Bolzano and activities

Aviva and I are not wasting any time here in the little town of Bozen.
Yesterday we rented bikes and took ourselves up the hillside to a picturesque little castle and took a bunch of pictures. Next we crossed town and found a ´galaping goose-like´ trail for bikes and pedalled for an hour. Thank goodness for our water tanks on our backs---otherwise a bike ride would be very difficult without fluids. No one wears helmets here and people smoke while riding to their destination.
Our hostel is so well located that we are able to get here and there virtually quickly---however finding the market yesterday took us much longer than anticipated but the scenery is so amazing that a stroll in a new direction has much to offer.
Let´s just say that we both found a good Italian keepsake.
After all that riding we made our way back home for showers to redy ourselves for an evening out. The streets are all cobbled, the buildings dating to practically the begining of time (not really but 800 years to me feels old)and the energy of the people is contagious---you just feel like you want to be out.
After a brief thunder and lightening storm we made our way to an outdoor seated restaurant to order some traditional `Tyrolean´dishes. Our table was able to sit up to six so we shared our spot with an older couple who didn´t speak a word of English. My french is coming in handy but most of all, our Italian in combination with our hand gestures makes for lively conversation and for the most part we seem to be able to convey our messages. The wine helps too. Well our dinner guest ended up spilling his entire plate on his belly---but he saved his meal by cupping the lot against him and standing up---he was not about to loose his veal meal to the floor! We laughed as it was pretty funny. We are on a huge apple strudel kick---we´ve had one that was just out of this world and now the others are pale in comparison so we may have to go back for a final taste tomorrow before we leave.
Back to our evening, the commotion in the nearby street started escalating after 9pm. We saw more and more young people making their way up around the corner and the chatter of hundreds of voices rose up in between the buildings. A steady hum of conversation could be heard until curiosity beckoned us to check out the vibe. First we thought, there must be a dance club and everybody is gathering outside, and what we saw was totally different. In Italy it is very common to stand and drink, stand and eat, and stand to socialize. The restaurants supply people with wine glasses and bottles to go round and your party gathers here and there and ´meet and greet´. So there was no line up. But there were hundreds of people in clusters of 5-10-20 partaking in smoking and drinking and chatting. We walked through and realized this must be a common thing to do---come out and visit---visit and meet new people. The entire scene was very welcoming.

O dear---I must go but I want to talk about the wedding reception Aviva and I ended up watching through a window and later invited to join in! We´ve met a bunch of Italian-Irish folks and we had so many laughes my face still hurts. So that´s it for me now---time time time---at least its fun times---a bientot---Dd