Olympics - advice

[yentna]

So, Ski Monkey and I are planning a trip to Italy to walk the crowded streets of Olympic towns and view some events. We also want to slide on snow, and are looking for advice on how best to do it.......

Rough itinerary:
Fri Feb 10th - leave SLC
Sat Feb 11th - arrive Paris, spend one night there
Sun Feb 12th - depart for Rome via night train
Mon Feb 13th - arrive in Rome.
Tues Feb 14th - head for Turin(o)
14th - 17th - Olympics, watch events, experience night life of Olypmic villages, etc.
Wed Feb 15th - only event we want to see this day is speed skating, better to go ski a local mountain?
Sat Feb 18th - ski somewhere? Go to Chamonix the night before?
Sat Feb 18th - depart for Paris via night train?
Sun Feb 19th - fly back in the AM.

Question is: is it better to stay in Turino and spend a day somewhere near there skiing / boarding, or should we leave a day early to spend a day somewhere a bit further away? Keep in mind that we've pretty much only got a day to ski. But trying to pack a lot into a short trip.

[yesIsaidyes]

Europe is going to be on vacation at that time in Feb. so the smaller more out of the way place you go the better. Also, head someplace with high elevation because Feb. in the alps is notorious for unpredictable snowpack - Cham is a good bet but also La Grave, Verbier but if you are going to be in Italy, head somewhere in the Dolomites and cut down on the train tickets, which can get spendy...also check out TGV to Paris, it may buy you some more time and you can get a train right to CDG airport if you need to...

[The AD]

So do you have to take the train all the way from Paris to Rome, only to backtrack to Turin the next day?

[Pinner]

Why not fly directly to Milan or Torino?

[Xover]

monkey didn't get enough of Oly in 2000?

my suggestion would be to just lay in bed sipping wine, eating chocolate and cheese and having mad monkey sex all day

[grizzle6]

Take me. I speak Italian and then you won't need a tripod.

[yentna]

So do you have to take the train all the way from Paris to Rome, only to backtrack to Turin the next day?

No, don't have to, but tickets to Paris are cheaper right now, added to the fact that I've never been and would like to see it a bit, and that we both want to see Rome.
Tickets to Milan and Rome are the same price as each other, Milan would be most practical as we could take the train to Rome, then when it's time to leave from Turino it's closer. Sigh. Taking out Paris would ease the time constraints a bit, but we'd like to go there......sigh.

[Ski Monkey]

monkey didn't get enough of Oly in 2000?

my suggestion would be to just lay in bed sipping wine, eating chocolate and cheese and having mad monkey sex all day

Well, I assume you mean 2002, but no I wasn't here until Oct '02. Plus considering I know some of the Skeleton team, and I'm training in the sport for 2010, I would like to see it in person at the games. But whatever we decide, don't you worry about the mad monkey sex xover, it's all under control.

[cj001f]

Since the "night" train from paris-rome takes ~16 hrs, and will cost probably close to the ticket difference from Paris-Rome if not more, I'm not sure how much you'll see in either place. Look at ryan air or easyjet if you must 'see' both.

[Ski Monkey]

Since the "night" train from paris-rome takes ~16 hrs, and will cost probably close to the ticket difference from Paris-Rome if not more, I'm not sure how much you'll see in either place. Look at ryan air or easyjet if you must 'see' both.

Damn, that's a great idea.

[Buster Highmen]

I thought Torino was a bit of a dump. The old Dukes of Savoie palace was cool and some of the other old Baroque buildings, but you might as well go to Florence. Or Siena.

Altenatively, go through the Frejus tunnel to get to the Maurienne valley. I think the lift up the backside of Val Thorens is about 30 minutes from Bardoneccia. Or ski right by the French side of the tunnel at either Val Frejus or Mont Cenis.

[Ski Monkey]

Take me. I speak Italian and then you won't need a tripod.

Sounds good, we'll let you know the price of it all when we get it so you can go with us.

[AntiSoCalSkier]

I'm not really sure that it's worth visiting Paris for one day (especially since you'll be jetlagged). Paris is a cool city, but you need at least 2 or 3 days to get any sense of the place. Pick the cheapest airfare, but don't go out of your way to spend a day in Pairs (the same probably goes for Rome too). Remember that your day in Paris comes at the cost of a day on the train. Is that really worth it?

[The AD]

I thought Torino was a bit of a dump. The old Dukes of Savoie palace was cool

Yeah, especially the garage where they keep the General Lee parked.

[yentna]

I'm not really sure that it's worth visiting Paris for one day (especially since you'll be jetlagged). Paris is a cool city, but you need at least 2 or 3 days to get any sense of the place. Pick the cheapest airfare, but don't go out of your way to spend a day in Pairs (the same probably goes for Rome too). Remember that your day in Paris comes at the cost of a day on the train. Is that really worth it?

That's a good point. Checking out Ryan Air though, flights from Paris to Rome are ridiculously cheap, and would save time....spend sat and sun in Paris, Mon and part of Tuesday in Rome, it could work. But I know it's not much time in either place, I wish we had more time to stay! Sigh.

[cj001f]

That's a good point. Checking out Ryan Air though, flights from Paris to Rome are ridiculously cheap, and would save time

Make sure you read the fine print on Ryan air (or easyjet) baggage restrictions. They also tend to fly from less convenient airports, and charge you for everything. RyanAir took out the window shades on their planes to save money.

If you haven't been to Italy, Rome and Florence should be on the list, and are easier to get between.

[Mr. Altagirl]

I think you are planning way too much time on trains for such a short trip. Come over some time and we'll go over some maps with you (Remember, I lived in Italy for 8 years and traveld quite a bit), AG traveled a lot as well. How soon before you have to buy your tickets?

Moab this weekend??????

[yentna]

I think you are planning way too much time on trains for such a short trip. Come over some time and we'll go over some maps with you (Remember, I lived in Italy for 8 years and traveld quite a bit), AG traveled a lot as well. How soon before you have to buy your tickets?

Moab this weekend??????

Heh, I forgot that's where you were! We don't have an actual deadline for the buying of tickets, just want to catch the cheap(ish) fare to Paris before it disappears. Paris = $565, Rome or Milan = $750.

And no, no Moab this weekend, my mom will be in town (and it's the Rumbunnies grand opening party, shameless plug, ). My mom is a. sedentary and b. only here for a couple days and c. hasn't even been to Park City, so a Moab trip would not be a good idea this time. Oct 21st though probably.....

[grrrr]

I'm flying into Nice on British air. I think the Business class tickets are $9,000 each - thank God for air miles - but the economy tickets were like $900. I have some friends flying into Florence, for around $800. I'm planning to lease a Renault or Puegot from there, drive through Monaco and on up to somewhere near, but not in Torina. I've found some nice places for reasonable rates. We will go into Torino only for 2 days, touring during the day then seeing Hockey at night. We're also going to 2 alpine events. If you get the chance, do hockey. It's relatively cheap, and we found it to be the most fun event to watch.

Grrrr. Jr. and I will be there during that same time frame. If you wanted to coordinate schedules, we could carpool some rather than you having to take trains.

Right now, our plan includes Nice - Monico - Florence - Pisa - Sestriere - Torino - Alagna - Dolomites - Venice - Switzerland and/or Austria - Briancon - Nice, although subject to more changes. I'm looking at 3 to 4 weeks.

I would love to hook up with some of the other maggots - between the ones that are already there and several who have posted about tripping during this period, we ought to be able to put some sort of mini together.

[Xover]

Moab this weekend??????

next bizatch for the trackhead meth slide show???

[yentna]

I'm flying into Nice on British air. I think the Business class tickets are $9,000 each - thank God for air miles - but the economy tickets were like $900. I have some friends flying into Florence, for around $800. I'm planning to lease a Renault or Puegot from there, drive through Monaco and on up to somewhere near, but not in Torina. I've found some nice places for reasonable rates. We will go into Torino only for 2 days, touring during the day then seeing Hockey at night. We're also going to 2 alpine events. If you get the chance, do hockey. It's relatively cheap, and we found it to be the most fun event to watch.

Grrrr. Jr. and I will be there during that same time frame. If you wanted to coordinate schedules, we could carpool some rather than you having to take trains.

I would love to hook up with some of the other maggots - between the ones that are already there and several who have posted about tripping during this period, we ought to be able to put some sort of mini together.

Grrrr, that sounds like a possibility actually. I'd love to see some sort of mini...and I enjoy hockey but think that Ski Monkey may not, not sure. It hasn't really come up as one we'd like to see. We're looking at snowboard, (probably the cross since we may miss the halfpipe due to Rome travels though I'd love to see the halfpipe), skeleton (since he's training for it), mogul skiing, and speed skating. That should be enough! Phew! I wish we had more time to travel, but I just started a new job and won't have vacation time to use until February 22nd - they are being nice and letting me use sick time and personal days to make it there for just over a week. I can't complain (but want to anyway).

Also, this is WAY off topic, but every time I see your name I think of this rescue that Ski Monkey and I are trying to adopt from....Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies, aka Grrr. (And it's a Goldendoodle we're after from there, poor thing.)

[verbier61]

Take me. I speak Italian and then you won't need a tripod.

bello, veramente parli italiano? occhio che non sempre è facile darla a bere

[verbier61]

Paris OR Rome. You have not enough time to do both. Ryanair lands in "bouvet" airport... they tell its Paris, but actually that place is in the middle of nowhere between paris and bruxelles... the only way to go to paris from that airport is to get a ryanair bus which costs like the flight
If you like to ski, go where the snow will be. I told it soo many times, but this is your best option. Rent a car in Turin and drive to la grave or cham (1.5 h) or verb (2 h) or alagna-gressoney (2h) or engelberg or st Anton or dolomiti (4-5h), wherever the best snow will be

BTW, I live in milan.

[jump]

I would recommend flying directly to Rome. Paris is quite large and hard to get around in one day, just my .02.

[Steezus Christ]

I will most likely be going to see one of the events pending my friend qualifies for his event, so until I find out I won't be doing any super early planning since I will be able to start my trip from Germany for free so I won't have to deal with expensive ass tickets. Yes that was a long sentence

It will be interesting to see how many other mags will be there around that time.