| r 2, 2004, Internet Cafe Sit´n Surf, Graz, Austria, 2:05 | | | | loud. |
| pm | | | | We had a nice dinner in the evening in a restaurant |
| I finally found Internet access here in Graz. Not the | | | | called "Delfin". My brother of course had fish, one of |
| easiest thing I have to admit. Had to ask 3 people and | | | | the local specialities. I ended up picking up a stomach |
| finally went to the tourist info who competently | | | | virus and on Sunday and Monday I was dealing with |
| directed me to an Internet Cafe. | | | | some very unpleasant symptoms. Sunday morning we |
| The last few days have been interesting. The first day | | | | checked out and continued our journey towards Italy. |
| my sister-in-law and I took a little tour through my | | | | After about 30 minutes of driving and basically no |
| home town of Weiz, and in the 8 years that I haven't | | | | border check at the Slovenian-Italian border we ended |
| been here there has been a lot of change. New | | | | up in Trieste, a city of 270,000 people, and a major |
| buildings, renovations, traffic reorganization. It almost felt | | | | industrial and port city at the north end of the Adriatic. |
| like being in a different place. | | | | Trieste used to be part of the Austro-Hungarian |
| On Saturday my brother, sister-in-law and I started our | | | | empire and the architecture is very reminiscent of |
| little weekend tour to Slovenia and Italy. We drove on | | | | many Austrian cities. We visited the main square with |
| the highway to Austria's border with Slovenia (only | | | | the City Hall, checked out the "Canale Grande", an |
| about 45 minutes from my home town). Then we | | | | outlet of the sea that stretches into the city. |
| continued on for about another hour and 15 minutes to | | | | On the harbourfront there was some sort of exhibition |
| the capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana. We parked the car | | | | by the Italian Navy, the Military and various police |
| by the river and took a little walk to the central market. | | | | organizations. 3 war ships were parked in the harbour |
| The place was just packed and you can buy anything | | | | and apparently people were able to go on tour inside |
| from fresh bread to meat, sausages, fish, vegetables, | | | | the war ships. All sorts of military and police vehicles |
| fruit, flowers. People were out in full force, even | | | | were parked in the harbour area and sailors, soldiers |
| shopping for candles for the annual trip to the | | | | and policemen and women were available to answer |
| cemetery. After all it was the weekend of All Saints | | | | questions, pose for photos etc. |
| Day and people take their cemetery duties very | | | | After our short stop in Trieste we continued our |
| seriously in Central Europe. | | | | Northern Italian tour and stopped in the town of |
| We walked through the old town with its | | | | Cividale, a medieval town that was originally built by the |
| cobble-stoned streets and then started the steady | | | | Germanic tribe of the Langobards. It also has an old |
| climb up to the castle hill. At the top is an old castle | | | | town core with ancient churches, narrow |
| with a renovated tower that can be accessed. You | | | | cobble-stoned roads and the most famous sight is the |
| get to the top through a really interesting winding | | | | "Tempietto", the little temple that was built many |
| staircase and once outside, there is a beautiful 360 | | | | hundreds of years ago by the Langobards. |
| degree view of the surrounding area, including the | | | | After lunch (where I couldn't eat any of the Italian |
| limestone outcrops of the Julian Alps. | | | | delicacies due to my stomach problems) we continued |
| After a brief lunch in a local pizzeria we continued our | | | | our way home through the Italian Val Canale, past |
| drive towards the Slovenian coast. I couldn´t keep | | | | Udine, Tolmezzo towards the Austrian border. It had |
| my eyes open since I was so tired, so I missed a good | | | | been raining for several days and it was still pouring |
| part of interesting landscape. The Postojna mountain | | | | and all the mountain streams were very close to |
| pass is always interesting and after that we got close | | | | overflowing. Waterfalls overflowing with water were |
| to the Adriatic coast. We drove by the Slovenian | | | | shooting down from all the mountains and the major |
| towns of Koper, Strunjan and Izola and finally ended | | | | river, the Tagliamento, looked like it was going to flood |
| up in Piran. | | | | the area in the very near future. |
| Piran (formerly Pirano - in Italian) was a town that has | | | | About 3.5 hours later we finally arrived back home in |
| changed hands many times among many people. Most | | | | Weiz, after driving through the pouring rain. Sunday |
| of its core was built by the Venetians and on the hill | | | | night and yesterday I had to take it easy since my |
| above town there is a clock tower whose style is | | | | stomach was still bothering me a great deal. Today I |
| very reminiscent of the Campanile in Venice. Beside | | | | finally took off, picked up my rental car at the airport in |
| the harbour is a beautiful square with houses dating | | | | Graz and I have spent the last 2 or 3 hours |
| back several centuries. We checked into the | | | | rediscovering my university town. I checked out the |
| Hostel-Hotel Garni Val, very similar to a youth hostel, | | | | castle hill (Schlossberg) in the middle of town, walked |
| where we could stay for Euro 20/night. My | | | | up to the Uhrturm (clock tower), the symbol of Graz, |
| sister-in-law and I stayed in a room with 4 beds (2 of | | | | and looked at all the medieval remains of the old |
| them bunkbeds), and washrooms/showers were in the | | | | fortress castle on top of the hill. I also walked through |
| hallway. | | | | the town´s centre, across the Hauptplatz (the main |
| We went on a beautiful stroll through town, again nice | | | | square with its market, which also houses City Hall) |
| cobble-stoned streets, the weather was gorgeous, we | | | | and finally, after some extended searching, ended up in |
| had blue sky with about 20 degrees. Of course we | | | | this Internet cafe. |
| climbed the belltower which gave us a beautiful 360 | | | | So the last few days have been quite exciting, Austria, |
| degree view of town and the Adriatic coast to the | | | | Slovenia, Italy. The beauty of Europe are the small |
| north, all the way past Trieste. I almost got a heart | | | | distances between all the various places. A perfect |
| attack when the bells of the clock tower started | | | | place for a sightseeing aficionado. |
| ringing right next to my ears. They were unbelievably | | | | |