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When buying something in Italy, always keep the receipt for a few hours. The guardia di finanza does random checks, mostly on smaller businesses, and if you don't have a receipt it might count as tax fraud.
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May 18, 2015 10:34
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Honj Steak posted:When buying something in Italy, always keep the receipt for a few hours. The guardia di finanza does random checks, mostly on smaller businesses, and if you don't have a receipt it might count as tax fraud. I've never ever heard of them actually doing this in reality, a bit like ticket checks on the Roman metro. Has this happened to you? Were you in Milan?
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May 18, 2015 10:36
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Sulla-Marius 88 posted:I've never ever heard of them actually doing this in reality, a bit like ticket checks on the Roman metro. Has this happened to you? Were you in Milan? Nah it never happened to me and I've been to Italy many times but it's something a friend from Torino told me so I assumed it is legit.
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May 18, 2015 10:44
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Okay well I don't know specifically what happens in Torino, they're basically French up there but I know that the receipt thing is to ensure that the businesses are paying their tax. I don't believe anyone has ever stopped a customer, asked them for the receipt for the gelato they're eating, and then threatened to fine them for not having one. Legally customers are owed receipts so that if they don't get one they can claim fraud and cause a ruckus, and if an ufficiale della guardia di finanza finds a business that doesn't provide receipts (or neglected to provide a receipt in a demonstrable instance) then they get fined to poo poo because, as you said, it's tax fraud. But the whole law is aimed at ensuring businesses manage sales in a trackable and taxable way, not at the customer. If an officer asks you for the receipt for something you bought it's because he wants to know if they provided one or not -- if you threw it away you're not going to get fined.
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May 18, 2015 10:51
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It's like the servizio/coperta/cover charge thing. Legally they're not allowed to charge it and you're supposed to be able to contest it when it shows up on your bill, but in reality you can get both servizio and coperta showing up as well as pane you never ate and if you try to contest it the owner or manager will come out and shout the house down and call you a thief, and good luck trying to get a government official (carabinieri, guardia di finanza, whatever) to step in and get involved. The letter of the law in italy has very little to do with the reality on the ground. Don't worry about keeping receipts and check the prices before you eat at a place. You don't want to be the 1,000,000th American tourist to pay 70 euros for a couple of coffees and a gelato because you sat down at a cafe in Piazza Navona. e: Wait I'm wrong about that. I'm talking specifically about Rome but it's such a muddy situation that in effect nobody goddamn knows. quote:Coperto, pane e servizio: i ristoranti posso aggiungere queste voci? From http://www.romatoday.it/economia/coperto-ristorante.html Sulla Faex fucked around with this message at 11:06 on May 18, 2015 |
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May 18, 2015 11:00
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Sulla-Marius 88 posted:You don't want to be the 1,000,000th American tourist to pay 70 euros for a couple of coffees and a gelato because you sat down at a cafe in Piazza Navona. Just FYI, this doesn't seem to be as large a problem in Spain, but it's still good advice. I had some very tasty but surprisingly expensive guacamole yesterday. On the other hand, I managed to have a delicious 8-course tasting menu for €40 so it all sort of evens out. The "charge for bread you didn't ask for" is a constant thing everywhere I've ever been outside of North America, so my best advice is to just get over it and enjoy the usually-delicious bread.
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May 18, 2015 11:05
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I've still never been to Spain. We've made plans so many times but every time push comes to shove we wind up booking flights to see friends in Paris, London, Berlin, or the Netherlands. We now have friends in Spain but in Seville and Valencia and up north in Galicia, which is all well and good but we're really keen to see Madrid, which means booking domestic flights after that and doing a 2-week holiday. Which gets pushed back further and further while we do weekend or week-long trips to wherever. I think I might just go ahead and book something for June as soon as I find a cheap flight, otherwise I'll never goddamn see Spain.
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May 18, 2015 11:11
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Sulla-Marius 88 posted:I've still never been to Spain. We've made plans so many times but every time push comes to shove we wind up booking flights to see friends in Paris, London, Berlin, or the Netherlands. We now have friends in Spain but in Seville and Valencia and up north in Galicia, which is all well and good but we're really keen to see Madrid, which means booking domestic flights after that and doing a 2-week holiday. Which gets pushed back further and further while we do weekend or week-long trips to wherever. I think I might just go ahead and book something for June as soon as I find a cheap flight, otherwise I'll never goddamn see Spain. Depending on how long you have, you really should go to all of these places. Madrid is big sprawling world city, and each of the other places you listed are not, and they all rock.
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May 18, 2015 12:33
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Once again the German train driver's union will go on strike on Wednesday for at least 6 days. So anyone who is travelling in Germany during that time should look for alternatives.
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May 18, 2015 15:20
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I'm not travelling for another couple of weeks, but I suspect I'll regret trying to go Berlin - Warsaw by train instead of air.
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May 18, 2015 16:05
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spoof posted:I'm not travelling for another couple of weeks, but I suspect I'll regret trying to go Berlin - Warsaw by train instead of air. Something's always on strike in Germany, it seems. It could just as easily be pilots, or air traffic controllers. There's simply no planning for it.
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May 18, 2015 22:22
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So I'm trying to book a train from Paris to Ghent. Apparently, there are no direct trains that go there and you have to go to Brussels first. I'm using https://www.capitainetrain.com which someone recommended in this thread, but I don't see any trains from Brussels to Ghent. Is Brussels -> Ghent a short enough trip that trains run frequently and I don't have to worry about booking in advance, or is there somewhere else where I need to go to book a ticket?
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May 19, 2015 03:33
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idontcare posted:So I'm trying to book a train from Paris to Ghent. Apparently, there are no direct trains that go there and you have to go to Brussels first. I'm using https://www.capitainetrain.com which someone recommended in this thread, but I don't see any trains from Brussels to Ghent. I'm doing the same this fall. They stopped the direct service in April. Pretty sure service is frequent between Brussels-Midi and Ghent-St Pieters edit: use this site http://www.raileurope.com/index.html
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May 19, 2015 05:06
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Are timetables the one thing American trains do better than European trains? As in, we have time tables? The only real timeline I've found is for the 3 international trains that the Denmark State Railways runs.
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May 19, 2015 05:24
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Off the top of my head, oebb.at bahn.de scnf.com trenitalia.com
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May 19, 2015 05:58
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OK, I don't know, last time I looked at Bahn and SNCF I couldn't find anything, now I can pretty much figure out what the hell is going on. And I found an SNCF night train that I might be able to actually use! It still seems like Wikipedia is way easier to get an idea of what goes where.
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May 19, 2015 07:36
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PT6A posted:Something's always on strike in Germany, it seems. It could just as easily be pilots, or air traffic controllers. There's simply no planning for it. They're doing their best to shatter stereotypes of the German people.
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May 19, 2015 08:14
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idontcare posted:So I'm trying to book a train from Paris to Ghent. Apparently, there are no direct trains that go there and you have to go to Brussels first. I'm using https://www.capitainetrain.com which someone recommended in this thread, but I don't see any trains from Brussels to Ghent. You don't get a reserved seat on most trains in Europe. Only need to book a ticket Paris -> Brussels (book early for a big discount). Just don't travel during rush hour and you'll be fine.
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May 19, 2015 10:19
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FISHMANPET posted:Are timetables the one thing American trains do better than European trains? No, that's cause the deaths of their passengers.
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May 19, 2015 13:08
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greazeball posted:No, that's cause the deaths of their passengers. A little dated but http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/aug/19/train-wrecks-keep-us-on-safety-track-for-worlds-lo/?page=all
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May 19, 2015 13:16
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if nobody takes the train, nobody's gonna get hurt
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May 19, 2015 14:09
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Good news! My train to San Sebastian will likely be free once I go to the station and request a refund. Bad news: it's because it was delayed three hours after having to go via Logrono and Haro, etc., instead of by Pamplona due to some sort of issue on the rail network. Hopefully they don't count it as "force majure" because 3 hours is definitely outside the 90 minute guarantee. Oh well. It's a very nice looking city, now that I'm here.
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May 19, 2015 16:56
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Thanks for all the advice so far. asur posted:I've found that the mobile companies have stores all over the place and it's pretty easy to go in and buy a sim card. Vodafone, TIM, Wind and Tre Italia are the four big companies. So I looked into this a bit harder and just fyi for anyone who might search for this. At least at the Milan Malpensa Airport (MXP) you can buy TIM/Vodaphone/etc SIM cards at the foreign exchange places. There's ones all over the place apparently. So as I'm ironing out the itinerary, I'm thinking that while we have a car in Italy, we should try to see more of the countryside and if we really like Florence or Milan, next time we'll come and just stay in the city without a car. So I think this is what we're looking at right now: Day 1 - (Sunday) Arrive at MXP at noon. Buy SIM card, grab the car, be out by 2pm. Drive towards Montecatini Treme via Cinque Terre. Stop by a couple towns along the way depending on what catches our fancy. Main goal is to pinpoint what we want to return to when we drive back to Milan. Arrive at the hotel by 8pm. Get in, grab dinner and walk around. Day 2 - (Monday) Probably exhausted so the only thing on itinerary will be to spend some time at the spa in Montecatini. Depending on how we feel, we'll probably bus to Lucca for however long we want and just wander. No set itinerary. We'll take the hit of not ordering the train ticket beforehand for flexibility on this day. Day 3 - (Tuesday) Food for Florence hasn't been decided (or looked into) Bus to Florence. Today we'll visit Duomo Cathedral, Baptistery of San Giovanni, Duomo Museum, and Giotto's Bell Tower. Day 4 - (Wednesday) Bus to Florence. Today we'll visit Uffizi, Accademia Gallery, The Basilica of San Miniato al Monte, and end the day with Piazza della Signoria en route to Ponte Vecchio. Day 5 - (Thursday) Driving day through the countryside. General guideline will be Hotel -> Chianti -> Val D'Orcia -> San Gimignano -> Hotel. I think we're going too late in the year to do a wine tour. Main goals are Chianti and Val D'Orcia, San Gimignano is flexible to skip if we are too tired or want to spend more time elsewhere. Day 6 - (Friday) Check out at hotel. Start driving towards Cinque Terre. Spend most of our time going to the places we missed/decided we wanted to go back to from Monday. Drop off the car and check in at the Hotel around 6pm. Bus into central Milan for dinner and drinks if we're not too tired. Finish off with a aperitivo trail Day 7 - (Saturday) Check out at the hotel. Shopping day at Milan! La Rinascente Milano, Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, Coso Cormo. Get to the airport by 6pm - our flight leaves at 9pm. I'm not planning for jetlag downtime because I'm planning on fixing my sleep schedule using pills starting 4 days prior to the trip. Rurutia fucked around with this message at 19:40 on May 19, 2015 |
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May 19, 2015 19:30
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Rurutia posted:not the laid back one in the relationship. From your itinerary that definitely looks to be true! Just be prepared for something very Italian to happen and have anywhere from one to a dozen delays along the way which screws up your itinerary. Rurutia posted:Day 3 - (Tuesday) For Florence I would recommend getting the Firenze Card, especially since you'll be busing in from out of town. If you don't reserve tickets in advance (which used to be a pain for the Uffizi) the lines will be unwieldy if you're not there half an hour to an hour before it opens. Plus, if you start at the Uffizi, the Accademia line will be massive as well. The Firenze Card gets you admission to pretty much every museum/gallery in Florence and the ability to skip the lines. Also, the Uffizi, Ponte Vecchio, and Piazza della Signoria are all within 5 minutes of each other so you can lump those in together and throw in Palazzo Vecchio. For me at least, I spent barely any time at the Accademia because outside of David there wasn't much there that held my interest. Another place I'd recommend is Palazzo Pitti across the Arno. The palace is nice enough, but the Boboli Gardens were the real draw for me. Rurutia posted:Day 6 - (Friday) I'd also recommend against driving through Cinque Terre. Narrow roads through mountains, sheer drops off the side of the road with no barriers, the towns themselves being mostly off-limits to vehicles along with extremely limited parking outside the 5 towns makes for a bad time. Since you'll be coming from the south I'd recommend driving to La Spezia and taking the train through Cinque Terre. There is a rail pass that allows unlimited hop-on hop-off from La Spezia to Levanto so you can see every town along the way and maybe do a bit of the trail. I'm not sure if it's open (landslides when I was there), but I've heard good things about the easiness of Lover's Lane between Riomaggiore and Manarola.
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May 19, 2015 22:01
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MagicCube posted:From your itinerary that definitely looks to be true! Just be prepared for something very Italian to happen and have anywhere from one to a dozen delays along the way which screws up your itinerary. I fully expect my husband to decide to slash my itinerary in half on the 3rd day even though he signed off on it. quote:Also, the Uffizi, Ponte Vecchio, and Piazza della Signoria are all within 5 minutes of each other so you can lump those in together and throw in Palazzo Vecchio. For me at least, I spent barely any time at the Accademia because outside of David there wasn't much there that held my interest. Another place I'd recommend is Palazzo Pitti across the Arno. The palace is nice enough, but the Boboli Gardens were the real draw for me. So, this is terrible, but I love architecture and I glance at art. But I'm much more into food tourism. I'm half thinking about just doing a very cursory visit to Uffizi and Accademia, and then spending the rest of the day finding places to eat. v  v I'm open to suggestions about where to go in terms of food tourism, it seems more difficult to find reliable information on it.quote:I'd also recommend against driving through Cinque Terre. Narrow roads through mountains, sheer drops off the side of the road with no barriers, the towns themselves being mostly off-limits to vehicles along with extremely limited parking outside the 5 towns makes for a bad time. Since you'll be coming from the south I'd recommend driving to La Spezia and taking the train through Cinque Terre. There is a rail pass that allows unlimited hop-on hop-off from La Spezia to Levanto so you can see every town along the way and maybe do a bit of the trail. I'm not sure if it's open (landslides when I was there), but I've heard good things about the easiness of Lover's Lane between Riomaggiore and Manarola. Ahhh, thanks for the insight. We'll do just that then.
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May 19, 2015 22:59
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Rurutia posted:So, this is terrible, but I love architecture and I glance at art. But I'm much more into food tourism. I'm half thinking about just doing a very cursory visit to Uffizi and Accademia, and then spending the rest of the day finding places to eat. v That's not terrible at all! The Uffizi can be overwhelming and the Accademia underwhelming, but the architecture of Florence is great. Since your not as big into the art, definitely focus more on the piazzas, palaces, and churches. On food tourism I might recommend doing some cooking classes/tours which I've seen brochures for in places I've stayed in the region. Here is one for example: http://www.tripadvisor.ca/Attraction_Review-g187901-d2367216-Reviews-Tuscan_Cooking_Class-San_Gimignano_Tuscany.html. In my experience, a lot of the food tourism is limited to regional advertising and finding brochures in hotels or tourist centers. When you get to your hotel you can inquire with the front desk about good tours in the area as well as having them book it for you.
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May 19, 2015 23:12
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Rurutia posted:Day 3 - (Tuesday) Depending on the lines that shouldn't really take you long. I hope you are fit or don't mind sore muscles if you want to do the cupola and the bell tower directly one after the other. Florence isn't really that big, you can cross the main tourist area on foot in about 20 minutes, so you should have plenty of time for other things on that day. quote:Day 4 - (Wednesday) I would drop the Accademia. If you are just there for David just look at the replica in front of Palazzo Vecchio and then take a tour through that. Other than that walk to Piazzale Michelangelo, take a look over the city, turn around notice the church on the hill in the back and walk up there, the views from there are just as nice and there are way less tourists around. elwood fucked around with this message at 13:54 on May 20, 2015 |
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May 20, 2015 06:58
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Where should we stay in Paris (that is, what part of town)? Also, when booking the train from Italy to France: Eurail is good? Any special notes about it (show up early, bring XXX, ...? 1st/2nd class? If you take the train twice in one day, does that count for one day?)
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May 20, 2015 08:01
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logis posted:Where should we stay in Paris (that is, what part of town)? Also, when booking the train from Italy to France: Eurail is good? Any special notes about it (show up early, bring XXX, ...? 1st/2nd class? If you take the train twice in one day, does that count for one day?) It depends what your budget is and how much you'd rather have a nice place but a 30 minute subway ride away, or a closet-sized hotel room but within 5 minute walking distance of everything. The Latin Quarter is a pretty good bet if you'd rather be in walking distance of everything. Montmartre is sort of medium-distance away from things (walkable to the main touristy sites, but kind of far). The area around the Pompidou is also pretty nice / lively and walkable to most major sites, though pretty far from e.g. the Arc de Triomphe or Tour Eiffel. IMO the south bank (Left Bank/Rive Gauche) of the Seine is pretty dull except for the part within a 10 minute walk of the river (like as far south as Jardin du Luxembourg), while the right bank (north of the river) is generally more interesting for a tourist.
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May 20, 2015 08:42
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Do we have any body of goons based in Berlin? I'm here for at least a month or so until work stuff sorts out (hopefully in Liberia), so could use some local insight.
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May 20, 2015 10:17
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Rurutia posted:
Look up slow food http://www.slowfood.com/ for Florence, they will usually list a range of restaurants and markets that will serve good local food. Also my recommendation would be to look for restaurants on the other side of the river, the di Boboli gardens side. It is less touristy and a better bet for cheaper more authentic food restaurants. For the art galleries, book your tickets in advance and expect to still have to queue. Accademia is really all about David and his Gorilla hands. PlantHead fucked around with this message at 10:29 on May 20, 2015 |
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May 20, 2015 10:27
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:Do we have any body of goons based in Berlin? I'm here for at least a month or so until work stuff sorts out (hopefully in Liberia), so could use some local insight.
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May 20, 2015 10:32
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Finalizing my August croatia-hungary-romania schedule so I can start making reservations. I've got on extra day I can throw in somewhere it looks like but not sure where would be best. I've heard more than 3 days in Budapest is nice for some people, but maybe I could use it to be less rushed somewhere else? Day 1 - Arrive late to Zagreb 2 -Zagreb 3 - Zagreb 4- Plitvice National Park, continue on to Split 5- Split 6 - Krka National Park 7 - All travel day from Split to Budapest 8 - Budapest 9 - Budapest 10 - Budapest 11- Cluj-Napoca 12 - Floating day I haven't found a place for yet 13 - Sighisoara 14 - Brasov 15 Brasov 16 Brasov 17 Bucharest 18 Leave Bucharest Early
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May 20, 2015 13:32
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Donostia is teetering right on the brink for me right now. On one hand, it seems like a colder, less friendly, more expensive version of Logroño, but it's admittedly a beautiful city and area, there are flashes of brilliance where you come across them. Whoever was planning to rent a car and explore the surrounding area probably has the best idea (I did see public parking, but there's much less of it than in other cities, so I'd bank on it being expensive -- there's a public car-park on the west side of the Rio Urumea by the old town). Basque culture seems pretty awesome where it shines through, but too much of it here seems to be hidden behind the least pleasant bits of French, Spanish and generic "tourist" culture. I'll definitely have to do some more exploring. Also: gently caress TripAdvisor in the ear. I don't know how they manage to attract such a blend of people who are so demanding yet exhibit such an utter lack of taste. You almost want to stare at its complete lack of self-awareness, like one might stare at an accident where one car is upside-down and it's driver's ballsack is hung up on the rear-view mirror, but it really shouldn't be relied upon for much else. Every bad choice I think I've made this trip is thanks to that gaggle of morons.
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May 20, 2015 16:40
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PT6A posted:Donostia is teetering right on the brink for me right now. On one hand, it seems like a colder, less friendly, more expensive version of Logroño, but it's admittedly a beautiful city and area, there are flashes of brilliance where you come across them. Whoever was planning to rent a car and explore the surrounding area probably has the best idea (I did see public parking, but there's much less of it than in other cities, so I'd bank on it being expensive -- there's a public car-park on the west side of the Rio Urumea by the old town). That would be me planning on renting a car. I've managed to find some info on parking and it seems that unless you want to be a bus ride away you can plan on paying around ~20 euro/day. And tripadvisor... I have gotten good info from it, but you really need to have the right mindset when going there. I place the typical user to be 40-60, from suburbs of wherever, on their second real "trip" anywhere. Getting anything useful just takes a lot of time and work. I once saw a terrible review for a well known and amazing pizza place simply because they didn't have ranch dressing to slather on the pizza.  That being said, any particular things that you found terrible in San sebastian?
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May 20, 2015 20:15
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Can anyone give me a recommendation on what the best way to get from Zurich to Milan by train is? I'm heading out tomorrow morning and have heard there's a couple of beautiful routes but I'm not sure which option to take.
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May 20, 2015 20:17
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DracoArgentum posted:Finalizing my August croatia-hungary-romania schedule so I can start making reservations. I've got on extra day I can throw in somewhere it looks like but not sure where would be best. I've heard more than 3 days in Budapest is nice for some people, but maybe I could use it to be less rushed somewhere else? Cut a day from Zagreb, add it to Split.
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May 20, 2015 22:22
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hbf posted:That being said, any particular things that you found terrible in San sebastian? Apart from the fact that it rains every 20 minutes, no. It's not that it's bad, so much as it's just not that good in a country where a lot of places are that good. I found the same thing with Granada too, and ultimately I found the same remedy: find a funky bar (that doesn't have a TripAdvisor badge in the window, I can't stress this enough) that scares tourists off, and enjoy yourself for a little while. You'll get things for a decent price, and you'll actually enjoy yourself. I don't understand what Spanish people seem to think tourists want. If I wanted things to be very similar to home, I'd have saved myself a few grand in airfare and just have stayed at home. I want to practice my Spanish (any my exponentially increasing vocabulary of Euskara, now at 3 words), and I want Neox instead of BBC World and CNN in my hotel room. On the other hand, I went to Akelarre earlier tonight, and it was fully worth the price, so it's certainly not all bad. I just get the feeling that it's built to be a tourist town, and it's pissing me off (yes, I appreciate the irony, I just don't know how I can visit new places without contributing to that issue). What I really like about Madrid, and Logrono, and even Sevilla, is that you can freely opt-in to all the tourist crap when you want, instead of having to work to get away from it. From what I'm hearing, I need to avoid the cities in Italy for my own sanity, given my particular tastes...
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May 21, 2015 00:24
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Doctor Malaver posted:Cut a day from Zagreb, add it to Split. I've only been to Zagreb and Rijeka, but this was my gut as well. Zagreb was briefly interesting, but for a capital city it's really not that engaging. I was there a couple days, and really the single most interesting thing I did was go to some shows at this former punk squat turned into a music venue in an old industrial (medical?) factory. Other than that, I just squinted at some architecture, ate a few local dishes, and went to a few museums that were full on 1970s-level (as opposed to Slovenia which has Smithsonian-quality museums). It's not terrible or anything, but I think you can knock out Zagreb in a day unless there are specific things you really want to see there. Really cute tram system though, I'm jealous. EDIT: quote:We've got a few Germany threads, this one tends to have the most touristy stuff. Quite a few Berlin goons around, too, I used to live there myself. Anything in particular you're after? Thanks goon, posted in that thread with my questions. Among other things, are there actually any Germans in Berlin at all or is this entire city immigrants and expats? TapTheForwardAssist fucked around with this message at 00:52 on May 21, 2015 |
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May 21, 2015 00:42
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Doctor Malaver posted:Cut a day from Zagreb, add it to Split. One of the days in Zagreb was for a day trip to some castles North of it, I could add the floating day to Split if you think it warrants it.
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May 21, 2015 01:34
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