Saturday, October 3, 2015

Hapsburg - Renaissance Trip - Day 17, Forza Italia - Still More Trial By Steps!

The entire pace and venue of our trip is changing as we left Austria today and headed to Italy. As I said in our last post we are going to be meeting up with Daughter #2 and family for five days outside of Padua which is near Venice. They're going to have just arrived from Hong Kong so I suspect the first few days are going to be a lot of hanging around while everyone gets acclimated from the long trip. 

Since we can't get into the rental in Padua until Sunday and I wanted to break up the driving as I'm doing all the driving, we arranged to stop at a small city in between Graz and Padua by the name of Udine. There are lots of Slovenian and Austrian influences in this part of the world even though this is Italy.

Neither Wife nor I slept very well last night so we were pretty tired by the time we bundled into Udine at around 1 PM.  The drive down was very scenic through the Alps but as I was driving and it was highway, I didn't get the chance to take any pictures.

We had lunch as soon as we got to Udine and then spent an hour and a half walking around the center before we headed to the B&B we are spending the night at.

IL IMAGINI

A last picture from our rental in Austria





That light that looks like it is suspended in air is an optical illusion that is the result of a specific light fixture and how the light shines off the glass bowl. When I first saw it I thought there was a lid on the bowl. Very cool.

But on to Udine.
Udine was ruled for a long time by the Republic of Venice

It even has some canals




Our B&B had recommended via email some restaurants. I didn't even try to find them but as luck would have it, the one we ended up at was on their list!





Some local cheese to start




Tagliatelle with a ragout of rabbit and porcini mushrooms (the mushrooms were especially good)




Pasta with a sausage sauce







A side dish of cold spinach which we flavored with oil and vinegar




On to the main square the Piazza de la Libertad







And what is a day of sightseeing in Europe without sending Wife on the torture of a thousand steps!





And massive inclines




But she is rewarded by scenes of the Alps




Bell Towers






And the Cathedral the Duomo




Until finally we leave through the gates of the old city


2 comments:

alexis said...

looks like a beautiful town! Hopefully you'll have reinforcements in ITaly soon!

Agent W said...


Beautiful! With all the steps and steep walking areas you both have encountered so far, you a probably in tip top shape! :)