I woke up in our very comfortable room in Trento, thinking I was hearing all the “ciaos” from the street in Venice. Finally, I realized where we were. The sun rises, right over the mountains we see from our window—pretty, but very bright in the mornings. We went downstairs and ate a nice hotel breakfast with Pat while Bob slept in. We made a tray to take up to him. Discovered that the well in the breakfast room, the archway and one of the walls are the original Roman and that there are ruins under this whole city, including catacombs under the duomo.
We decided to take the car up into the mountains. I should know better than to try to read a map, read directions and navigate while being in the passenger seat, especially with the record number of round-abouts. I was very car sick in no time. Long story short—we didn’t make it to our destination. Came back to the hotel and recuperated for a while. Ken went out for a nice long walk. I had gelato for lunch—not as good as in Venice but it is very good and just three doors down from the hotel.
We had a nice stroll—again, I really like this town. Feeling a little upset that I blew our day but moving on. We hung out in Bob and Pat’s room to watch the USA match. Right before we came up to watch, a group of about 5 or 6 guys were marching down the street chanting something about Algeria. Too bad for them, Donovan scored, late in the game and we won! So happy!
Bob really wanted pizza for dinner and none of the rest of us were really very hungry. Somehow we ended up in this beer garden place. His pizza was fine BUT—Pat and I decided to share (thank goodness) a plate of the “typical” foods. It was so terrible that it was funny! There was a wurstel (hot dog, really) on the plate and we both tasted it first. It had absolutely zero flavor. There was also a pork steak with a weird consistency—kind of mushy, a canederlo dumpling also, no flavor, some goulash which I thought was OK. Also there was some decent sauerkraut with caraway seeds and a piece of oily polenta. Here’s a picture of the worst food in Italy!

We laughed a lot. Ken had a pork shank and potatoes, which was just OK. I will have to go back today to find out the name of the place. At least the beer was good.
We walked back through town, winding around. Saw some cool gardens and sculpture.

Pat and I went into a shop where the woman/owner was asking about the oil kill situation and about Obama. It was not a happy conversation. There’s excitement building in the town for the weekend “Festa Vigiliane.” It celebrates the patron saint of Trento and starts tomorrow. We’re excited too.
We finished the night with more gelato. I had pink grapefruit and it was perfect! We sat on a bench in front of the ice cream place for a while before calling it a day.
Two shots from Trento:
The restaurant we loved, the night before:

And a street with a tower: