Go Back  Fodor's Travel Talk Forums > Destinations > Europe
Reload this Page >

Italy, Day 1 and 2: Trains, Rain, and Scary Stuff

Search

Italy, Day 1 and 2: Trains, Rain, and Scary Stuff

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old Jul 19th, 2011, 07:33 AM
  #1  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 101
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Italy, Day 1 and 2: Trains, Rain, and Scary Stuff

We left Bern around 1:30pm and got into our reserved seats for our trip to Milan. We didn't all end up right next to eachother, but we did get seated pretty close together. The boys each had the single seat by the window, my husband was next to the window with a Nun as a seatmate, and I was an aisle with a nice Italian man next to me (incident to be mentioned later) Boy was that train packed and I'm SO glad we booked these tickets in advance. There were alot people standing on this train.
So within minutes of crossing the border into Italy, it begins to rain...hard. We had 5 clear days in Switzerland with a little sprinkle on the 3rd day and clouds that had prevented us from going up to the Schilthorn, but this was the first real rain we saw...and the last!
As soon as we crossed into Italy...the passengers on the train changed. Changed how, you ask?! Well, herein lies the incident. An extremely DRUNK man got on the train and began to ask everyone for money. He decided to pick a fight with the nice Italian man sitting next to me! He was leaning over me, poking the man, and they got in a yelling match!! Luckily, he accepted that he was getting nothing and moved on. He then proceeded to poke and yell at several other passengers. It was scary! Then came the other beggars and sellers. We were offered "socks" by 3 different people, one person who came twice and just stood starring at me like I was going to buy them. Um...no. We had two "beggars" one of whom carried around her child and walked up and down the train cars for about an hour. The Nun next to hubby gave the child some bread, but it did not appear she was getting much money. The next "beggar" passed out a note to each seat. By this time, the nice Italian man had gotten off and my 11 yr old moved next to me...he was getting nervous. Luckily the person who got on and had his seat was happy to sit in his vacated single seat by the window. So, back to the note. The note explained that she and her 3 brothers were orphans (she was at least 18-20 yrs old) and they lived in a caravan and needed money for food. She passed out the notes, then went around collecting them and the little bit of money she was offered. The Nun this time gave her a coin. I probably would have too, but I had no cash on me. My son made the point that if she can afford to make that many copies of her note (and she must have had access to a computer) then why didn't she use that money for food? "I don't know, honey. Maybe she wants a job but can't get one. Maybe she was able to borrow a computer and someone donated the copies....I just don't know." This was a common theme in Italy - quite a change from Switzerland.
We arrived in Milan around 4pm and had 4 hours to kill until our overnight train would be leaving for Sapri. We went to the luggage storage, had to repack the bags so they would be within the weight limit, and then stored them for a few hours. Unfortunately, it was still pouring so thought we had thought we'd head over to the Duomo for a little sightseeing,but that was out of the question. So instead we just wandered around the few blocks around the train station and the mall in the train station. The boys were hungry and somehow managed to spot a McDonald's, so we gave in and let them have that for dinner since the choices around the station were pretty limited. We collected the luggage about 45 minutes prior to our train leaving and headed to find our platform. The train arrived and we found our couchette car and got settled into our compartment. We had gotten pretty spoiled with the Swiss trains as those were very clean. This car was not exactly clean, but it could have been worse! We booked a 6 person couchette even though we only had 4 people. We let the conductor know we purchased all 6 tickets and he assured us we would have the car to ourselves for the night. He set up the beds for us (and had to move us to another compartment due to a bed being broken) and we settled in for the night. The "beds" were not horrible, but not real comfortable either. At least they give you the little sheet and pillow. It was relatively calm night with several stops along the way. About 2 stops before ours the conductor let us know that our stop would be coming and returned our ticket. We arrived in Sapri at 6:45am and it was a beautiful day!
We were in Sapri to visit my father-in-law. He lives in a smaller mountain village about 10 km from Sapri, but that was the closest train station. I won't bore you with the rest of the days details, only to say that my 80 yr old Italian father-in-law had his own agenda on where we were going to go and what we were going to do. First on his agenda was to make my 13 yr old get a haircut. He likes to wear his hair longer (not ponytail long though) and that drives my father-in-law crazy. After nagging him for the first hour we were there, my son gave in and let some of his hair get cut. They compromised so it wasn't short, but his ears and eyes can be seen now My father-in-law then decided to take us to Maratea (by car as he has one) to see the giant Christ Statue on top of the mountain. It was amazing!! These small coastal towns and beaches are beautiful, but are somewhat touristy. I was suprised to find that though each little store or cafe has a different name....they all sell the same stuff/food. So it doesn't matter where you go! The trip to Maratea took us about 3 hours total between travel (40 minutes each way) and walking around the mountain (1 hour). After Maratea, we went back to Sapri and then up to Torraca where my father-in-law lives, had home made pasta at his apartment and then hung out in the village for the night meeting his friends. It was a long but much enjoyed day
Jennifer_Scutari is offline  
Old Jul 19th, 2011, 07:49 AM
  #2  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 16,525
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Are you aware of the spacebar on your keyboard?
Hard to read this way.
bobthenavigator is offline  
Old Jul 19th, 2011, 08:00 AM
  #3  
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 17,106
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Enjoying your Trip Report! It's always fun to read of others' adventures as well as learning of places that I will probably never get to. Please continue!
easytraveler is offline  
Old Jul 19th, 2011, 08:30 AM
  #4  
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 29,617
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Jennifer_Scutari, thanks for reporting. The beggars aren't usually so unruly. Hub and I always thought the people in charge turned a "deaf ear" to most of them.

Where to next?
TDudette is offline  
Old Jul 19th, 2011, 08:44 AM
  #5  
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 22,989
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
We must attract the boring crowd. We took the local trains from Rome to Naples, back to Rome and on to Florence, and only came across the beggars who drop off the piece of paper to be collected (hopefully with money) a few minutes later. After the second or third one, it becomes obvious that there is a Fagin somewhere, because those pieces of paper are all in the same format and font.
Michael is online now  
Old Jul 19th, 2011, 09:39 AM
  #6  
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 57,091
Received 5 Likes on 3 Posts
After the second or third one, it becomes obvious that there is a Fagin somewhere, because those pieces of paper are all in the same format and font.>>

and so terrifically well translated into English.

the ONLY one i've ever given money to was a very heavily pregnant woman who was sat down next to the queue for the vatican museums. I didn't care that she was probably going to give it all to some Fagin character - i just worried about what would happen to her of she didn't have anything to give.
annhig is offline  
Old Jul 19th, 2011, 10:15 AM
  #7  
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,422
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Ahhh, the poor! Will they never learn how much they get in the way of a fun European jaunt and how easy it is to spot their silly tricks for trying to work pennies out of us?

Don't worry about my spoiling your thread. I won't be reading any more of this trip report.
zeppole is offline  
Old Jul 19th, 2011, 11:21 AM
  #8  
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 17,106
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
The poor in Europe is one thing. The "roma" gypsies are something else.

They work in bands and are quite bold. Fortunately, it's usually stealing and not bodily injury that results.

I've observed them walking up and down the various compartments in the trains. You can usually spot them, because they have no luggage to speak of, they walk all the way to the front of the compartment/train and then walk back again. But, most of all, watch their eyes. They are casing every single row of seats...which is why it's a good idea not to leave your things unattended on a seat while you go to the restroom or the dining car.
easytraveler is offline  
Old Jul 19th, 2011, 03:09 PM
  #9  
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 4,109
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I am enjoying the tale of your travels. As Bob said, separating the paragraphs with an extra space would make for easier reading, but I will read on no matter.
irishface is offline  
Old Jul 20th, 2011, 05:04 AM
  #10  
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 198
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Jennifer, thank you for sharing your train story. I hope you continue to share your adventure with us.

And how wonderful for you to be able to experience Italy with your fil. I'm sure he had his own agenda for you, he has probably been planning it for ages. He was probably very proud to be able to show you all off in his village.

CindyP.

PS. I have friends who would probably pay your fil to fly to the states if he could get their sons to cut their hair!
Cpelk is offline  
Old Jul 20th, 2011, 10:25 AM
  #11  
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 83
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I'm sorry about your unpleasant experience.I'm glad to know it was limited to your train trip though and everything else was fine. I hope your kids won't have bad memories.
I travel a lot by train in northern Italy and I've got to say that Italian trains are safe. I often see people who give out notes on the trains to get money.
As far as Milan is concerned, it has a very LOW criminality rate if you think that it's a city where SEVERAL million people move every day (many more than those who actually live there) I should also add that it is awash with beggars( the vast majority of them are NOT Italian anyway. Most of them are either ROMA people or come from Eastern Europe anyway)I travel by subway in Milan everyday and almost every day I see beggars on the subway but hardly ever do they look scary.

ANNHIG. What do you mean "there is a Fagin" ? I'm curious to know.
feda is offline  
Old Jul 20th, 2011, 10:33 AM
  #12  
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 83
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Ok, I got it! The Oliver Twist's fagin ! Yes you're right ! Sorry, I'm not mothertongue
feda is offline  
Old Jul 20th, 2011, 10:46 AM
  #13  
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 83
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Micheal and Annhig : I'm afraid the FAGIN you talk about is called MAFIA in Italy . They go to Romania and other eastern European countries they allure them and say that if they come to Italy with them they will make a lot of money ,then they send them in the streets to sell thing ,to ask for money, or -if they're women- they end up as prostitutes.
A word of warning : if one of the note they give out says that either they or their kids are ill with cancer it's surely a LIE ! Because health care is free in Italy (one of the positive things in the country)
feda is offline  
Old Jul 20th, 2011, 02:35 PM
  #14  
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Posts: 933
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Like that's the only lie... They're all scams, i.e. all lies.
hazel1 is offline  
Old Jul 21st, 2011, 09:34 AM
  #15  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 101
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Sorry for not spacing...hadn't even thought of it.

Don't get me wrong about not giving to the poor, I am always happy to do so....but not when it's a scam.

Cindy P....HA, HA! I had been begging him for weeks to cut his hair because I KNEW it would drive my fil crazy. He is VERY persistent! My son takes after him and figured that out this trip

Day 2 coming soon!
Jennifer_Scutari is offline  
Old Jul 21st, 2011, 12:28 PM
  #16  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 101
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
DAY 3:
So, we hopped back onto the train, with seats all together this time and headed for Rome.

I have been looking forward to this for months, and the day had finally arrived! We had an uneventful train ride back to Rome and took a Taxi to our hotel (Hotel Genio) near Piazza Navona. We arrived at 1:30pm and they allowed us to check in early - yay! The staff here was amazing and very helpful (no name tags so I can't say exactly who they are). The morning gentleman put up with my incessant questions and helped me find alot of places to eat and the site for booking our Colesseum and Vatican tickets.

With no set plan for this first day, we decided to just walk around with a map and see how far we could walk. After a quick lunch around the corner (pizza margherita, pasta bolognese, and pesto pasta believe it or not - all GREAT!), we headed out and immediately walked through Piazza Navona which was about 100 yards from the front door of the hotel. I at once started snapping pictures. It wasn't the best time of day to be doing this because of the light but I worried we wouldn't walk back through the piazza. Why I thought that I'm not sure....we ended up walking through the Piazza about 10 times! Somehow we never ate at any of the restaurants there though.

The artists are amazing. If I could have transported something home easier I would have considered buying from a few of them. I can't imagine sitting there all day in that heat, and I would think the artwork would be getting ruined in the sun but that didn't seem to be the case.

I had not had the time to read about all the fountains, art, statues, and places I wanted to go, so I figured I will snap as many pictures of everything and look it up all later. Needless to say, in the 3 days we spent in Rome, I took about 745 photos. Now some of those WILL be deleted, but my guess is I'll end up with at least 600. And had we been there longer.....I can only imagine.

We traveled through the Piazza to Corso Vittorio Emmanuele. My thought had been to go toward the Colessuem, but I dumbly followed DH who turned right. We were heading toward the Vatican and he seemed happy to be out walking in the 95 degree killer heat, so I let him lead. (Side note: I'll walk in any weather, DH doesn't do well in heat, nor do the boys 13 yr and 11 yrs) We crossed Pont Sant Angelo and walked over to the Castle.

Unfortunately it is closed on Monday, otherwise we may have spent a few hours in there. We turned left and walked over to Vatican City. I was amazed to see the lines of people! I knew July was a popular and HOT time to be in Rome, but the line circles all the way around St Peters Square (It's not really a square....more of an elliptical shape ).

We then headed back south and I suggested we walk to Santa Maria de Cosmedin where the Bocca della Verita is located. According to my map...it's not that far. So we walked down Lungotevere dei Sangallo which becomes Tebaldi which becomes Vallati, which become Cenci which becomes Pierleoni....and tada! You're there. Okay....it was FAR! This was the longest walk we took - because we had no agenda and no place to be!

We stood in line for 25 minutes and I got a picture of the boys with their hands in the mouth - neither got bit off! A suggestion I have for anyone looking to get a good picture here. We arrived around 4:30pm I think and it closed about 30 minutes after we had arrived. The sun was not in a good position for the best picture here. So, go in the morning if you'd like to get a better picture.

After they survived not losing a hand, we wandered a little around the outside walls of where the Roman Forum is and then took a convoluted path back to our hotel. Since we had eaten such a late lunch, we were not hungry for dinner. We picked up our key from the desk, and called it a night.

A few things about Hotel Genio. Highly recommend this hotel. The beds were clean, the bathroom/shower clean and we had no trouble with hot water for showers. There are a few rips in the wallpaper and stains on the carpet, but we could care less about visual problems. The beds weren't the most comfortable, and the air conditioning was more like room cooler. It never got really cold, but at least it was much better than outside! As far as location this is for a great location to reach everything. The only downside is there is construction going on right nearby, so the bus no longer comes right in front of the hotel, so you have to walk a few blocks down to catch it. We only used the bus once because we were able to walk to everything from where we were and didn't mind walking. There is also no metro stop nearby, but again it is close to a bus stop and you can walk almost everywhere if you don't mind.

We took a taxi only a few times and I had read that the taxi drivers will try to scam you, but we always asked up front how much and never felt we were taken advantage of. Only once were we told 18euros (from Vatican to Colesseum) and we refused that ride.

So, day 3 was a wonderful wandering day. We got our bearings for the next few days from this walk. Will post about day 4 soon.
Jennifer_Scutari is offline  
Old Jul 21st, 2011, 01:53 PM
  #17  
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 66
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
We recently travelled from Palermo in Sicily to Salerno, Bologna, Venice, Milan, Como and back to Milan, to Geneva, Lyon, St. Etienne and back to Lyon and then to Paris. We did not see any beggars or gypsies on the trains and had a peaceful trip. We had a 1st class Eurai Pass and used the high speed trains most of the time.
We came across beggars at the station in Bologna, but they were polite and one was very helpful because we were on the wrong platform and could have easily missed our train without his help.
manlygirl is offline  
Old Jul 21st, 2011, 03:41 PM
  #18  
 
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 6,024
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I am glad you are enjoying your trip, and it sounds like you and your family are having a good time. But I do have to ask how you recommend a hotel that has ripped wallpaper, stains on the carpet, lumpy beds and barely working a/c? What part are you recommending? Just curious.
socaltraveler is offline  
Old Jul 22nd, 2011, 01:42 AM
  #19  
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 57,091
Received 5 Likes on 3 Posts
Micheal and Annhig : I'm afraid the FAGIN you talk about is called MAFIA in Italy . >>

feda - I think we'd got that. but no worries about your english -if only my italian was that good.

BTW, did you know that there is a "via mafia" in florence - i found it in my wanderings around Oltrarno.

We turned left and walked over to Vatican City. I was amazed to see the lines of people! I knew July was a popular and HOT time to be in Rome, but the line circles all the way around St Peters Square (It's not really a square....more of an elliptical shape ). >>

jennifer - this may not help you, but for the assistance of others who might to read this, you need to get to St. Peter's EARLY to avoid the security queues. the day we wanted to go up to the dome, we were there by 9.15 and didn't have to wait at all. when we came out about 10.30, the lines snaked all the way across the piazza to the other side by the toilets.

the other way to avoid queuing is to book a scavi tour - strangely you do not need yo go through security before going to the office and afterwards, you emerge the other side of the barriers so you can just walk in.
annhig is offline  
Old Jul 22nd, 2011, 04:27 AM
  #20  
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 2,056
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I think Jennifer's recommendation of her hotel has to do with her enjoyment of her trip, and I agree, the atmosphere or friendliness of a place is far more important than the wallpaper.

And I wish I had an Italian father in law.
tarquin is offline  


Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information -