Anne and Maddy - Our Travel Adventures: Italy, France, Balkans Trip

First stop - Milan, Italy

Anne and I left Detroit on August 11, changed planes in Amsterdam and arrived in Milan 8/12, where it's very hot and muggy. We're on our own for two weeks, traveling through northern Italy and southern France. And we've had a couple days where we've thought this might be our last independent travel. Much easier when someone else is dragging you and your bags around. Anne will be posting her photos at: jinkski.blogspot.com

8/13: Milan is a large city with lots of big office and apartment buildings. The train station exterior is impressive. I hope my photographer got some good pictures. We're feeling a bit more normal today. We're riding the hop on/off bus for 2 days, seeing old and new buildings, sports arenas, etc. We visited the Duomo, the 2nd largest cathedral in Italy, which took about 600 years to complete. There are 52 massive support columns. We didn't walk up the 186 steps to the top for the view. Yes, our Anne would normally walk them, but she is taking it easy now, giving her strained muscle a break. Anne found a tourist shop with just the right sun hat with a wide brim for me.

8/15. We took a 50-minute train ride to Lake Como today. Didn't feel like spending 6 hours on a tour boat around the entire lake, so we opted for a 1 hour cruise. Lake Como is like an inverted Y. We toured the southwest leg of it. Good enough in 95° weather. It is pretty, but parts are very congested.

8/16: We left Milan by train, going to Bolzano/Bozen. About half way, we started seeing hills and mountains. In the fields we see corn, sorghum, orchards with apples and plenty of vineyards. There are almost 30 vineyards around Bolzano. An old proverb: Venice floats on water and Bolzano floats on wine. Bolzano is in the South Tyrol province, where Italian and German are spoken. You can see more Bavarian influence than Italian as you look at buildings and restaurant menus. August is a big month for European travel, so there are many families here. Lots of bicycles. Masks are required inside everywhere. We had to show our vaccination cards for entry to the Duomo and the museums. We had to show a covid test with negative results to board the planes. Tonight there is rain with lightning, cooler temperatures at night.

8/17: Today we took a bus to the town center, and we went to the South Tyrol Museum to see Otzi the Iceman, the 8,000 year old mummy found near here by a couple hikers back in the 1990's. As testing methods improve, they are able to learn more about him. His body experienced much trauma, but it appears he was struck in the back/neck with an arrow that managed to cut an artery. Poor guy needed today's medical attention to save him before he bled to death. He had a deep cut on a hand, his one arm is very bent (maybe from trying to keep his wound from bleeding), he has some trauma to the back of his head. He did eat a meal of grain and ibis meat about an hour before he died. The scientists know he also had fat in his gut, but they don't know what it's from since ibis is very lean meat. Because of global warming, his remains were found. The museum spends €200,000 annually to keep his body in a similar environment today that he spent most of his existence in. We're very glad to get in the museum without reservations. Tomorrow morning a man and his car will take us for a ride into the Dolomites.

Duomo, the Milan Cathedral, second largest cathedral in Italy, construction began in 1386