Bolzano

 Missy finally arrived and a missed connection and 3 delayed flights she arrived in Verona 20 hours after she was scheduled. .  But her fun was not over….  At the rental car counter they said that because her flight was delayed they could no longer find her reservation (even though she notified them AND was within the 24 hour delay policy!). Needless to say that was almost the final straw for her- but we were able to rent a car from a different company and finally were on our way.  We drove from Verona to Lake Garda and onto Bolzano. It was a pretty drive and the car we got was great. We found our airBNB and settled in by 9pm. As it was late we bought a slice of pizza and went to bed.  We got up early on Monday and after having some juice and muesli bar/fruit we headed out to see the town of Bolzano.  It’s a cute town in an area of Italy that has been occupied by both the Austrians and Germans and most people in Bolzano speak both German and Italian and signs are in both languages.  We met our food tour guide at 11 and visited several places having bruschetta, pretzels, spatzel, bierknoedel(German bread dumplings), beer tastings, apfelstrudel and lemon tart.   Its was fun.  After the tour we walked around a bit more and then went to the car for a drive to Ortesei.  We checked into our hotel in Ortesei around 5 and took a walk around the town.  We bought cheese and salami and dried apricots for a lite dinner and now are going to bed early to prepare for. Day of hiking tomorrow.  

Road to Bolzano

Lake Garda

Town by the lake

Lake Garda

Lake Garda

Lots of these tunnels on the road by the lake

Torbole -town at top of lake Garda

View of lake (largest lake in Italy)

View from hill as we left the lake area

AirBNB in Bolzano

Y

Adige river in Bolzano

Bolzano market

Bolzano (also called Bosen in German)

Bruschetta

Bozen brewery

Pasticceria

Bolzano plaza

Road to Ortisei

Castle on road to Ortisei

View from hotel room

Ortesei

Our hotel- hotel Stetteneck

Verona

 I arrived in Verona in the afternoon on Saturday .  Took a cab to my hotel but he dropped me off 2 blocks from hotel so I had to walk there with my luggage.  Hotel is in a nice location near central plaza.  After dropping my stuff and cleaning up after the long flight I headed out to explore.  Because I was tired from the trip I chose to take the hop on hop off bus to get my bearings and see where I might want to explore Sunday.  After the tours (there were 2 routes and I did both) I stopped for some bruschetta and by then it was 8pm and I was excited to sleep.   

Got up Sunday am, showered and embarked on a 5 mile walk around town. I saw Juliet’s balcony (Giulieta) a duomo, coliseum,shopping, the river and bridges.  It was a nice walk.  Stopped for a small gelato and then caught a cab to the airport to meet Missy.    Her plane was yet again delayed but she is finally arriving in Verona.  More tomorrow!!

Inside the duomo

Outside the duomo

Ponte pietra

 Clown on the bridge

Strawberry and chocolate crepe

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Juliet’s balcony

Coliseum

Traveling to Verona

 I set off May31 from SFO to Frankfurt and my flight was uneventful.  It was on time, good seat, good food, I was comfortable for the whole flight.  Missy was not so lucky.  All was going well until a flight attendant didn’t show so the flight was delayed and she missed her connection in Denver.  She had to spend the night in Denver and hopefully will get to meet me on Sunday in Italy (traveling from Denver to Toronto and then Frankfurt and Verona.  I guess I’ll be exploring Verona in my own.   Im  currently waiting for Air Dolomiti flight from Frankfurt to Verona.  

Downtown SF

S.F. from air

Lots of leg room

Our plane in SF

 Adding new trip to Italy - starting with flight from SFO to Frankfurt to Verona on May 31.  Will start blog likely from Verona.