Novo Impero Trieste

... 6 January, lively colourful street markets will fill the sea promenade and the squares in the old town with light, colour and perfumes.
From Saturday 19 December to 17 January see the Nativity Scene Exhibition. An expression of street-decoration creativity and religious sentiment: over 100 nativity scenes on show in the narrow streets and squares, in the harbour and lagoon. Traditional or nautical-themed nativity scenes ...

... the day leaps and bounds) into upgrading our room to a junior suite, and OMG!!!!! ITS FAB! We have this massive room bigger than half our flat in London with a balcony view overlooking the ocean. Life doesn't get much better than this. Had a really nice fish dinner last night and are about to embark on a bit of culture during our ...

... I am not sure that was what it was, but it was a place where I left my car and it did not get towed or get a ticket). Ljubljana is situated at the intersection of two rivers, the Ljubljanica and the Sava. The buildings in the main square are primarily in the Baroque style. The castle sits at the top of a hill overlooking the square. Down from the main square is a bridge, called the dragon bridge – the dragons on either side are said to guard the city.

... d'Italia, the largest and undoubtly the most beautiful square in Europe overlooking the seafront, and the Molo Audace...all within easy reach!

When your legs start to feel tired, stop for a coffee or a glass of spritz, perhaps in one of the famous places where Joyce, Saba or Svevo used to get inspiration for their masterpieces. Just to mention a couple, Caffè degli Specchi in Piazza Unità, and Caffè San Marco, in via Battisti 18.

The ...

... water next to the bus station in Split. Bill is checking ferry tix and probablz taking morning photos. He`s heard me whine about I NEED AN INTERNET CONNECTION for 3 dazs, so after doing sillz useless things like going to bed in other towns, itćs my turn. There`s a steadz Bee Gees soundtrack in the background.

Piran was a lovelz seaport smack dab next to Italkzy, so we all of a sudden realiyed our Slovenian vastlz improved; all signs ...

So I took about 5 days off work (yeh cos I am working so incredibly hard, haha) and jumped on the train destined for Trieste. The town I have heard about ever since growing up as this was the place my Nonni (grandparents) had lived before moving to Australia 50 odd years ago. So a train ride from Milan to Trieste takes around 5 hours, but because of how great the train system is here, it took me about 6-7 hours there and on the way back!! Stupid train ...

... of Italy and brightly-colored windowboxes filled with geraniums were also scattered around the city center.

The water was a deep teal green and looked so clean, even in the middle of a busy shipping port with 6-7 large container ships in port.

The Adriatic was a beautiful place to sail. Rolling hills covered in grape vines rose out of the water & were met by short mountains (foothills of the Julian Alps) on the Istrian peninsula.

... managed to stumble on had the best pistachio gelato ever. I wonder if I can ever find it again (sigh) Because of the diversity of the area there was a Serbian Orthodox Church in the city which is atypical of Italy to have, I thought it was neat to have that in such a catholic dominated country. Also there was a mini excursion to Grotto Gigante which is an impressive underground cave over the mountains on the ...

... buy pretty much everything there- damn my expensive taste. We were also fortunate to find the showroom of the famous Seguso whose first name I have forgotten. I don't know if the stuff in there was his artworks though, or just the glass of the company still be run by his son, considering he died a few years ago. There are only two Seguso galleries in the world. The one we were in and one in New York. The man in the gallery was really nice. I think he knew we weren't there to ...

... the Western and the Eastern Orthydoxies of the Christian faiths. The open air markets reflected all this with the ethnic dress, foods, smells, tastes, sights, sounds and languages. The cultures of three continents all coming together in this one crossroads of humanity! What an incredible experience it was! It was only months later, while I was at Simon Fraser University and back in Canada, that I was ...