Udine - Day 1

Yesterday Rigo and I drove from Nuremberg to Udine, Italy to visit our friend Rinaldo. The trip took about 6 hours and aside from a few minor traffic delays was quite pleasant. We had a late start out of Nuremberg so it was around 8:00 pm when we pulled in to Udine. We were greeted with a wonderful northern Italian meal prepared by Rinaldo's wife, Zaffira. Over dinner and a number of bottles of wine, we got caught up with all the latest news. I went to bed thinking that my cold was getting better but this may have had something to do with all the wine.

This morning we woke to very unpromising weather. We knew the forecast was not good and apparently they were right. We had breakfast then headed out to Orsago to visit Rinaldo's mum and dad (it was his dad's birthday). In Orsago, Rinaldo had also arranged to get new tires for his car (he always likes to kill at least three birds with one stone). The tires had not come from the warehouse yet so we would have to come back later. So off to see Rinaldo's mum and dad which gave me my first opportunity to pretend I speak some Italian since neither of them speak English. I managed to say, "How are you and happy birthday" which in my opinion was enough for my first day.

We were greeted with a wonderful northern Italian meal

We then went to a little cafe to visit one of Rinaldo's oldest friends, Caio. There we sampled a bottle of prosecco (sparkling white wine) and then decided to have lunch there. We had some tasty tapas style food and more prosecco. One can never drink too much prosecco!

After lunch it was back to the tire place again. By this time, the rain was coming down in buckets so it was clear that there would be no outdoor activities this day. With new tires installed we were off to a rock climbing gym that Rinaldo had seen but never visited. After driving in circles we finally found the place and went in to check it out. The place was quite new, huge and actually a complete fitness centre including a rather modest climbing gym. The drop-in charge was only 7 euros so we decided to give it a go. Even though the climbing wall was not that high, it was designed more like an outdoor crag and had some very interesting and quite challenging climbs. We spent a couple of hours there and had alot of fun.

Back at Rinaldo's we had another wonderful Zaffira meal with more wine of course. Because of my cold, I've had a particularly hard time shaking the jetlag. I was very tired after dinner and went to bed early only to wake up at 4:00 am. This gave me the opportunity to work on my blog. And here I am, hoping for a break in the weather....