Our last trip in Italy was to Milano. We did not think we would make it but we decided to get up one day and take a train trip and then go back in the same day. We left at 6 am and got home around 11 PM.
The main purpose for the trip was the church.. it is a marvelous structure. Kari was a little disapointed when we came out of the metro to see the front encased in scaffolding. But it is still worth the trip and we were glad we went.




The church is massive and has a lot of detail, many carvings and statues. The inside is very beautiful too. The pictures at the end are of Vinny laughing at the pigeons and Kari getting a kiss in front of Louis Vuitton.

This trip was a fun one! We left the base at 4:30 in the morning and went to Croatia.. The first picture is the border of Slovenia and the next one is the entrance to the auto strade in Croatia, I thought their booths were quite unique. We drove for a few hours and ended up in the city of Proec. There we boarded a boat that would take us along part of the Croatian coast line from Proec to Rovingo. This area was all part of Italy before the second world war and you can see the Italian influence in the cities.







The next picture is typical of the coast, there are many inlets and bays, the vegetation is all very dense and green. Much of the coastline is unspoiled or you will see a campground here and there, they have nice parks along the water when you come close to a small town or city.

This picture is of Proec, the city that we started from, it was a beautiful day! We started out from there at about 10 am. and headed down the coast to Rovingo. The pictures do not do the area justice, it really knocks your eyes out!

These next pictures are of Rovingo, we stopped there after lunch and enjoyed the city for a few hours. When we first stopped Kari saw this jellyfish and snapped a picture, it was in its contracted mode and was just huge! I was glad I was not in the water with it. When we pulled in, this boat named Karlo was unloading their catch for the day, they had quite a few sardines. We were watching them clean out their nets and they were throwing back a bunch of starfish and other things they did not want. Kari had been hunting for a starfish here in Dubai and found a small one on the last day of her visit. It broke her heart to see them throwing all the starfish back in the water.

The church on top of the hill was quite lovely, of course there were steps to climb and so we had to go up. The view was totally worth it, the day was clear and we got some nice pictures. We walked down to the main square and each of us bought a large sea shell. Nothing unusual for them but it is something great for us land locked people.

You can see the Italian influence here, with the buildings, streets and colors. We had fun but the time was short and so we headed back to the boat. You can see many TV antenaes on top of the buildings. They are coming of age soon, they will join the European Union in January.

We had conversations with the captain of the boat, some of the people were asking if life was better before or after the fall of the Soviet regime and he said that for him it was better. For the old people it was hard. But life is better, he now has opportunity and he is grateful for his freedom. I think we must remember not to take our freedoms and opportunities for granted.

The coastline has many sailboats and it was fun to see them coming and going, the tempuratures were in the 70s and 80s. The next city we stopped at was Vrsar ( voosar) and it was lovely, we put our feet in the water and enjoyed some gelato, or what they called gelato, they must have lost the recipe for the good Italian kind. We had dinner back in Proec and then got on the bus at 8 PM. We made it back to the base around 1 AM. What a great day!

The city of Verona! This first picture is a square, the main building has frescoes painted on it, they are mostly faded but pretty cool. The hilltop can be seen from most places in town.

The picture of the large square is taken from inside the amphitheatre. Verona has one of the most intact amphitheatres in Italy. It is used today for opera.

There is only a small piece of the outer wall left but the rest is intact and even the marble steps/seats remain.

The painting is in the museum here and it is the only place that I remember being allowed to take pictures of them. So I am sharing this one, I liked the emotion that was being portrayed.

These pictures are of a roman arch and some existing Roman ruins.

These are a couple of pictures of the river, it is a very pretty city.

This is the city of Romeo and Juliet!

The first picture is of Romeo's place, still owned and used today. The other pictures are of Juliet's statue, most people put their hand over her right breast, it is supposed to give you good luck in love.

The last stop of the day was a dinner, it was set as in medieval times.. they had 4 knights and so you were put into different groups, and assigned a color by your hat. Our knight really sucked and so we lost but it was fun to cheer and make noise. It followed along the theme of the times, the meal was a bowl of soup, a whole chicken, some potatoes and dessert. Oh yes, and no silverware.

The best knight won the hand of the princess and half the kingdom.. they used 3 different languages in the presentation, Italian, English, German.

This is Vinson's first haircut, Before, During and After!