Two of the best meals we had in Italy were at a place called Fuoco Matto. It’s a little bit away from the central tourist area and seemed like more of a place for locals.
Thanks. We booked all our dinners in advance. We have eaten at 3 Michelin starred restaurants so far, one more tomorrow.
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I loved Florence, absolutely stunning. Have fun!
We went to this locals place for steak - incredible.
Looks great. Hopefully you’ve gotten a sandwich at Vinaino Fiorenza and can make it down to try some Brunello di Montalcino.
We had lunch in Montalcino and got Brunello and pasta. A+.
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Fuoco Matto also great for lunch. The pizza and pasta were both insane.
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Got my housing set up for July in Armenia and Georgia.
Celebrated by eating Georgian food. No idea how people eat it regularly without dying before 40.
Found a nice place right on Lake Sevan for a few days away from Yerevan. Split my bases between Tbilisi and Batumi for Georgia.
Apparently, there is a company that charters flights between Tbilisi and Batumi but their website doesn’t work. I asked them a question via Facebook and they demand that I email them for flight prices. What kind of rinky-dink operation prefers a less efficient form of communication for answering a simple question over text? Rather just take the 6 hour train ride.
Who are all these leisure travelers sitting in first class on two-hour flights? Do they have insane points deals or do they just not have anything else to spend their money on?
Probably mostly status upgrades? My wife has Diamond with Delta and gets upgraded to 1st class on most of her flights.
At the end of July I’m going back to Paris for a reunion of the writing class I took this summer, then visiting my friend in Heimerdingen (near Stuttgart) again, then renting a car and doing this loop over about 10 days. Any advice or can’t miss stuff welcome. Lots of hiking planned.
I plan to stay in Innsbruck a night or two, Kaselruth a couple nights, then Zermatt, Gimmelwald (you can’t drive there, have to park in Grindlewald) booked. I’ve always wanted to go to the town since seeing it on Rick Steves. It looks like a fairy tale.
Check out Mt. Pilatus just outside of Lucerne. That can be a major hike, or you can take a gondola part or all of the way up. On the way down you can hike, take the gondola, or a cogwheel train. Tons of ways to experience it, activities, etc. From central Lucerne we walked to Pilatus, took the gondola up, the train down, and then a boat across Lake Lucerne back to the city. Highly recommend.
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I’ll be dicking around Switzerland for a week or so in May, so I may have some notes, and will take under advisement everything @LFS has to say.
From Zurich, I did day trips to Lucerne and Rhine Falls. Honestly didn’t find Zurich particularly remarkable. Just expensive. But some of the small villages of Switzerland are beautiful. I went to Schaffhausen which is next to Rhine Falls.
Be sure to take the boat on Lake Como to at least Bellagio. There some lovely little villages along the lake you can access from Como aside from Bellagio. Look into them.
From Munich, I made sure to visit Dachau and took a day trip to Nuremberg. If you haven’t been to a concentration camp before, you might need the rest of the day to process what you saw there.
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Am I the only one who gets very annoyed by people who get up to use the restroom while the fasten seatbelt light is on?
For me it’s mild. There have been times in my life where I just had to go immediately. They’ve never happened during a fasten seatbelt sign being on. Maybe I just run good.
There seems to be two levels of fasten seatbelt sign. One is so the attendants can get the cart going, the other is for real turbulence.
You can tell by the announcement or lack thereof. If the bong chimes and the attendants get up and start scurrying around, it’s the soft seatbelt sign imo. If I gotta go, I’m getting up then. I haven’t been scolded yet, so I assume it’s ok.
I’m thinking more of the people who go after the captain has turned on the fasten seatbelt light after they announced ten minutes ago that it would be coming on soon due to landing and people should use the restroom now.
My last flight the plane had to pull over after landing because a passenger got up to use the restroom. The flight attendant announced it was his fault if anyone missed their connection.
I feel like a good attorney, with a little creativity and ethical flexibility, could gin up some sort of lawsuit against the airline for doing this.
What did you eat? Khachapuri? Khinkhali?
Some people swear by khinkhali and eat it almost daily, but for us, it was fine once every week or 2.
Georgian food is ok but seems rather limited and we just ended up eating other cuisines mostly. They don’t seem to use much seasoning/spices for many of their dishes. I can give you some suggestions depending where you’re staying. We lived in Vake but it might not be convenient for your purposes.
If you’re a fan of wines, then Georgia will be a great destination. They claim to have invented wine.
Ojakhuri and khachapuri
Obviously didn’t finish it all. So plenty of leftovers. Honestly, I’m a fan of it.
I’m staying a short walk from Freedom Square.
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