Bolzano, Italy: 5 September 2016
Day 67

A perfect lazy morning taking time for yet another cup of coffee.  Justin and I continued catching up with Kim and Brian.  Although we'd seen Kim last fall when she visited us in Germany, we hadn't seen Brian since they came to our reception in July 2014.  Yes, we had lots of stories to exchange.  Since Brian has been retired for two years already, Kim is the only one of us who remains gainfully employed.  I recalled my first Labor Day when I joined DoDDS; I was on a bus with the football team and cheerleaders traveling from Yokosuka Japan to Misawa (twelve hours one-way on a good day).  Today was my first Labor Day in a long time not to labor.  

After a luncheon of pizza and pasta Justin and I got on the road for Bolzano.  I drove first
and we made great time.  Unfortunately, we hadn't programmed the GPS correctly and I was heading the totally wrong direction for about an hour.  After we backtracked, got gas and re-oriented, we got stuck in a traffic gam for too long.  Trying to make lemonade from our lemons, at least we were on the Italian weinstrasse and the views were beautiful. 

As we went farther and toward the passes near Mendola.  There were dozens and dozens of switchbacks and lots of motor cycles out for a great day of biking in the mountains.  We climbed to an altitude over 1380 meters within just a few minutes and the temperature dropped about 20 degrees in just a few minutes.  After a beautiful day, we spent the night in a quaint little hotel with awesome views of the mountains.