Some observations....

whiskyboozer · 21-03-2009, 4:29 PM

Was in Italy last week and I observed......

Young people out having fun and not getting bladdered or pushing prams.

Football supporters leaving a match after a heavy defeat and consoling themselves with ice-cream and not alcohol.

Newspapers with news and not screaming headlines about the latest celeb diet/death/....blah blah blah

Very few junk food outlets

Sporran · 21-03-2009, 4:43 PM

is that why they are **** at rugby.

Maybe they need more sustinance

Having said that they nearly beat us DOH!

Grrrrrowler · 22-03-2009, 12:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by whiskyboozer

Was in Italy last week and I observed......

Young people out having fun and not getting bladdered or pushing prams.

Football supporters leaving a match after a heavy defeat and consoling themselves with ice-cream and not alcohol.

Newspapers with news and not screaming headlines about the latest celeb diet/death/....blah blah blah

Very few junk food outlets

Believe it or not I see this a lot too but in the UK.

Maybe you are just looking in the wrong places...

wormvortex · 22-03-2009, 1:27 PM

Don't believe that the whole of England is the same. It's nothing like that where I live.

As for newspapers if you don't want to have to read countless celeb gossip don't buy the red top papers. Buy the Times, Guardian etc... Your find actual news in those papers.

**Iccz** · 22-03-2009, 1:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by whiskyboozer

Football supporters leaving a match after a heavy defeat and consoling themselves with ice-cream and not alcohol

Guessing you weren't there for the Milan derby

Grrrrrowler · 22-03-2009, 1:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iccz

Guessing you weren't there for the Milan derby

I went to watch my team play Inter at the San Siro in the Uefa cup not so long ago.

The Inter fans were a disgrace - throwing bricks at the coaches, hurling abuse etc.

Saddest thing is they battered us 4-1 - just imagine if they had lost...

Also a few weeks before apparently the fans rode a moped up to the top tier of the stand and threw it over the edge onto the fans below

I think the OP was wearing their chianti tinted specs

Beany31 · 22-03-2009, 1:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grrrrrowler

I went to watch my team play Inter at the San Siro in the Uefa cup not so long ago.

The Inter fans were a disgrace - throwing bricks at the coaches, hurling abuse etc.

Saddest thing is they battered us 4-1 - just imagine if they had lost...

Also a few weeks before apparently the fans rode a moped up to the top tier of the stand and threw it over the edge onto the fans below

I think the OP was wearing their chianti tinted specs

Let alone the Roma fans in the Champions League... They're worse than most British football fans.

Bill Hicks · 22-03-2009, 3:45 PM

Yeah but Italian politicians are known for their corrupt practices.
Unlike ours!

Seriously though has anyone ever been to Rome, where you have to keep an eye out at all times for moped riding bag snatchers!
Or
Trying to own a business in Naples, and trying to avoid Mafia intervention!

Still Italy is a great country to visit as long as you avoid Venice!

whiskyboozer · 22-03-2009, 6:36 PM

What happened in Venice, Bill? Spill the beans.

On original point

Britain has one of the worst crime rates in Europe It is the most burgled country in Europe, has the highest level of assaults and above average rates of car theft, robbery and pickpocketing. Only Ireland has a worse record.

http://www.gallup-europe.be/euics/Xz...esentation.pdf

Bill Hicks · 22-03-2009, 6:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by whiskyboozer

What happened in Venice, Bill? Spill the beans.

http://www.gallup-europe.be/euics/Xz...esentation.pdf

The crime perpetrated there is of the pack em in & rip em off variety!

mark1080p · 22-03-2009, 7:30 PM

To be honest the only drunken/binge drinking behaviour i see abroad, are brits on holiday.

whiskyboozer · 22-03-2009, 8:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill Hicks

The crime perpetrated there is of the pack em in & rip em off variety!

I did find Venice shockingly expensive this time, especially with the exchange rate but really it is an unmissable place to visit.

Synax_Injector · 22-03-2009, 9:15 PM

Move then???

Ned Senior · 22-03-2009, 10:51 PM

Could I butt in here please...?

I have Pisa down as one of the few places I would like to visit in the world...
Has anyone been there and is it a safe calm and nice place to go?
also is it rip off the tourist ville aswell?

cheers all

P

Yandros · 22-03-2009, 10:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill Hicks

Yeah but Italian politicians are known for their corrupt practices.
Unlike ours!

Seriously though has anyone ever been to Rome, where you have to keep an eye out at all times for moped riding bag snatchers!
Or
Trying to own a business in Naples, and trying to avoid Mafia intervention!

Still Italy is a great country to visit as long as you avoid Venice!

Didn't have any problems in Rome with pickpockets etc (but we were careful), and I'd agree difference in the behaviour of the young people out there is pretty dramatic compared to the UK.

hopeless · 23-03-2009, 12:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by protector

Could I butt in here please...?

I have Pisa down as one of the few places I would like to visit in the world...
Has anyone been there and is it a safe calm and nice place to go?
also is it rip off the tourist ville aswell?

cheers all

P

ive always wanted to go to tuscany, especially florence. my italian friends rate it as the most beautiful part of italy

definitely go for it, its supposed to be lovely

Bill Hicks · 23-03-2009, 8:27 AM

Rimini is like a more sophisticated Italian version of Southend. Great for clubbing but take a lot of Euros cos it's not cheap!
There used to be a club on the seafront that's celling would magically open turning the venue into an open air dance floor. Then you would get covered in gallons of foam!

Top laugh.

Semiskimmed1976 · 23-03-2009, 8:39 AM

I went travelling in Italy a few years ago, and decided on the off-chance to visit Pisa - although seeing the The circular Baptistery and the leaning tower are spectacular, I felt it's only a place to visit for the day not to stay...however, I will say I maybe didn't explore much beyond the key attractions

Mark Greaves · 23-03-2009, 8:49 AM

I agree with SemiSkimmed. Go for the day. IMHO once you have seen the leaning tower and other historical buildings next to it then there isn't really anything else to see. Get on the train to Florence instead.

Cheers

Mark

dunks517 · 23-03-2009, 8:56 AM

I have no problems with Italy except trying to buy food for a self catering holiday when we arrived on a Sunday AM and no shops opened until Monday Lunchtime. We had to eat those cardboard style cheese and ham toasties as found at garages for 2 days!! However £2.00 for a gallon of wine is good - it may not taste nice but it sure went down well!

I would recommend starting a Rome tour early on a Spring morning, there was nothing quite like walking down to the Forum whilst it was cool and a lack of rent a mob tourist. Also don't buy any food and drink near an attraction unless you have a second mortage, walk for 5 minutes away from the tourist rat runs and you'll find a great deal.

Ned Senior · 23-03-2009, 9:31 AM

thanks I can fly direct to pisa from Liverpool I think so may do a midweek 2 day jobby
It is only the tower I want to see after all

again thanks

Yandros · 23-03-2009, 10:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dunks517

I have no problems with Italy except trying to buy food for a self catering holiday when we arrived on a Sunday AM and no shops opened until Monday Lunchtime. We had to eat those cardboard style cheese and ham toasties as found at garages for 2 days!! However £2.00 for a gallon of wine is good - it may not taste nice but it sure went down well!

I would recommend starting a Rome tour early on a Spring morning, there was nothing quite like walking down to the Forum whilst it was cool and a lack of rent a mob tourist. Also don't buy any food and drink near an attraction unless you have a second mortage, walk for 5 minutes away from the tourist rat runs and you'll find a great deal.

Agreed. We found a handful that were truly amazing, and mostly were down little alleys around the corner from the tacky tourist traps.

La Taverna dei Fori Imperiali (down the road from the Forum and Colosseum)
Montevecchio (in Piazza di Montevecchio near the Piazza Navonna)
Armando al Pantheon (near the Pantheon)
Dar Poeta (pizza place in Trastevere)

whiskyboozer · 23-03-2009, 6:56 PM

About ten years ago Pisa was fading away as a place to visit as most people, rightly, flew into Firenze -where all the good stuff is.

With the advent of budget airlines principly Ryanair there is much more traffic now, sadly there is still little to see and do in Pisa baring the Tower and the Piazza and the food is of a poor standard, for Tuscany.

I do have a good hotel recommendation though-

Pisa Hotel, 4 star Hotel Pisa, Booking Hotel Pisa, Italy - Hotel Bologna

Stay here first/last night of any trip for easy access to airport if flight times are late/early.