Day 13 - 27 April, 2005: Bolzano

The sun rose to a gorgeous day today; not a cloud in the beautiful, deep blue sky. This morning at breakfast, Angela read that Bolzano has the highest per-capita income of any city in Italy, and that the shopping here is fabulous. Needless to say, she was pretty excited about her prospects. We decided that she would do her shopping, and I would do my thing and we would meet back in the main town square (Waltherplatz, or Piazza Walther) for lunch.

After consulting the book, I made my way into a 13th century Dominican church which was beautiful. The frescoes were starting to fade from the walls, but the church was making an effort at preservation and restoration. I was able to put to use the little mini-tripod I bought in Siena to get some decent shots of the interior.

We met back up at the fountain in the main square and found some pizza for lunch. One of the things that I wanted to see here in Bolzano is the South Tirol Museum of Archaeology, since they have the exhibit of "Utzi," the 5000 year old Iceman found frozen in the alps. The exhibit was very well done, and there was an audioguide in English that explained everything in very good detail. He was so well preserved that the forensic anthropologists and doctors were able to identify his stomach contents. Amazing.

Angela and I decided to do a little driving, so we headed out of town and toward the ski town of Cortina d'Ampezzo, in the Val Gardena. What a beautiful drive! This dolomite region of the alps is spectacular. The bikers (bicyclists, not motorcycles) were everywhere. The gradients were quite steep, too.

We had dinner in another quaint restaurant; not as good as last night, though, but pretty good nonetheless.

Angela wants to go to the "Egg Store" in Salzburg for some more Christmas Trinkets, and we're dropping the trucklet off tomorrow night back in Munich, too.