… three countries…

….five hours…

Met up with a friend yesterday, in Italian Tarvisio for one of the best pizzas ever. Took a stroll after we stuffed ourselves through the old city centre, visited the local mercato (marketplace) specialized in leather, so a dream for any handbag fanatic. If you go there mid-week and low-season the probability of getting a better price is high. You just need to negotiate with passion, as the Italians do.

Some of the houses are fairly run down, which is a pity. It felt like going back at least 20 years in time, following the narrow board walks up the hill, with the buildings almost placed in the middle of the street, old signs and we could have painted a black and white landscape, capturing the snow, the grey houses and the dirt from the cars.

Tarvisio is located in the northeastern part of the region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia in the province of Udine and has a population of almost 5.000 people. Before the Schengen agreement, opening up the boarders, Tarvisio was booming economically as a centre for trading junction between former Yugoslavia and Austria. Today, Tarvisio is known for its profound alpine snow which attracts many tourists for skiing and snowboarding, mainly schools. It was host to the 2003 Winter Universiade and the Women’s 2007 Alpine Skiing World Cup.

We passed through Kranjska Gora in Slovenia (know for skiing and world cups) on our way back, stopped the famous shop located on the border, where cheap cigarettes, wine, perfume and bits and bobs can be purchased to very competitive prices.

Today, I have been shoveling snow, shoveling snow and shoveling snow… Unfortunately the snow is the heavy sort and I have slight difficulties feeling my upper arms right now. I guess, that if it keeps going like this - I will be doing it all over again later this afternoon… hurray…. not… If I didn’t have as lovely neighbours as we have, I would buy one of those snow blowers and clear out the snow from the property…. I like snow…but not where I need to shovel.

So long - snow snow snow

/S

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