One thing I haven't read in any of the travel books is the cultural shock.. when visiting a foreign country. My daughter and I had 3 travel books, among us... and found each of them essential... plus an Italian/English dictionary... Somehow our original reservations at the Radison in Milan was messed up ... So we made reservations at the Hotel London in Milan while we were at O'Hare Airport... With our rented car we drove into Milan... an experience in it's self... finally after an hour of driving in downtown Milan complete with headache from the pollution... we found the Hotel London. We had a very small room, and at times I felt very claustrophobic. It was clean, had hairrdryers, T.V. phone, and a balcony that overlooked the roof. Parking was in a lot about 2 blocks away and cost 38,000 lire and I found a dent in the rental when I picked it up the next day. The parking lot attendent swore it was there when I dropped it off.. When I tried to use the hotel phone to call the US... I could not get a line.. The management tried to help me get a line, but to no avail... I then walked down to the Radison to use a pay phone, where they had direct access to AT&T. The management at Hotel London, and the desk clerk at the Radison knew of no place in Milan where an internet cafe or something familar to that was.. I was told by the young woman at the Radison... that I am now in the third world and will not find anything like that.. We did however find intenet access at Telcom - located near the Dumos the next day. That evening we went for dinner about 7 pm, and found the staff of the restaraunt eating as we entered... the young waitress did not speak English and we did not speak italian... but we got the message that they had no Lasagna... Later the mother came over and spoke italian... we got the message they did have lasgna... so we said okay.. Well 5 mins pass and we are waiting to order when we realize we order the lasgna which neither of us wanted... but hey... we are in a foreign country and not able to speak the language... so we ate it graciously... although it was not the best... It was luke warm and dried out... but that was our dinner... We later tried to find a place for dessert, but to no avail... Milan seemed frightening to us... My daughter wanted to leave that night, but realised it would be better to wait until morning.. <BR>This was our first day in Italy... hopefully things would get better... FYI they did. <BR>Gayle

Dried lasagna is a delicacy in third world places like Milan. Heck, the astronauts eat it. Beats haggis.

Dear Gayle <BR>I am sorry you had some disappointments on first arriving. Hotel reservations can certanly get mixed up from time to time. One thing I always try to do is bring with me is the fax confirmation hard copy that I ask each hotel to send me. It may not avoid every problem, but it seems to solve most of them. <BR>I made my first trip to Italy in 98 and did not find that I needed as many travel books, nor a dictionary. <BR>I will say that I am not surprised that you walked into a restaurant at 7pm and found the staff eating. Most restaurants that I know of in Italy <BR>as in other European countries, don't <BR>open to the public for dinner until 7:30pm at the earliest, and even at 7:30 most of the customers would be Americans at that "early" hour. <BR>With all the wonderful food and restaurants to be had, I'm also sorry to hear that you settled for bad food on your first night. Had you consulted <BR>guidebooks or personal recommendations on restaurants, or did you just take a chance and have bad luck? <BR>What made Milan seem frightening to you? <BR>I have not been there, but I don't usually feel frightened in other cities in Europe. Were you in a bad neighborhood? <BR>I'm glad things got better on your trip, <BR>but I guess as we travel we all learn what to do differently next time.

Oh, this is funny. Italy a third world country? Try any number of cities in the U.S. Of course, you can speak the language there. <BR>

u.s. a third world country, now you are too funny...apparently never been here... GAYLE...i am going to italy for the first time this summer. Did you see rome or venice that is where I am going. I would appreciate your honest opinion thanks

I was born and have lived in the U.S. probably longer than you. My point is that the U.S. can be a "third-world country" (whatever that means) in terms of civility, food, style, appearance of its citizens, architecture, culture and any other number of criteria you want to name. And please, no bashing. Just a comment. Italy is one of the most civilized countries in the world with, going away, the best food of all the 40 or so countries I have visited. If one has three or more guide books, surely one of them would have mentioned that lasagne is not even a Milanese speciality. (But then again, I didn't quite follow the whole lasange passage.) <BR> <BR>

Dear Santa Chiara <BR>I have to admit I too was dismayed by the original 3rd world reference to Italy, as I think "3rd world" is a pretty negative remark to make about anyone's country, not to mention about Italy which was a cradle of western <BR>civilization, and which has become a place I love. <BR>I can't speak for Gayle but my interpretation was that she wanted to vent a bit about some initial disappointments/frustrations she experienced. Her views and experiences and even the expressions she used are not what I would choose. <BR>I am a loyal American myself and I too have seen "uncivilized" behavior all too often in my own country; I have seen much less of it on my foreign travels. <BR>I noticed though that the remark Gayle passed on about "3rd world" was made by someone (probably Italian?) at the hotel in Milan.