FUN-travel: Trieste, Italy – Full Day 2
October 7, 2013 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-travel: Trieste, Italy – Full Day 2
Day 19 – Friday, October 4 – Trieste, Italy – sunny turns to high clouds – still very windy, chilly 60’s (feels like high 50’s)
What I LIKE
Risiera di San Sabba Mini Cells
- UMR – usual morning routine
- *research Venice train station to ship transportation options
- book vaporetto online (water taxi to ship terminal) www.motoscafivenezia.it $70 Euro
Risiera di San Sabba Sculpture
- 11:00 – meet Cinzia for nice city tour, walking & window shopping
- church stop – light candle for Maria who has just passed
- find really cute pair of leggings @ Stradivarius only $13 Euro
- 12:45 – cappuccino break
- 1:30 – lunch @ home – lasagna w/béchamel, mixed green salad, smoked cheese bruscetta
- 3:30 – walk to hotel only 3 blocks
- 5:30 – walk back for dinner & to see kids before basketball practice
- 7:00 – dinner – pasta w/tomato & mushrooms, prosciutto wrapped cheese, grilled zucchini, baked small tomatoes w/garlic & breadcrumbs, apple strudel & nice Barolo wine – Yummy!
What I DON’T LIKE
- *paid for train reservation to Venice & can’t use – need to go to St. Lucia stop
- 48 hour advance cancellation policy
- OW (Oh Well)
FUN-fact – It has been so wonderful to finally meet Cinzia. The last time Chris saw her was 1998. We are going to Skype so we stay in closer contact.
Having FUN!
FUN-travel: Trieste, Italy – Full Day 1
October 7, 2013 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-travel: Trieste, Italy – Full Day 1
Day 18 – Thursday, October 3 – Trieste, Italy – sunny blue skies w/wind – low 60’s (feels like high 50’s)
What I LIKE
- 7:30 – wake up to real, authentic cappuccino in bed! (hey we’re in Italia now)
- *get email from my computer guy how to fix problem
Castelli di Duino Garden
- 9:45 – breakfast – nice fruit
- 10:30 – Cinzia takes us sightseeing
- 1st stop – 11:00 – Miramare Castle – winding tree lined walk – perched high on hill above sea w/panoramic views
- see lots of jellyfish in bloom
- 2nd stop – 12:00 – Castelli di Duino – built 14th century on ruins of Roman outpost– 4 floors fully furnished – climb up tower for more panoramic view – includes bunker built by Germans 1943 – lovely gardens & pool w/fountain
- can see il castel Vecchio – perched high on rock overlooking see
- 1:00 – lunch – mixed grill of fish, caprese, mixed green salad w/carrots, cucumber, tomato & local wine (not bad)
- 3rd stop – 2:30 – Risiera di San Sabba – began as temporary prison camp for captured Italian soldiers – converted rice-drying facility w/oven then enlarged to crematorium
- 8:00 – dinner w/Cinzia & children Isabel & Sebastian – their pick Birreria Kofler Paulaner – it’s Oktoberfest in Trieste! – yummy pizza diavola for us (theirs more like ciabatta bread pizza) & Colio Lereguta cab franc (so so) it’s a beer place = $80 Euros
Castel Vecchio
What I DON’T LIKE
- *scan takes really long time
- internet still slow & sometimes won’t connect
- no patience for this!
FUN-fact – The fortress of the rock of Duino (Castel Vecchio) dates to 1139 and is known as the White Lady.
Not so FF – Risiera di San Sabba was originally a rice-husking factory and the only concentration camp in Italy. 17 mini cells housed up to 6 inmates each. Several theories about execution methods include: gassing in vehicles & using exhaust piped in, blow with a club to base of skull, shooting.
Chris & Cinzia
FUN-travel: Villach, Austria to Trieste, Italy
October 6, 2013 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-travel: Villach, Austria to Trieste, Italy
Villach
Day 17 – Wednesday, October 2 – Villach, Austria to Trieste, Italy – gray clouds mixed w/white & teeny patches of blue sky – cool 50’s – turns to sunny, windy & chilly in Trieste
What I LIKE
- *6:40 – first wake up
- get dressed to go downstairs for coffee
- WATCH! – open door & he’s standing their w/hot cappuccino
- it’s really good!
- 9:15 – head for breakfast to go
- 9:30 – ready to check out (get more on time bonus pts!)
- 200’ walk to train
- on track 1 (closest w/no stairs)
- **9:35 – board train – 3 seats double facing, enclosed w/door (like the old trains)
- 10:04 – takes off on time for Udine
- 10:20 – cross border
- Yo adoro Italia!
- sun is shining
- ***11:58 – arrive on time
- 12:18 – take off on time
Villach
- 1:26 – arrive Trieste & no stairs
- met & picked up by Chris’ sister Cinzia who lives here (& why we came here)
- wonderful lunch @ her home w/family – Dario, Sebastian & Isabel
- caprese, melon w/prosciutto, roast beef, bread, vino & special dessert – molto buono!
Sebastian & Isabel
- 4:00 – check in Hotel Victoria Trieste
- nice big room, top floor (5th) w/little balcony
- 5:00 – pick up for happy hour @ Caffe’ Tomasseo – local wine w/snacks of olives, chips, peanuts
- 6:30 – walk thru town & main square
- very cute & clean w/grand buildings on main square
- 7:30 – dinner @ local restaurant – La Tecia di Lapaine – salad w/shrimp & mushrooms, mixed grill meat platter – local wine = $65 Euro
WATCH – What Are The CHances
What I DON’T LIKE
- *chris trying hard to not make noise (NOT!)
- 7:15 – no sign of chris w/capp yet
- **only has 2nd class train cars
- *** no elevator or escalator – have to schlep bags down stairs then up again!
- 9:30 – turn on computer to find: Detected DNS cashe poisoning attack
- now internet is really slow
FUN-fact – Trieste has a population of 250,000 on the north end of the Adriatic sea near the Croatia border.
Trieste Building with Mosaics
FUN-travel: New 7 Wonders of the World: #5 The Colosseum – Rome, Italy
October 4, 2012 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-travel: New 7 Wonders of the World: #5 The Colosseum – Rome, Italy
#5 The Colosseum – Rome, Italy – August 3, 3012
- Rome was the last stop of our Mediterranean cruise this summer. (we had both been here before, but not together, so it didn’t count) The Roman Colosseum was commissioned in
AD 72 by Emperor Vespasian. It was completed by his son, Titus, in 80, with later improvements by Domitian. The 80 arched entrances allowed easy access to 55,000 spectators, who were seated according to rank. The Coliseum is huge, an ellipse 188m long and 156 wide. Originally 240 masts were attached to stone corbels on the 4th level.
- Roman gladiators were usually slaves, prisoners of war or condemned criminals. Most were men, but there were a few female gladiators. These combats were attended by the poor, the rich, and frequently the emperor himself. As gladiators fought, vicious cries and curses were heard from the audience around the Roman Colosseum. One contest after another was staged in the course of a single day. Should the ground become too soaked with blood, it was covered over with a fresh layer of sand and the performance went on. The gladiatorial games continued until Christianity progressively put an end to those parts of them which included the death of humans.
- In the summer of 2007, more than 90 million people cast their votes to determine which architectural marvels in the world deserved to be one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. There were a total of twenty-one landmarks vying for that title.
- Of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World, only the Great Pyramids in Giza, Egypt still stand. The pyramids were given an automatic spot after infuriated Egyptian officials said it was a disgrace to have to compete for something that had belonged to their country for so long. I agree! We saw them in 2007.
- It is our goal to see all twenty-one landmarks. Also, Chris and I have collectively seen a lot of the twenty-one, however, not together. So the rule is, we go back and see all of them together!
New 7 Wonders of the World we’ve been to:
Chichen Itza
- #1 Chichen Itza, Mexico – 2005
- #2 Great Wall of China – 2010
- #3 Machu Picchu, Peru – 2012
- #4 Christ the Redeemer, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – 2012
New 7 Wonders of the World Runner Ups we’ve been to:
- #9 Statue of Liberty, New York – 2005
- #10 Sydney Opera House, Australia – 2005
- #11 Hagia Sophia, Istanbul – 2007
- #12 Acropolis, Athens – 2007
- #13 Angkor Wat, Cambodia – 2010
- #14 Eiffel Tower, Paris – 2010
- #15 Stonehenge, England – 2011
FUN-photos: Seabourn Cruise 2012
September 13, 2012 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-photos: Seabourn Cruise 2012
We boarded our ship in Barcelona for a 7 day cruise in the Mediterranean. Our stops included Rosas, Spain – Sète, St. Tropez, & Monte Carlo, France – Cinque Terra, Portoferraio, Island of Elba, & Rome Italy. We enjoyed taking a tour to the Gala Dalí Castle House in Pubol. Salvador Dalí bought the castle 1970 for his wife Gala.
