50+ years ago when I was legitimately a child, I and a friend went hiking (as we regularly did) up Cowles Mountain, which was basically walking distance (back when I could walk any distance) from where I lived. San Diego and region is listed as "semi arid," which means it is generally dry as tinder (even back then). Came upon some kid who wanted to light a fire. Gave no coherent reason for it. Friend and I stomped his preparations out completely. (Never quite had the "gifts" to similarly stomp the individual. I'm less mellow now, but also less capable.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowles_Mountain
"lurid descriptions of how I want the perpetrators punished" -- Oooh! Spank me! (Actually, don't I'm really not into that.)
Fuckin' Arab in the Maserati had watched too many 007 movies. That wasn't an accident.
You missed the best one. The idjit who climbed over 2 barriers and ignored multiple signs to stand on the edge of the Vesuvius crater. He fell in while backing up for a selfie. I am not sure what today's costs are but 15 years ago it cost $40,000 to rescue idiots who need to be helicoptered out of Geand Canyon. Assume the costs are equivalent here.
Punishment? Let karma do its thing. He would have eventually s.l.o.w.l.y slid down into the volcano. Instead Italian rescue workers risked their lives to save this drain on the collective IQ of the world's gene pool.
He did face a fine but got a feeling it was nowhere near 40k
BAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Your description is fantastic. I can see it so clearly! Ah, the satisfaction of knowing that justice was finally done. Just this morning, some Australian dude drove his motorino through Pompei or the Parthenon, I don't remember. Told the carabinieri that he "didn't know he couldn't."
These miscreants are such liars. Selfish, stupid liars.
In fairness the private Vatican tours have been available for years. For a mere $5000 (last time I checked) you and up to 20 of your closest friends can have thr entire Vatican museums to yourselves for 2 hours during regular closing time.
At 20€ each admission during regular hours and thousands of visitors hourly I doubt very much the money changers in the temple would forego the regular revenue vs a paltry 5k regardless of how rich and famous one is.
4 words SHOW ME THE MONEY. It's the rule at Vatican, Colosseo any major spot.
Like all of Italy its not what you know it's who. And believe me these guys Fixers they know everyone.
Ho Lee Schitt.... Note to self- remember to never piss Stacey off.
Not that I particularly blame you for your reactions to any of these offenses. If anything, I think you might be a bit too lenient. After all, what kind of limpdick, double-digit-IQ, tackling dummy wannabe drives down the Spanish Steps? That's not even common sense; that's just...sense. I think I'd hang him by his testicles over a trident to serve as an example.
Cultural sensitivity and respect ain't that hard, y'all. Just remember that it's not your country, the rules are different, and no one's going to take kindly to whatever stupidity passes for fun at home.
It's easy to make mistakes, but wherever you are, people will understand honest mistakes if you apologize genuinely and show remorse. Using the Spanish Steps as an exit ramp isn't an honest mistake, and I wouldn't blame anyone for breaking out the anal probes.
LOL! Disrespect done to beautiful things and especially a beautiful country is a definitely trigger of mine. Some Spanish tourist wrote "Aliens exist" (in Spanish) on the Colosseum a few weeks ago. Who does things like that?
Aug 10, 2022·edited Aug 11, 2022Liked by Stacey Eskelin
Even in the mid '60s in Roma, there were Americani who deserved to be frog-marched back to the airport, placed in a PanAm cargo hold, and sent back to the states where, with any luck, they'd be left sitting on the tarmac for several days in the unrelenting high season heat. I remember seeing "Leroy was here" grafitti scrawled on Roman walls and bridges by uneducated and no doubt bored GIs, and other damn Yankee evidence of disrespect and arrogance. And once, while at Olympia in the Peloponnesus, visiting the site of the ancient Greek Olympic games (in which all contestants were male and nude), my intrepid, ever-curious and archaeologically awestruck family was temporarily blinded by a cloud of dust raised by a large helicopter landing in the middle of the 10th century BCE track & field stadium. Who, we wondered, visited antiquity in a chopper? Why none other than ALL of the Kennedy children and their security detail. They tumbled out, about a dozen of them including Carolyn and John-John, chased once around the oval and clambered up onto statuary pedestals to pose with Zeus and Athena, Apollo and Artemis, then rose back into the sky in another cloud of dust. They weren't on the ground for more than a quarter hour, but in that time had managed to ruin the experience of mute stones and deep history for us and all the other respectful turisti who wandered through the ancient site imagining athletic contests (and naked men)... https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/517/gallery/&maxrows=34
Love me some Greek mythology. Did you ever read The Goddesses in Every Woman by Jungian psychotherapist Jean Shinoda Bolen? Fascinating stuff. Her contention: that the goddesses represented psychological archetypes that every woman possesses to varying degrees. That book had a profound influence on me.
I'll have to pick up a copy now that you've recommended it. As a young, impressionable ragazzina Americana exploring the Mediterranean, I found both Greek and Roman mythology endlessly entertaining. All those creative Gods turning themselves into animals and birds just so they could have their way with mortals... what's not to enjoy? Running a close second in my lurid tween-y fascination were all those ever-suffering martyrs.
I couldn't agree more! It makes my blood boil whenever I hear of this inanity as well. It's little consolation that not ALL inane assholes are American. Nevertheless, these punishments are too good for the lot of them - they should be banned forever from Italy - or from traveling outside their own country. SMDH...
You say that tourists come and treat Italy like their own personal litterbox....well I lived in Napoli for 2 years and I can say with absolute certainty that the Neapolitans treat Napoli as their OWN litterbox!!! The streets are absolutely disgusting and unbearably filthy! They almost never bother pick up their dog sh*t and even if they do its bagged and dumped on the street anyway. The streets are full of horrible grafiti (sometimes it is beautiful, like of maradona or saints) and filled with all sorts of rubbish. I asked many locals about it and they simply said the people only care about their actual homes and do not give a damn for anywhere else. I have lived in many cities and countries and never ever come across this god awful attitude for ones OWN city before!!! They also have an incredibly frustrating deflective and defensive attitude always blaming everything on someone else (like the North).
I have been in Italy for 3 years now (I wanted to give the North a chance) and I can say with certainty that this country is only good for either a holiday or retirement. It is very hard to go there and have a very successful and fulfilling life, not impossible of course but you really have to stay in one place for many years to actually have a fun life full of friends and work etc. Even then it is not a given, I met a lovely friendly girl who has lived in Imola for 4 years and she doesn't have any Italian friends. They seem to be very closed off to non Italians and you basically have to fundamentally change who you are in order to fit in and be successful at all (unless you come from a similar culture like Spain eg).
Italy is very backwards in terms of everything being done only by word of mouth, through someone you know etc and this applies to basically every aspect of life from dating to finding a football team even. Jesus Christ it is 2022 and yet it feels like 1922 still, the level of mistrust for someone you do not know via someone you know is incredible. Nevermind the awful discrimination when it comes to finding accommodation with over 90% of room adverts explicity saying 'GIRLS ONLY'...for me this is beyond pathetic and immature (much like many Italians actually). Yes the food is amazing, the history, beaches, architecture, no doubt about that (the people can be very friendly and helpful too) but just come and see it all for a nice holiday then go back to an actual modern world after.
Well, I can't disagree that Naples is 100% singular. It's a very strong flavor of Italy in all her beauty and messy glory and yes, her faults as well. Perhaps because Italy only became a unified country in recent years, every region is different, isn't it? Last year, my boyfriend and I moved from Lazio to Umbria, and there is a HUGE difference--not only in the quality of life (including clean streets), but the people themselves. Lazio is a bit like Naples. The further south you go in Italy, the more "colorful."
I have found in my eight years of being here that we either accept Italy on her terms or we are doomed to misery. My boyfriend has been here, off and on, for over forty years. Even *he* has trouble dealing with the country's maddening inconsistencies. I clearly get it (ergo the first two paragraphs of this article).
Italy tests you to see if you are worthy. If she didn't test people, then everybody would be here.
50+ years ago when I was legitimately a child, I and a friend went hiking (as we regularly did) up Cowles Mountain, which was basically walking distance (back when I could walk any distance) from where I lived. San Diego and region is listed as "semi arid," which means it is generally dry as tinder (even back then). Came upon some kid who wanted to light a fire. Gave no coherent reason for it. Friend and I stomped his preparations out completely. (Never quite had the "gifts" to similarly stomp the individual. I'm less mellow now, but also less capable.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowles_Mountain
"lurid descriptions of how I want the perpetrators punished" -- Oooh! Spank me! (Actually, don't I'm really not into that.)
Fuckin' Arab in the Maserati had watched too many 007 movies. That wasn't an accident.
Yes, I think so, too. I've been pondering it and arrived at the same conclusion. He knew. He didn't care.
It was no accident.
Sistine chapel is not in Italy. Just sayin’
Right you are. However, this is only a matter of semantics, as you know. Vatican City is, culturally at least, Italian.
No. It is inside Italy... as in surrounded by it.
You missed the best one. The idjit who climbed over 2 barriers and ignored multiple signs to stand on the edge of the Vesuvius crater. He fell in while backing up for a selfie. I am not sure what today's costs are but 15 years ago it cost $40,000 to rescue idiots who need to be helicoptered out of Geand Canyon. Assume the costs are equivalent here.
Punishment? Let karma do its thing. He would have eventually s.l.o.w.l.y slid down into the volcano. Instead Italian rescue workers risked their lives to save this drain on the collective IQ of the world's gene pool.
He did face a fine but got a feeling it was nowhere near 40k
BAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Your description is fantastic. I can see it so clearly! Ah, the satisfaction of knowing that justice was finally done. Just this morning, some Australian dude drove his motorino through Pompei or the Parthenon, I don't remember. Told the carabinieri that he "didn't know he couldn't."
These miscreants are such liars. Selfish, stupid liars.
In fairness the private Vatican tours have been available for years. For a mere $5000 (last time I checked) you and up to 20 of your closest friends can have thr entire Vatican museums to yourselves for 2 hours during regular closing time.
At 20€ each admission during regular hours and thousands of visitors hourly I doubt very much the money changers in the temple would forego the regular revenue vs a paltry 5k regardless of how rich and famous one is.
4 words SHOW ME THE MONEY. It's the rule at Vatican, Colosseo any major spot.
Like all of Italy its not what you know it's who. And believe me these guys Fixers they know everyone.
FIVE GRAND????? I wonder if that's what Momoa paid. Is five grand his definition of a "generous contribution?"
No wonder the Vatican is worth 15 billion dollars.
That was 2017.
Ho Lee Schitt.... Note to self- remember to never piss Stacey off.
Not that I particularly blame you for your reactions to any of these offenses. If anything, I think you might be a bit too lenient. After all, what kind of limpdick, double-digit-IQ, tackling dummy wannabe drives down the Spanish Steps? That's not even common sense; that's just...sense. I think I'd hang him by his testicles over a trident to serve as an example.
Cultural sensitivity and respect ain't that hard, y'all. Just remember that it's not your country, the rules are different, and no one's going to take kindly to whatever stupidity passes for fun at home.
It's easy to make mistakes, but wherever you are, people will understand honest mistakes if you apologize genuinely and show remorse. Using the Spanish Steps as an exit ramp isn't an honest mistake, and I wouldn't blame anyone for breaking out the anal probes.
Jeebus, but people am stupid....
LOL! Disrespect done to beautiful things and especially a beautiful country is a definitely trigger of mine. Some Spanish tourist wrote "Aliens exist" (in Spanish) on the Colosseum a few weeks ago. Who does things like that?
Someone who definitely deserves an anal probe.đŸ¤¬
Even in the mid '60s in Roma, there were Americani who deserved to be frog-marched back to the airport, placed in a PanAm cargo hold, and sent back to the states where, with any luck, they'd be left sitting on the tarmac for several days in the unrelenting high season heat. I remember seeing "Leroy was here" grafitti scrawled on Roman walls and bridges by uneducated and no doubt bored GIs, and other damn Yankee evidence of disrespect and arrogance. And once, while at Olympia in the Peloponnesus, visiting the site of the ancient Greek Olympic games (in which all contestants were male and nude), my intrepid, ever-curious and archaeologically awestruck family was temporarily blinded by a cloud of dust raised by a large helicopter landing in the middle of the 10th century BCE track & field stadium. Who, we wondered, visited antiquity in a chopper? Why none other than ALL of the Kennedy children and their security detail. They tumbled out, about a dozen of them including Carolyn and John-John, chased once around the oval and clambered up onto statuary pedestals to pose with Zeus and Athena, Apollo and Artemis, then rose back into the sky in another cloud of dust. They weren't on the ground for more than a quarter hour, but in that time had managed to ruin the experience of mute stones and deep history for us and all the other respectful turisti who wandered through the ancient site imagining athletic contests (and naked men)... https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/517/gallery/&maxrows=34
UNBELIEVABLE. Wait till I tell John. What is with these rich overprivileged dillweeds? I don't get it. What makes them think any of this is okay?
As always, you beguile me with your exquisite prose. Damn Irish. You're so talented.
Just corrected my pantheon of the gods reference... Diana was a Roman god, not Greek. Smmfff! And you're waaaaaay too kind, dear Stacey.
Love me some Greek mythology. Did you ever read The Goddesses in Every Woman by Jungian psychotherapist Jean Shinoda Bolen? Fascinating stuff. Her contention: that the goddesses represented psychological archetypes that every woman possesses to varying degrees. That book had a profound influence on me.
I'll have to pick up a copy now that you've recommended it. As a young, impressionable ragazzina Americana exploring the Mediterranean, I found both Greek and Roman mythology endlessly entertaining. All those creative Gods turning themselves into animals and birds just so they could have their way with mortals... what's not to enjoy? Running a close second in my lurid tween-y fascination were all those ever-suffering martyrs.
I couldn't agree more! It makes my blood boil whenever I hear of this inanity as well. It's little consolation that not ALL inane assholes are American. Nevertheless, these punishments are too good for the lot of them - they should be banned forever from Italy - or from traveling outside their own country. SMDH...
It's good we stay mad about this. If we ever see any malfeasance, we can hopefully stop it. Glad to know you feel the same way about it that I do.
Climbing, one of my best Hobies or maybe it's my topmost liked.
You say that tourists come and treat Italy like their own personal litterbox....well I lived in Napoli for 2 years and I can say with absolute certainty that the Neapolitans treat Napoli as their OWN litterbox!!! The streets are absolutely disgusting and unbearably filthy! They almost never bother pick up their dog sh*t and even if they do its bagged and dumped on the street anyway. The streets are full of horrible grafiti (sometimes it is beautiful, like of maradona or saints) and filled with all sorts of rubbish. I asked many locals about it and they simply said the people only care about their actual homes and do not give a damn for anywhere else. I have lived in many cities and countries and never ever come across this god awful attitude for ones OWN city before!!! They also have an incredibly frustrating deflective and defensive attitude always blaming everything on someone else (like the North).
I have been in Italy for 3 years now (I wanted to give the North a chance) and I can say with certainty that this country is only good for either a holiday or retirement. It is very hard to go there and have a very successful and fulfilling life, not impossible of course but you really have to stay in one place for many years to actually have a fun life full of friends and work etc. Even then it is not a given, I met a lovely friendly girl who has lived in Imola for 4 years and she doesn't have any Italian friends. They seem to be very closed off to non Italians and you basically have to fundamentally change who you are in order to fit in and be successful at all (unless you come from a similar culture like Spain eg).
Italy is very backwards in terms of everything being done only by word of mouth, through someone you know etc and this applies to basically every aspect of life from dating to finding a football team even. Jesus Christ it is 2022 and yet it feels like 1922 still, the level of mistrust for someone you do not know via someone you know is incredible. Nevermind the awful discrimination when it comes to finding accommodation with over 90% of room adverts explicity saying 'GIRLS ONLY'...for me this is beyond pathetic and immature (much like many Italians actually). Yes the food is amazing, the history, beaches, architecture, no doubt about that (the people can be very friendly and helpful too) but just come and see it all for a nice holiday then go back to an actual modern world after.
This sums it up quite well for me: https://www.flitterfever.com/naples/?fbclid=IwAR1SZFw7CYMyFV4STthsKHpZl5IrE_qsGjeU62nhFcyUWKIKchSmy-C-MC0
Well, I can't disagree that Naples is 100% singular. It's a very strong flavor of Italy in all her beauty and messy glory and yes, her faults as well. Perhaps because Italy only became a unified country in recent years, every region is different, isn't it? Last year, my boyfriend and I moved from Lazio to Umbria, and there is a HUGE difference--not only in the quality of life (including clean streets), but the people themselves. Lazio is a bit like Naples. The further south you go in Italy, the more "colorful."
I have found in my eight years of being here that we either accept Italy on her terms or we are doomed to misery. My boyfriend has been here, off and on, for over forty years. Even *he* has trouble dealing with the country's maddening inconsistencies. I clearly get it (ergo the first two paragraphs of this article).
Italy tests you to see if you are worthy. If she didn't test people, then everybody would be here.