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This was our final day in Italy in 2011 and it was a good one except that Beth still didn't feel well and so had a quiet day to herself. During the day she valiantly carried what turned out to be a large amount of shopping up the four flights of stairs to the unit. The lift is still not working.

Meanwhile Mick, Elias, Marthese and I caught the train ( 2 hours and about 15 minutes, quicker back) to Bolzano in Trentino-Alto Adige. This province is right up on the Austrian border and until 1919 was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Marthese and I were looking forward to practising some of our German, and seeing snow (although Marthese had seen plenty in Switzerland the day before). I barely got my first wish and not the second although Bolzano is a pretty town surrounded by mountains and some of them had snow on the tips. Our first stop after collecting a map was for coffee where we were greeted with a welcoming "Buongiorno" by a friendly cafe owner who prepared lovely coffees for us with a different decoration on each of them. It was very cold in Bolzano but I noticed that the dogs there either have no jackets, or their jackets are not as ornate and colourful as the ones we have seen in Verona, which has been a source of constant amusement to those of us of the female persuasion!

The main show in town is the Archeological Museum which is the home of Otzi the Iceman who is over 5,300 years old. This place is really interesting and there is lots of information and conjecture about Otzi and how he looked, what he was doing at the time of his death, why he was murdered, who caused the other injuries he suffered from etc. There are scientists continuing to work on finding answers to these fascinating questions. There are also people out to make a buck such as the producers of jelly babies in the form of Otzi, and the woman who said she would be glad to have his baby if the cells could be collected. Another woman said she had visions of him and dreams and all sorts of claims but her relevations didn't match with fact. (M: For me the reconstruction of Otzi was amazing. And looking at articles he actually wore 5000 years ago... )

It was time for lunch and once again Trip Advisor didn't disappoint. We had a delicious pizza each at "Il Muflone Rosa" and we ordered in German, Italian and English with the versatile waiter. We followed this with a walk around the town. Some of the roads were blocked off for an event that was happening that day and we saw plenty of runners and bike riders participating or warming up for this. We decided to go and have a look at one of several castles in the area and found it- my reaction was that it was smaller than I expected. (M: Still, it proved to be quite photogenic as you can see from the picture attached). Nearby was a wide path in the sun that lots of people were walking and running on and from here you could see the beautiful snow on the mountains quite clearly.

M:

The last major stop was the Duomo/Dom - a much more subdued Gothic style building than we had seen further south. It suffered a great deal of war damage, and it was never quite clear to me just how much and where.

A:

A quick stop for coffee near the station and we were back on the train which this time was noisier than usual with someone playing loud music and people talking loudly across the carriage. (M: Marthese said it was just like being back on the Western line in Sydney!) We were back home about 5 and enjoyed New Year's Eve together, including our rather expensive bottle of Amarone.

At 10.30 Mick and I went out to the nearby Piazza Bra where a concert was happening with a number of artists including Umberto Tozzi who wrote " Gloria" and "Ti amo", the second of which he sang to the delight of the crowd.

M:

From the way that everyone - young and old- was singing along with Tozzi, it was clear that he had been a part of the soundtrack of their lives. While it was cold, it was quite bearable. Moreover, despite the fact that the Piazza was packed, there seemed to be little evidence of the drunken boorish behaviour that seems to mark our own NYE celebrations. The main danger was the freelance fireworks that had started about sundown and gathered momentum as the evening progressed. Bangers, rockets, you name it.

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Just before midnight the presenter greeted the crowd in Italian, German and English and made us all feel welcome. At midnight the fireworks went off from inside the Roman Arena next to us which was really spectacular. We made our way through the crowds shortly after this and back to our unit to wish happy new year to the "younger crowd'.The highlight of this part of the evening was the Beth- Russell Coight dance! We have some of it on film - but private viewing only! Welcome 2012!