Here comes the sun/rain (do do do do)

Although it is drizzling at the moment, we have had multiple days of beautiful sun. (In fact I am pretty tan for mid-April.)  But the drizzle has come and gone since last weekend, after Lauren, Alex, Jenna, and I went to Trieste.

This is the Piazza dell'Unita di Italia in Trieste

Last Saturday, we took the 10euro, 2 hour train ride from Venice to Trieste, which is an adorable city that is extremely close to Slovakia and was apparently property of Austria up until the end of WWII.  It has this piazza (which is gorgeous), tons of Roman ruins (some of which the Italians just decided to build around), a super old and gorgeous cathedral, an interesting cuisine (a mix of Slavic food as well as Italian, with lots of seafood), and the best gelato I've had yet (Jazzini, my mouth is watering just imagining it...).  Oh and it is right on the coast, making it even more gorgeous.

We had a very interesting first experience, as the restaurant we chose for lunch was a bit extra-ordinary.  The water/service/seating were all free, which is extraordinary in itself, but when it came time to order they seemed to have nothing on the menu. "Solo spaghetti con mare mista." our waitress said, later adding fried fish as an option.  Since we had no idea what kind of fried fish it would be, we decided to opt for the spaghetti. "Quattro." we said, uncertain of what the mixed seafood would be, and laughing at the fact that they even had a menu.  She literally wrote 4 spaghetti on a sheet of paper and then ripped it off and put it on our table and walked away.

So we were left to hope we had not made a mistake while waiting for our food.  She brought us each a plate and then set a large wooden board in the middle of the table and walked away.  Needless to say, this added to our already increased anticipation.  And then she brought out the pot you can see in the picture, which apparently includes 4 portions of Spaghetti with a ton, and I mean a ton, of different types of seafood.  Quite good, and not expensive, but we didn't know how to pay.  It seems a European custom to bring your food and then forget about you, and hence we were finished and had no way of knowing how to pay.  So we grabbed the sheet that said 4 Spaghetti, and wandered up to the front where an old man was standing at a cash register as if waiting for US.  What an interesting system...

The rest of the trip was full of walking up and down hills (I am convinced none of Italy is flat) and seeing the ruins (the arch goes right into a restaurant) and the cathedral, which was possibly one of the most beautiful churches I have seen yet.  And Europe has a lot of beautiful churches.

Our return to Venice was cold and rainy, so we grabbed pizza at our favorite (if quite americanized) AeOche, and then sat in Piazza San Marco and watched the couples in the rain, while listening to live violin music.  Venice is nothing if not romantic.

And on that note (haha I made a pun), I am off to eat (big suprise there) and watch some Monty Python. Ciao for now!

<3 Allie