Hotel Relais Orsingher Trento

... Mori<br>pasta &amp; fagioli, pasta w/mushrooms, sausage &amp; polenta, nice white<br>fireplace with copper pans etc. party of alpine soldiers having lunch.<br>Continued visit in Asolo, left 4pm for tour of surrounding hills, homeward<br>bound

... in sight. Pietro did the honors and had us stuffed with sauteed veggies, rare meats, awesome wine and sweet desserts. For some reason I was the only espresso drinker at the end of the night. I guess we know who the real Italian is in this bunch!<br><br>In the morning, Nina and I extended what was supposed to be an early exit so that we could get an hour of Milano shopping in. She disappeared with a gigantic smile on her face and returned to the room (late of ...

... there. <br><br>Kolpinghaus, the student residence I was assigned to, is really close to the University, which is nice. It is catholic-run though, and they actually make you sign on to their rules! This imposition is uncomfortable as it makes it impossible to really feel at home in your room. No visitors from outside the hotel, no one else in the room after ten and a curfew at twelve, among other things. Ridiculous.<br><br>The room they gave me is modern, with hardwood floors and ...

... the Gelataria. They served gianormous great sundays with goodness knows how many scoops inside but that didn't stop us ordering plenty. The fruit one with melon gelati was the best I've had so far, and even the tiramisu later, plus Anne's Baileys one didn't compare. I love Italy so much.<br><br>Oh, I have to give a mention to the home made pasta I had for dinner in the little traditional restaurant up the hill the receptionist in our hotel recommended. It was completely full of ...

At 2:48pm the train arrived in Bolzano/Bozen as indicated. Northern Italy is quite hilly with some great landscape for one's viewing enjoyment. I was quite surprised by the city of Bolzano. The very first thing I did was purchase a SuperEnalotto ticket! 146.9 million euros, who could say no? My next train was not until 4:32pm, I went out to have a look at this city. This city is close to Germany and has a huge German influence. That is ...

Trey and I did a 30+ mile bike ride from Cortina up to Prato Piazza. The length wasn't difficult, but the 900 meter climb was very strenuous. The ride through the forests, along the river, past a lake, and then up to the top were very scenic. We stopped towards the top to rest and eat our sandwiches. Peanut butter sandwiches never tasted so good after the climb to 2200 meters!<br><br>While ...

Today was an easy day. Trey was still suffering from altitude sickness and stayed in the hotel for most of the day. <br><br>Cindy, Alycia, and I went up into the Confini del Parco Naturale delle Dolomiti d'Ampezzo nature preserve north of town and hiked the Number 10 trail to go see the Cascata de Fanes waterfalls. The hike was very nice, including wide paved trails, crushed gravel trails, bridges and lots of elevation changes. It allowed ...

... bowing performers after each of the 3 acts. Simply stunning!<br><br>That's it! What a great holiday! We couldn't have wished for a more fulfilled trip to this fascinating area of Italy! We'll be back!<br><br>P.S.: A great guide for the Alte Vie of the Dolomites is Dolomite Trekking by Henry Stedman. The Cicerone equivalent is rubbish. But Cicerone have a fairly useful via ferrata guide. Our whole exploits were covered on the Kompass 1:25000 Cortina d'Ampezzo map (617)<br>

... square centimeter of the walls in the walkway to the courtyard with the balcony. People even wrote on post-its and band-aid's to be able to get there message onto part of the wall in some parts! This past weekend I think was really helpful, especially Trento, in getting me to feel better about Italy. We were all having kind of a hard time last week, adjusting, especially while Padova is still so very out-of-commission because of the August mass vacation ...

... stank es bedenklich. Und der Fakt, dass ich einer Bushaltestellenschmiererei mit Aufschrift "Juden raus" begegnet war, machte mich leicht nervös... Zumal sehr komische Typen überall um uns herum im Park waren. Lustig zu beobachten war aber, wie ein Typ die ganze Zeit bewegungsunfähig auf einer Bank saß - und dann sein Kumpel mit einem Motorroller ankam und ihn mitnehmen wollte. Kurze Zusammenfassung: Helm 2x runtergefallen, Betrunkener 1x ...