Though, the similarity of landscape between Austria and Switzerland is such that you could put him in a dress and have him twirl around singing "The hills are alive...."

jr

How about bungee jumping from the gondola in Interlaken, Switzerland?

Not gonna happen.

I'm with you on that one, but for some reason I still really want to go skydiving.

It's called crazy. Anyone that frequents these boards already knows you're nuts.

Unless the plane is crashing, there's not good reason to jump out of one.

If you make it to Lucca in Tuscany, which has already been suggested, rent bikes and ride around the old city on the top of the walls(like a wide road). It is one of the only fully intact walled cities that was never breached. It gives you a chance to see the city in a way you can't from inside the walls. Very old as well, the Romans built on an Etruscan town before the early Italians. I think it was about 3 kilometers or so araound the city wall. Lucca is about 25 minutes drive inland from Pisa.

Assisi is really beautiful and highly recommended but is in Perugia several hours to a half day from much of Tuscany depending on whether you are in the north: (farther) Pisa, Lucca, Carrera; the middle--Florence, or father south--Sienna.

The good thing about your timing is that it is well before the tourist season which begins at the later part of June. We were in Florence right as the season was beginning and it was one of the worst tourist traps I have seen. Very crowded, noisy, the worst and most overpriced food in Italy. You have to make more of an effort there to get out of the tourist accomodations.

Craig
Sounds like your gonna have to take an "extended" trip with all these great suggestions.
I also recomend takeing bigjohns suggestion. Take a full day to take in the aroma of the smelly old men.

HA! We went during September,that was HOT. Talk about smelly, EVERYONE was smelly.