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I am about halfway into my stay in Italy, staying with Sarah's family in the small town of Vittorio Veneto, and am finding it very nice here. I have posted a few photos behind the cut.
Today I haven't done a lot, just lying in the garden in the sun, reading and sleeping. The weather is nice, sunny but not too hot. I have also been watching a bit of the terrible television, consisting mostly of variety shows and regional programmes with very long advertising sections.
The food is very nice. So far I have sampled delicacies including Nutella ice cream, root beer flavour Fanta and gnocchi with prawns. I have also been eating quite a lot of European classics like Haribo sweets and Kinder chocolate.
We have visited beautiful places. The surrounding countryside is hilly and very green. The town is very pretty with lots of old buildings and small, shady streets with interesting little shops. The other day we went to the seaside city of Trieste, and visited the former home of Charlotte of Belgium. Many of the buildings show the Austrio-Hungarian influence, with their pastel facades and intricate brickwork.
Trieste is also notable for the profusion of small, fanciful dogs that trot about with their owners. It seems to be a very animal-friendly - we went to a restaurant full of pictures of dogs, where dogs were allowed in. One couple brought a nice red Weimaraner. I can imagine some jobsworth would shut them down on 'health and safety' grounds were they to try it in England.
I also saw a lot of empty white plates among the ruins, which I was told are there to be filled with food for the local feral cats. We saw quite a few cats wandering the place, and they seemed quite well fed and relaxed. We got quite close to a small black one with beautiful blue eyes like lapis lazuli, which poked its pinky tongue out at us but made no attempt to move.
( Here are some photos. )
Today I haven't done a lot, just lying in the garden in the sun, reading and sleeping. The weather is nice, sunny but not too hot. I have also been watching a bit of the terrible television, consisting mostly of variety shows and regional programmes with very long advertising sections.
The food is very nice. So far I have sampled delicacies including Nutella ice cream, root beer flavour Fanta and gnocchi with prawns. I have also been eating quite a lot of European classics like Haribo sweets and Kinder chocolate.
We have visited beautiful places. The surrounding countryside is hilly and very green. The town is very pretty with lots of old buildings and small, shady streets with interesting little shops. The other day we went to the seaside city of Trieste, and visited the former home of Charlotte of Belgium. Many of the buildings show the Austrio-Hungarian influence, with their pastel facades and intricate brickwork.
Trieste is also notable for the profusion of small, fanciful dogs that trot about with their owners. It seems to be a very animal-friendly - we went to a restaurant full of pictures of dogs, where dogs were allowed in. One couple brought a nice red Weimaraner. I can imagine some jobsworth would shut them down on 'health and safety' grounds were they to try it in England.
I also saw a lot of empty white plates among the ruins, which I was told are there to be filled with food for the local feral cats. We saw quite a few cats wandering the place, and they seemed quite well fed and relaxed. We got quite close to a small black one with beautiful blue eyes like lapis lazuli, which poked its pinky tongue out at us but made no attempt to move.
( Here are some photos. )
