Indoor GoKart in Pordenone

Sunday, December 6

Every time Preston and I drive down this one road in Pordenone, we see this GoKart place and always say we need to try it one day. Finally we decided to go there! It's called PKI "Pordenone Kart Indoor." One of Preston's coworkers was PCSing back to the states and we wanted to do one last thing with him and his wife.

This is not your typical GoKart place, it was intense! Even with the track only being inside.

When you walk inside you have to sign  waiver to say you understand they are not liable if anything happens to you. There are also multiple options you can choose from on how long or how many times you want to race for. Also, something that I thought was interesting is that when you pay, you also pay a $10 fee that covers you for a year of using their cars. They then give you a card saying that you can keep using their cars without having to pay the extra $10 every time.

After we did that, everyone had to put on a back support harness and a race car helmet.




















At this place there were basically no rules and no speed limits, you could go as fast as you wanted. The only thing that made it even scarier is that there were no seatbelts! So if you crash in to a railing at full speed, you better be strong enough to hold yourself back.

I took full advantage of being able to go as fast as I wanted. It was so much fun! I would whip around every corner as fast I could. One time I did not make the turn sharp enough and crashed into the railing. Luckily I'm strong enough to hold myself in, unlike our friends wife. Unfortunately, she flew out of her GoKart and decided she was going to be done for the day.

To me it was an awesome feeling being able to go that fast and whip around in my GoKart. I would definitely go back again!

Friuli Wine Tour

Saturday, December 5

I love going on wine tours! Italy makes it super easy to go on wine tours almost whenever you want. This time I was doing a wine tour through the Friuli Region with Laura, an Italian who is married to a Airmen, who puts together these wines tours just for people to be able to explore and have fun tasting the different wines of Northern Italy.

This wine tour we were going to go to 3 different wineries and also have a traditional Italian lunch (multiple courses).

The first winery was Emilio Bulfon, which was about 30 minutes from my house.

We got a tour of the winery and also where they store the wine for aging. We also got to see some of their old bottles, where they used to hand paint every label that was put on the wine bottles for selling. The label was taken from a section of the painting "The Last Supper." So much detail went into the bottles that used to be hand-painted. I'm definitely keeping some of my empty bottle from here! :)

For the tasting we got to sit at a long table that prepared with different types of cheeses, meats, breads and other delicious pairings for the wine or to snack on ;)

We got to sample about 5 or 6 of their different wines before we could purchase some.

Meanwhile, we got to chat and enjoy the lovely atmosphere, cute decorations and the fireplace.

After this it was time to head to lunch. 

We went to a place in Spilimbergo called La Torre, which is located inside an old castle. 

I got to sit at the table with the cute window, overlooking the fields, which was very peaceful looking. We first started off with a bread basket, some water and wine.


























Next, polenta with a cream sauce on top and some fresh grated cheese.

Then the mushroom risotto.

Now to the main dish, the meat and potatoes.

Last but not least, the dessert, tiramisu. Of course there is also cappuccino or a cafe as well but since I don't drink coffee I did not have any thing else.

Also, while I was here, I posted a picture of where we were eating and one of my Italian friends wrote on it to let me know her aunt also works there and was working there that same day. Unfortunately, since I still do not know Italian very well I had Laura, our wine tour guide, translate for me. This is such a small world! Out of all the restaurants in Italy, we got to go to the one my friend's aunt works at.

After being stuffed with food, it was time to go to another vineyard!

The next winery was called Pitars. This winery's ground were very beautiful! The house for tasting and purchasing wine was massive and decorated very nicely on the inside.

(The front of Pitars)

First we got to go up to the top of the house to see the views from up there, which were amazing!

(Upstairs Room)

(The view)

(The view)

Now to make our way over to where they make and store the wine.

(Back of Pitars)

It's always crazy to me how big the containers of wine are. I wish I could have my own ;)

(The cellar)

Back to the tasting room in the main house. Which was also very nicely decorated like the rest of the house.

(Tasting Room)

We had a whole set up again of different cheeses and salamis to snack on while tasting the wine.

Again the wine, was very tasty!

After tasting all of them, we were allowed to go to the wine store on the other side of the house to purchase. There were some really cool bottles and glassware they had you could purchase. Maybe I'll just have to go back to buy some later!

(Part of the wine shop)

On to the third and final winery of the day. 

This winery was called, Borgo Delle Oche.

We got to sample 4 or 5 different wines, again while snacking on some cheese and crackers.

This was a very small and intimate place compared to the other places we got to sample wines.

Of course by the end of the day everybody was feeling really happy! So of course Mary and I started taking tons of silly selfies. 

After a fun filled day of vineyard hoping, it is time to head back home.

I have a hard time deciding what was my favorite winery, but two of them I especially enjoyed and loved their wines. The two I really liked were Emilio Bulfon and Pitars. The last winery was still really good though.

The wine I bought for my ever growing wine collection. Wish I had bought more though! :)