Last night we had dinner with Matteo (Lizze's friend) who helped us find our accommodation and gave us tips on how to get around. Was great to get a chance to thank him and make the most if his Italian language skills! He took us to a little restaurant in Rovereto which served tapa's of all the local specialties. The very amusing waitress gesticulated her way through the menu before virtually ordering for us but the food and wine was very tasty. Our last few meals have been the obligatory pizza and gelato which is delicious but good to have a change.
We have just got back from dinner at Matteo's place with his family, pasta was on the menu and delish! Was awesome to be able to see the inside of the big old buildings too, lovely apartment which I accidentally gave myself a tour of while trying to leave.
This morning we attempted to go training up at Lavarone.
Turns out Lizzie was slightly over-confident with her German skills and I can understand more Italian than I realised. Our 8am bus did in fact only run on the weekend, unfortunate given it's Thursday and the next bus wasn't until 12.30.
It all worked out well in the end as it gave us time to explore the castle in Rovereto which is also a museum of World War 1. The Trentino area is quite interesting as it's heritage is as much Austrian as it is Italian. The Trentino region was the front of World War 1 so there is a lot of history in the area. Up around Asiago (where we head to on Saturday) the maps are dotted with the remains of the trenches which is a little unnerving at times. Last time I was here with the NZ team for JWOC we would often come across mass grave sites from the war as we were running along.
Even more unnerving is that we learnt in the museum that most of the war in this region was fought with land mines, great news when we are running through the forest in areas where most people don't usually go!!!!
We did eventually make it to the map in Lavarone which is where the long distance for WOC is. It's a really fun little area and I couldn't help running along getting excited about the WOC race. Our timing proved impeccable as we both finished running just as the heavens opened and the thunder and lightening rolled in.
A caffe in Hotel du Lac got us through until the bus arrived. We found out that Lavarone has 1000 permanent residents (info for you Dad!) spread over 22 villages. We've been admiring all the tiny villages dotted around the mountains from the bus. They're perched so precariously on the tops of the cliffs which are backed by more cliffs then more cliffs. Seems to be the nature of the Dolomites. Luckily for us the tops of the cliffs flatten out into plateau's, so while the maps are steep it's not quite rock climbing.
We are based in Lavarone for WOC week so looking forward to heading back up there.
Tomorrow we meet up with friends, probably a good thing as Lizzie made me sit by myself on the bus today. She claimed it was to spare me from her post run perfume but I have other theories.
Lachy and Ness from Australia and Alex from USA become our motley crew for the weekend.
The first race is on Saturday, a sprint relay which will be my first experience of one so should be good. Lizzie has suggested a team name of Lach Ness Grizzle (we are currently just Team Grizzle) which appeals to me a lot.
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