Padova & Soave

We drove toe Padova this weekend to see our friends Trafford and Fernada Cole

After checking into our hotel we drove to the city center

It was market day.  Very large street market.

There was whole row of the these enormous shoe stores with a much larger selection than most brick and mortar shoe stores.

Do you you think that Ted would like these shoes?

The cathedral

That is not the angel Moroni on top.

We went to dinner with the Coles and had a fabulous time.  We found out that their church had been postponed until 2:30 pm  We decided to drive home instead of waiting.

On the way home we stopped at Soave

This hand made felt coat (or dress) had a duck under the right arm pit and a fox under the other

On the back there were wings

Very nice place.

Domodossola

We drove up to the mountains this weekend.

 We stopped in Domodosolo the largest town in the region.  It was market day so we wandered around for a while.

The we drove north as far as the road would go.

The Italian love tunnels.  one of the tunnels had replaced some old very scary switch backs.  The new tunnel was a long ramp that slowly ramped up while turning over 360 degrees through the mountain.

The alps 

Near the end of the road was Cascata del Toce.  a large cascade.

Up on top of the water falls was this viewing deck that hung out over the falls.  Peggy Loved it!

This is much more spectacular in the spring when the water is flowing full blast.

There were many water falls

We then drove back to Baceno where we found our small hotel in this narrow mountain valley.  After checking in we drove up a different canyon to the west as far as we could go and fond this fabulous falls.  It was so powerful that the mist was blowing in our faces.  This area was called Alpe Devero.

The next day we drove south for a while past Domodossolo and then turned west again to drive up to Monte Rose.

At the end of the road was a fabulous old ski resort.  The old ski lift was removed but the town still has lots of tourist traffic in both Summer and Winter.  Here is a native carrying a basket load of sticks

On the way back down the valley we saw lots of water falls that I missed on the way up.

In this valley about half the building have slate roofs.

Thes cows all had bells on and you could hear the bells clanging from a long ways away. An old lady was leaning against the fence and watching her cows.

How would you like this water falls in your back yard?

Fake palm tree

Bassano del Grappa

After Nove and Marostica we drove about 10 miles east to the town of Bassano del Grappa.

The bridge is well known because it was an ancient bridge that was destroyed during the German retreat of WWII.  As soon soon the war was over the town rebuilt the bridge exactly as it was before the war.

We walked across the bridge.

Look close at the buildings on the other side of the bridge.

See the bullet holes from the war?

It says wine flavored tooth paste

The Alpini were local resistance fighters that defended the alps or mountaints that were north of this city.  Here one is kissing his girl friend good bye.