We have had two days of pretty grueling mountaintop hiking. Can't decide if it is harder climbing or descending both have challenges. Today we left the poles behind in our hotel room, big mistake, we needed them for the sharp ascent to the east side of the valley above the river. We got close to two castles today but the third remained un conquered, just out of reach on the next ridge. We appreciate the selection of the castle locations, certainly they were safe from the tourist attack:).
I think today is just a hint of what we will encounter in Germany. The beauty of climbing in Italy, is the gelato at the end of the day!! Makes it all worth while. Also the Venitian spritz is a great cool drink for the hot hikers. We balance our days with a bit I'd window shopping and a bit of touring, so we feel like it isn't just hiking. Though we are out there for about 4 or 5 hours. Our muscles will remember this trip, even if our brains forget.
Mother's Day celebration included a trip to Oberbozen, two long walks and then dinner at a memorable place where pizza and Venetian spritz are the specialties. We sat next to a group that included four adults, five young children, one huge dog, two or maybe three languages. It was a great show for us as we sipped our spritz's and loosened our boots. Those days are behind us.
The days have been perfect with a bit of cool breezes, lots of sun and occasional cloud cover. The mountains are so beautiful, we can't help taking lots of photos. We are both very pleased with the performance of our boots, they are getting a workout. I am ready to start the "beyond Rick Steves" series for people with more time and are interested in getting dirty while traveling.
We have really enjoyed meeting the other walkers along the paths and getting the feel of the European walkers. Not many Americans out there on the paths, but I am sure they would find it enlightening if they tried it.
You may be wondering what our destinations have been. Well, our primary destination every day is to walk three or four hours. Even if it is just around town, many times we circle and come back to where we start, sometimes we find something interesting, but we usually don't end up in the place we intended. There are so many paths and each is numbered and arrows point in all directions. We just stay on the paths and keep going. Today the path got so steep we took a break and two young people came along, we asked them how far or the next town, they said one hour up hill, we decided, we would call it quits and head down back to the river. The whole trip up and back took about four hours and here we are back in our room, Penny is napping and I am blogging. We leave tomorrow for Hallstatt, via Salzburg and may not get service there. We are doing great.
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