Around Portogruaro and to the mountains

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As expected, it's raining and is half the temperature of yesterday. In fact it's very cold and very wet and it's snowing in the mountains to the north. That means some indoor visits. Pierina has injured her knee so is not up to walking or biking at present so it may be a good thing to have reason to sit and rest.
In the morning we visited an archaeological museum showing the Roman artifacts from around Portogruaro. The town is on the main route from the east through to Rome (in Roman days) so has many recovered artifacts from that period. These include funeral objects and plaques, jewellry, glassware, earthenware, bronze castings for figures, weapons and decorations, plus much more. From there we visited an old church (after the service had finished). Children were singing and the accoustics were fantastic. The building was different in that it's inner walls were completely painted with pictures and the roof rafters were exposed. Most interesting for people like us without such a long history.
After lunch we decided that regardless of the weather we would visit the old town of Pordenone which is larger than Portogruaro and has varied architecture from 13th Century onwards. Too much to describe in detail but an interesting amble along the main street and around the clock tower, cathedral and town hall.
There was still plenty of time to spare and the weather was clearing so we headed for the Dolomite Mountains. Surprisingly, these are not far away at all and within an hour we had driven to the mountains, through the steep Cellina gorge with long road tunnels and through to the small village of Barcis by a lovely mountain lake. On a sunny day it would look fantastic. Then onto to Cimolais further on which is possibly an area we will likely return to for some hiking. The mountains look huge but in fact average about 2500m, likely because the mountain sides are almost vertical limestone. It's grand country. More about mountains when we return to them.
Back at the house, our chef, Piero had dinner ready for us - Mushroom Risotto and white asparagus, plus much more. Piero does the cooking, Pierina the rest. They look after us and feed us well. I'm sure they think we're skinny and need fattening up! Between us all, we are managing to communicate and finding more about Pierina and her family's life. There is much to be told about the soldiers and the Partisans during the war and more will be revealed about this after we meet Guilia and her brother Giovanni tomorrow and after I've read the books about the topic.

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Photos

Clock tower in Pordonone
Pordonone clock tower - part of Town Hall