Passport 'almost' expired-watch out!

Days before leaving on a three week holiday to Italy, you casually look at your passport and notice that your it is due to expire the week after you return. 'No problem,' you think.

Guess again.

Border controls are becoming much stricter on how much time is left on your passport before you are allowed to enter a country.

Reports are filtering back about the worst scenarios in countries such as Singapore, Brazil, Hungary and Indonesia. These countries are requiring that your passport has at least six months before expiration even if you explain that you will be returning to your home country.

Most European countries, if they are checking, require three months.

It might have once been enough to show your return ticket, but it may not be any more.

As always, check your passport well in advance of your departure and return dates. Complete all necessary changes and renewals in good time in case of any errors.

See the US Department of States website for passport information, including how to renew by mail.

Tom

Gelato, Espresso and Water

Beware the rising prices of these fine and simple things of life in the Eternal City. Since the introduction of the Euro, prices in Rome have generally been soaring, but the price of these three staples are simply outrageous.

That is, at least, if you buy them in the tourist areas. A simple bottle of refreshing water at 26 eurocents in the grocery store can cost upwards of 3 euros by the Colosseum.

Gelato and espresso have gotten out of hand too. In the last year, I have seen the price of a 'piccola' rise from 1 Euro 50 to 3 Euros in some places. And every taxi driver can tell you that the price of espresso is a scam.

Starting with the falsehood that an espresso at 1000 lire would be more or less the same at 1 Euro, the boiling point of Italian and tourist blood is being pushed up further and further. Simple math will tell you that the prices are not the same. And now, that same cup of espresso is reaching toward 3 Euros!

I guess that the saying 'una vita non basta' should maybe be 'un euro non basta'.

Tom

Nero's Golden House & Grotesque Art Style

Greetings from Rome!

You may have found this blog quiet for a while but that doesn't mean there has been a lack of interesting things. I have just finished a tour of Spain with 13 people. It was a great tour and now I am getting ready to start the first Rome tour of the summer.

In the past few years, one of the exciting sites to open was the Domus Aurea or the Golden House of Nero. The house smacked of opulence and gave rise to the artistic style we have come to call grotesque.

Unfortunately, fall flooding caused the closing of the Domus until further notice. Those who were looking forward to seeing the magnificient construction, partially covered over by later emperors, will be a little disappointed. But the way things have been going in Rome, the Domus will re-open and we will once again be able to see the house that Nero built. Information on the site can be found on the Superintendent of Archaeology of Rome site (English is available, but was not working as of this posting).

The grotesque style of art, characterized by human and animal forms, often with seemingly unrealistic attitudes, along with free use of surrealistic foliage, arose from the first discovery of the Domus Aurea. In the 16th century, the likes of Michelangelo skinnied through a hole dug into what everyone thought was a cave or underground grotto. What they discovered were the magnificiently painted ceilings of the Domus Aurea.

Slowly artists began to incorporate this type of artistic decoration into their own work giving rise to the grotesque or grotto-like art. Only later, due to the over use and sometimes seemingly extravagant styling does the word come to mean our sense of disgusting.

Read about the grotesque style on the Giornale Nuovo blog.

Una vita non basta!

Tom