April (and May) Alpine Adventures - Part 6: May Day in Pinocchio Country

May 1st:

We woke up in Bolzano to the sound of drums and trumpets outside our hotel window. We took a look onto the street to see a modest procession of Italians marching through the street in celebration of the May 1 holiday.

It was an interesting way to wake up...

It was still quite early, and the others wanted to sleep in a bit more. I was pretty well awake by this point and so I decided to go out and have another quick look at the city.

So I took my camera and explored Bolzano a bit...

The main square in this city is named after Walter von der Vogelweide, a famous German minstrel (minnesinger) in the late middle ages who was from the region of Tyrol, and spent some time in Bolzano. I remember learning about Walter von der Vogelweide in Music History because his name is really fun to say fast (remember, the German "w" is an English "v" and the German "v" is an English "f")...

There was also a big flower market going on at the time and so they were setting up for that as well...

The church had a cool roof...

I got back to the hotel to find the others still asleep, and so I woke them up and we had breakfast, cleaned up, and then loaded up in the car to our next destination.

We drove further into the mountains into a unique region of the Alps called the "Dolomites."

Our first stop was lake Carrezza. We found a Lamborghini in the parking lot...

We came around to the lake, which was rather small actually. But the view of the Dolomites above it were impressive...

We hiked around the lake, and through a bit of snow...

Here's an interesting tree that looks like it picked up it's roots and moved around just like an octopus...

It was nice...

We drove on a bit more and then found a little trail to hike...

After our hike we drove on to a pass in the mountains and there, with a great view, we ate our picnic lunch...

We drove on through some spectacular mountain scenery. Most of it was difficult to photograph from the car, given the light, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

We did stop at a few nice outlooks, however...

We came across a large dam which we drove across. It felt like that scene in the Italian Job...

The lake above was still frozen...

From that pass we drove down into some beautiful Tyrolean valleys. This is supposedly the area where Disney's Pinocchio takes place. Pinocchio and Gepetto wear Tyrolean traditional clothing (but their names are Italian) and they're not too far from the sea. It was a beautiful area I would love to visit again.

We were running short on time however since we wanted to be in Ljubljana before it got too late that night. So we drove through the Dolomites and then into the lowlands above Venice. From there we finally crossed into Slovenia and got to Ljubljana at sundown.

In Ljubljana we walked around a bit in the old town...

I've still yet to see Ljubljana in the daytime...

The next day was Sunday and we went to church at the relatively new meetinghouse in Ljubljana. It was a nice big new building and the meetings were very nice.

I said goodbye to Matjaž and Lala and Peter and I rode with his family to the town of Bled (where I had spent a week last year). It was fun seeing their family again and Peter's 13-year-old brother, Urban, beat me in Chess. We had lunch and the Peter and his dad took me to the train station where I caught the train back to Munich.

Though it had been a rather cloudy day in Slovenia, as the train passed into Austria the sun came out and made for a gorgeous train ride through the Carinthian Alps...

I finally got back to Munich that evening having come full-circle around the Alps.

Here is the map of my journey...

View April Alpine Circuit in a larger map

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April Alpine Adventure - Part 5: Italia

April 30th:

We woke up to a mild and cloudy morning in the lakeside town of Stresa, Italy. After cleaning up a bit, we went downstairs for our breakfast and then took a quick stroll through the city.

Not far down the street from out little hotel was this grand palace hotel on the lakefront of Lago Maggiore...

The Grand Hotel des Iles Borromees.

This old hotel was built in the 1860's as the lake district area of Italy became a high-class tourist destination for Europe's upper crust. If you've been to Las Vegas, you'll recognize the architectural style as being the same as the Bellagio's. The town of Bellagio, which the Las Vegas hotel was inspired by, is on Lake Como not far from Lago Maggiore.

One famous guest of this hotel was Ernest Hemingway in 1948 who set part of his World War I novel, A Farewell to Arms, in this very hotel.

The lobby was fancy shmancy...

Even the elevators were elaborately decorated...

Classy...

In the back was a small garden with sculptures and fountains representing the four classical continents (Europe, Asia, Africa, and America)...

Lala is from Africa...

Matjaž and Peter from Europe...

And Nate from America...

We walked a bit further along the green lakefront...

And spent some more time at the tree from the night before...

There was an interesting view of the islands...

So we hung around for a bit and enjoyed our morning...

Lala taught us how to dance...

Then we went back to the hotel, met a friendly dog, loaded up in the car, and set forth on our way...

We drove through several pretty and interesting towns, stopping at a grocery store for some victuals. Eventually we made our way to the city of Bergamo, just north east of Milan. We drove to the old town and parked the car along the old city ramparts...

Inside the old town it was a treasure trove of old Italian architecture...

The main square...

There were Italian flags draped out of every window since the next day would be a national holiday...

Bergamo's most famous structure is the Cappella Colleoni, built in the 1470's...

Inside the Cappella...

Interesting pillars...

On the city hall you could see a Venetian winged lion reminding passers-by that the town was once a part of the Venetian Republic...

Inside one of the churches...

Faded frescoes on the walls...

It was very green...

We wandered into some Catholic youth-day activity...

And continued to explore the old streets...

The famous opera composer Donizetti was from Bergamo and this is where he lived...

Forgotten frescoes on the church walls...

There's nothing like walking the old towns of these ancient European cities. We got some ice cream and took a break in the shade.

Lala took a picture...

And then we continued on our way, driving for several hours more east and north.

We entered the Alps once again and passed through the town of Trento (where the Council of Trent, the most important Catholic council of the Counter-Reformation, took place), and then continued on to the town of Bolzano in the region of South Tyrol.

In Bolzano we rode an elevator...

And then we found a decent little hotel and unloaded our gear. We walked through the town a bit...

I was surprised to see and hear so much German. Bolzano (or Bozen, in German) and the entire region of South Tyrol (Süd-Tirol) have been German-speaking for most of their history and even belonged to the Austrian empire for centuries. Only in the last century or so has the Italian influence grown to where the region really is totally bi-lingual. All the signs, menus, and even billboards are in both languages.

So we found an Italian restaurant and had dinner on the streetside. After walking through the town a bit and getting some gelatto, we headed back to the hotel and I slept soundly.

I forgot to post a map in my last post of where we had come from, so here is the map of our route from the Bern Temple in Zollikofen, Switzerland, to Bolzano, Italy...



View April Alpine Adventures: Switzerland and Italy in a larger map


And if you're interested how my dance lessons turned out, here's a little European Cinema for you...

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