Cindy and Mike Do the World!: Caldes and Bologna, Italy

We drove through Austria on our way to a village in the Dolomites…only stopped once when the cop pulled us over to issue a speeding ticket. Sigh, and that’s what I call a warm welcome to Austria! What happened to the no-limit autobahn we’d just been experiencing in Germany?! It was a tricky spot since the limit went down momentarily to 60km/hr and then about 20 seconds from where we got the ticket, back up to 80km/hr. At least you can pay tickets on the spot so we gave her the required 25 euros and went on our way, with me telling Mike to just go the limit and him agreeing for about 2 minutes or so.

The scenery in the Dolomites is spectacular! April is the in-between season since the ski season is just ending and the hiking season has not yet begun. It’s crazy how many ski lifts and ski villages there are everywhere you turn. We stayed at an agriturismo (http://www.agriturdellemele.it/) and they emphasized using local products for everything. We had our first experience eating stinco di maiale (pork knuckle/shank), which we are still digesting a week later. Delicious but huge…we should have split one. The wife could speak some English (and said that her favourite city in the world is Vancouver since she visited it several years ago). We noticed that all of the guests seemed so familiar with the hosts, like they knew them. Perhaps it’s just the way Italians are. Less reserved than us.

In Bologna, we continued the eating trend (had to try that famous Bolognese sauce with tagliatelle, which is actually different from what we know it as at home). I’d say Bologna does have some of the best food we’ve tasted so far. We had our best meal of the trip there, in a restaurant Sabine and Andrew visited last year (thanks for the tip!). Bologna felt a bit rougher around the edges than Paris or Munich…Mike said more like the 3rd world. Right up our alley!