Ending Point: N51°16 E33°22
Distance Traveled: 238.7 miles
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After a rough start in the Ukraine, we were starting to really enjoy the country—well, we were starting to love Bila Tservka. We felt like new people after rest and showers, and the day only got better when we returned to the restaurant across the street, which called itself “Veranda” in English. Lunch was just as good as dinner the night before, and we certainly enjoyed the price of things there, as we again ordered three entrees between the two of us. Lunch there seemed an appropriate way to end our short time in Bila Tservka, so we set off towards the Russian border. Not long after getting back on the road, we spotted a big American school bus! It could only be the Rally vehicle belonging to the Dixie Chickens, who are driving around the world and including the Mongol Rally as one step of that journey. We pulled over for a quick chat while they moved their gear inside in preparation for the oncoming rain. We had different routes planned and set off towards Kiev. On a rainy night in the Ukraine, Panda is the only color. Kiev was a shockingly nice city to drive through. The highways didn’t go right through the middle of town, and best of all, there were street signs pointing us where we needed to go! From Kiev, the driving towards the border was fairly easy, despite the rain. Actually, the rain very much added to the atmosphere of post-Soviet northern Ukraine, where everything was grey, green, or beige. We took a detour through the town of Konotop, a town that we rather doubted that evening. As we kept going though, we discovered streetcars, shops, and restaurants. Rather than camp in the rain, we found a room there for the night. Starting Point: N49°47 E30°06
Ending Point: N51°16 E33°22 Distance Traveled: 238.7 miles
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After spending so much time so close to Slovenia, we decided we just had to make the trip there; however, not knowing what to expect, we thought we’d just take a bus and spend a couple hours in the local seaside town of Koper. From the bus station we took some time to wander through the old historic city and to check out the sea. Unfortunately, Koper is a small town with not that much happening, so our explorations didn’t take up the full couple hours we had allotted until our bus back to Trieste. Luckily, we found a local pub that was selling Laškos, our favorite Slovenian beer, and we decided to try the non-export version. Much as we expected, it was fantastic! Plus, Okrepcevalnica pr Bepca had by far the cheapest beer in Europe at €2.50 for a half-liter! Once we were back in Italy, we celebrated our last Italian meal appropriately by devouring amazing pizza!
Trieste is a fascinating place. It feels like no other city in Italy but like them all at the same time. According to legend, it was founded by a friend of Jason and the Argonauts. More recently, in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, it was the main shipping port for the Austro-Hungarian Empire until World War I. Then, in 1918, it was given to Italy. Today, its maritime industry is more important to central Europe than to Italy, which explains why the population of the city remains so diverse. Thanks to the diverse population, there is a surprising amount of local craft beer in Trieste. Needless to say, Italian wine is wonderful throughout the country, though the domestic beer leaves much to be desired. We had sampled a few Slovenian Laškos in Trieste before we found Bire, a brew pub with a nice view of the sea. The Pils and Rossa (Red Ale) we ordered were much better than Peroni or Nastro Azzurro. The "panpizza"/sandwich and toast-shaped meat were good choices as well. The toast-shaped meat was a bit of a surprise order. Charla translated it as "meat in the form of toast," thinking maybe the meat was inserted into the toast, but Chase's guess turned out most accurate: two bread-shaped slices of meat and fries.
Fourth of July? Oops. We didn't exactly celebrate Independence Day this year (in fact, Charla hasn't for a while now), but we did enjoy another wonderful day in Trieste. As usual, Charla went to lectures and her seminar during the day while Chase explored the city. When Charla and Chase met back up after the afternoon seminar, it was time for dinner and we checked out the neighborhood by the Grand Canal. We found Fratelli di Bufala, which turned out to be a real treat. The food was great, and the view along the canal at sunset was not too shabby. Charla loved her margherita pizza, and Chase had a bit of a culinary adventure. The server pointed to an item on the menu that looked good, and was priced reasonably, so Chase just went for it. It turned out to be some amazing meat dish that defies explanation! A calzone filled with mozzarella and topped by strips of meat with shredded parmesan, it was a delicious meat feast! After dinner, Charla went down the street to a performance given by Irish tenor Noel O'Grady, whom we'd heard earlier in the week at our Irish sing-a-long. Following the concert, we were hopeful for another spectacular night at Barge Bar with Joyce School friends in tow. Unfortunately, the barge was closed. We moved closer to the Piazza Unità d'Italia to Bar Unità, where we shared Peroni and pelinkovac (a Croatian liquor that tastes remarkably like a bar of Ivory Spring soap) with the group.
The coach dropped us off around 12:30 AM at Heathrow at terminals 1-3, where it is also possible to take a train to terminals 4 and 5. Unfortunately, the train doesn’t run late at night/early in the morning, so we were stuck in that part of the airport for a few hours. Many folks had already found their places among lines of chairs. Clearly, none of these people had explored the terminal before setting up, as a short walk led us to the plush British Airways first class check-in waiting area, where we spent the night The hours passed quickly, and soon we were boarding our Alitalia flight to Roma in the mass of a most confusing queue/herd of people. The British attempted to queue neatly, but the Italian passengers made sure that didn’t happen. After a short flight to Roma that took us on a scenic journey over the Alps, we boarded an even shorter flight to Trieste that took us over the Adriatic Sea. Landing in Trieste, we discovered a herd of interestingly dressed people, who we later heard were en route to a music festival in Croatia. [Again, note to selves: Research festivals nearby.]
A drive along the coast brought us into the gorgeous city of Trieste, whose architecture is a mixed salad of Italian and Austro-Hungarian Imperial seaside styles. We admired the sea and the city while eating pizza after Charla checked in at the Trieste Joyce School. In true Italian fashion, our night ended with a walk around Piazza dell’Unità d’Italia and some gelato. One of Iceland’s dirty little secrets is that the Reykjavík airport is located an hour and a half out of the city. They don’t tell you this when you book your 7:30AM international flight, which requires checking in at 5:30AM, which requires leaving the city at 4:00AM. Suffice to say, there wasn’t much time for sleep last night. Iceland was a spectacular starting point for our grand adventure because it was such an easy transition from Alaska. Rather than flying to Europe, we felt like we had just kept driving and discovered someplace we hadn’t visited before in Alaska. Iceland is a more expensive, European version of the Alaska we were used to. The climate, the topography, the 24-hour daylight; it all seemed very familiar. But, at the same time, it was slightly foreign to us. Europe was hanging in the air, and yet the ruggedness of the country made us feel at home. When we arrived in London, we were happy to get to visit with John, Chase’s friend from high school, for the evening. We had explored John’s neighborhood in the afternoon, but in the evening John’s very comfortable flat (combined with the early wake-up this morning) led to us falling asleep early watching Wimbledon. Editor’s note: Due to an unfortunate incident involving Chase’s cell phone and one of his cameras being left behind in one of London’s quintessential black taxis, we have no photos from today. We do have a Lost Property Enquiry filed with Transport for London, and are eagerly awaiting their response.
Editor's note from July 10th: We found ourselves back in London and back at John's flat, at which point we noticed a handwritten note on a pegboard in John's entryway that said, "If you left two mobile phones in a taxi, please call XXXXX-XXXXXX." Well, we said to ourselves that a cell phone and a camera could be interpreted as two mobile phones, so John called the number and lo and behold the electronics were being held by a very strange man in John's building! Apparently the driver found them and came back to the apartment building to drop them off. Success! And now we have photos to upload from the 27th for you! [Don't get too excited though, we just have transit photos as we lost the camera just after our arrival in London.] |