On Tue, 27 Sep 2011 09:21:25 -0400, Dave Smith
> wrote:

>On 27/09/2011 6:10 AM, ViLco wrote:
>> Dave Smith wrote:
>>
>>> I had sticker shock on several occasions when I was in Italy in 1993.
>>> I still have the bill for our dinner in Venice..... 315,000 Lira,
>>> about $315 at the time, a hell of a lot for a mediocre dinner for
>>> three.
>>
>> That's a totap rip-off: 315.000 lire in 1993 were worth more than 315 euros
>> nowadays. In 1993 medium restaurants would ask you 25k to 35k lire, now they
>> ask for 35 to 50 euros...

He spent all those lira and he didn't get laid... for that much you
coulda had three of the prettiest young girls in Rome for an all
nighter, and still had dinner. I don't believe he was in Italy, it
was a fantasy dream.

>I have no interest in returning to Italy.

Venice is a giant rip off, a tourist trap. Italy does have good food
at very reasonable prices but you need to avoid the big cities, the
best eateries are in the small towns, especially in Italy's rural
interior there are wonderful inns and taverns one just comes upon,
they are not advertised. The typical tourist never experiences Italy,
they'd be better off staying home with a subscription to Nat Geo. I've
traipsed throughout Italy on several occasions and found much that was
very enjoyable but I experienced more of Italy up close and personal
growing up in Brooklyn. Italy is about its people, not its slick
travel brochure hype and tourist traps. I traveled a lot when
younger, it took me half a lifetime to realize that travel is highly
over rated... one can learn more about Italy by living on the cheap in
Boston's east end for a month than from a lifetime of expensive
commercial tours. It's like people who make a hundred trips to
midtown Manhattan, they know absolutely nothing of NYC... every time I
read about their trip to Carnegie Deli I LMAO... theyd do better
dining at a Sabrett's pushcart and other street venders. If you want
good ethnic food you won't find it in Midtown Manhattan, you need to
go to Brooklyn and Queens... the tourist traps know the tourists are
on limited time so they pick their pockets... there are more and more
sophisticated pick pockets in Midtown than in all of Italy.