Today we went to the cemetery to visit the tomb of my great grandparents. Whilst we were there we ran into Giovanni Brbuio an old friend of dads. Dad and him used to knock around in a group of three or four and Giovanni was his best mate. Dad's nickname for him was 'mezzo cartuccio', which translated means 'half bullet'. This was his nickname because he was only very short. Giovanni got a huge surprise because he did not recognize dad. He recognized Paolo but not...

Today dad and I were picked up from our hotel by Mirella (my cousin) And her husband Eugenio. We then picked up Paolo and went to Grado. This is the place where I cut my foot open on a broken bottle whilst at the beach - this happened in 1968! We looked around Grado for a short time then we boarded a ferry for Babano, a small island retreat run by a group of Fransiscan monks. It has a beautiful church and retreat centre. The church dates back to 560ad and is qui...

TODAY left hotel and walked to Zia's place. At about 10.00am we drove with Zio Poalo to Trueste where we visited the castle of Miramare. A castle built on the side of a cliff overlooking the ocean. It was built by Maximillian of the Hapsburgs. Very beautiful jnside, exquisitely decorated. The castle is surrounded by a magnificent park and gardens. I enjoyed touring the building very much. Dad, unfortunately didn't come with me as his back is playing up. We then ...

Woke early this morning and got ready to leave Monfalcone. We went down and settled our account and then waited for Paolo to pick us up. We stopped in at Gian Luca's coffee shop to wish him a happy birthday - he is 40 today. We had a coffee and then said goodbye to Jim and Patrizia. We went to Zia's place to say goodbye and then hit the road to Aquilea, our first stop for today. We are on the road to Fossalta di Porteguera. We stopped at Aquelia at Giuseppe and ...

Today Zio Pino picked us up from the hotel and we went back to the house. We all jumped into two cars and went for a drive to Carpentento, a small country town with great old farm houses and an old church complete with bell tower. We met an old friend of dad's, her name was Elide and she was lovely. We had coffee and then went to a local trattoria for lunch, which lasted stir about three hours. I had gnocchi with ragu and then a mixed barbecue grill. it was very ...