Summer is back again :)

As I went lunch break yesterday, I couldn't believe at what I was seeing and feeling! The sun was shining bright in the sky and I could feel 30 degrees on my skin! We are at the end of September and it's still summer :) Cool :) So I went to the gym and decided that I couldn't stay indoors. I went jogging :)
I made my usual route, from the winter Promenade to the Gilf and up to the Tappeiner. I couldn't believe I had to shorten my trip because it was too hot...! I felt lucky :)

The castle on the hill is the Zenoburg.

Bio, etc.

Last Friday I got my fortnightly Biokistl. The Biokistl is a nice service which settled in South Tyrol some years ago. You sign in by Internet, choose the size of the "Kistl" (chest) you need and the things you absolutely don't want and those you could live at :) Then, they bring you the "Kistl" at home early in the morning, so that you're able to store them, before going to work. Of course also Merano is provided with this service. As I wasn't really a big fan of vegs and fruits, but I knew they are healthy, I found this solution to get accostumed to having some vegs in my fridge :).
Last Friday in my "Kist" I found some plums... I love them dry, but I can't stand them fresh... What was I supposed to do? I looked at my "So kocht Suedtirol" (that's how South Tyrol cooks) recipes book in search for inspiration and found a cool recipe for a cake and just baked it :) Let's see how my friends will like it! :)

Apples, apples, apples :)

On Tuesday I took my car and drove to Marling, a village on a hill just 5 minutes from Merano. I had a meeting with the president of the tourist office of the town, a very gentle man. During the last three years I called him to ask him if he would bring the carriage with the apple crown to the procession of the Grape Festival in Merano. This year I made him a surprise :) I asked him if he could dedicate me some of his time for a brief interview about the history of the carriage. As the carriage has been his baby during the last 15 years, he accepted with enthusiasm to make an interview with me. Also this carriage needs several days for its preparation. There must be at least three persons for three days to create it and you need one day to dismantle it. Over 500 kg apples and 14 kg nails!! Also this carriage has been created 1951 for the Landesmusikfest (the X-large version of the Merano Grape Festival) and Mr. Arquin could even find a picture of the carriage in 1951! I love history... :) After the Merano Grape Festival, the carriage is exposed in Marling for at least two weeks in the central place of the village.
I'm working hard for this event, but I think it's worth it. Every year it's a big emotion for me to see so many people coming to Merano and interacting for passion for music, for tradition, for nice food, for the beautiful things of life. And for me it's cool to have a role in all this too.

So many things :)

This has been a pretty full week :) September is a stressy month for me anyway, but this week I had also some interesting happenings I can still hardly recall :)
On Monday it was the turn of tradition, I went to Algund to interview some of the guys who take their time every year to rebuild the giant grape for the carriage marching during the big procession of the Grape Festival Merano. It's an amazing thing that people dedicate time and passion for tradition every year just for the sake of it. It's an honour for them to prosecute a familys usage. One of the two guys I could interview is the grandchild of the man who created the carriage 1951. They will start rebuilding it two days before the Festival (16. October) and I'm allowed to go there, take some pictures and of course... to help them ;)
On Thursday I met a friend of mine and we decided to go to eat sth at the Sardinian restaurant "Mirto" in Merano. The temperature was still as nice as to allow us to eat outdoors. I took the usual lamb dish with vegs and something really special for dessert: a beer-Tiramisu!!! You wouldn't believe it, it's great!! Tasty but delicate at the same time, fresh and creamy... Yum! We had a nice chat and a great dinner and got home pretty late... ;)
Saturday was a great day again, I had the chance to cooperate for the Children Festival in Merano. The Tourist Authority of Merano organised a travelling fairy-tale telling. We had a professional narrator and a few little children curious to listen to her stories. The first leg was the Kallmuenz park, an amazing place for it's quiet and magic atmosphere... Then we took our blankets and bottles of water and went to the park of the Thermal Baths. You feel totally surrounded by the mountains there... Some elder people passed by and briefly listened to our stories smiling :) The city was packed with children and their parents taking them from one game to the other, fortunately the weather contributed to the success of the event :)
During the afternoon we went to the 2. ECM BBQ. The ECM is the English Club Merano in Facebook, a club for people talking in English in Merano, started by a good friend of mine. The first idea was to meet for aperitives, then we organised a BBQ and yesterday we had the 2. Due to the uncertainty of the weather, some members purposed to keep it in a court they own. It is a get-together of nice people knowing each other, meeting there for the first or the second time, staying together easily and talking about many different things. It's always really funny that there is a huge quantity of any kind of food, from Indian, to American, to Italian, to South Tyrolean... It's a cool mix of cultures and of people talking English, German and Italian just as they wish, one of the nicest groups I ever joined :)

Sunny September

The days are finally getting fresher now. As nearly every year September is wonderfully sunny :) It happens to have rainy and windy nights, after those the day appears totally clean - washed by the pattering water - and colourful.
During the day you can still walk in your T-shirt under the sun and enjoy the bright green still dominating the landscape.
My favourite trail for walking and jogging is the beloved Tappeinerweg, you can reach it in 10 min. by walking and in a few steps you already watch over Merano and its valleys. An amazing gift of the Austrina doctor, botanist and anthropologist Franz Tappeiner, who made it possible to have so many Mediterranean plants cropped in Merano. Probably the only city in the alps with its own palm trees, cacti and cluster figs.
On Saturady I enjoyed a nice walk and watched the many flowers, grapes and apples growing in the sun... Cool :)