Travelog for: Nijntje

Hi Mum,

Guess what? I found out my destination: after a long, very long, and mostly uneventful trip I arrived between the mountains of Northern Italy . Yesterday we had some excitement when, at the security controls in Calgary, they decided to have a closer look at smaug’s carry-on bag and we excitedly popped out of it earning him plenty of odd looks . One of the officers even decided that Dean was in desperate need of some grooming and brushed him with some sort of dust sweeper . The flight only highlight  is that while we were crossing over Greenland we enjoyed a wonderful northern lights show . It was so cool: just like curtains of light moving in the night sky. Pity the photos we tried to take didn’t really come out any better that some dark blur .
Anyway, here in Trento we had a quick look out of the window: there’s plenty of green around and even a small river right here next to the house .



Well, I am sure I will have a chance to explore around soon, now we are all a bit jet lagged so we are going to sleep .

Hi Mum,

Today we started exploring around here. First we got a good breakfast of cookies and hot chocolate to get the necessary strength .



smaug took us to a to a little village near Trento. The village lies in a sort of balcony on the side of the mountain and on one side sits at the top of a 200m high rock wall overlooking the town . From here you have a wonderful view of downtown Trento.



You can also see the valley heading south.



Later we went a bit higher up the mountain to a stretch of road nicknamed “7 tornanti”, that in English would sound like “7 hairpins”. It’s called like that because there are 7 hairpins in a very short stretch of road that, as you can guess, looks very “curvy” .




From one of the hairpins you can see the valley again, heading north this time.

Hi Mum,

Today was a gorgeous sunny day and we took a walk along the river. From here you could see the place where we were yesterday, the top of that rock wall in the background.



At one point we managed to scramble down the bank and took a picture from the middle of the river .



Before going back home we visited the front yard of a little church built on a hill near home. The church itself is not anything interesting, but the view over the valley is really beautiful .

Hi Mum,

Who ever said that Italy is a sunny country? It’s been raining for the last two days ! Since we were getting a bit bored, today we explored a bit the house where we are staying. First sammino introduced us to some of his friends here. There is a big bald eagle...



...and two equally big owls. They were a bit upset that we woke them up in the middle of the day , but they let us take a picture with them.



Later we met this interesting frog: apparently his job is to sit on the floor and croak whenever someone enters the door.



Then we found this old atlas. It must be old indeed, it still says that this part of Italy is part of the Austrian Empire .



At the end of our exploration we found this clock: sammino told us that it’s been broken for ages and there is no plan as yet to fix it: pity, it must be creepy hearing it at midnight .

Hi Mum,


The weather did not even slightly improve over the last couple of days so we are still stuck at home . So, today we decided to entertain ourselves with a bit of gambling by playing the roulette . That was good fun.



Later we wanted to engage in something more challenging and we organized a checkers tournament. It was a real battle of minds and, of course, I was the best .



After so much playing we needed some food , so we had a typical Easter cake. It’s called colomba: that means “dove”, I guess due to a supposed to be bird-like shape...maybe with a lot of imagination . Anyway, it was delicious .

Hi Mum, Happy Easter from a very rainy Italy!

Although we are still waiting for news about the sun , today we had good reason to celebrate: there was a special  Easter egg just for us TVs .



Reaching the chocolate was a bit of a challenge: we laboured our way past the wrapping just to find another layer of it .



But, eventually, me managed to get the egg open .



It was delicious !

Hi Mum,

Today the sun reappeared in the sky after almost a week of rain , so we decided to go out for a tour around town. First we started up the slopes on the side of the valley. Here you can see  “Trento’s mountain”: it’s called Monte Bondone, and the ski slopes lying on the other side of it can be reached from town in about 20 minutes drive.



While here we were looking north up the valley.



As we drove by we saw some secondary valleys and more mountains in the background.




At one point there were only steep forested slopes and rocky peaks above our heads .




By some kind of magic  we emerged back in the main valley a few km south of Trento. Here we could take a look at this nice castle (it doesn’t look like, but it is actually very big).



Before heading back home, smaug took us up a little road on the opposite side of the valley from which we could have a look at the vineyards on the valley floor....I wonder if we’ll have a chance to taste some of the wine .

Hi Mum,

My (wet ) Italian holiday is coming to an end. Today we helped smaug preparing his luggage and tomorrow early in the morning (very, very, very early in the morning ) we will start heading back to Calgary.



See you soon .

Hi Mum!

It was like Christmas this week ! Yesterday Pepita (one of smaug’s TVs) arrived back home to rest for a few days....and she brought a lot of lovely sweets with her .




And today a new guest arrived: Spooky, a nice dog from Japan !




I guess we’ll have plenty to chat about for a few days .

Hi Mum!

Today the weather was quite nice (after the blizzards of earlier this week ) so smaug took us out for a short walk in the woods . We spent most of the time under the trees encouraging smaug while he was labouring his way in the fresh snow .



But when he stopped to rest we played a bit in the snow by ourselves .



At one point we found a place with a good view over the valley.



But those clouds in the distance were a bit concerning, so we decided that it was enough for the day and went back to the car.

Hi Mum!

Guess what? It’s been snowing again for most of the week, and we are in May !



But today the weather was a bit better, so we went out for another short walk in the woods . Some sections had plenty of fresh snow.



On the way we found a couple of nice spots where we could take a photo.

Hi Mum!

Today we said goodbye to Pepita who is travelling to her next host, so we wished her a safe journey .

Hi Mum!

Today smaug came back home and told us that Hedgie has been invited to a trip to Fiji and will leave tomorrow to make sure he catches his flight. So tonight we all gathered together to wish him a safe trip .

Hi Mum,

Today it was very warm...for Canadian standards, of course ...so we went for a nice walk to a place called Prairie Mountain. Soon after leaving the car park we could see the Elbow River meandering in the valley below .



Once we reached the top it wasn’t that warm anymore, the wind was bone chilling , but the view was great . We had lots of mountains in the West and South...




...and Moose Mountain in the North. smaug said that it might be possible to go there in a few weeks when the snow melts.



In the East we could see the prairies...and with a very good zoom you could even see Calgary in the distance...but not in this photo .

Hi Mum!

Today the weather wasn’t too bad, a bit windy actually , so we went visiting a new place between the mountains. We left the car at Barrier Lake and after a bit of walking we had a wonderful view over the lake...



...and of Kananaskis Valley .



Moving up towards the lookout the view opened on the foothills rolling down into the prairies in the East.



From the lookout we could see the Bow Valley carving its way into the Rockies.



On the way back we followed a trail that was always in a very thick forest, so I just spent the time chatting with the other TVs .