Bolzano

Our trip from Paris proved to be quite eventful...we flew from Charles de Gaulle to Heathrow on to Munich. Unfortunately the Paris plane left late which meant ,of course, we arrived late and subsequently missed our connecting flight. British Airways were pretty good in fixing up another flight later that day, so we were ok but the luggage was stranded somewhere at Heathrow :(. We flew onto Munich... the luggage arrived at 2am, a pretty good result when you consider the repercussions of "lost luggage".

At Munich we began to travel on trains. This is definitely the way to travel here if you have the time. They are punctual, and the transit system is way less busy and stressful than when traveling by air. It also means you get a pretty good handle on the scenery which, when crossing through to the alps, isn't too hard to take!

We arrived at Bolzano, a little after lunch, to see Sabine waiting at the station. Man she's still a dynamo... she had us back at Lano ( about 20 k from Bolzano) and out the door sightseeing within the hour of arriving! We went up "Aussie Hill", a pleasant 20 min walk up just past a little cafe ( owned by her cousin) to where you can look over the valley. This area is flourishing with apple orchards and vineyards. Dotted around the valley and lower slopes are hamlets, with cute little houses, criss-crossed laneways through orchards and spires of the local churches; slightly up higher, an occasional castle can be seen. We went on to "have coffee" at her brother's tennis centre and met Elisabeth and Ernst, her parents. You can where Sabine gets her energy and enthusiasm from.. her parents run own and run an apartment style accommodation; they do the cleaning, the maintenance, gardening, as well as assisting Sabine with a similar style of operation; up until two years ago Elisabeth did all the baking for the cafe. On this particular day they were both running around the tennis court placing shots to rival those of Federa! ..pretty inspiring -they are in their late sixties.

Vikki & Tony at "Aussie Hill"

After "the coffee" Sabine had managed to talk me into a chairlift ride up one of the local slopes to see one of the best views of Mareno and Lana. To most this would be a cinch, but to those who are in the know, and as already previously mentioned, I am a BIG WUSS when it comes to heights. Squashing the bile rising from the depths of my stomach, I followed Sabine and sat myself in the chair which followed hers, and lowered the bar. Clunk and a swing forward to get going was all that was needed for the anxiety levels to make an appearance. Seizing the side armrests in a death grip.. the ride began. With Tony, in the chair behind me, trying to be supportive and encouraging ( yes, he has these momentary lapses) , it was too much and , forgetting my mantra,I screeched for him to ....be quiet!

Vikki on Chairlift

View from path on the way down from chairlift

The kids have grown so much..Micki is now 15, Miri is 14 and Andi 11( I think). They have full lives with their activities..soccer, violin, piano, drums, tennis and Homework! They appear to get on so well ( maybe my lack of German could contribute to this observation), love to play games particularly the Chinese 500 learnt in Tasmania :) Pastor Helmut is well and we have him on video talking about what happened when he returned from Australia a couple of years ago.

Micki and Andi

Miri

The following day Tony and I took a couple of bikes and went exploring our way to Mareno ( supposedly a 15 - 20 min ride from Lano). We came to know the local orchards pretty well, and were shown how kind and helpful the Italians could be to a couple of visitors, some going well beyond the call of duty! The day was perfect - still, blue skies warm, made more pleasant by the occasional spurt of water over us from the irrigation. We were pretty proud of ourselves as we successfully manouvered our way around the highway and local street with roundabouts using French/Italian/German signs and on the right hand side of the road!!

View of castle and vineyards

We had a meeting on Wednesday...accompanied by an orchestra ( Miri-piano; Micki- bass; Sabine-lead guitar and Andi on violin). Testimonies were swapped, choruses sung ( Tony singing in German- unbelievable!) - a fantastic night. Later, when we were having tea we went through photos and a video of the Dolmerites and we saw our Pamela, looking happy and excited, as she walked at one time; and at another, flew in a helicopter doing aerial acrobatics over these amazing formations !

We had a wonderful time here, really enjoyed the opportunity to spend time with Sabine and family. We have made tentative arrangements to go back in 2009 and do a week trek through the Dolmerites :) followed up by Summer Camp. Here's hoping.