Re: Hello. Why must the topic be 10 characters?

by **wprager** on Sat Jun 20, 2009 10:44 pm

Lucky Day wrote:
Bass Destruction wrote:At your rate, by the end of the week you would have surpassed me.

Not possible. By this time next week, I'll be lounging in Italy. I leave on draft day, though, so I'll have to check in here for updates if I can access the internet.

Where are you going? When I was 12 we left Russia and spent about 18 months in Italy, in Lido di Ostia, a suburb of Rome, by the sea. I recently looked it up on Google maps, and it just happened to have street view in the area. Saw our old apartment building, where we used to shop, go swimming. Oh the nostalgia.

by **hemlock** on Sun Jun 21, 2009 1:51 am

Bass Destruction wrote:Wow, very nice!! Not the greatest foresight in choosing what day to leave, but very nice nonetheless!!

Sucks yeah, I'll miss draft day and july 1, but this had to fit within a certain timeframe. My parents are taking ours kids so we had to do it during this two week period. I'm not complaining.

by **hemlock** on Sun Jun 21, 2009 1:55 am

wprager wrote:
Lucky Day wrote:
Bass Destruction wrote:At your rate, by the end of the week you would have surpassed me.

Not possible. By this time next week, I'll be lounging in Italy. I leave on draft day, though, so I'll have to check in here for updates if I can access the internet.

Where are you going? When I was 12 we left Russia and spent about 18 months in Italy, in Lido di Ostia, a suburb of Rome, by the sea. I recently looked it up on Google maps, and it just happened to have street view in the area. Saw our old apartment building, where we used to shop, go swimming. Oh the nostalgia.

First week is in Agropoli, south of Naples, then second week in Rome. Gonna be awesome. We managed to get access to the Scavi Tour at the Vatican, which is like winning the lottery. They only allow 150 people per day down there. Gonna be neat to see the tombs dating back all the way to the 12th century CE.

Got any tips on some off the beaten path stuff in Rome wprager? Smile

We are actually doing a day tour with a docent one day. She's arranged exclusive access to a closed section of the Jewish catacombs. Going down there with flashlights and stuff. It's gonna be awesome.

by **Phoenix30** on Sun Jun 21, 2009 2:43 am

Bass Destruction wrote:I love Christian sites!! Especially Christian porn sites. Priest on Nun. Nun on nun. Priest on Altar.... oooh, i'm stopping there.

OK that my night....now just under 6 hours to go.....

:^^^:

DancingBanana

by **wprager** on Sun Jun 21, 2009 9:46 am

Lucky Day wrote:
wprager wrote:
Lucky Day wrote:
Bass Destruction wrote:At your rate, by the end of the week you would have surpassed me.

Not possible. By this time next week, I'll be lounging in Italy. I leave on draft day, though, so I'll have to check in here for updates if I can access the internet.

Where are you going? When I was 12 we left Russia and spent about 18 months in Italy, in Lido di Ostia, a suburb of Rome, by the sea. I recently looked it up on Google maps, and it just happened to have street view in the area. Saw our old apartment building, where we used to shop, go swimming. Oh the nostalgia.

First week is in Agropoli, south of Naples, then second week in Rome. Gonna be awesome. We managed to get access to the Scavi Tour at the Vatican, which is like winning the lottery. They only allow 150 people per day down there. Gonna be neat to see the tombs dating back all the way to the 12th century CE.

Got any tips on some off the beaten path stuff in Rome wprager? We are actually doing a day tour with a docent one day. She's arranged exclusive access to a closed section of the Jewish catacombs. Going down there with flashlights and stuff. It's gonna be awesome.

Off the beaten path? No, not really. You've *got to* see the Colosseum, fo course, and the Vatican and St. Paul's Basilica. There is a small pyramid in the city -- you can take the metro to the Pyramido station to see it. It's not very big, but it was neat seeing a pyramid in the middle of the city. Ostia Antiqua is the ancient city of Ostia, about half-way between Rome and Lido di Ostia. Back in the '70s it was rarely frequented by a lot of tourists, not sure about now. Every once in a while you'll see a gypsy "village" -- but they travel all the time, so I couldn't tell you where to go.

by **hemlock** on Sun Jun 21, 2009 12:57 pm

wprager wrote:
Lucky Day wrote:
wprager wrote:
Lucky Day wrote:
Bass Destruction wrote:At your rate, by the end of the week you would have surpassed me.

Not possible. By this time next week, I'll be lounging in Italy. I leave on draft day, though, so I'll have to check in here for updates if I can access the internet.

Where are you going? When I was 12 we left Russia and spent about 18 months in Italy, in Lido di Ostia, a suburb of Rome, by the sea. I recently looked it up on Google maps, and it just happened to have street view in the area. Saw our old apartment building, where we used to shop, go swimming. Oh the nostalgia.

First week is in Agropoli, south of Naples, then second week in Rome. Gonna be awesome. We managed to get access to the Scavi Tour at the Vatican, which is like winning the lottery. They only allow 150 people per day down there. Gonna be neat to see the tombs dating back all the way to the 12th century CE.

Got any tips on some off the beaten path stuff in Rome wprager? We are actually doing a day tour with a docent one day. She's arranged exclusive access to a closed section of the Jewish catacombs. Going down there with flashlights and stuff. It's gonna be awesome.

Off the beaten path? No, not really. You've *got to* see the Colosseum, fo course, and the Vatican and St. Paul's Basilica. There is a small pyramid in the city -- you can take the metro to the Pyramido station to see it. It's not very big, but it was neat seeing a pyramid in the middle of the city. Ostia Antiqua is the ancient city of Ostia, about half-way between Rome and Lido di Ostia. Back in the '70s it was rarely frequented by a lot of tourists, not sure about now. Every once in a while you'll see a gypsy "village" -- but they travel all the time, so I couldn't tell you where to go.

The Colosseum is on the list for sure. I'm gonna see what info I can dig up on Ostia Antiqua. Thanks for the tip. One week in Rome will just scratch the surface by my wife and I will be doing sightseeing from sun up to sun down basically.

How did you end up in Italy for 18 months? I guess leaving the USSR at that time wasn't as easy as buying a ticket and leaving was it?

by **wprager** on Sun Jun 21, 2009 2:22 pm

Back in those days, most people leaving Russia were headed for Israel. I remember landing in Vienna and having an armed convoy take the tour bus with all of us on board to some old estate home. Guards with uzis on the perimeter, fun stuff. This was a year after the '72 Olympics, if you remember what happened there. Anyhow, our family and another were the only two not heading off to Istrael, so we spent 4 days in Vienna, then off to Italy. Rome was kind of a clearing house for Russian immigrants heading off to other places. It took us 18 months to get a visa to enter Canada.

by **hemlock** on Sun Jun 21, 2009 5:40 pm

wprager wrote:Back in those days, most people leaving Russia were headed for Israel. I remember landing in Vienna and having an armed convoy take the tour bus with all of us on board to some old estate home. Guards with uzis on the perimeter, fun stuff. This was a year after the '72 Olympics, if you remember what happened there. Anyhow, our family and another were the only two not heading off to Istrael, so we spent 4 days in Vienna, then off to Italy. Rome was kind of a clearing house for Russian immigrants heading off to other places. It took us 18 months to get a visa to enter Canada.

Pretty crazy. Did you have to actually leave Russia under false pretenses? I would imagine you couldn't pack your Dung and say, we're tired of communism and so we are leaving. I remember hearing stories about how some Russians were basically smuggled out into the west.

Why Israel? Was there a massive Jewish population in Russia in the 70's?

by **wprager** on Mon Jun 22, 2009 6:37 am

I could have sworn that I typed in a reply last night, where did it go? Oh, well, here is a shortened version.

1973 was the height of detente, with Brezhnev and Nixon being buddies. We had distant relatives in Israel who sent us a formal invitation to emigrate, and three months later we had our exit visa. I guess the term refusnik was coined a bit later or earlier, when relations between the super powers were not as good. My dad was an artist and my mom a buyer for a furniture store, -- if they had been in research it would have been a different story.

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