101070. Dolomites. Vineyards

101070 is the number of views of my blog. Not many compared to some, but our performance over the years has been patchy and we aren't in it for views. We just noticed this number today and liked the look of it as a pattern.

Dolomites.

Today I have dictated a list. We left Verona to travel to Mieder near Innsbruck in Austria (252 km) with a plan to stop for lunch in Trento. As we crossed the provincial border from Veneto (sounds like an ice cream) to Trentino Alto Adige (sounds like a province in Italy) the rain started. We drove 52km up a waterfall with my humans shouting to converse over the torrent drumming on the windscreen. It washed the squashed bugs off. We stopped in Trento, drank coffee in a betting shop (the humans said the coffee was cheap and remarkably good, the toilet was not),  gave it up as a wet job and drove on.

Grapevines

More grapevines

Even more grapevines. Villages that get put on postcards. Steep mountains sides, vertical at the top. Horizontal lines in the rock. Flat valley bottom. More grapevines. Suddenly grapes gave way to apples - all cordons. No mixing, it was like someone drew a line on the map, grapes this side, apples over there. 

Went through a tunnel (lots of tunnels, but this one went downhill) back to grapevines. Vineyards on impossible hillsides and rock outcrops. Vineyards making stripes. Vineyards among forests of dark green fir trees. Grapevines in vibrant yellow and gold. Contrasts. Compliments. Wooden houses. 

Larch trees among the fir. Turning  colour. Larch preparing to bare their boughs for winter. Waterfalls. Rain eased up, clouds left hanging between peaks and valley bottoms.

Industrial scene around Bolzano. Back to rural jenga with stacked up vineyards. Endless vineyards. 

F has, according to custom, failed to capture in photo form the colours, the extent, the breathtaking daring of the vineyards. You will just have to go there yourself in Autumn. 

The sun came out. We never saw the border with Austria, we just seemed at some stage to be in Austria, and the mountains were bigger (with snow already).

Long photo session this evening; make-up, styling, directors, special lighting. Mr B photobombed my best shot, and goodness knows what is sticking out the back of my neck in this one. I was doing my best to 'glow'. My goodness photographers fuss. I felt like doing Yoda ears (which i do when I am fed, and comfortable and purring) and apparently that simply wasn't acceptable. Treats might have helped.