Venice 081115-18

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Conegliano, Italy 081116

I remember It was a Sunday. A beautiful Sunday. No cloud but only blue sky. Slowly, the train pulled to the station, Conegliano. There, we stayed for two hours before our next train arrived. We got out of stazione, walked under the archway of Scalinata degli Alpini and reached an open piazza of Teatro Accademia. Beside it was a winding footpath, we followed the sign and reached the top of a hill. There was an umbrella pine, bending low in a car park in front of the church. Not far away from it was a bell tower, stood tall in the sky. We strolled around and descended the same footpath back to the piazza of Teatro Academia, the place where families gathered after Sunday church. In a newspaper store nearby, we bought a Casabella and a Domus and chilled out in a cafe. We ordered some snacks and two chocolata, a thick and rich cocoa drink. We flipped through the magazines but not long after we were distracted by a familiar aroma. A man, from the grocery right next to the cafe, was roasting chestnuts outside the cafe. We were both very excited and rushed out to see. We couldn't resist and bought a full bag of chestnut.

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It was a pleasant 2-hour train ride from Conegliano to Belluno with a rewarding view of the mountain. I pushed down the upper window, rest my head and arms on it, and imagined I was flying in the wind.

Belluno, Italy 081116

We did not expect a winter fair. It was a bonus to our trip. All the main streets and piazzas were filled with people, music, and colours from the market stalls selling candies, honey, coffee, handmade clothes, meat, anything you could possibly find in any Sunday market. All the local people must have left their casa and gathered on the streets. We followed the crowd, walked in one single direction and stopped by some stalls to check out the local specialties. We bought ourselves malt wine and two porchetta (roasted pork) panino to satisfy our appetite. What a perfect combination, especially in the cold. But, what interested us the most were the honey from the mountain and the coffee. Without hesitation, we decided to carry a bag of freshly ground coffee back home; but the honey, we could only keep its sweetness in our memories.