Over the years of travel we have developed a pattern. Lazy mornings followed by an activity. Today we did an urban hike from a tourist map around the old walls of Belluno.

We started with coffee on Piazza Martiri. Interesting. When I came in, I was the only customer. In the course of my waiting and drinking maybe 8 more arrived. The barista knew at least half of them by and name knew their orders, too.

Our walk was really enjoyable. We started with beautiful views of the Piave river, which borders Belluno. We crossed over the Ponte della Vittoria:

and returned to the main path.

There were so many fountains–270 in Belluno. Many are larger or smaller, but I really liked this simple one:

We went into the small San Nicolo church. The statue of the Madonna above the altar was placed in a cave in the wall, with lighting to achieve a mystical effect.

We continued on through the Porta Rugo and the accompanying tower, which are made of bricks instead of the typical stone. It dates from the early 1600’s, though parts of it were destroyed by Napoleon and restored in 1902:

I really liked the facade of this place, but have no idea what it is:

We continued the walk back towards the center. There is a little jewelry/gift shop right near our place and a little bracelet in the window caught my eye. I went inside to ask about the price and a looooong conversation ensued with the owner. She went on a verbal rampage about Trump. How could Americans vote for him? He is so rude and crude. She really tested my Italian skills. And she insisted on showing me utube clips of Don Jr. speaking on January 6 to a private party. The song Gloria was blasting in the background in time to the insurrection. Apparently the song was written by the Italian, Umberto Tozzi, and he in turn made a video (which she had to show me, twice!) denouncing the use of it by the Trump family. I kept telling her I had to go find my husband, but she just kept on; there was no escape. Finally Ken came into the shop, I paid for the bracelet and we left.

We scooted over to the food shop to grab some lunch and to the bakery for bread. And stopped into a restaurant to make a dinner reservation. We had really worked up an appetite!

Ken got some good local salami and here’s the Rotolo al Spinaci I got:

After a nice rest period we took another walk in the opposite direction.

We spoke with our next door neighbor about hurricane prep in Tallahassee. We’re both pretty fretful about what will happen to our home and neighborhood. Right now it is projected to be at least a category 3, which will be devastating in our tree filled city.

Meanwhile, Trattoria Il Moretto was fully booked and several would-be diners got turned away. The meal was delicious, but the service, a little rough. We shared 3 courses. First was a potato veloute with delicious mushrooms on top. Second was green pappardelle with wild boar. Third was lamb chops, an area specialty. We each had a glass of red wine, which were pretty nice. It was good to be in a restaurant and enjoying great food instead of worrying about the weather five thousand miles away.

As I write this, this morning, our thoughts, hopes, and fears are there.