Trieste Canal

Friuli Friday Photos Finale is my final Friday blog of 2012. These shots are from an extraordinary spring adventure in Friuli-Venezia-Giulia and one from the Veneto just next door. We are in Northeast Italy here, in a land still seeking an identity after changing hands frequently in the 19th and early 20th centuries. I never would have thought I would have eaten the best sauerkraut of my life in Italy, and I did. Tall people, Fascist art, pork  in a dozen ways on one plate, my kind of weirdness shared with friends. Nicolas Emery, the famous Rubicon explorer, his fiancée Giulia Laveto (aka juujee), and of course The Schmee were all present and on board for wine, food, and Friuli.

The gang posed around the statue of the immensely accessible James Joyce (sarcasm intended)

These kinds of statues are all over Friuli. I imagine Mussolini placed these carefully about the country so he could have masturbation fodder in every town he visited.

"My pants are falling down and I am missing my diaper. Let go of my head damn bird!"

We discovered Giulia loves bright green and so this classic Fiat 500 was just the ticket. We could have carried this car in our packs.

I love street scenes. I see beauty in the edges of things. I find myself happiest in a place when I know I see something most people simply pass by and rarely notice.

This shot is only about 1 thing. Do you see it? If you comment on this post I want to hear your guess

I love these terraced vineyards. We were not far from the Slovenian border here. After all this time traveling I am never bored seeing a vineyard.

This winemaker in the Veneto outside of Verona was showing us where he buried a bull horn full of manure in the natural wine tradition. I am not kidding, all the growers do it around the world. He made killer pizza, good wines, and was pretty damn funny. This was my first time in the Veneto countryside and the first time I heard the Veneto Italian accent. It sounded like someone from Cuba speaking Italian. Quick, with a rising cadence, and quite lovely to hear.

Every year I return to Italy I find many reasons to return to Italy.

Auguri di buone feste e di un buon anno in arrivo

Final Haiku Sunday (Christmas in LA) of the Year is Next!