I woke up thinking we should not have stayed here so long but I was wrong! We had a wonderful day!

We started looking for a garden, “Giardino Ricasoli” which I saw on our map. First we stopped at Grosmi, which had the best coffee we’ve had here, and wandered in the general direction of the garden. At Piazza Libertá we noticed a big stairway with a parallel, brick-paved, ramp going up. This face (who is she?)was checking us out:

So up we went and discovered the Castello di Udine and walked all around it. The views of the city and the mountains were great. I loved the architecture of the porticos. This is the view going down:

We found the garden which was small and had very few things blooming but I loved these green flowers which I thought were hellebore but I’m not sure:

We made a stop at the Apple store, too. I got an adapter for my computer.

I wanted to go to the little butcher shop right near our apartment to get our last Prosciutto di San Daniele. So I stopped at Macelleria Di Michelutti Sandro. There was a line of women and I was about the fifth or sixth. It took about a half hour! Only 2 could be in the tiny shop at a time so the rest lined up on the street. The guy has mad skills with the big knife! The woman before me got a bunch (rabbit, veal, pork, chicken and steak!) of different meats so I got to watch him do his thing. Finally I got our prosciutto, crudo and cotto, and some salami. I asked the man if it was like this every Monday. He said yes and Tuesday, Wednesday Thursday and Friday. Oh and Saturday is really crowded!

And then it was time to go to lunch. We had reserved at Osteria Al Vecchio Stallo. Based on the recommendations of Alessandra and Fred Plotkin’s book, this was the place to try the authentic regional specialties and get the true local flavor. At this rustic restaurant the menu was in Friulian! And our adorable young waiter was little help but somehow we got it sorted. We ate first, Cjalcions:

They looked like Chinese dumplings but, of course, they aren’t. The filling was green and sweet with cinnamon and there was melted butter underneath. We also had some roast pork, vegetables and another dish, Mignaculis cu la Luani, which looked and tasted looked exactly like spaetzle with little pieces of sausage and the drippings from some roasted meat. For dessert we shared the Gubana, a rolled bread with nuts and dried fruit inside. Over it, they pour Slivovitz, a plum brandy. We had a great conversation with the woman at the table beside us whose son is in school in St. Louis.

Rest time! And we had to start packing.

We took another walk in the afternoon to a bakery to get some bread and cookies which we ate for dinner with our salumi.

Udine has treated us very well!