Barcolana Weekend

Finally some air around here! I can sweat for a reason rather than just because I exist!

We have gotten through another Barcolana weekend. This was my 9th. I didn't participate or anything. I normally don't, but it is a milestone every year, and one of two occasions for Trieste to wake up for a weekend before laying down its sleepy head for another season. (The Bavisela marathon is the spring counterpart to the Barcolana regatta in October). The Barcolana gets all the Triestini to dig in their winter clothes boxes (we do a change of season here where your summer clothes get put away for winter and vice versa) for their SLAM sailing jackets so they can put them on with their jeans and put the collar up (so cold! Must protect neck from unwanted drafts!!) so the reflective brand name shows.

The real sailors, of course, have their fancy team jackets on and matching pants. They have the added advantage of looking great for free! How the rest of us long to be one of them (without having to do any work-- unless you call hanging off the side of the boat to create weight work)!

Anyhoo, I went down to check out the action (sweet wind-stopper jacket, not slam, but just as conspicuous, a present from my mom, bless her!) and the dog was sniffing everything in sight and she was pulling pulling pulling and I was tugging back and people were tripping on her, and I was tripping on them, and the baby was sleeping in the marsupial on her papa's chest, oblivious to most of the goings on.

A radio station was broadcasting live with a few beautiful women dancing with short sleeves and tummies showing and mini skirts but no one was too worried about their catching a draft (foreign girls, myself included, don't catch drafts, but these girls were freezing with smiles on their faces). That scene made the place seem a little depressing. You just can't enjoy girls dancing when they're outside like you are and you're freezing and you're all covered up and they're definitely not dancing hard enough to get warm, and it's all just to make the radio station look sexy? Didn't get that.

Going downtown during Barcolana weekend makes you feel like you're living the city, though, and that's definitely worth doing.