Spring Break! It's here...

[trinacriabob]

I loaded up on THREE night classes (9 semester credits) and should wrap up this degree in mid-May. Last night was my last mid-term. Kind of tough, actually.

So, now it's time to go away. I leave for Las Vegas on Sunday (should be toasty) and then for LA on Wednesday, triangulating back up next Saturday. Booked a while ago so I got real cheap fares (each leg under $ 100). I am itching for some poolside r & r and sunshine.

How about those of you celebrating Spring Break? Any plans?

[CSpec]

I'm on the tail end of my spring break right now. Very unproductive.

[capriceman]

I have to do some car repairs i cant push them too longer. We have a week shutdown sometime in april, so that will be sweet.

[Robert Hall]

I'm going to Maui the first week of April... after the snow and nastiness of the last 3 months, I need some sun and sand again (was in Honolulu in Dec).

[ZL-1]

I loaded up on THREE night classes (9 semester credits) and should wrap up this degree in mid-May. Last night was my last mid-term. Kind of tough, actually.

So, now it's time to go away. I leave for Las Vegas on Sunday (should be toasty) and then for LA on Wednesday, triangulating back up next Saturday. Booked a while ago so I got real cheap fares (each leg under $ 100). I am itching for some poolside r & r and sunshine.

How about those of you celebrating Spring Break? Any plans?

Congrats on your results!

And enjoy Las Vegas! :AH-HA_wink:

[DetroitNut90]

My Spring Break doesn't start until April 6, but I know what I'm going to be doing already...recouperating from having 3 of my teeth excavated and hopefully visiting the relatives in PA.

[Cory Wolfe]

Spring break... What's that?

[trinacriabob]

Congrats on your results!

And enjoy Las Vegas! :AH-HA_wink:

Muito obrigado, o minho amigo! O ultimo test e o 14 de Maio!

A verdade e que eu aguardo o minho viagem pela Europa no verao mais...ya tenho os minhos bilhetes transatlanticos e tamben os bilhetes Europeos com a Iberia Linhas de Espanha: ida Roma-Porto e voltando Valencia-Roma...eu vou ir a Madeira e Valencia (Espanha) pela primeira vez. Quando volto na Italia, vou con os minhos primos a Sardenha, Bolonha, Veneza e Alemanha (Munich). Nao posso aguardar!

Edited March 17, 2007 by trinacriabob

[Delta Force79]

My spring break has consisted of staying inside while this endless ice storm is going on...Its been snowing ice for the last 24 hours and we're set for more ice and snow today

[ocnblu]

I'm the same as Viper on this.

[Sixty8panther]

No break for me, I wish I was still in college...

I have so many things on the agenda for the next

2 weeks It's making me dizzy just thinking about.

Most of them are either related to or somehow

involving getting my Super 88 sold and buying

that 1959 Buick I have been talking about for over

a month now.

Also I am still working on the T.W.C.C. trivia final.

And then there's last night snow...

[american_revolution_2005]

My spring break ends in 2 days. It was boring but I got to some of the junkyard but not all because of knee deep mud.

[Oracle of Delphi]

At this point, I'll just be happy to have spring come here, instead of me going to it.

[ZL-1]

Muito obrigado, o minho amigo! O ultimo test e o 14 de Maio!

A verdade e que eu aguardo o minho viagem pela Europa no verao mais...ya tenho os minhos bilhetes transatlanticos e tamben os bilhetes Europeos com a Iberia Linhas de Espanha: ida Roma-Porto e voltando Valencia-Roma...eu vou ir a Madeira e Valencia (Espanha) pela primeira vez. Quando volto na Italia, vou con os minhos primos a Sardenha, Bolonha, Veneza e Alemanha (Munich). Nao posso aguardar!

Umas excelentes férias!

Quando estiveres no Porto procura encontrar tempo para o cruzeiro no rio Douro, desde o Porto até à fronteira com Espanha. O "wine country" nas margens do Douro é espectacular!

Eu estou a planear visitar Gotemburgo (Suécia) por uma semana em Agosto: quero ver se gosto do "vibe" da cidade. Se gostar, é lá que vou tentar encontrar trabalho depois de completar o Mestrado.

[knightfan26917]

At this point, I'll just be happy to have spring come here, instead of me going to it.

*nods*

Same here !

Course ... since I'm not in school anymore, I don't GET a spring break. But, that certainly would be nice for businesses to give ... WITHOUT making people take vacation days to do it.................

*sighs*

Cort:33swm."Mr Monte Carlo.Mr Road Trip".pig valve.pacemaker

PICS:lego.HO.model.MCinfo.RT.CHD = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort

"Just a little insight won't make this right" ... All-American Rejects ... "It Ends Tonight"

[NOS2006]

Well, like last spring break, I'm working on my car. Though, appearance this time rather than performance, and a totally different car.

[ehaase]

My employer is sending me to Long Island, NY this week on business, and I am going to spend an extra day there driving around and sightseeing. I am also going to South Florida April 7 for a few days.

[daves87rs]

What break.....

LOts of stuff to do-so little time!

[mustang84]

A group of us went to Venice for a few days, then hopped a plane to Athens...stayed in Greece for 4 days and visited Aegina Island, then hopped a flight back to Naples and visited Pompeii and climbed to the top of Mt. Vesuvius. That was one hell of a spring break!

We also rented a car on Aegina Island...a 2006 Renault Clio with a 1.2L 4-banger for 40 Euro. The other choices were Daewoo Matizes (which we didn't want) for 30 Euro or a Suzuki Jeep-like thing for 35 Euro.

That little Clio actually had some pep for only have 136 hp. Ours was a manual as well. We filled it with 10 Euro worth of diesel before we left and only used up about 7 Euro worth after 5 hours of driving up and around mountains, so they're pretty fuel efficient as well.

Edited March 19, 2007 by mustang84

[Satty]

Not in school this semester, so no spring break, though I will go golfing this week.

[regfootball]

chicks in mud

[trinacriabob]

A group of us went to Venice for a few days, then hopped a plane to Athens...stayed in Greece for 4 days and visited Aegina Island, then hopped a flight back to Naples and visited Pompeii and climbed to the top of Mt. Vesuvius. That was one hell of a spring break!

We also rented a car on Aegina Island...a 2006 Renault Clio with a 1.2L 4-banger for 40 Euro. The other choices were Daewoo Matizes (which we didn't want) for 30 Euro or a Suzuki Jeep-like thing for 35 Euro.

Venice - otherwordly, isn't it? Just amazing. And Northern Italy and Northern Italians are so much easier to deal with.

Athens - aren't the Greeks generally pushy? I went to a Greek restaurant last night. Once I told the waiter I had been to Greece and he saw that I could pronounce everything correctly, he wouldn't leave me alone. The 3 most common English words in a Greek's vocabulary: "Yes, of course"

Naples - isn't it a pitiful $h!-hole? What's around it may be nice, but Naples itself, oh $h!!

Was that 40 Euro for 1 day in the car? Geez, I've got a fire engine red GP for $ 252 (incl. tax) for a week which I just drove from LV to LA.

Have fun. Your reports are interesting.

[trinacriabob]

chicks in mud

I land in Las Vegas and as I am walking out of the MAUVE colored concourse (the whole friggin airport is mauve inside), I see a poster for DAVID HASSELHOFF (your buddy) at the Paris-Las Vegas. And I think of Reg. Evidently, he is performing there, for a while. Looks like he's had some "nip and tuck" as he doesn't look a day over 35. But that's Vegas for you.

What a nutty place. No wonder my friend from LA (she's 100% Italian) moved there, she's kind of...ehm...unique. Stayed the first night at her new cookie-cutter house in a new SW neighborhood, then onto the Excalibur the second night, and finally onto the Orleans for the next 2 nights (price drop).

I need a "Vegas fix" once a year. It's such a weird place. I only spent ONE DOLLAR in a casino, the rest of the time was going to the pool, swimming, buffets, driving around the illuminated Strip and driving to both Lake Mead and Red Rock Canyon. You know you go there enough when you start to say "it's on Trop" -- meaning Tropicana Avenue.

My God, one morning I took my friend out to breakfast and sitting right across from us was a TRANSSEXUAL .... unbelievable. In Kansas or Alabama, that person might not be around to the next day. He had masculine face and, though slender, veined and very muscular biceps and calves; HOWEVER, he had a sundress, nail polish, lipstick and breasts. He/She/It was sitting there with this beer bellied middle-aged guy.

I went to one of the two 24-hour Starbucks in the city to do some reading. There is evidently a contingent of regulars. This one seems to be a hangout for a lot of Chinese chicks who must be students at UNLV. This one dude was there both nights, talking up a storm in a very Brooklyn "howyadoin' " kind of accent. (Shut up, please). For some reason, LV has a real magnetic attraction for foreigners (largely Filipinos, Latin Americans), LA "equity refugees" and NY Italians and Jews. Those groups seem to flock there in big numbers, giving it a real interesting atmosphere; however, because it's Vegas, they are not among the finer specimens of those ethnic groups.

And you gotta love the Las Vegas motto:

"What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas."

Befittingly tacky.

[mustang84]

Venice - otherwordly, isn't it? Just amazing. And Northern Italy and Northern Italians are so much easier to deal with.

Athens - aren't the Greeks generally pushy? I went to a Greek restaurant last night. Once I told the waiter I had been to Greece and he saw that I could pronounce everything correctly, he wouldn't leave me alone. The 3 most common English words in a Greek's vocabulary: "Yes, of course"

Naples - isn't it a pitiful $h!-hole? What's around it may be nice, but Naples itself, oh $h!!

Was that 40 Euro for 1 day in the car? Geez, I've got a fire engine red GP for $ 252 (incl. tax) for a week which I just drove from LV to LA.

Have fun. Your reports are interesting.

Venice was amazing. It's so easy to get lost there...I can't even count the number of times we wound up on a dead end street that led to a canal. Even if you have a map you don't bother looking at it much because just finding where you are on the map is a pain in the rear...it's easier to use landmarks like towers to locate where you are. San Marco was nice....lots of people (and pigeons! I'm sure the guys selling pigeon food make a fortune, because everyday there I saw a ton of people with pigeons all over them from feeding them).

Athens and Greece was great...I actually thought the people there were much nicer than the Italians (more the Southern Italians I guess...the northerners are pretty nice too). You'd be surprised how much Greece is like the US...since the Greek language isn't spoken by many outside of Greece, most everyone there speaks fluent English that is in any type of service industry. The streets are gridded and I was surprised by all the American chains there...McDonald's, Burger King, Subway, Applebees...even TGI Fridays (which we ate at because we were getting tired of eating Italian food all the time). We got into a lot of ruins for free because we said we had our student ID cards and said we were studying in Rome (EU students get in for free...and they thought we were Italian). Greece is also much cheaper than Italy...a 1/2 liter bottle of Coke in Rome usually goes for 2-2.50 Euro, in Greece you could get it for 80 cents.

Naples was a $h!-hole, you were right lol. We stayed at the Hotel Potenza on Piazza Garbaldi (by the train station)...our bus ride there from the airport at night was like going through East St. Louis. During the day it isn't as bad but it's dirty and lots of stay dogs and cats, even in the terminals. We didn't have problems with people trying to con us or pickpocket us (but we also just stayed by the train station), but there are people everywhere begging for money...even as you're buying a train ticket at the booth. I was surprised they actually had skyscrapers though.

Once my laptop gets fixed, I'll post some pics of Greece up....it's a beautiful country.

[Robert Hall]

Venice was amazing. It's so easy to get lost there...I can't even count the number of times we wound up on a dead end street that led to a canal. Even if you have a map you don't bother looking at it much because just finding where you are on the map is a pain in the rear...it's easier to use landmarks like towers to locate where you are. San Marco was nice....lots of people (and pigeons! I'm sure the guys selling pigeon food make a fortune, because everyday there I saw a ton of people with pigeons all over them from feeding them).

Once my laptop gets fixed, I'll post some pics of Greece up....it's a beautiful country.

Greece is on my to-do list..haven't been there yet. I've been to Italy twice, in 2003 and 2004. I loved Rome, Florence and Venice--what a unique place..I was only there for a day, want to go back and stay longer. Didn't go into Naples, went around it (drove from Rome to Pompeii to Sorrento, down the Amalfi Coast (loved it) to Salerno and then back to Rome. I want to go back to the Amalfi coast, spend more time in Positano and go to Capri.

As far as northern Italy, I liked Milan for a big city, but my favorite places were probably the lakes--Como and Maggiore..beautiful with the Alps close by...I took a few boat rides around Lake Como and Lake Maggiore..I really liked the town of Stressa on Lake Maggiore. I want to back and explore more in the Alps as well as Tuscany.

[mustang84]

Greece is on my to-do list..haven't been there yet. I've been to Italy twice, in 2003 and 2004. I loved Rome, Florence and Venice--what a unique place..I was only there for a day, want to go back and stay longer. Didn't go into Naples, went around it (drove from Rome to Pompeii to Sorrento, down the Amalfi Coast (loved it) to Salerno and then back to Rome. I want to go back to the Amalfi coast, spend more time in Positano and go to Capri.

As far as northern Italy, I liked Milan for a big city, but my favorite places were probably the lakes--Como and Maggiore..beautiful with the Alps close by...I took a few boat rides around Lake Como and Lake Maggiore..I really liked the town of Stressa on Lake Maggiore. I want to back and explore more in the Alps as well as Tuscany.

I wish we could have made it to Sorrento. We only had a day for the Naples area so we spent it visiting Pompeii and climbing Mt. Vesuvius, but I've seen pictures of Sorrento and it looked like a beautiful place with all the buildings built into the side of the hills.

I'm going back to Florence tomorrow, then Pisa on Sunday. From what I hear, there's not much to see in Pisa besides the Leaning Tower and the church / baptistry...so we're just going to spend half a day there and then head back to Rome.

[trinacriabob]

Greece is on my to-do list..haven't been there yet. I've been to Italy twice, in 2003 and 2004. I loved Rome, Florence and Venice--what a unique place..I was only there for a day, want to go back and stay longer. Didn't go into Naples, went around it (drove from Rome to Pompeii to Sorrento, down the Amalfi Coast (loved it) to Salerno and then back to Rome. I want to go back to the Amalfi coast, spend more time in Positano and go to Capri.

As far as northern Italy, I liked Milan for a big city, but my favorite places were probably the lakes--Como and Maggiore..beautiful with the Alps close by...I took a few boat rides around Lake Como and Lake Maggiore..I really liked the town of Stressa on Lake Maggiore. I want to back and explore more in the Alps as well as Tuscany.

You know, Greece isn't that bad. Of the choices, though, I prefer Northern Italians, followed by Greeks and Southern Italians being about equal. I found Northern Italians to be more polite and restrained.

I like Rome but you can only see the monuments so many times. I do not like Florence much at all. Landlocked, humid and with a dirty river running through it, it is way too full of itself and so are the Florentines (I have cousins who live there and the stories I hear about their pretentious friends and neighbors, I say "feed them to the lions"). It is expensive and, if art and fashion don't interest you (they don't), move on. Venice has that constant sea breeze and the atmosphere. The atmosphere alone is the reason to go.

You are absolutely correct. The very top of Italy (that is, the lakes) such as Como are the pinnacle. So incredibly beautiful. I've been to Garda, too, though it's not as "genteel" as Como. One day, I took my rented "Smart" from Verona up to Bolzano (almost Austria), then across the winding road through the Dolomites and back down to Venice.

I no longer go to Italy for the monuments. I go for the scenery and either the mountain or seaside relaxation areas....the Dolomites, the Lake District, Venice, Sardinia and Sicily. Everything else is WAY too much work.

[mustang84]

Bob: I'm getting to that point here in Rome about the monuments...I've seen most everything and I'm actually tired of seeing the Colosseum everyday on my way to class. But once you get outside of the city into the rolling hills and vineyards, it's beautiful.

We didn't make it to Pisa because Trenitalia is having a strike, so regional trains in that area are all stopped. This was AFTER we bought a ticket and waited a half hour for a train that never showed up.