We left Rome on a rainy day and drove all the way up to Bolzano, in the Italian region of Trentino-Alto Adige, near the border with Austria. We were pleased to find that it was not raining in Bolzano, unlike just about all the other ground we covered that day.
Bolzano (also known as Bolzen) does not look like Italy, but Austria, of which it used to be part. There is a wonderful riverside park where we enjoyed strolling and watching all the people playing various sports. There were all kinds of playing fields, including the usual soccer, but also volleyball, basketball, and tennis courts as well as a skate park.
A highlight of our visit to Bolzano was the Ice Man. Who's the Ice Man, you ask? You might remember that the body of a prehistoric man was found in the Alps in the 1990s. That was "Oetzi," the Ice Man. He lived over 5000 years ago, sometime between 3350 and 3100 BC, during the Copper Age. The South Tyrol Museum of Archeology has an excellent and exhaustive exhibit about Oetzi. Alas, photos weren't allowed in the museum, but you can see many on the museum's website.
