Our first Friday here, we took a tour of Italy. Well, our little corner of Italy, anyway. Our tour guides took us to a few of the sites around the area, introduced us to Italian dining, and taught us how to take a train (sounds easy, but there is one very important step that you’d probably miss if you didn’t know better!).
Our first stop was the Gorgazzo Spring. The spring originates from somewhere within the mountains that are to our north.
The water here is at least 4 feet deep. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such crystal clear water in my life (this picture doesn’t do it justice).
Next to the spring is a honey store. The owner harvests her own honey and sells it, fairly cheap. The girls are checking out a real hive:
Our next stop was the market. Each of the towns around here does a market one day a week. It’s kinda like a roving flea market (I’m pretty sure it’s the same vendors at each market, they just pack up and move towns). We went to one in the town of Porcia (pronounced por-CHE-ah).
This town also has parts of one of the original castles in the area. The family lives here now, is the family who originally built the castle. At one point, they owned the entire town. Now they just own this part of the castle and an adjacent winery (which was also part of the original castle. The rest of it is gone.).
That’s it for today! Come back tomorrow for part 2 and the rest of our tour!
How beautiful!
So—-how would you feel if Andie and I came to visit you in June/July?
Seriously—she turns 16 in September and wants Italy as her b-day. 
I think we can accomodate that! Hopefully, the girls will be here during that time too.
Beautiful! Isn’t it amazing how OLD everything is? America is so young by comparison.
So, what is the important step you might miss on the train if you didn’t know better? I need to know! We’re thinking of going to Rome for T-giving and taking the train down to Pompeii.
Oops! I did forget to add that! After you purchase the ticket, you have to validate it before you get on the train (but don’t do it until you’re getting ready to get on the train). The tickets are good for two months after you purchase them, UNLESS you validate them. Once you validate them, they’re only good for 6 hours. The have little yellow boxes all over the train station (at least they did at the one in Pordenone, I’m assuming all train stations are the same). You put your ticket in it and it puts a time stamp on it. If you don’t validate it, the fine is 50 Euro (paid on the spot)!
[...] September 7, 2009 by Sandie Our first Friday here, we took a tour of Italy. Well, our little corner of Italy, anyway. You can see the first part of our tour here. [...]
Did you ever imagine you would LIVE in such a place? How exciting, all the new adventures, the incredible learning experience for all of you….you really are blessed Sandie!