Spring in Rome

Spring in Rome has brought on lots of suffering for those who have allergies. I do not so I have enjoyed all of the sights and smells of the flowers like the jasmine hedge in the picture to the right. This week when I was walking with my friend, Martha, we saw a tree with several small parrots. They had green feathers and did not fly away when we looked at them. I try to take long walks almost every day. This week the weather was starting to get hot and humid so I know that summer is will be here soon. I turned on the air conditioning in my apartment for the first time this week. - Nancy

Civic Museum

View from Civic Museum

My final stop on Saturday in Bolzano was the Civic Museum. It had a very nice view from the top floor.  The top floor had a exhibit to wood stoves made from ceramic tiles that were used to heat homes. Some were quite elaborate. - Nancy

Ceramic wood stove

Ceramic wood stove

View of flower stall in Bolzano

Piazza Walther Plafz in Bolzano

Mountain Museum of Reinhol Messner

MMM Firmian in Sigmundskron Castle near Bozen addresses the subject of man’s encounter with the mountains. I took a public bus and then hiked up to the entrance of the Mueseum. 945 A.D. is the year of the earliest extant record of the castle. In 1027 the Emperor Conrad II presented the castle to the Bishop of Trent. In the 12th century the castle passed to high-ranking civil servants, who thereupon called themselves “von Firmian”. Around 1473 Duke Sigmund the Wealthy, Prince of the Tyrol, bought the castle, had it converted into a fortress and changed its name to Sigmundskron. The ruins of the castle were finally acquired by the Bozen provincial authority in 1957. Now the paths, stairs and towers lead visitors from the depths of the mountain, where their origins and exploitation are brought to life, and the religious significance of the peaks as an aid to orientation and a bridge to the beyond, to the history of mountaineering and the alpine tourist industry that we know today. - Nancy

2nd Cable Car Ride

On Saturday morning I took a bus to the station for another cable car ride. It went to Jenesien San Genesio. There were lots of trails on the map of the area but this time I did not hike but did enjoy the views. - Nancy

Bolzano Town Sites

Alter of Bolzano Cathedral

I packed a lot into my first day in Bolzano. I stopped by the cathedral of Bolzano which is in the city center. The foundation of the church is from the 4th century. The church was badly damaged in 1944 during WWII  by Allied bombings. Since 2010, the cathedral has a special carillon of bells (Glockenspiel), the work of the artist Ivo Radakovich made by the famous Grassmayr foundry of Innsbruck. The bells can be heard every Saturday and Sunday at 11 am. Bolzano seems more like an Austrian town then an Italian one. German is spoken as much or more than Italian. Menus are in both German and Italian. There a quite a few German and Austrian tourists.

Otzi (Picture from Internet)

My final stop of the day was the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology which houses Otzi, the ice man.  Pictures of him are forbidden so the picture on the left of from the Internet. The picture the is below and right is one that I took. It what they think he looked like when he died. Ötzi was found on 19 September 1991 by two German tourists, at an elevation of 3,210 metres (10,530 ft) on the east ridge of the Fineilspitze in the Ötztal Alps on the Austrian–Italian border. Scientists have determined he lived between 3400 and 3100 BCE. - Nancy

What Otzi probably looked like. Picture taken at the museum.

Castel Roncolo

After my hike I realized that I had time to get the local transport to go to Castel Roncolo. The Mediaeval castle is located on rock high above the Talvera river. 1237 is the year that the original complex was built. Ownership changed several times until in the second half of the 15th century when Castel Roncolo passed onto the hands of Sigismund of Austria. From the 18th century on the castle kept deteriorating. In 1883 Franz Joseph I of Austria received the castle as donation from Archduke Johann Salvator of Austria, who solemnly donated it to the city of Bolzano in 1893. Now it is open to the public. The walk up to it is steep and very uneven and some stairs in the interior seem more like ladders than stairs.           - Nancy

Talvera River

Lizard on fence post on trail to castle

Butterfly on flower by trail

Trip to Bolanzo

View from my hotel

I took my second and final personal leave day on May 18 to take the train to Bolzano which is close to the Austrian border. The Dolomite mountains in the Alps are in this region. I stayed at a lovely hotel walking distance from the train station. My 3 adult children had given me a Mother's Day gift to be used on this trip. I purchased a 3 day museum and transportation pass which I used to explore the area. My first stop on Friday was to go the the tourist office and get local advise and maps. I took one of the 3 cable cars in Bolzano up to an area called Ritten Renon. There are lots of hiking trails there. I ended up walking over 8 miles on Friday and saw beautiful scenes.- Nancy

Garden of my hotel

View from cable car

View on my hike

Formations like in Bryce Canyon

View on my hike

Lunch break

View on my hike

Spring time flowers

Lots of flowers in yards

View from cable car on way down

Mayfair at AOSR

The PTO (parent-teacher organization) has a big fund raiser each year called Mayfair.  There are lots of food booths, vendors who sell nice things, booths for kids, a band, and a raffle for various items donated by local businesses. I volunteered for 3 hours to work at 3 different locations - the used book table, selling raffle tickets and the middle school bake sale. I had purchased 20 raffle tickets during my work week but was very surprised to learn that I won 2 items. I won the spa basket filled with many bath and lotion items and the chocolate basket. It was fun to share the contents of both baskets with others on Monday. - Nancy

Last Day at Lake Como

I took my first personal leave day off on Monday. There is a lovely walking path around one side of Lake Como. There are several villas on the lovely path. One is Villa Olmo which is being refurbished. The path was just a nice place for stroll before taking the train back to Milan and then to Rome.

View of the funicular that I took on Sunday.  I was glad that I went to Lake Como. It is a tourist place but that is because it is a very scenic place. - Nancy

Trip on the Como–Brunate Funicular

After I returned from Lugano I decided to walk to the funicular that connects Como to a small village called Brunate. It was a very warm afternoon but I wanted to go on Sunday even though there were lots of tourists because the forecast was for clouds and rain on Monday. The funicular has operated since 1894. The line is 3,556 ft long, of which the lower 427 ft are in a tunnel. The remainder of the line is at or above ground level, with extensive views over the lake and city.

Soon after I returned to my hotel there was a strong thunder and lightening storm. I was glad to be settled into my room for the night. - Nancy

Why not Switzerland?

Como, Italy sits just South of Switzerland. In less than a 7 minute train ride I crossed the border into Switzerland. But unlike the signs on the Interstate when you cross into a new state and there is a big billboard that says, "Welcome to Oregon," there is no indication that one has left Italy and is now in Switzerland. But it is evident in the things like less trash, cleaner streets, less graffiti and more flower boxes and neat, tidy yards. My purpose was to go the the city of Lugano. Like Como it sits by a large lake and climbs up the hillside. The train station is high up on of the hillsides. It was a nice stroll down to the lakeside but a good cardio workout back when I had finished my day of exploring. I had no plan for the day and enjoyed a hop-off train ride around the city. I learned about a beautiful park and that I walked to see. The azaleas were in full bloom. There were park benches and I discovered a delightful idea of some boxes of books available to read in the park and then returned.  It was another one of those picture perfect days.  - Nancy

Fountain on lake front

Tourist train

Yes, it was also for adults.

Lilac tree that wound it's truck around another tree

Book boxes in the park

Proof that I was there.

Beautiful Azaleas.

Church right below train station

Alter in the church

One of the stained glass windows in the church

Garden near the church

Section of steps back to the train station.