SUNDAY MEMORIES
Judy Wills
For the last of my memories of trips to Italy, I would like to tell you about when we stopped at Trieste.
Trieste is located in the northern part of Italy that has been dominated by many different nations throughout its history: Austria/Hungary, Italian (Roman), France (three times during the Napoleonic Wars), Germany (with Mussolini as head) during WW2, Yugoslavia. It was finally officially annexed to Italy in 1954. The border questions with Yugoslavia and the status of the ethnic minorities (Slovenes in Italy and Italians in Yugoslavia) were settled definitely in 1975 with the treaty of Osimo. (Please see Wikipedia for more information)
Trieste is a natural port on the Adriatic, and is nearly surrounded by Slovenia. Here is a picture that Fred’s father took while stationed in Trieste following WW2. Don’t know the name of the Navy Cruiser, but it is a U.S. ship, and it is in the port of Trieste.
Another picture says it was possibly bringing Omar Bradley to visit. Sorry, no picture of Bradley.
Fred’s parents lived for a while in this building in Trieste following WW2,
on what he calls the “mezzanine” – it was the level under the “arches” – but not the ground level. Between the ground floor and the second floor. And here is our picture of that same building.
Here is a picture that Fred’s dad took of the living room of the apartment in the mezzanine, in July 1948.
And also in 1948 is a picture of Fred, his sister Emily, and their mother in front of the Fontana dei Tritoni in Trieste.
One of Fred’s fondest memories of Trieste (and why he wanted to show it to me) was the Miramare Castle. The Castle was used by the U.S. military as an Officer’s Club following WW2 (the British assigned to Trieste could use the O’Club as well). Fred says they would attend church on Sundays, then go to Miramare Castle for lunch. That was not the case when we visited in 1970 – we didn’t enter the Castle, as I remember. But we toured the gardens, and they were beautiful.
1970 – some of the gardens, Miramare Castle – Judy by statue
Fred said he would take a G.I. bus to Miramare Castle and essentially spent all day swimming. Here is a picture of his family – probably him and his siblings and parents – in the water.
And here is a picture of that same spot that we took on our 1970 trip.
He said the beach was pretty rocky, so some sand was brought in to make a sandy beach.
Also, a “platform” or float was built on top of some large empty drums, where one could sit and sun, or dive off into the water.
Fred remembers walking to the docks when he lived in Trieste – it was only a few blocks to the docks from where they lived. He would go there and watch the ships come and go.
It was a lovely time of remembrance for Fred as we toured that city. And an interesting city, as well.
~~~~~~~~~~And so ends our trips to Italy~~~~~~~~~~
Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .
Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.
After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.
Old Things R New 
A fine finale.
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