Trassacco Race

The weather was perfect for for the 200 runners on the mountain today.  The race bag today was fresh carrots and a bag of local potatoes.  I love it!  I didnt run fast enough to win a prize but I noticed the top three in each category got a case of beer....wish I would have known this before hand.

A little tour of Northern Italy

There are a lot of pictures in this album, 336 to be precise.

I tried to edit them down but it was hard.

Essentially the images are from the recent road trip Adele and I took.  we went north, after originally planning to go to Sicily we changed for a meandering trip to Venice and back.

We covered about 1300 kilometers (780 miles) which is not a lot by USA and especially Montana or Idaho standards.  But in a little Fiat Panda it was a journey.

I could really write a small travel book about it all...but, i will stick to the bare minimum.  

Spoleto was the first stop to see a well preserved castle.  

Next was Assisi, which was the best...what a clean pleasant visit. 

There are tourists of course but people who come to this part come for spiritual  or intellectual reasons....so you dont see the hords of ice cream sucking lookie loos. I was honored to go into the tomb of Saint Francis of Assisi and touch his tomb.

Next up Perugia, Heres to my Risho friends in Missoula and all my friends I had great memories with at the restaurant.

Great historic University City.  If you ever go...go to the under ground city.

From Perugia we drove to a nearby lake and set up tent in a camp ground.  35 euros, and it included a pool and hot showers.

In the morning on the way to Florence we passed through Siena.  Siena had a lot of tourists, the masses of people, all speaking different languages. German, Dutch, French, Chinese, etc etc.

Siena was interesting for a horse race in the town square they were preparing for..a big annual event Adele told me at which horses always die.

Florence (Firenze) was very cool, a larger city with a lot going on.  The history of the renaissance etc..  some churches are free to enter and see but most things are at least 10 euro.  I /we were content to wander the streets.

Then to Venice, we camped with a view of the island and took a boat shuttle across.  I was excited for Venice...I mean who hasnt heard of it.  The unique history and the continued precense in the art world.

after Camping on the ocean front for another 30 euro, which is a great deal.  We headed for Padua and the Scravengi Chapel to see Giottos historic work.  What a cluster Fuck it was driving into this town.  Yes I was very happy to spend 40 minutes inside the chapel in an exclusive visit.

enjoy the pictures, ill try and add some captions.  

The first picture of the album should be a map showing the route we took.

Checking out the Art...In Castle Basso

Last Night we drove to Borgo Medievale di Castel basso .  The reason we went was to see some contemporary art.  Last year I was told Abramovic  had some work there.  Walking around the stone walled and clean almost fairy tale like setting I learned that there are two gallery settings.  There was some interesting work but nothing earth shattering. The most interesting stuff came from artists such as Davide Contoni .  There happened to be an organ concert and I shot a little video...enjoy!!