Like most European trains we've ridden, this one was clean, quiet, comfortable, and precisely on time. (Why can't AMTRAK do this?) We were surprised at how long the train ride was. Because of our detour into the countryside yesterday, we had a distorted picture of the distance between Brixen and Bolzano. And, we had assumed that the BrixenCard would want to promote things in and around Brixen.
Bolzano, is a somewhat more Italian city than the rest of South Tyrol (the region that also has two names, Südtirol in German and Alto Adige in Italian). It is a larger city with a population around 115,000 (Brixen is only about 21,000), so the streets were more crowded. But the architecture is much the same. It looks like an Austrian city.
We walked from the train station to the Bozen Museum of Archaeology. This is the home of Ötzi the Iceman. The natural mummy of a man who lived between 3350 and 3105 BCE, Ötzi was discovered in September 1991 in the Ötztal Alps not far from here. We saw Ötzi, preserved as he had been when frozen in a glacier -- below zero and at 100% humidity. But we also saw, up close in various display cases, his recovered clothing, shoes, bow, arrows, backpack, knife, copper axe, etc.
The exhibits were very well done, and the level of scientific analysis that has been carried out is quite amazing. From CAT scans to DNA to chemical analysis, experts have determined his age, region of birth, illnesses, blood type, hair color, cause of death, and even the tribal origins of his parents.
Unfortunately, no photos are allowed in the museum, except for the reconstruction of how scientists imagine Ötzi looked in life, more than 5,000 years ago. But https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%96tzi has a lot of the details and some photos.
After a little more than an hour learning about Ötzi, we crossed the street to the Bozen Municipal Museum. Here, we sat in a large meeting room where we encountered two women, one a native German speaker, and the other a native Italian speaker. They were to discuss the "controversial topic" of the friction between German and Italian cultures in the region.
We found it a bit odd that these two women -- who weren't even born yet when Mussolini tried to "Italianize" the area by outlawing the German language and moving thousands of Italian speakers here from the south -- were still having issues. The more they talked, the less controversial the topic seemed. There is certainly less cultural diversity here than in our own neighborhood at home.
There was some free time to walk around Bolzano. It was a market day, so there were a lot of stalls set up in the streets selling fresh produce and other commodities. Interestingly, most of the vendors appeared to be neither German nor Italian. Some were black, and many were Middle Eastern or South Asian.
We snacked for lunch, and treated ourselves to a wonderful pastry from a local bakery. Then, when the group gathered at the meeting point, Luca, our tour leader, took us all to a bar to enjoy a local cocktail called a Hugo. It was quite good and would have been very refreshing on a hot summer day.
The train on the way back to Brixen was more crowded, especially with young people -- possibly university students on the way home from classes. Universities in Europe tend not to be residential or have dormitories. But it was just as scenic.
Off the train, we decided to leave the group and take the long way back to the hotel, along the river once again, so that we could pick up the pace and get some exercise. After a bit of R&R, we met the group to go to dinner. It was an excellent meal.
On the way home, we were treated to the beginnings of the "WaterLight Festival," which officially begins here tomorrow. Displays of lights, related to, or associated with water are being set up all over town. Some are accompanied by recorded music, and all of them seem very interesting.
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