The first round of reprints are back, and I’m glad to report that Cameras, Inc. in Davis did a much better job than Photo Star. The rest will come in by the end of the week – not the instant gratification we were hoping for, but at least they’ll be nice prints.
What's been on my mind lately? Read on...
Well, you’ll have to wait a few more days for photos – the first place I went botched the job pretty soundly.
The not-so-fine folks at Photo Star were rude and completely uninterested in giving any sort of customer service (Sound familiar? Maybe they’re in with the Hotel Savoia folks) when they returned our horrible looking prints. The negatives looked good, and since Photo Star was unwilling to reprint them (they finally gave me my money back), I’ve taken the negatives to another local place. Here’s hoping they come out better the second time ’round.
So here’s the short list for Italy.
First, the not-really-so-bad downers:
- Delayed flights.
- European plumbing.
- Transit strikes (but only for a day).
- The restaurant in Rome Osteria dell’Antiquario (Frommer’s liked it, we hated it).
- The Hotel Savoia in Sorrento. They neglected to tell us about the construction they were doing when we booked, so we were promptly woken at 8 AM by hammering, and had a new hotel (see Hotel Mignon below) by 10 AM.
- Smoking. Many people in Europe smoke everywhere – train stations, hotel rooms, restaurants, etc. It was disgusting.
And now, on to all the good things:
- Damn good cappuccino for less than a buck, especially at our little bar in Rome in the Piazza Mazzini, Le Stelle.
- Sorrento in general.
- All the amazing sights: Hadrian’s Villa, Pompei, the Roman Forum, the Pantheon, the Galleria Borghese, etc., etc., etc. See pictures soon.
- The restaurant in Sorrento, La Fenice. It was amazing! Try the black linguine with zucchini flowers and shrimp – divine!
- Good shopping.
- Great pizza.
- The Pensione Paradise in Rome. Luigi and his staff are great, the rooms are nice (ask for one facing the courtyard rather than the street), the location is ideal, and given all that, it’s a steal of a price.
- The Hotel Mignon in Sorrento. They’re well located, sweet, it’s cheap, and breakfast is wonderful.
- Soccer (football) games. We saw Lazio tie Sampdoria in the Stadio Olimpico.
- The ever-so-convenient (near the airport) and reasonable Fiumicino Hotel Airport Surfhouse.
- The Vatican. Just jaw-dropping, really.
I’m getting pictures back tonight, and will scan them in soon. I’ll also post some more stories from our travels in the next few days.
I’m back! After a long flight from Frankfurt (one heck of a place, and not so much in a good way), we got back to Boston today. Italy was great – I’ll put up some pictures and stories soon. In the meantime, back to real life!
Italy’s been great! We spent a few days in Rome, headed down to Sorrento for a few more (and ate like royalty!), and are now back in Rome ’til Tuesday. We’ll see more of the Vatican, enjoy the now sunny weather, and almost certainly eat more pizza… the rosemary potato pizza is divine.
If you haven’t been following their campaign, MoveOn.org has been trying to get CBS to air a commercial they produced, to no avail. It’s become a bit of a cause, and if you’re interested in urging CBS not to censor ads, you can click on the link below.
