Trips

Tues., 10/12 - Venice

The sea calmed down after midnight but the damage was done - seasickness. Busy early morning: up at 5:30 to shower and pack; breakfast (toast and jelly to settle the tummy); bags out at 7:15; docked at 8 AM; disembarked at 8:30.

Venice before sunrise	Sunrise in Venice
Along the Grand Canal	Along the Grand Canal
A private water taxi took the group to a dock four bridges from St. Mark’s Square where a guide was waiting to conduct the typical tour of Venice. We had made arrangements to meet Marge's nephew and his wife at our hotel so we left the group to their tour and set off on our own to find the hotel. This involved a vaporetto ride to San Stae station (on the Grand Canal) and a meander through the narrow alleys (streets) to find the Palazzo Giovanelli. Our bags were already in the lobby and our room was ready so we checked in just as Craig and Lisa arrived from Aviano where Craig is now working as a civilian at the Air Force base. The four of us walked to a nearby square and sat outside talking and eating omelets until they had to catch a train home. It was so good seeing them. They are very happy with their big decision to move to Italy. After returning to the hotel, we rested in our room until 6 PM when the group was treated to spritzer (Aperol, a sweet wine spritzer), ham and cheese on rye, and cod or black ink squid bruschetta (very messy), at a local outdoor eatery. The squid turned people’s teeth, tongue, and lips black.
	Street entry to Palazzo Giovanelli - we finally found it!
Gaudy chandelier	Wed., 10/13 - Burano Today turned out to be a lovely day - sunny, 65°, slight breeze. A water taxi, right outside our front door took us to the area of the train station where we boarded a larger water taxi for the 45-minute ride to the Venetian island of Burano. Burano is famous for two historical things but is now a nice town in which to spend one day. The fishermen’s wives used to make fancy lace in Burano but the factories do it by machine now and those factories have moved to the mainland. Burano is also famous for their colorful houses. Returning fishermen, who survived the rough sea, could spot their own house from far out at sea but also a drunken sailor could just say, “Take me to the red - or purple or orange - house.” Burano also has a “leaning bell tower” that is sinking in the marshy ground.
Leaning tower of Burano	Typical vendor
Very colorful house	Details of the street level
Old-fashioned weighing	The catch
Typical lace-work	Narrow streets, colorful buildings
Along the canal	Interesting door
Laundry day	Colorful houses along the canal
Another interesting door	After a "learning and discovery" talk about the dam project (MOSE) that was supposed to keep the higher tides out of the Venetian lagoon and out of St. Mark’s Square, etc., we had time to wander the streets and alleys and peruse the shops. OAT bought our lunch which was another meal of pasta, salad, fish (chicken), and tiramisu.
Italian Naval College	"Building Bridges" by sculptor Lorenzo Quinn The ride back to the hotel was uneventful and, after a shower and a rest, there was another Farewell Dinner.
Thurs., 10/14 - Trieste, Italy (post-trip) Our new tour guide, Davide, sheperded us onto a water taxi for the ride across to the bus terminal where the six of us on the post-trip tour met the large bus which then took us on a nice ride to Trieste through vineyards on the plains between the Adriatic Sea and the Dolomite and Julian Alps mountain ranges to the north and west.
The Dolomites - from the bus window - never a good photo	Poplar trees - grown for lumber
Ikea is everywhere	Typical church steeple
The first rest stop of the day was at the WWI battle site memorial at Redipuglia. From 1915 to 1917 Italians from the Savoy region tried to keep the Austrian Empire out. The German army finally came to aid the Austrians and the Italians lost a series of 12 battles. The graves of 50,000 soldiers are at the Memorial and 100,000 more people are buried in open pit graves nearby.
Insect on a flower - a favorite subject	Redipuglia War Memorial
Redipuglia War Memorial	Plaques for those interred at the memorial
Only woman buried at the site	Covered trenches
Covered trenches	Julian Alps
Lunch was at the Sgubin Winery with a wine tasting and look at the winery and vineyard. This is in the Collio wine region which includes both Italy and Slovenia since the soil and environment are conducive to wine production.
Sign for the restaurant	Wine barrels and aging wine
Pomegranates and grapes	Moped rentals
Moped to rent for a wine tasting excursion	The sign above is advertising rentals of mopeds that you then use to go about the countryside tasting wine at all the winerys. Remind me not to be out driving with these folks on the road.
Map of the autonomous state of Trieste with the city shown as the shaded area toward the bottom
Mussel farms just outside the city	After arriving at the hotel, Davide took us on a “neighborhood” walk. Trieste is a pretty, old city with many churches of different denominations - Lutheran, Serbian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, etc. Trieste is, and has been, a city of banks and insurance companies because of their tax laws. The buildings are large and impressive. There are several pedestrian streets and squares and along the Grand Canal that served as docks for the merchants along its sides. These are now stores, restaurants, and cafes.
Lutheran Evangelical Church	Street parking
Statue of James Joyce who lived and taught English here for about 10 years.	Trieste's Grand Canal - looking toward the Church of Sant' Antonio Taumaturgo
Trieste's Grand Canal - looking toward the sea	Church of Sant' Antonio Taumaturgo
Serbian Orthodox Church of Saint Spyridon	Dome inside the Serbian Orthodox Church
Serbian Orthodox Church: altar and icons	Serbian Orthodox Church: altar and icons
Serbian Orthodox Church of Saint Spyridon	Unity Square - Fountain of Four Continents - memorializing trade from Trieste into the four continents.
Meridian line in Piazza della Borsa	As we walked around the central area, we kept seeing large, plastic "sculptures" of various animals: a white rabbit, orange frogs, purple wolves, a pink elephant. These are part of the Cracking Art project in Trieste. Quote from a Wikipedia article: "The Cracking Art movement was born in 1993 with the aim of radically changing the history of art through a strong social and environmental commitment which, combined with the revolutionary use of plastic materials, highlights the increasingly close relationship between natural life and artificial reality. The term Cracking Art derives from the English verb 'to crack', which describes the act of cracking, breaking, [sic] breaking, yielding, collapsing. The chemical reaction that transforms crude oil into plastic is also called with the name of catalytic cracking: for artists this is the moment in which the natural exchanges into artificial, the organic into synthetic, and it is this process that they intend to represent through their art." "The works are created to inspire a conversation at a community level about the importance and environmental impact of regeneration, which is expressed through engaging performative actions, in which off-scale installations - such as the famous colorful animals - invade the most varied places spaces properly delegated to art to those of everyday life. Regenerating plastic means removing it from toxic and devastating destruction for the environment by giving it new life, making it works of art means communicating through an innovative aesthetic language expressing a particular sensitivity towards nature."

Dinner was at Davide’s favorite pizzeria - Pizzeria Fratelli la Buffala - where we ate pizza and had a good local beer. It was very good and was our first pizza in Italy on this trip!

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