Sunday September 14, 2025
We had no tennis matches today…the next tournament in Feld am See, Austria, begins tomorrow. Feld am See is near both the Slovenian and Italian borders of Austria. Today we (Vicki and her husband Steve, MJ Pachl and her husband Rudi and I) went to Udine, Italy, about 1 hour, 40 minutes south of Feld am See. (Though of course first we practiced for a little over an hour at 7:30am!)
Vicki drove the entire way and did a great job with one (what I told her would seem funny after a short while) hiccup…we took a toll road in Italy…the kind where you take, or are handed a ticket at one spot and then have to insert the ticket into a machine and pay at the other end. It’s a bit confusing as the slot to insert the ticket is the same slot used to insert a credit card (or you can tap which is ALWAYS preferable and safer!). Vicki saw a different slot…let’s just say that credit card is not leaving Italy anytime soon. 😳We diverted the traffic going through the lane for about 15 minutes trying to get the card out of the wrong slot but failed (even though one of the employees there tried to help. Vicki felt terrible especially because it was Rudi’s credit card. On the return trip we used cash for the toll. 😉And we had a lovely day. (Fortunately they had a back up credit card!) (Guess where the credit card is supposed to be and where it ended up…not obvious.)
Udine has a population of just under 100,000 people, and is in the Udine province (similar to a US State) in Italy. It has a population which is older and has fewer minors than Italy in general. It has a castle above the city (but an easy walk up…everyone made it up and down again).
We first walked up to the castle, which was built by Venetians from 1517 after an earthquake destroyed a previous fortification. Giovanni da Udine finished the works starting in 1547 creating a Renaissance appearance. There was a nice view of the old city from one side and there’s a museum up there but we decided to pass on it.
We walked down on the other side of the castle, and ended up in the main square, Piazza della Libertà, which was also filled with people, and the main building was dominated by a big screen…it would have been nice to have seen Udine on a normal Sunday with fewer people and fewer signs and screens blocking the beautiful buildings.
As we discovered on arrival in Udine, today was the last day of the Friuli DOC, a wine and food festival. There were countless tents serving typical Friulian food, which included battered and fried apple rings, fried seafood, especially calamari, and frico (fried cheese), and lots of strudel, and other tents selling cheeses, wines, meats and more. The streets were crowded, the castle grounds were covered with tents covering rows of tables and benches filled with hungry eaters, and there was lots of beer!
MJ, Rudi, Steve and Vicki went to get good coffee, while I wandered around the streets for a while. There are several Renaissance style buildings, dating from the 15th and 16th centuries and lots of narrow streets lined with lovely buildings (and on this day, tents selling food and wine of the region). I also found a grocery store and had to go in and look around…lots of pasta and sauces of course!
There’s also a church nearby, the Cathedral of Udine, the building of which began in the 13th century. Unfortunately, it was only open from 4-6:30 on this Sunday so we didn’t get a chance to go in.
And that was a day in Udine. We found our parking location easily (or Rudi did anyway), and had an uneventful but beautiful drive back through lovely mountain landscapes.
Tomorrow Vicki and MJ both play in the 60s (there are only 8 players, so no byes); I have a bye and play the winner of a match I suppose on Tuesday. The times for Tuesday will only be posted around 8pm tomorrow. I’ll warm up early with Vicki and then take a bike ride or walk around the lake etc. The weather is supposed to be decent this week, or at least much better than last year!
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