Rain today

It was raining this morning, and the highlands where we wre yesterday were clouded over. We had a fairly slow day (needed, I think). In the morning we went to the anthropology museum where there is a really interesting exhibit about the Iceman, including the dude himself. He was found mummified in the mountains near here in 1991, and it has since been determined he was murdered in the mountains 4 to 5,000 years ago. Scientists are still working on details of his story and there is a lot that will never be known conclusively. No one knows if he was a trader, a shaman, or what kind of person he was. Lots of interesting conjecture based on his clothes and objects he carried. It is pretty much concluded that he died in a fight, but the details will  never be known.

As I mentioned, this area, South Tyrolia  is a mixture of Austrian and Italian cultures. Italy acquired it after WWI. The differences in architecture are very striking. The old district is on one side of the river, and looks very Austrian: slanting dark roofs over white houses, alcoves that form towers with weather vanes on top, etc. Lots of character and charm. Mussolini tried stressed Italian culture around the 1930s; there is a district that he built for Italian immigrants across the river. The buildings are block like and rather scary, with some interesting art. One wall carving shows Prometheus trying to stare down the eagle. All this reflects on Mussolinis fascism, of course, and not on the Italian people.

There are separatist movements active now. One faction wants the region to be autonomous in Italy; another wants South Tyrolia to be an independent country. We also saw a flier that talked about discrimination against Italians, and opposed the separatist movements. I do not have a clue how this will play out.

It was still raining in the afternoon. We did walk along the river, took a nice side trail where we say a castle and a beautiful waterfall. We leave tomorrow for Shellklingen Germany in the Swabian Alps. We will be there three days. I am not sure if we will have an internet connection. We will try to post, but will write from
the next town in four days if not before.
Ciao, Italia, it has been an adventure!