BOLZANO TO TRENTO - 43 miles

Sunny and 85 degrees - this has been our life for the past few days.  Now Weather.com tells us that it will be 68 and raining today.  So we do our due diligence and figure out it will not begin raining until noon, so we will bike as far as we can, get out our rain gear, and if worst comes to worst, catch a train to Trento.  That is the plan.  I kind of like the plan because who wants to come home from a big time biking trip with no stories of heroism?



APPLE PICKERS



Getting out of downtown Bolzano was a challenge, but we made it.  We had left the Scala Hotel pretty early hoping to get quite a way before the impending storm.  It was a terrific ride.  Once again, apple orchards on our left and the Adige River on our right.  There must be one million apple trees in this area.  I'm really kind of getting sick of seeing the apples and hoping to see the vineyards any time now.  One interesting thing, though, we finally got to see how the apples are picked and NO they are not picked by a machine.  They are picked by hand.  I don't know how long it will take them but it seemed like it would take a lifetime.

We stopped for an apfelsaft and kept congratulating ourselves on our decision to bike.  One kilometer later the light drops started falling, we dug out our rain gear, and took off...not bothering to put on our rubber overshoes---too cool for that.  So, then the sky began falling and we realized the mistake but were too wet to put on the shoes.  Friend kept saying to look for Mezzocorona the last possible place to catch the train.  I pointed out that Mezzocorona was 1 km away, while friend said it couldn't be that close.  We passed the last major train station when the lightning started flashing and the thunder started rolling in.

"Stazione"  my new favorite word.  Through my fogged up sunglasses the small white sign appeared and we made our way to a stop for the local train.  It was such a relief!  45 minutes later (30 minutes waiting and a 15 minute ride) we arrived in Trento.  Only Italian on all of the signs, no German/Italian, and buildings that were peeling paint--finally we were in the real Italy! 

Our reward was the four star hotel The Grand, with an all white marble bathroom and hot water.  It is supposed to be beautiful again tomorrow.