The day after our tour ended, most in our wine group were bused to Venice, where they would catch flights back to the U.S. or to elsewhere in Europe. We took a day to explore Bolzano and the surrounding mountains.

It was a lovely Saturday, and people were out shopping in the farmers market in the center of town.

We strolled through the market, bought some cheese, and headed to the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology. The main attraction there is Ötzi, the Copper-Age mummy found in the melt of a nearby glacier. We took our time with the audio guide, learning about the mummy (originally claimed by Austria until a survey of the site determined it was on Italian soil) and the many artifacts found at the site over the course of several expeditions. (No photos were allowed.)

After saying goodbye to Ötzi, we went to have lunch with Alissa, a woman on our tour who was also spending the day in Bolzano.

After lunch, we walked to a cable car station at one end of town, and rode the cable car from Bolzano, at about 870 feet in altitude, to Soprabolzano, at 4,000 feet. (If you are looking for these on a map, they might be referred to by the German Bozen and Oberbozen.) Views were stunning. But they got better. From Soprabolzano, we took a narrow-gauge scenic railway to Collalbo (Klobenstein). There, we went for a short walk to a park with magnificent views of the Dolomites. It was a lovely way to spend a warm sunny afternoon.

Our original plan was to spend most of Sunday in Bolzano and take a train to Venice, where we had a flight out on Monday. However, Alissa, the other tour member spending the day in Bolzano, had hired a driver to take her to Venice early in the morning. We shared the cost, and rode with her. It was a gorgeous ride out of the mountains and on to the coastal plain around Venice.

After depositing our suitcases at our hotel and having some breakfast, we took a bus into Venice. We walked along the Grand Canal for a bit, taking in a couple of exhibits of the Venice Biennale that had started the day before, and will run through November.

We had been to Venice once, and knew where to escape the crowds of tourists that are a perpetual feature of Venice. The Jewish quarter was just as quiet as it was on our last visit 14 years ago, and that is where we had lunch and spent our afternoon until rain drove us back to the bus station to catch our bus back to the hotel.

The next day, we flew back to Washington via Paris, to await the shipment of 2 1/2 cases of wine that will be a delicious souvenir of our tour in Veneto and Alto Adige.