We will be meeting with Jim today. As he will arrive about 10:30 Tina and I will have a slow breakfast, check out of our apartment and meet him in the main plaza. The apartment we rented for the night is ultra modern, electronics for everything. I am not able to figure out how to lower the blinds. It did take me two days to figure out how to lower the ones in Innsbruck. But the place in Innsbruck had a switch. This place has an electronic screen attached to the wall with instructions in Italian.
This is a holiday in Italy – Republic Day – commemorating the day they abolished the monarchy in 1946. Looks like the king went out with the Fascists. This is the second holiday that we have encountered on this trip. Although the fresh air market will be buttoned up, we are hoping that some of the restaurants and shops will be open. We also hope to see Ortzi – the guy that thawed out of a glacier in 1991. He had been frozen in place for over 5000 years. A copper age man.
Met up with Jim. Walked through a park, went to the Ortzi museum and had a great lunch.
The Otzi museum was more interesting than I had anticipated. He lived some 5,000 years ago and was preserved with all his stuff (copper axe, long bow, arrows, clothes) . To put the timeframe in perspective, this was over a thousand years before Stonehenge. Evidently he was in a fight then bushwhacked a day later. Probably a crime of passion since none of his stuff was taken. I have added a link about Otzi below.
After lunch we caught a train to MezzoLombardo, the village where Jim is working and staying. We checked in at our B+B, a small eclectic place where every room has a Jacuzzi. The proprietor is a fun and very enthusiastic individual who speaks no English, good thing we have Jim in tow.
Our first order of business was to break into the Foradori winery where Jim works and treat ourselves to a glass of their finest.
We went to dinner at a great small restaurant across the valley and part way up the mountain in a small village. We were joined by Eleza, a coworker of Jim’s from Germany.
Backpacking Bill 