Clouds.  Everywhere.  Clouds.   Breakfast in this place was lovely and  a treat.  I loved my scrambled egg!   We drove a short way (like 10 min. max) to a place where we could catch a very short, simple trail.  And it is called the Mushroom Path.  It’s a loop through lovely woods that takes about a half hour.  While we didn’t see any mushrooms we did enjoy these natural sculptures.  Here are 2 but there were a few more.

There were also boards with lots of mushroom information.  I guess we just hit the wrong season. Also there were very few wild flowers.  Petra says it’s still early and that everything is messed up because of a strange hot spell they had in May.

After finishing the easy mushroom loop we went on the Konigswater also know as Veduta del Re–the trail to see the king’s look out.

The King’s Lookout

view from the lookout

At the end of the trail was a beautiful meadow.

I was able to do these because they have lots of benches along the way but by the end I was totally wiped out (pain sucks) and I thought I wouldn’t make it back to the car.  But, I did, determined to take it very easy the rest of the day.

Taking it easy was no fun so we drove to Ortisei, a more resort like town about 15 minutes drive from Castelrotto.  It was pretty.  Lots of wood carving shops and a lot more tourists walking the streets. The church was very nice.

Came back to the hotel, went to lunch at the same place as last night.  Had the big salad again and a wonderful simple vegetable soup and we just had to try the ubiquitous apple strudel  It’s quite cool here–probably made it into the 70’s after a while but the morning was in the 50’s.  I’m looking like a bag lady wearing layers of shirts and my rain jacket.

The afternoon I really rested.  Ken went for a long walk and I stayed in the room, reading and napping.

For dinner we went to the restaurant in Hotel Zum Turm about a 5 minute walk from here.  They had 2 soups on the menu that were calling me.  I chose herb soup.  It was so delicious; I can’t wait to try it with all of my herbs at home.  Ken had a pasta with venison ragu which was excellent.  The venison was cut into tiny cubes and braised in the sauce which had cloves in it.  The pasta was thick and hearty.  I had nettle and potato gnocchi with gorgonzola sauce.  So rich, I only ate about half of it but I loved it!  So full!

Walking home we talked briefly with a family visiting here from Genoa.  They said they come every year and were going into a gelato shop.  I couldn’t even look.