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Issue #277 December 26, 2024, Nice and overnight bus to Trieste
Journal, December 26, 2024, Nice and overnight bus to Trieste
The plan for the day, that Orion had devised, was to travel from Nice to Trieste on an overnight bus, leaving from the Nice airport at 9:30pm. So, how did we spend our day up to that point?
We had to check out of the AirBnb by 11am, so eating and cleaning up was the first order of business. Because Orion had a huge suitcase full of clothes from his school semester, he needed to figure out something to do with all of that, before we traveled further. So, we first stopped at a nearby restaurant that, for a small fee, stores travelers’ bags; all done through an app called ‘Bounce’. We left his bag in a back closet in the restaurant.
With Paige along this time, we headed back together to Promenade des Anglais where all other tourists seemed to flock. We wanted to show her the park area above the beach (and I also hoped to find my glasses case). Sure enough, when we had climbed enough steps, there it was, lying below the area right where I had painted. Why hadn’t I seen it before?
The location feature of the AirTag works only if one gets close enough to another passing iPhone, which then transmits the location to my phone. There seemed to be some issues, though, because the day before, I had suddenly seen the tag’s location on the boulevard below. I tried to trace it, which led to nothing except me walking around looking at ‘find my device’ my phone. That was confusing, and led to nothing.
Climbing steps with clogged sinuses was probably not Paige’s first choice of activity, but she wanted to see where we had explored the day before. We climbed with her, slowly, and enjoyed the park-like nature of the area, which used to be a fortress, hundreds of years ago, positioned as it was with a grand view of the ocean.
We enjoyed the view and hung out near the sundial at the very top, and Page and the kids ate ice cream, good for soothing sore throats. The kids wanted to explore more, but Paige wasn't interested. She just wanted to plant herself in a chair down at the beach, and she didn't mind sitting alone (except for the fact that some weirdo ended up sitting next to her).
So, while the kids departed to explore on their own. I chose a spot to sketch, not too far from Paige. I eventually decided on doing a drawing of the #I love Nice, sculpture, a 3D piece in red, white, and blue (the colors of the French flag).
We all reconvened on the beach to witness the spectacular sunset over the ocean, and then we had dinner, close to where we had stored our bags. We chose an Asian restaurant, which, despite having artificial greenery on their walls, was warm and inviting.
We continued to follow Orion like little ducklings might follow their mother. He has become adept at direction-finding with his phone, and has set the agenda for our itinerary. This started to bug me just a little. At one moment, I asked for clarification of our plans, and said he had already told me. I told him he needed to have more patience with his Dad, to which he agreed.
Orion’s ability to make decisions and plans on his own has grown, which is important and necessary, so, for the most part, I welcome him setting our agenda.
We made our way to the Nice train station, then took a train to the airport. Once there, we had to wait at least an hour for the ‘FlixBus’, as it is called. Overnight buses are now a common way to travel throughout Europe. Orion has taken a FlixBus journey already, a month prior, on an exploration with his buddies to Venice and Naples. Once they got to Venice (in the middle of the night), they tried sleep in hammocks on the cold streets of Venice, which he described as “one of the coldest nights he ever spent”, where his feet got numb, and he had to jog around to get warm. Thankfully, that was not to be our plan!
This FlixBus would be our home for the next eleven hours as we raced down the highway system alongside the Mediterranean. We sat, straitjacketed in uncomfortable seats, trying to sleep amidst abrupt stops in different towns: Genoa, Bologna, Venice. Unrelated people jostled for position at every stop. We had assigned seats, but only Paige and I got to sit together. The kids had to sit with someone else. Even though we all had a travel pillows, It was still difficult to sleep, but, going with the flow, we all accepted this as part of the travel experience!
An hour or so before arriving in Trieste, when light began to fill the sky, I could see the outline of the Alps as they stretched to the north, parallel to the coastline. For the first time I felt - sitting on this long bus ride - just how far this range of mountains stretches across Europe; and how this segment of land, between the ocean and the alps, has been a welcoming place of habitation for many generations.
We arrived in Trieste as dawn broke. Pulling our travel suitcases behind us, we made our sleepy, bleary way to the central town square, which was gleaming white in the early morning sun. We found our way to a cafe that was open for breakfast at that early morning hour, and were shown a corner table.
Here, we got a much needed nutritional interlude; a fantastic breakfast with cappuccinos and a window seat looking towards the main square, where workmen dismantled barricades that had been set up for the Christmas festivities.
Since our check-in at our next reserved airBnB was not until later in the afternoon, we had some time to kill. We found another bag drop at a cheerful little arts-and-craft shop run by two smiling Italian women, and then we went to explore the hill overlooking the city, where once, long ago, there had been another castle and a church, stretching back to Roman times. To get there we walked through a little war memorial on a hillside, right below this complex that included the ‘Cattedrale Di San Giusto Martire’, which had fantastic artwork inside, and the ‘Castello Di San Gusto’, a medieval fortress that we walked around. The open-air Roman Forum next to it, the ‘Ancient columns of San Giusto.’ stood with toppled columns still on the ground.
In the church, I found a reference to what stood on this site in Roman times, now long past, with successive re-builds over the centuries: “On the same area where the Cathedral now stands, there once stood a temple dedicated to the Capitoline Triad (Jupiter, Juno, Minerva) from the mid-1st century AD”.
All of this invited further exploration, but now we needed to take another bus to get to Grotto Giganta, way up in the Trieste Hills, above the city. Grotto Giganta has much in common with Carlsbad Caverns, or the Lehman Caves in Nevada, where limestone, dissolved by millions of years of rain, has created a vast underground cavern.
The trip to see this ‘underground cathedral’ was quite invigorating, and I think we all enjoyed it. The guides spoke both Italian and English, so we got a good tour. Then it was back on the bus, and journeyed back down into Trieste to find our current Airbnb, a modern remodel just off of a steep roadway, which required about a 10-minute walk to reach once the bus let us off.
Phoenix, Paige and I investigated a local grocery store only seconds away from our new apartment, where we bought ingredients to make tortellini. The breakers in this tiny apartment kept tripping as we prepared our meal. Orion ended up contacting the manager, to see what could be done; he came zooming from somewhere on a motorcycle, advised us to unplug the on-demand water heater, and left.
Here are some random notes:
Europeans still smoke a lot, way more than American do.
I see lifetimes etched on people's faces, especially in the older folks we randomly encounter, and wonder what their lives have been like, those who have lived here their whole lives.
Europe seems cleaner than American cities; there are very few homeless people.
The political situation back in the States: Joe Biden is still president for a little while. Trump's agenda, or the MAGA agenda, is clashing with his new worm-tongue like confidant, Elon Musk, who has slithered his way into Trump's inner circle, and the government itself.
Undersea data and power cables are being cut by a shadow fleet of Russian tankers, who are delivering oil from Russia to any country who will buy it.
It is impossible, now, to travel without a portable computing device (a.k.a, phone). Schedules, tickets, communication: it all starts on the phone, and Google and Apple dominate here.
Journal, December 26, 2024, Nice and overnight bus to Trieste
The plan for the day, that Orion had devised, was to travel from Nice to Trieste on an overnight bus, leaving from the Nice airport at 9:30pm. So, how did we spend our day up to that point?
We had to check out of the AirBnb by 11am, so eating and cleaning up was the first order of business. Because Orion had a huge suitcase full of clothes from his school semester, he needed to figure out something to do with all of that, before we traveled further. So, we first stopped at a nearby restaurant that, for a small fee, stores travelers’ bags; all done through an app called ‘Bounce’. We left his bag in a back closet in the restaurant.
With Paige along this time, we headed back together to Promenade des Anglais where all other tourists seemed to flock. We wanted to show her the park area above the beach (and I also hoped to find my glasses case). Sure enough, when we had climbed enough steps, there it was, lying below the area right where I had painted. Why hadn’t I seen it before?
The location feature of the AirTag works only if one gets close enough to another passing iPhone, which then transmits the location to my phone. There seemed to be some issues, though, because the day before, I had suddenly seen the tag’s location on the boulevard below. I tried to trace it, which led to nothing except me walking around looking at ‘find my device’ my phone. That was confusing, and led to nothing.
Climbing steps with clogged sinuses was probably not Paige’s first choice of activity, but she wanted to see where we had explored the day before. We climbed with her, slowly, and enjoyed the park-like nature of the area, which used to be a fortress, hundreds of years ago, positioned as it was with a grand view of the ocean.
We enjoyed the view and hung out near the sundial at the very top, and Page and the kids ate ice cream, good for soothing sore throats. The kids wanted to explore more, but Paige wasn't interested. She just wanted to plant herself in a chair down at the beach, and she didn't mind sitting alone (except for the fact that some weirdo ended up sitting next to her).
So, while the kids departed to explore on their own. I chose a spot to sketch, not too far from Paige. I eventually decided on doing a drawing of the #I love Nice, sculpture, a 3D piece in red, white, and blue (the colors of the French flag).
We all reconvened on the beach to witness the spectacular sunset over the ocean, and then we had dinner, close to where we had stored our bags. We chose an Asian restaurant, which, despite having artificial greenery on their walls, was warm and inviting.
We continued to follow Orion like little ducklings might follow their mother. He has become adept at direction-finding with his phone, and has set the agenda for our itinerary. This started to bug me just a little. At one moment, I asked for clarification of our plans, and said he had already told me. I told him he needed to have more patience with his Dad, to which he agreed.
Orion’s ability to make decisions and plans on his own has grown, which is important and necessary, so, for the most part, I welcome him setting our agenda.
We made our way to the Nice train station, then took a train to the airport. Once there, we had to wait at least an hour for the ‘FlixBus’, as it is called. Overnight buses are now a common way to travel throughout Europe. Orion has taken a FlixBus journey already, a month prior, on an exploration with his buddies to Venice and Naples. Once they got to Venice (in the middle of the night), they tried sleep in hammocks on the cold streets of Venice, which he described as “one of the coldest nights he ever spent”, where his feet got numb, and he had to jog around to get warm. Thankfully, that was not to be our plan!
This FlixBus would be our home for the next eleven hours as we raced down the highway system alongside the Mediterranean. We sat, straitjacketed in uncomfortable seats, trying to sleep amidst abrupt stops in different towns: Genoa, Bologna, Venice. Unrelated people jostled for position at every stop. We had assigned seats, but only Paige and I got to sit together. The kids had to sit with someone else. Even though we all had a travel pillows, It was still difficult to sleep, but, going with the flow, we all accepted this as part of the travel experience!
An hour or so before arriving in Trieste, when light began to fill the sky, I could see the outline of the Alps as they stretched to the north, parallel to the coastline. For the first time I felt - sitting on this long bus ride - just how far this range of mountains stretches across Europe; and how this segment of land, between the ocean and the alps, has been a welcoming place of habitation for many generations.
We arrived in Trieste as dawn broke. Pulling our travel suitcases behind us, we made our sleepy, bleary way to the central town square, which was gleaming white in the early morning sun. We found our way to a cafe that was open for breakfast at that early morning hour, and were shown a corner table.
Here, we got a much needed nutritional interlude; a fantastic breakfast with cappuccinos and a window seat looking towards the main square, where workmen dismantled barricades that had been set up for the Christmas festivities.
Since our check-in at our next reserved airBnB was not until later in the afternoon, we had some time to kill. We found another bag drop at a cheerful little arts-and-craft shop run by two smiling Italian women, and then we went to explore the hill overlooking the city, where once, long ago, there had been another castle and a church, stretching back to Roman times. To get there we walked through a little war memorial on a hillside, right below this complex that included the ‘Cattedrale Di San Giusto Martire’, which had fantastic artwork inside, and the ‘Castello Di San Gusto’, a medieval fortress that we walked around. The open-air Roman Forum next to it, the ‘Ancient columns of San Giusto.’ stood with toppled columns still on the ground.
In the church, I found a reference to what stood on this site in Roman times, now long past, with successive re-builds over the centuries: “On the same area where the Cathedral now stands, there once stood a temple dedicated to the Capitoline Triad (Jupiter, Juno, Minerva) from the mid-1st century AD”.
All of this invited further exploration, but now we needed to take another bus to get to Grotto Giganta, way up in the Trieste Hills, above the city. Grotto Giganta has much in common with Carlsbad Caverns, or the Lehman Caves in Nevada, where limestone, dissolved by millions of years of rain, has created a vast underground cavern.
The trip to see this ‘underground cathedral’ was quite invigorating, and I think we all enjoyed it. The guides spoke both Italian and English, so we got a good tour. Then it was back on the bus, and journeyed back down into Trieste to find our current Airbnb, a modern remodel just off of a steep roadway, which required about a 10-minute walk to reach once the bus let us off.
Phoenix, Paige and I investigated a local grocery store only seconds away from our new apartment, where we bought ingredients to make tortellini. The breakers in this tiny apartment kept tripping as we prepared our meal. Orion ended up contacting the manager, to see what could be done; he came zooming from somewhere on a motorcycle, advised us to unplug the on-demand water heater, and left.
Here are some random notes:
Europeans still smoke a lot, way more than American do.
I see lifetimes etched on people's faces, especially in the older folks we randomly encounter, and wonder what their lives have been like, those who have lived here their whole lives.
Europe seems cleaner than American cities; there are very few homeless people.
The political situation back in the States: Joe Biden is still president for a little while. Trump's agenda, or the MAGA agenda, is clashing with his new worm-tongue like confidant, Elon Musk, who has slithered his way into Trump's inner circle, and the government itself.
Undersea data and power cables are being cut by a shadow fleet of Russian tankers, who are delivering oil from Russia to any country who will buy it.
It is impossible, now, to travel without a portable computing device (a.k.a, phone). Schedules, tickets, communication: it all starts on the phone, and Google and Apple dominate here.
solo/group kukai
drawing/writing/photography
jonathan machen
drawing/writing/photography
jonathan machen