Simply being in Italy is surreal. Walking around, the images that you've seen in photos and films literally come to life. The sites and people aren't extremely extravagant, but there is an abiding sensation that you are in a different world.
Last year around this time, York Italian literature professor Elio Costa told me about the annual trip organized by the Italian department.
"But it's too expensive," I thought immediately. I had been to Italy once before and three weeks of memorable travelling left me with serious credit card debt. Professor Costa told me to look into some bursaries and I did. When I was granted $1,500 in financial support, I started to stock up on film.
You land in Rome and take a coach to Florence, where you'll spend three weeks, staying at Instituto Gould, a hostel-like place that gives proceeds to needy children and orphans.
You'll have class from 9-11:30am, Monday to Friday, but calling it "class" doesn't do it justice, since most of these "classes" are walking tours of a city. The rest of the day is leisure time, as are the weekends (during which you can take a train to nearby Siena and to many other towns that border Florence). The three weeks spent in Florence will fly by, and you can spend the following three weeks in Italy's capital - and my favourite city - Rome.
Florence differs from Rome because in Florence, everything is within walking distance.
You will walk to everywhere - restaurants, churches, nightclubs, even trendy outdoor discotheques in the north riverbank Le Cascine district (walking there was easy, butwalking home in stilettos wasn't). We learned an important lesson walking alongside the Arno one night. Just a few feet away from us, over the river, colonies of pippistrelle, (or bats, which are pretty common in Italy) decided to give us some unexpected company. The bats were bold, generally flying within a few feet of us, and in large clusters. Every once in a while a single bat would swoop down and come face-to-face with us, startling us with its bravado. There are, I noticed, some striking similarities between Italian bats and Italian men.
But even if you opt for a cab, don't expect them to be readily available. Taxis in Italy don't speed around the city looking for passengers and if you happen to find one and flag it down, consider yourself lucky. Walking back to the hotel one night, strolling arm-in-arm with some friends, we noticed a police car stopped alongside the river.
"Let's ask them for a ride home!" suggested one of the girls. (For those of you that have never been to Italy, all of the police officers are young and gorgeous.)
So we approached the car and with big smiles plastered across our faces, tapped on the window. Our faces dropped when they rolled the windows down and we spied what they were doing in the privacy of their police car: Reading Italian comic books (we did not get a ride home).
It's hard to spend six weeks in Italy and not have dozens of adventure stories to come home with. Every day is filled with adventure: For instance, finding a cold drink.
On one occasion, I was at a train station and, seeking a thirst-quencher from the sweltering Italian sun, deposited 2 Π(about $3) in a vending machine for what turned out to be a lukewarm can of Nestea. Determined not to dehydrate, I popped another coin into the machine and got yet another can of warm iced tea. A stranger that witnessed the disheartening event leaned over to say, "E normale" ("It's normal"). Ironically, nothing is normal in Italy - especially not in Florence.
Even though Florence, along with other Greco-Roman cities, was a sort of blueprint for Western civilization, it's difficult for North Americans to relate to the Florentine lifestyle. Italians linger over lunch, they rarely watch television and they never talk about money.
So why do tourists flock there? It might be the aesthetic appeal. Along with the handsome police officers, the city is an open-air art museum. The city is full of massive architectural marvels, museums, hundreds of intricately designed churches, not to mention the hand carved beauty that can be found on every street corner.
With street names like Via delle Belle Donne (Beautiful Women Street), one has to wonder how even the seemingly mundane details of this city are infused with loveliness.
The streets themselves are lovely. Designer boutiques like Gucci, Ferragamo and Prada line the extravagant Via de' Tornabuoni, a higher end stretch of shops ideal for window shopping. You'll get lost in San Lorenzo's outdoor market, rich with colourful merchants who will get on their knees and beg you (I'm serious) to try on their goods. You'll marvel at the glittery jewelry stores along the historic Ponte Vecchio, one of the many cobblestone bridges that cross the Arno.
But since Italy and Italian cuisine are so inextricably linked, I have to say that Florentine cuisine is probably the best and simplest cuisine that exists, using basic, fresh ingredients, most of which are grilled (alla Fiorentina) to perfection. If you decide to eat in some of the more touristy areas (in any of the major piazze, or town squares) you'll pay double, maybe triple, the cost of what a Florentine citizen would pay. San Lorenzo has some great, reasonably-priced restaurants and of course there are hundreds of cafes, bars and pubs. The pizza - in almost every pizza place - is mouth-watering.
And the gelato? Oh, the gelato ... It is suffice to say that La Paloma and other gelaterie that are scattered around Toronto simply pale in comparison to what Florence has to offer. But since I am not a talented enough writer to do it justice with words, the gelato mention here will be minimal.
Florence is ineffable, and with obvious bias aside, full of love. Yet, in the midst of all of this tangible beauty (including 60 per cent of UNESCO World Heritage Sites) many North Americans are disappointed with their travels to Italy.
"Because [North] Americans go all over the world," explains professor Costa, "and they expect the world to be a copy of the United States. They want to travel the world and have everyone speak English and serve you hot dogs in the street."
After completing our course in Florence, my friend Mariangela Tagliabue (a third-year Italian major) and I spent the next three weeks of our trip travelling along the Northern part of Italy, but first spent four days in Rome, la città eterna, ("the Eternal City"). Rome is much bigger than Florence, so most of our getting to-and-fro was spent squished into the backseat of tiny little cars, careening dangerously around a city where streets have no lanes and traffic lights are purely decorative.
While in Rome, Mariangela and I had the opportunity to meet Pope John Paul II. We sat through an outdoor mass in St. Peter's square, just four rows away from the now-ailing Pope, and when the mass was over we were ushered into a lineup of people for a brief encounter with him. We weren't prepared to meet him and quickly turned to the person behind us and asked what we should say to him. What, after all, do you say to the Pope?
The man, stifling laughter, gave us a formal phrase to repeat: "Sua Santita, prega per noi" ("His holiness, pray for us"). As we were approaching, the Pope was wearing red velvet slip-on shoes. When it was our turn, one of the Pope's aides that stood alongside him signalled us to approach quickly and kneel before him. Mariangela promptly stepped forward, but I stood just a few feet before him, transfixed by the majesty of this man, clothed in ornate robes and much larger than I had expected him to be.
Kneeling before him, a small cluster of papparazzi stood alongside us, snapping photos. In between all of the camera flashes and noise and the Pope's aides surrounding us, we were face to face with one of the most famous men in the world.
We were frozen. We held his soft hands (I actually wondered what kind of moisturizer he used, and whether or not he applied it himself) and he cupped our cheeks. We mumbled the ceremonial saying, unmoving. But when our time was up and his aide took my arm, I quickly added something that I knew my boyfriend would appreciate: "Luigi says hi!"
If not for the pictures, I doubt anyone would believe us.
By: Sarah Anne Polsinelli
Sabtu, 28 Februari 2009
My First Time... in Chicago
People whirl through revolving doors. Sirens whirl and blare in 5-minute intervals. Potted wildflowers divide the North and South lanes on Michigan Avenue. Children run splashing across a large outdoor work of art: Two 30 ft tall screens project ethnic faces, sporadically spitting out water onto the children that wait anxiously below them. This is Chicago.
Ernest Hemingway, the father of modern literature, was born here. So was the most notorious gangster of all time: Al Capone. Comedian Bill Murray is from Chicago. The city’s most identifiable citizen, one of the wealthiest and most influential women alive today, is Oprah Winfrey.
There is so much to do during the day that even the most decisive person feels dumbfounded. We spent our days walking around aimlessly, straining our necks to admire the world-renown architecture. I shared an elevator with some German tourists, and later found out that many people fly in from Germany to go on the $10 “Mies and Modernism” architectural tour, which traces the buildings of German-born architect Mies van der Rohe.
Chicago lacks a downtown "core" because every corner of the city thrives in its own way – each one different, yet just as fascinating as the next. The endless supply of 50-plus storey condominiums and eighty-story buildings is astonishing. But you don’t feel dwarfed by these towering edifices because of the expansive, meticulously kept sidewalks and pleasantly “green” streets. The windy city allows you to breathe, in the midst of an urban jungle.
Chicago’s appeal is broad because of its variety of attractions. The Shedd Aquarium is located 25 ft underground and boasts one of the most diverse collections of sharks in North America. The Art Institute is internationally known for its French impressionist collection, but also displays art from Renaissance Italy and Ancient China.
But art isn’t simply contained within the museum walls: Modern art pieces are scattered across the city’s several parks. Tourists flock to the entrance of the United Centre to see the world-famous sculpture of basketball legend Michael Jordan. The Uptown Jazz Club is a living museum of 1930’s Chicago. Oh, and jazz bars are everywhere.
Although jazz music and prominent players came to Chicago from the south in the 1920’s (the "Jazz Age") to enliven the city's nightclubs with their performances, the excitement still resonates. One of the most scenic bars is located on the 95th (yeah - 95th) floor of the John Hancock building, with floor-to-ceiling windows and an unbelievable view of the city.
From the top of the city, you can admire all of Chicago’s greenery, there are several major parks spread out across the city. Grant Park is known as Chicago’s front yard, because it’s situated right on the waterfront. Lincoln Park contains the world’s largest free zoo.
After walking the city on our first day, my boyfriend decisively declared: "Chicago does everything big!" He was right. Chicago has the largest aquarium, the largest public library, the largest candy factory, the largest food festival, the largest collection of impressionist paintings outside of Paris, the longest street, and of course, the tallest building in North America. The Sears Tower is 110 storeys, and 1353 feet tall.
But we didn’t see any of these things.
Because there’s so much to see and touch and hear and taste that unless you’re on a rigid schedule, it’s impossible to see everything. We shopped along Chicago’s "Magnificent Mile," a stretch of higher-end shops along Michigan Avenue. We started at one end of the street, where we got a bird’s eye view from the 94th floor observatory of the John Hancock building. After dinner, we rushed to the other end of the Mile, where we hopped onto a speedboat for nighttime, picture-perfect view of Chicago’s skyline from 500 metres offshore. And don’t listen to what the tourist guides say; the view is definitely better at night.
We watched fireworks flash and flicker from our 25th floor hotel room. We ate deep-dish pizza. We walked along the lakefront towards the world’s largest illuminated fountain, the Buckingham ("Married with Children" fountain). We rode on Navy Pier’s Ferris wheel, and gazed at the city lights that twinkled 150 feet beneath us.
"It is hopeless for the occasional visitor to try to keep up with Chicago – she outgrows his prophecies faster than he can make them. She is always a novelty; for she is never the Chicago you saw when you passed through the last time." Mark Twain was right. I look forward to my next trip to Chicago.
By: Sarah Anne Polsinelli
Ernest Hemingway, the father of modern literature, was born here. So was the most notorious gangster of all time: Al Capone. Comedian Bill Murray is from Chicago. The city’s most identifiable citizen, one of the wealthiest and most influential women alive today, is Oprah Winfrey.
There is so much to do during the day that even the most decisive person feels dumbfounded. We spent our days walking around aimlessly, straining our necks to admire the world-renown architecture. I shared an elevator with some German tourists, and later found out that many people fly in from Germany to go on the $10 “Mies and Modernism” architectural tour, which traces the buildings of German-born architect Mies van der Rohe.
Chicago lacks a downtown "core" because every corner of the city thrives in its own way – each one different, yet just as fascinating as the next. The endless supply of 50-plus storey condominiums and eighty-story buildings is astonishing. But you don’t feel dwarfed by these towering edifices because of the expansive, meticulously kept sidewalks and pleasantly “green” streets. The windy city allows you to breathe, in the midst of an urban jungle.
Chicago’s appeal is broad because of its variety of attractions. The Shedd Aquarium is located 25 ft underground and boasts one of the most diverse collections of sharks in North America. The Art Institute is internationally known for its French impressionist collection, but also displays art from Renaissance Italy and Ancient China.
But art isn’t simply contained within the museum walls: Modern art pieces are scattered across the city’s several parks. Tourists flock to the entrance of the United Centre to see the world-famous sculpture of basketball legend Michael Jordan. The Uptown Jazz Club is a living museum of 1930’s Chicago. Oh, and jazz bars are everywhere.
Although jazz music and prominent players came to Chicago from the south in the 1920’s (the "Jazz Age") to enliven the city's nightclubs with their performances, the excitement still resonates. One of the most scenic bars is located on the 95th (yeah - 95th) floor of the John Hancock building, with floor-to-ceiling windows and an unbelievable view of the city.
From the top of the city, you can admire all of Chicago’s greenery, there are several major parks spread out across the city. Grant Park is known as Chicago’s front yard, because it’s situated right on the waterfront. Lincoln Park contains the world’s largest free zoo.
After walking the city on our first day, my boyfriend decisively declared: "Chicago does everything big!" He was right. Chicago has the largest aquarium, the largest public library, the largest candy factory, the largest food festival, the largest collection of impressionist paintings outside of Paris, the longest street, and of course, the tallest building in North America. The Sears Tower is 110 storeys, and 1353 feet tall.
But we didn’t see any of these things.
Because there’s so much to see and touch and hear and taste that unless you’re on a rigid schedule, it’s impossible to see everything. We shopped along Chicago’s "Magnificent Mile," a stretch of higher-end shops along Michigan Avenue. We started at one end of the street, where we got a bird’s eye view from the 94th floor observatory of the John Hancock building. After dinner, we rushed to the other end of the Mile, where we hopped onto a speedboat for nighttime, picture-perfect view of Chicago’s skyline from 500 metres offshore. And don’t listen to what the tourist guides say; the view is definitely better at night.
We watched fireworks flash and flicker from our 25th floor hotel room. We ate deep-dish pizza. We walked along the lakefront towards the world’s largest illuminated fountain, the Buckingham ("Married with Children" fountain). We rode on Navy Pier’s Ferris wheel, and gazed at the city lights that twinkled 150 feet beneath us.
"It is hopeless for the occasional visitor to try to keep up with Chicago – she outgrows his prophecies faster than he can make them. She is always a novelty; for she is never the Chicago you saw when you passed through the last time." Mark Twain was right. I look forward to my next trip to Chicago.
By: Sarah Anne Polsinelli
Planning your next Trip?
Currency movements can affect the cost of a trip. For example, a favorable rate of exchange means that your local currency is worth more and will provide you with more buying power. In fact, travelers whose local currency has appreciated dramatically will find that they will be able to afford much more on their vacation this year. On the other hand, a less favorable exchange rate of exchange means that your currency will be worth less resulting in less buying power overseas. If your domestic currency has depreciated significantly you may find your options more limited. As a traveler, your main concern should be to get the most favorable rate possible. In order to do this, however, one must first understand the foreign exchange market.
In the foreign exchange market, the currency of one country is exchanged for an equivalent amount of the currency of another. Foreign exchange rates are not static, but change dynamically-sometimes many times within a single minute. At this point, however, most of you might be asking, why does it take more dollars to buy a euro this week than it did last week? Why would it cost you more today to buy a cup of coffee in another country than it did before, even though the price has remained the same there? The answer has to do with the value of a country's currency relative to the price of another currency.
Currencies, just like any other commodity that can be bought or sold, are subject to the laws of supply and demand. When more people want a particular currency, the cost of the currency in terms of other currencies will go up. When demand decreases or people do not want to hold a country's currency, the value will go down. One factor that directly affects demand for a currency is international trade. For instance, if I buy a Japanese car in the US, I give dollars to my dealer, who gave dollars to his distributor, and so on. But before the profits are banked by the carmaker in Japan, they are converted into Yen. There is a surge of buying of Japanese cars this month, the result is going to be increased demand for Yen-which will in turn cause an appreciation in the Yen's value. An increase in international investment into Japan would have the same effect, since more money is being converted into Yen to purchase Japanese assets.
As a traveler, understanding currency fluctuations will help you to take advantage of favorable rates of exchange and spot a deal when you see one. For example let's look at the EUR/USD (Euro vs. US dollar) currency pair did over the last three years and how any changes might have affected tourism in each of them.
Currency pairYear Rate of exchange (highest)Rate of exchange (Lowest)
EUR/USD 2003$1.2646$1.0333 2004$1.3666$1.1758 2005$1.3579$1.1864 From looking at the table taken from www.dailyfx.com, we can see that in less than 3 years, the euro steadily rose in value against the US dollar going from $1.2646 to a high of $1.3579. This favorable rate of exchange for Euros vs. US dollars made traveling to the United States a much better deal in 2005 than in both 2003 and 2004. For the traveler who noticed this long term upward trend early could have probably delayed his 2004 trip to the United States knowing that his hard earned cash would go further in 2005.
When planning a trip to another country all individuals should keep in mind that the major currencies tend to move +/- 1% in a given day, which is a relatively minor move unless you are changing thousands at a time. This means that visiting smaller countries with less developed economies should warrant more research and planning since, these countries' currency would prove more volatile to rate changes. A great way to find out about the current state of exchange rates is to visit GoCurrency.com, a currency conversion site that covers over 150 currencies worldwide.
By: Gerron woodruffe
In the foreign exchange market, the currency of one country is exchanged for an equivalent amount of the currency of another. Foreign exchange rates are not static, but change dynamically-sometimes many times within a single minute. At this point, however, most of you might be asking, why does it take more dollars to buy a euro this week than it did last week? Why would it cost you more today to buy a cup of coffee in another country than it did before, even though the price has remained the same there? The answer has to do with the value of a country's currency relative to the price of another currency.
Currencies, just like any other commodity that can be bought or sold, are subject to the laws of supply and demand. When more people want a particular currency, the cost of the currency in terms of other currencies will go up. When demand decreases or people do not want to hold a country's currency, the value will go down. One factor that directly affects demand for a currency is international trade. For instance, if I buy a Japanese car in the US, I give dollars to my dealer, who gave dollars to his distributor, and so on. But before the profits are banked by the carmaker in Japan, they are converted into Yen. There is a surge of buying of Japanese cars this month, the result is going to be increased demand for Yen-which will in turn cause an appreciation in the Yen's value. An increase in international investment into Japan would have the same effect, since more money is being converted into Yen to purchase Japanese assets.
As a traveler, understanding currency fluctuations will help you to take advantage of favorable rates of exchange and spot a deal when you see one. For example let's look at the EUR/USD (Euro vs. US dollar) currency pair did over the last three years and how any changes might have affected tourism in each of them.
Currency pairYear Rate of exchange (highest)Rate of exchange (Lowest)
EUR/USD 2003$1.2646$1.0333 2004$1.3666$1.1758 2005$1.3579$1.1864 From looking at the table taken from www.dailyfx.com, we can see that in less than 3 years, the euro steadily rose in value against the US dollar going from $1.2646 to a high of $1.3579. This favorable rate of exchange for Euros vs. US dollars made traveling to the United States a much better deal in 2005 than in both 2003 and 2004. For the traveler who noticed this long term upward trend early could have probably delayed his 2004 trip to the United States knowing that his hard earned cash would go further in 2005.
When planning a trip to another country all individuals should keep in mind that the major currencies tend to move +/- 1% in a given day, which is a relatively minor move unless you are changing thousands at a time. This means that visiting smaller countries with less developed economies should warrant more research and planning since, these countries' currency would prove more volatile to rate changes. A great way to find out about the current state of exchange rates is to visit GoCurrency.com, a currency conversion site that covers over 150 currencies worldwide.
By: Gerron woodruffe
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