We also went to the museum to see Otzi the Ice Man, a mummy. So apparently, in 1991, when I was a ju

This is a 4 hour ride but when I think of the 10 hours it will take to fly home, this is niente. It is about minus 30 on the train. I already opened my suitcase a couple clarion hotel winnipeg of times to pull out long sleeves, a scarf, and a hat. It is frigid. clarion hotel winnipeg If I don t warm up, I guess I ll wrap myself in a towel. I just don t get why Italians feel air conditioning means let s make the air like Siberia. There s a lot of things I don t get about Italians. You know when you just get sick of a place? I think I m getting sick of Italy. I mean, an Italian beach is a different story. Maybe I m just exhausted or still jet lagged? Boh.
I spent the last two days in Trentino-Alto-Adige in Northern Italy aka Sud Tirol. How far north? Well, Munich is four hours away and people go to Salzburg on day trips. I almost got on a bus to Innsbruck (by mistake). When the driver told me that s where the bus was going like, where the bleep am I? It was practically clarion hotel winnipeg like being in a different country. In fact, it was a different country. Most of the area belonged to Austria until it was handed over to Italy as a prize for switching sides after WWI. It was so unlike the rest of Italy or at least what I m used to so I m just going to say 2 countries for the price of 1. Side note: the train just stopped in Rovereto, where a lot of fighting took place in WWI and many Italians died. Life imitating blog writing clarion hotel winnipeg thoughts? Boh. I ve actually been surprised at how many war memorials there have been up here. Anyway, everyone was so friendly. Like nauseatingly friendly. Two grazie will suffice. Eleven clarion hotel winnipeg grazie is too much.
One thing I noticed is that all of the mirrors are really high on the wall and so are the toilet seats. Look, I m really tiny. I get it. If I were an inch shorter I would probably clarion hotel winnipeg legally be a dwarf, but my feet have always touched the ground. In Trento, I felt like a 4 year old. Maybe they re made to the scale of tall German and Austrian people? Just an hypothesis.
Many soccer teams are completing clarion hotel winnipeg pre-season training here or nearby: Inter, Bayern, Napoli, Fiorentina, Bologna, etc. I didn t go searching just read it in the paper. If Roma was here and Marco Borriello was nearby would have sold my soul to catch a glimpse. Also, on another calcio note: woohoo Angelo Ogbonna though sad to see Emanuele G. set off to England.
Trento served as our base for this leg of the trip. It s a very cute little Renaissance city and university town that is very walkable and situated in the middle of the Alps. I m pretty sure it was ruled by Germans into the 19th century and then Austrians, but it is famous for me mostly because it was where the gazillion year long Council of Trent took place during the 16th century in response to the Protestant clarion hotel winnipeg Reformation. The Church basically reaffirmed its own beliefs and did little reformation of its own. Also, the Irredentisti movement for Trento to become a part of Italy and not Austria began there in the 19th century. Kind of cool to see all the places clarion hotel winnipeg you learned about in history class in person.
We stayed at a little B+B owned by a couple named Steffi and Giulio, that look much younger in person than they did in their online pictures. It was very cute and they were so lovely and accommodating. Steffi offered to make us panini every morning to bring with us on our journey and Giulio was great with recommendations.
We visited the Castello di Buonconsiglio, which was kind of Games of Throne-ish (and where Cesare Battisti, an Irrendentist was hanged), clarion hotel winnipeg the Duomo and main palazzo once we arrived. The Castello was full of all these Egyptian trinkets so it was like being on two continents at once. The city is so clean and it felt like being on a movie set. Then, even though our feet were already throbbing, we decided to hike outside clarion hotel winnipeg of the city to the cable car which takes you up a mountain so you can get a panorama of the city. It stalled on the way down, which was wonderful. Francesca and I were the only ones in the car. Luckily, I m not that afraid of heights.
Now, on to the fun stuff aka what I ate. Wow! Okay, well, apple strudel because Trento is known for its apples. Because I m trying to do this thing where I eat things that are typical to the area I m visiting clarion hotel winnipeg when I travel I had traditional food from Trentino: canederli (like little dumplings filled with a variety of things I had them filled with apricots, cream, and cinnamon for a little piece of heaven though they re mostly filled with liver or cheese), this very flat potato frittata which was unreal because I love potatoes, speck (a type of ham basically), and carne salada (thinly sliced salted meat that was fried). So so so so so so good! I had such a hard time deciding what to order on the menu. Everything clarion hotel winnipeg with a side order of the waiter aka the only cute guy in Trento. My mom keeps asking (hoping, maybe) if I ve met someone. Umm, no. In fact, one night we stumbled upon what I can only describe as a pop-up discotecca and I have never seen so many bad dancers in my life. I mean, people still do that thing where they reel you in like a fish? In Milan, I wanted clarion hotel winnipeg to take pictures of everyone to show how well dressed and attractive the people were. In Trento, I just wanted to videotape the bad dancing. Have to say, this pop-up dance club is hosting a zumba night on Sunday and I m kind of upset to be missing that. Also, during that night a thunderstorm broke out and I was sure the DJ was going to be electrocuted because sparks clarion hotel winnipeg were flying everywhere. Naturally, I decided to take my umbrella out of my Mary Poppins bag (I have everything you could possibly need in here) so we got soaked.
On day two, Francesca and I woke up extra early to take the half hour train ride to Bolzano, the gateway to the Dolomites, a spectacularly breathtaking mountain range (actually coral formations) with spiky peaks, beautiful lakes and valleys, and charming German-looking towns with castles. It was a totally different world. No one spoke Italian! Everyone spoke German or Ladin, a Latin-based dialect (Professoressa Clivio, I did pay attention in Italian Linguistics even though I went to one class per month, see?). All the signs were in German first, then Italian. People talked to you in German first before you responded in Italian and they then made the change. There were beer halls everywhere AND the city had a very, very efficient and well organized bus system to neighbouring towns so definitely NOT like the rest of Italy at all. Bolzano is one of the richest cities in Italy. It s very tiny, very clean, and very Teutonic. It was also the site of a concentration camp but it was torn down completely. I inquired.
Once we arrived in Bolzano, we took a one hour bus ride to Lago di Carezza so that we could actually see some of the Dolomites. They are so unique and completely unlike any other mountains that I ve seen (okay, so different than the Alps). The ride up and down the mountains clarion hotel winnipeg was so stunning. I think my jaw was on the floor the entire bus ride. My mom would have definitely gotten sick from all the hair-pin turns but it was SOOO worth it. I thought we were in Germany or Austria. Once I saw the lake words cannot clarion hotel winnipeg describe. I felt like Berlin s Take My Breath clarion hotel winnipeg Away should have been playing. So spectacular. The lake has the clearest blue-green water I ve ever seen. It s surrounded clarion hotel winnipeg by the most vibrant clarion hotel winnipeg evergreen trees and then the peaks of some of the Dolomites rise up in the back. I am not a mountain girl at all but this was unreal. It kind of looked like Lake Louise so will have to head out west and then compare.
Oh. Would not recommend wearing gladiator sandals, shorts, and a batswing top while hiking in the Dolomites. But who wants to look like a disastrous hiking slob in their pictures with such beautiful scenery. Not I? Federica Nargi would not wear hiking boots either. I m allowed to be a little vain, right? clarion hotel winnipeg I m still young.
Once we headed back to Bolzano, we walked around the city a bit and had another piece of strudel. With all the walking we did it was fine. Side note: everyone in this region rides bikes which is great to see and as such, I ve never seen so many great calves before.
We also went to the museum to see Otzi the Ice Man, a mummy. So apparently, in 1991, when I was a just a little thing, a couple was hiking in the mountains and found a dead guy. Umm, how they did not fall off the mountain once they saw him is beyond me. He was well preserved because he was basically in a glacier. The appropriate people did tests. Originally they thought he might have been a deserter during the war or something like that, but then, within days, they said nope this guy is from before Christ because if you want to trust someone with information like that, you let an Italian figure it out. It was super cool to see. I mean, Austria and Italy fought over who he should clarion hotel winnipeg belong to. He was murdered (arrow in the back again very GofThrones-ish) but obviously no one knows why. What we do know is weird. clarion hotel winnipeg For instance, he was lactose intolerant and had fleas and one shoulder bigger than the other. Some of these things we know because he had a CAT scan done, so when you need one and have to wait 6 months, just know this mummy who had been dead for 4000+ years had one before you.
Dinner that night one of the best of my entire life. We ate at an authentic restaurant clarion hotel winnipeg with cuisine from the area, called Vogele. It has a really neat history but that s not important. Amaaaaaaaazing! Cannot describe. I had roasted pork with salted potatoes and some sort of cabbage and bacon slaw. The potatoes that came with my dish Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.
Have to say that this suitcase is getting a little tedious to carry around, especially on and off trains. I would not be surprised if I acquire a hernia. I feel like I ve worn everything already and there is nothing in it! Imagine how heavy it will be after I raid the Juventus store this weekend.
Side note: it seems that every city I ve left is experiencing some natural disaster. T