Trieste, Italia (Primo Giorno)

Today is our first of two days in Trieste, Italia. We are on our hotel's complimentary computer right now checking out the various sites/sights and attractions, researching the various bus lines to Slovenia and Croatia (which may happen!), and ... updating our blog. Stephanie has mosquito bites on her left eyelid ... and she just drank some orange juice from a self-serve machine that tasted like it had some sort of a cleaning product in it! ... And Brian has an enormous and somewhat infected pimple on his mouth area. Yes!!! To the road we go ...

Ciao!

S&B

Why Our Blog Posts Have Been Few and Far Between

This is what typing out text on Brian's phone looks like if you don't correct it:

"The quick vritwn fox jumps over the lazy doth. The quick brewing third .rumors order the lazy shotgun. Thru quick Brian dos jumps over the last dog. The quick britttwn force jumps otcwr tge lfaznu shift."

Plus, since the phone is more-or-less broken, the backspace button inserts C's over and over, the shift button inserts the occasional J, and so on. It took over 15 mins. to type this blog entry. So, if the text portion of our blog updates are bare and uninformative, this is why.

FYI.

S&B

Our First Dinner in Trieste, Italia

We went out for a light dinner tonight and settled into the first pizzeria we came across. It wasn't until after we placed our order that we began to notice the vast amount of bugs swirling around the restaurant's outside lights. Before long, our second plague of insects in Italy fell upon us (stay tuned for an explanation of the first plague) and we found ourselves surrounded by a swarm of flying ant-like creatures. We politely requested to move inside (something we have not done up until now ... but it was cool because the inside was totally empty). Once inside the madness only continued. The queen flying ant-like creature landed next to Steph's pizza and a handful of others next to Brian's pizza. While all of this insanity was unfolding at our table, the same was going down at the other patrons' tables. However, the only difference was that Brian was screaming like a little girl and everyone else was carrying on as though everything was completely normal. We politely asked for our check, a to-go box (una scatola piccola), and got the hell out of there!!! We felt so bad for bailing out so early, but that shit was totally out of control!!! Brian felt like he had just pissed on an Italian flag, but ... it was time to go.

Anyway, we just wanted to share. Travelling isn't always roses, but it's always interesting.

Buon appetito.

S&B

Venezia, Italia

Today was our last day in Venezia. It's really late, and our only WiFi connection is in our hotel's lobby, so I'll save the writing and picture uploading for later.

S&B

Venezia, Italia

We have arrived. In Venezia, that is!

We are on our way to Piazza San Marco right now (to visit the Bridge of Sighs and see if we can squeeze into Harry's Bar for a date with two delicious bellinis). We have all day tomorrow as well (with a reliable WiFi connection at our hotel) so stay tuned for a somewhat acceptable blog update sometime soon.

Andiamo subito!

Ciao.

S&B

Padova, Italia

Well, we arrived in Padova this morning and we are leaving tomorrow!!! We walked all over the old city center, visited its most beautiful churches, and had a dynamite dinner. Padova is a mix between the slow pace of Bologna, the accessibility of Firenze, and the beauty of Venezia. Attached are a few pictures from today's adventure.

Domani: Venezia.

TTYS.

S&B

Bologna, Italia

Chow from Bologna!

We are spending our second of two days in the beautiful city of Bologna. Last night we attended a free outdoor film showing of "America, America" -- the last film of a summer long series called "Sotto le stelle del Cinema" (Cinema under the Stars). We had a fantastic time. Today we climbed one of the city's largest towers, walked around the old city center, had an amazing amazing amazing lunch (Bologna is lovingly referred to as Il grasso -- the fat one), and toured the city's fascist era architecture. We are on our way now to visit the city's ancient university. Tonight: ragù. Tomorrow: Padova.

Ciao a voi.

S&B