Exterous' trip to Italy

Exterous

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Jun 20, 2006
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I jumped on a cheap fare to Italy despite it being over Easter because, well I hadn't been to Italy yet and a sub $400 RT ticket to Malpensa airport in Milan is hard to pass up. So we land and are ready to start our trip - we had the timetables for the Malpensa airport train and what stop to get off on and everything. Except we can't find the train station anywhere. The signage is pretty good and we've navigated more than a few airports so this was...odd. My wife goes up to ask the information desk where the train is.

"There is no train station here."
Oh I thought there was.
"No train only at Malpensa, not here."

We both shared wtf looks. If we weren't at Malpensa then where the fuck were we? Turns out one of the 7 schedule change notifications I got was also an airport change to the smaller Linate. I'll be sure to keep a closer eye on those notifications next time although perhaps something in the subject line like "Schedule AND AIRPORT change" would be a welcome addition. Anyway we were able to fairly quickly figure out the bus schedule so no real damage done.

The weather was supposed to be generally terrible while we were there but really only rained heavily 2 days. On the positive side the cloud cover made for some very dramatic blue hours (although dealing with crowds sometimes ruined my shots)

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Exterous

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Jun 20, 2006
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After Milan we took the train to Venice - which was insanely busy. Fortunately we had assumed it would be and paid a small fee for 'skip the line' tickets to the Basilica. The free entrance line was huge. Unfortunately they don't allow pictures in there which I am not a fan of at all. I would gladly pay a small fee to be able to take pictures. If they are concerned about flashes then I would be ok if they required me to show them my camera doesn't even have a flash attached.

Anyway for some reason Doge's palace had only a tiny line after we left the Basilica so we went there next. There was a lot more to see there than we had expected because it extends into almost the entire old jail just across the Bridge of Sighs.

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Exterous

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Jun 20, 2006
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For our second day in Venice we decided to go out to Murano. Pretty much everything is better in Murano. The food is cheaper but the gelato tastes better, way fewer crowdes etc. If you buy a public transportation pass it includes getting to most (all?) of the nearby islands

Anyway I wandered in and out of glass shops and factories till I found one giving a demonstration.

This dude was the shit:
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Took him about 1 minute to make a vase. The horse took maybe 2 minutes. He was also funny and photobombed some people taking selfies in the shop
 
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Exterous

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zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
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Are the heroin addicts still littering the park that surrounds La Sforza in Milan?

and holy crap Venice looks crowded as all hell. I'm glad I went to most of those places in late fall/winter when it was relatively empty.

hmm, I was able to and did take many pictures inside St Mark's Cathedral. ...it was probably the same rule, but I didn't care in my early 20s. But that was on a ~1981 Canon SLR, so no digital pics. All of that is on celluloid!

Also, is there now a train to Malpensa? At one time you could only take a bus from there and into the city.
 
Last edited:
Nov 20, 2009
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US$1200 for the lens ... not something I think I could justify unless I knew I was traveling a lot and taking a lot of pictures. I would love to get a wide lens at the 15mm level, but they are expensive. Heck, I'm still recovering from the Sigma Art 28-105 I bought for my 5dmk3. Love the construction, but hated the cost (~800).
 

Exterous

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Jun 20, 2006
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I promise that I didn't show the sex tape...:eek:

Thanks for the pics.

Gross - and you're welcome

Are the heroin addicts still littering the park that surrounds La Sforza in Milan?

and holy crap Venice looks crowded as all hell. I'm glad I went to most of those places in late fall/winter when it was relatively empty.

hmm, I was able to and did take many pictures inside St Mark's Cathedral. ...it was probably the same rule, but I didn't care in my early 20s. But that was on a ~1981 Canon SLR, so no digital pics. All of that is on celluloid!

Also, is there now a train to Malpensa? At one time you could only take a bus from there and into the city.

Heroin addicts? Not that I noticed. Yeah Venice was swamped although it was not quite as bad as we expected. We were actually able to find some spaces outside the crowds. As for St Marks there were staff members walking around yelling "No pictures" to people who tried to take them. Yep - I made sure to double check our departure airport and we took the train from Rome to right below MXP terminal 2 with an easy transfer at the Milan central station

US$1200 for the lens ... not something I think I could justify unless I knew I was traveling a lot and taking a lot of pictures. I would love to get a wide lens at the 15mm level, but they are expensive. Heck, I'm still recovering from the Sigma Art 28-105 I bought for my 5dmk3. Love the construction, but hated the cost (~800).

We have a side business doing photography that includes real estate. No where near FBB levels but enough that the purchase made sense - the difference between that lens and the Agent's iphone or samsung makes a pretty compelling argument for using us.
 

Exterous

Super Moderator
Jun 20, 2006
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After Venice we took the train down to Florence and then to La Spezia and Cinque Terre. Unfortunately this is where we had the worst weather. We were going to spend almost a day and a half in Cinque Terre and hike between the towns but it poured on the half day so not only did we not cover much ground but they closed the trails between the towns. It cleared up for the next day but we were pretty rushed and didn't get to spend as much time in the towns as we wanted. It was my favorite area of the trip although Murano and the Roman Forum were close

Florence:
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Cinque Terre
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eng2d2

Golden Member
Nov 7, 2013
1,007
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  • Great Pictures. After reading your first post about the train station I just want to warn everyone here that when you ask for direction in italy be prepared thats its not the same as ours. For example when they say its close and just down the street prepare to walk half a mile. Sometimes they point at a direction and make it looks like its close but its not. You need map and lots of questions. LOL
 

MrSquished

Lifer
Jan 14, 2013
21,004
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Thanks! We use the Tamron 15-30mm for our Canon. Pretty versatile lens with fairly minimal distortion at 15mm (relatively speaking). Biggest downside is that it is a hefty 2.6lbs.

https://www.amazon.com/Tamron-AFA012C700-15-30mm-Wide-Angle-Cameras/dp/B00S86K7DS


You should look into switching to a micro 4/3 system from Panny or Oly. I had a full DSLR kit and loved it but it started getting so heavy it took away from the enjoyment of shooting. Not only is a micro-4/3 body much lighter, so are all the lenses, which is where the size/weight savings really come into play. Both Panny and Oly make pro-level 7-14mm wide angle lenses, which are the FF equivalent of 14-28mm, so pretty much matching your Tamron.

Since you travel a lot, you will really make your money back quickly. I sold half my dslr lenses and gave the others to my sister, but I made decent money back on the ones I sold.
 

brianmanahan

Lifer
Sep 2, 2006
24,203
5,608
136
You should look into switching to a micro 4/3 system from Panny or Oly. I had a full DSLR kit and loved it but it started getting so heavy it took away from the enjoyment of shooting. Not only is a micro-4/3 body much lighter, so are all the lenses, which is where the size/weight savings really come into play. Both Panny and Oly make pro-level 7-14mm wide angle lenses, which are the FF equivalent of 14-28mm, so pretty much matching your Tamron.

yeah i have a m4/3 and love it, i just need to splurge for the 7-14m f/2.8 olympus one of these days
 

WelshBloke

Lifer
Jan 12, 2005
30,337
7,988
136
  • Great Pictures. After reading your first post about the train station I just want to warn everyone here that when you ask for direction in italy be prepared thats its not the same as ours. For example when they say its close and just down the street prepare to walk half a mile. Sometimes they point at a direction and make it looks like its close but its not. You need map and lots of questions. LOL
Half a mile is close! :confused:

Nice pictures OP!