This will be brief, I'm sorry I've been behind with my adventures, but only a couple more to go and then I am done for the semester! Sadly.
I also heard that I have some blog-fans in Manchester's Milne Travel Agency! Shout out to you loyal readers! Love you Pam :D
My first trip to Italy was fantastic! The pasta wasn't as marvelous as I was hoping, but I guess pasta isn't really much to be desired when anyone can make it well if they tried. The gelato though, was definitely something we ate at least once or twice a day.
Our first night we walked around quite a bit, and explored. We ended up at a dance/show type gig where we stood and listened to the Italian jokes and singing. While the last act was singing the rooms tables and chairs were cleared out and it quickly turned into a club-like atmosphere. We had no idea what we were walking into and the smoke in the air was bothersome so we didn't stick around for more than a couple of hours.
I snuck lots of pictures of art on this trip. No pictures were allowed anywhere we went inside. I could snap plenty of the fake David's outside the Uffizi Museum. The Uffizi Gallery had amazing Renaissance artwork that I had studied, and like I always say, the more you know before you go the better you like the show, cause you know. I've never said that before but it sounded nice, and it rhymed. Rhyming things are nice.
The Uffizi was very cool with its Botticelli, da Vinci, Michaelangelo and whatnot. After that the boys went their own way because they have no patience, and the girls and myself headed to the Duomo. Santa Maria del Fiore (The Duomo) is one of the largest Catholic Cathedrals in the world, and it was designed to be THE largest originally. It was beautiful inside and I enjoyed looking around very much. I just love visiting churches in general, and other places of worship. There's God in all of them and its cool to see how other people worship compared to what I grew up knowing.
My family and I headed to the Acaddemy Gallery where the David statue by Michaelangelo stands. No pictures allowed, but the rule didn't go over too well with me. :X Just gotta be sneaky about it. Only once in all of my traveling has someone actually asked me to delete a picture I had taken, but a lot of times they have asked me to shut off my camera. I can do that of course, because I had already taken the picture I wanted. I don't get why pictures arent allowed without flash, it makes no sense to me.
We ate a lot of long and fulfilling meals while we were in Italy. For my brother and I it was our first time in Italy and so we didn't really have any expectations, and I had seen all of the sights I wanted to see. Everyone else had already traveled Italy and seen everything so it was really up to where my brother and I were dying to go.
One of our nights in Italy we went to an opera "The Marriage of Figaro." Now, everyone who has heard one opera song in their life has heard the Figaro song that I know nothing about... You know... FIGAROO FIGAROO FI_GA_ROOOOO! This opera was not that. It was about adultery and trickery and whatnot. Quite funny actually. It was my first ever, and I loved it! If I understood Italian it would not have been as cool because it all sounded so beautiful without understanding. The opera was in a evangelical church and it was quite quaint. I'm glad it was in a cold church instead of a big opera house like I kind of expected, it was more homie. My mom said that most operas shes heard of or seen in Italy are all in small venues like that. Friendly and personal.
One thing we definitely did a lot of... We shopped a lot on the streets in Italy. The leather was so cheap compared to everywhere else I've been in Europe. We shopped so much that I have lost most of my desire to buy any other things in Europe. Seriously. And that is an important statement because it is coming from the lady who has gone from one purse to 12 in her 4 month stay in this Western world! 1 to 12. Think on that for a second. I should get rid of some of them... BUT THEY'RE ALL SO PRETTY!
Anyway, shopping in Italy was like going to Morocco, where all of the stores give you a good price. But when you're among tons of good prices you always want better prices, so bargaining down is necessary.
Tips to good bargaining:
1) Never take out your money, and always keep small bills separate.
2) Check every nook and cranny for mistakes the creator may have made on the item
3) For every mistake you find tell them you want a discount
4) Never make an offer first.
5) Always go maximum half the offer that the seller gives you, and move from there. But sometimes you just know what something is worth, so you can go with your gut too.
6) Never change your price. Always make the vendor lower his/her price first.
7) Only go up in price an eighth of what you started. Vender wants 100, you offer 50. Vendor offers 90, you say 60. Don't change your price too much because then the vendor knows you're easy.
8) Always compare the item you're bargaining to the same item somewhere else. "You're selling this for $20? The guy over there is selling for $10."
9) If the vendor isn't having it than fiddle your fingers and leave the store very slowly, no one selling something likes to see money walking out of their store.
10) Be playful with the vendors. If you are nice and pretty you will get better prices. Many people do this for a living but its also a game of bluffing, like playing poker for a living.
11) Most importantly, NEVER bargain when you aren't 100% positive you want something. If you are a good bargainer, the vendor will lower the price and you'll have to buy at that point. Why waist 10 minutes bargaining for something you don't really truly want anyway? Oh yeah, cause its fun. At one point in Italy I annoyed a vendor so much with my lowballing that he gave me a bag for free. Oh, I forgot to count that... 13 purses.
We were treated wonderfully in Italy, and everyone was very friendly. Our lovely travel agent sent some wine to my parents' room and we felt right at home with all of the wine and food we absorbed in our short weekend.
Gratzie Italia.
No comments:
Post a Comment