A 2-hour drive took us to Northeast Ortisei, where we explored a church with many wood carvings for which the region is famous. At one side of the altar was an old wood carving by a 21-year old sculptor of St. Elizabeth of Hungary giving a coin to disabled beggar. The piece won the Gold Medal at the 1900 World’s Fair in Paris

From there, we took the cable car to the top of Alpe di Suisi, Europe’s largest high altitude (6,000 feet) plateau, There was fresh snow there and on the surrounding mountains. A few flakes fell on us.

A visit to the South Tyrol Archeological Museum in Bolzano, where there is an amazing exhibit of the mummified body of the “Iceman,” his clothes, weapons, tools, and food. Dating from from the Copper Age (ca. 3250 BC), he was discovered in a glacier in September, 1991 by hikers.