Today we walked to Austria

Steve standing on top of the world in the Alpi di Siusi

So sorry these blogs are written so poorly. Bad app, bad wifi, tired, busy..what have you. It is very early in the morning here in the Dolomites. Steve is still sleeping. We've been trying to pack in as much as possible. I spent hours planning this trip but not enough..where to go, what to see? Our base is in Castelrotto, high up there but by cable car yesterday, we went higher to the Alpi di Siusi, a huge Alpine meadow, edelweiss, the sound of cow bells, surrounded by mountains..

We noticed with our travel pass we could get to the border town Brenner/Brennario plus going up through the Brenner pass in a train should be pretty. Lots of tunnels and a few flashes of beauty. The town itself was drab. We had to ask where the border is. Even walking right over it, it wasn't obvious but there it was, a small marble statue with a small line. I have a picture with Steve sitting in two countries somewhere in this mess below. On one side, strip clubs, on the other, outlet malls....but a new country for the two of us.  Lots of time spent in a variety of transportation..two trips to Bolzano alone and we have to go back yet again to catch our fast train to Bologna...no more mountains and natural beauty..on to art and architecture.

cable car station

our hotel. We had our own balcony plus there was a public rooftop terrace with a hot tub and comfortable chaises

Downtown Castelrotto or Kastelruth as it is known here. Mussolini gave all Italian names to the villages but they like their German ones better. People speak German here. This area was part of Austria for 500 years then it was lost in WW! and they didn't get it back in WW2 either

View from the town square

our cable car

Alpi di Siusi

edelweis I had some for years until the rabbits discovered it

detail of Bolzano (or Boden in German) building

Steve sitting on the Italian/Austrian border