In early December, we travelled to Italy with our friends Dan & Elisa and their children Auri and Camilla. We flew from Stansted to Trieste, in northeast Italy. Upon arrival, we had a little adventure trying to play Tetris with our suitcases in the minivan we had rented -- we finally realized that it was not going to happen and Paul ended up staying at the airport with a couple of suitcases while Dan served as shuttle master between the airport and hotel we stayed at in the small town of Muggia, which is located across the water from Trieste.
Once we were settled in the hotel, we all walked to Dan's cousins' home, which was about a 10 minute walk through the town of Muggia. The small city streets (mostly pedestrian only) were beautiful, quiet, and decked out with Christmas decorations. The kids loved running in the streets! Dan's cousins were so kind and had pizza and drinks for us. They spoke fairly good English, but the task of translation fell to Dan and Elisa for much of the trip. They were such good sports about it and didn't seem to mind at all! The cousins' daughter Alexandra was very sweet to the little kids and let them play with her toys -- including a pair of butterfly wings that Charlotte loved wearing. Later in the trip, the cousins gave Charlotte her very own pair, which was so sweet!
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| Auri and Charlotte running through the streets of Muggia on our first night. |
Each morning we were in Muggia, we ate breakfast at a cute little cafe in the town's main square. We got cornetti (filled croissants), espressos, and peach juice for the kids. I also got peach juice or lemon seltzer water, as I was 6 weeks pregnant at the time. I made it through only 1 day of the trip before becoming horribly nauseated and generally all-day (not just morning) sick from the hormones. It was a terrible time to be so sick, as there were so many amazing food options that I just couldn't stomach. I ended up eating a diet of mostly crackers, bread, some potatoes, and very basic pasta. Carb central! I was bummed to be missing out on the coffee, wine, soft cheeses, and cured meats that Italy has to offer. Dan and Elisa were so sweet and understanding about what I was going through -- I felt badly to be a limitation at times for the group.
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| The three of us with our cornetti and peach juice |
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| The whole group at breakfast in Muggia! |
It was fun to walk around a bit in Muggia. The kids loved the main square in particular, especially one little ride-on car and running back and forth between the town's Christmas tree and the built-in stone benches outside the church. It was fun to wake up and hear the steeple's bells calling people to mass each morning.
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| Charlotte and Auri loved this little car |
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| The Christmas tree and the town's church. Our hotel was down a street to the left of the church as you face it. |
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| The harbor at Muggia |
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| Village streets in Muggia |
Our second day in Italy, we took the ferry across the water (an inlet of the Gulf of Trieste, which is the northern part of the Adriatic Sea) to visit Trieste. The skies looked a bit heavy as we headed to the dock, but we stayed dry. It was a bit cool and windy waiting for the ferry, but it was a fun way to access the city!
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| Looking south from the dock at Muggia |
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| Dan and Auri waiting for the ferry |
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| Dan and Camilla on the ferry |
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| Looking back toward Muggia from the ferry, heading toward Trieste |
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| Charlotte was a fan of watching for boats out the window |
Once we disembarked in Trieste, we were getting hungry for lunch! We walked through the city's main square, which was very picturesque. Because of Trieste's location, it was a former port for Austria, and therefore the architecture and food culture in particular have Austrian "flavor." We ate lunch at a typical Trieste restaurant, which served schnitzel and sausages as some of their main dishes (again, very German/Austrian).
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| Main square of Trieste, with lots of Christmas trees up! |
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| Paul and Auri outside the restaurant, goofing off with those of us still inside! |
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| Paul holding Camilla, who looks very interested in that beer |
After lunch, we went to a coffee shop and had a little coffee and dessert. Charlotte and I both needed naps (pregnant lady problem!) so we ended up heading back across the bay to Muggia with Paul, while the Favrettos stayed in Trieste longer to visit the markets. After we had rested and reunited back at the hotel, we headed to dinner with many members of Dan's extended family at a restaurant in Slovenia. It was fun to head to another country just down the road -- there were no passport controls as both Italy and Slovenia are in the EU. We had the restaurant to ourselves, which was perfect for letting the kids wander as they got bored.
We stayed in Muggia for 5 nights; the remaining days we spent on day trips to Croatia and Slovenia, which I will cover in the next post.
