Blogs from Trentino Alto Adige, Italy, Europe - page 12

We left Interlaken on the26th May. We had a date to keep. Our youngest son, (the one with the fractured spine) had decided to come to visit us as part of his recuperation. Perhaps a little risky, considering his delicate condition and unable to get himself health insurance he nevertheless with the confidence of youth, decided to fly to Bergamo airport to spend 10 days with us. Able to walk short distances and do gentle exercise, he spent a week in our “Swiss clinic” being waited on hand and foot! We spent just over a week at Locarno in the Ticino area , on the Swiss side of Lake Maggiore . The temperatures soared reaching the lower 30’s and some days it was hard enough for us all to do much more than lie in the ... read more

I forgot to mention that we detoured on the way home past the computer lab at CIMBA. We still hadn’t confirmed any of our Saturday and Sunday plans. My colleagues had been offering a bunch of terrific ideas—from Lake Garda to Slovenia. My dad’s typical response to ideas was “It’s up to you, honey. I’m just along for the ride.” But eventually we came across a winner. My colleague Chris (another Michigander!) suggested Bolzano. It is only a few hours away by train. So that met our need to have a quick trip. It’s a small town in the Italian Alps that is more Austrian than it is Italian. So that met my dad’s desire to see a different country. And it is home to Ötzi, the 5,000-year-old ice mummy. That sealed the deal. My dad ... read more

We had breakfast at the hotel and reviewed our plans for today. We decided to hop on the Autostrada and make good time going to Verona. We drove through the Po Valley and it was flat and lots of fields of stuff growing. No Roman ruins that I could see. We made it to Verona before lunch parked the car and headed off to the arena. Verona’s Arena is the third largest and is the only one that is still being used today. It was very impressive. We walked through the tunnels where slaves and gladiators once stood, sat in the stands and once we conquered the lions, we were ready for lunch. I was hungry, so we set of to the Piazza Erbe (is named after the Herb market that was held there for over ... read more

About six months ago our Deputy Head walked into the staffroom and asked if any of the teachers would be willing to go to Italy for the schools first ski trip abroad. Go to Italy for a school ski trip? Not the sort of thing that happens in New Zealand very often. Of course it didn’t take me more than 2 seconds to sign up for the trip. Other teachers later remarked that ‘no one else even had a chance to volunteer’ as Bridget and myself immediately started bouncing and shouting “PLEASE, PLEASE, PICK ME, PICK ME!” On Saturday 28th March, we all assembled. Thirty-five 8 to11year old girls, four teachers and three husbands / partners. Yes even the boys were allowed to attend - as long as they passed their CRB and met our strict ... read more

At the weekend I took part in the "largest student sporting event on the snow", in Bolzano/Bozen. Snowdays 2009 organised by the students of the University of Bolzano for 350 other students from France, Germany and Italy. Activities included midnight sledging, skiing, a snow-volleyball tornament and lots of general celebration. I went with 16 other students from Bologna, and we were decidedly the coolest and best team, as we were beautifully co-ordinated with very fashionable sunglasses (see pictures) and everyone was always very energetic and cheerful despite most of us not sleeping more than about 5 hours in the entire three days. We went on the regional train (it cost about 13 euros for 200km) and were hosted by the Bolzano students and everything was heavily subsidised so the trip ended up being extremely good value. ... read more