June 11, 2014 – Venice to Castelrotto.
From my journal:
Travel day. Easy morning. Breakfast – not really; coffees and pastries. Nice visit with Mark & Carmel from Sydney, 60-ish couple on 13-month trip around the world.
Shopped for groceries. Picked up our packs and caught the train to Bolzano via Verona (3 hours).
Afternoon coffees, bus to Castelrotto (50 min), gorgeous little alpine town. So Austrian it’s like we got an extra country added to our trip for free.
Checked into Hotel Wolf. Walked the town, including an amazing little cemetery with World Wars dead memorial. Dinner at Hexenkeller (Witch’s Cellar. The town is known for it’s witch-burning past) – great Tyrolean food and down-to-earth alpine atmosphere. Local beer – Antonius. We both had pork cutlet with mushroom sauce and salad bar. Mmm!
We returned after – Gelato Day 11: S: Menta (mint chocolate chip), L: Dark Cherry mit Kirsh (cherry schnapps) – about 9:20.
The music was already underway, the room was packed with happy friendly Germans (actually, I should say, German-speakers, as they could be Italian, Swiss, Austrian or German) singing along to beloved folk songs. We got seats at the bar and ordered drinks. The couple next to us struck up a conversation between songs, and when the music resumed she locked arms with me and we joined in a line singers rocking form side to side as they sang. What a blast!
The Free Range 