ZEDZZZ

Notorious  ZEDs

No chance of sending up ZZZZZs when driving on the notorious zigzag roads of mountainous Italy. Roads which seemingly were made by some civilisation other than  the Romans who liked straight, straight and straight. The passenger may be able to shut their eyes but the driver just has to 'cazzy' on. 

In 2004, I was determined to reach my first location called Gummer (means the person who sharpens the teeth in the blade of a saw, ie serious tree felling saws. Gummer is also my maiden name), which is the highest village in the Rosengarten area of the western Dolomites in the Alto Adige region of northern Italy. This area had once been Austrian but post WWI, it was handed over to Italy. These days the locals still feel their Austrian origins: German is the first language, English the second and Italian is the third. Signs are bilingual in German and Italian. In fact the location in Italian is San Valentino, more romantic than a saw-tooth dentist!

I do all the driving when we are overseas so when we headed from Pescia towards Bozen/Bolzano at speed maximus for the autostrada, I was keen to have some time up my sleeve to visit Gummer.  Bozen is beautiful and deserves a longer look than I could manage as I had my sights set on Gummer. David would not go there as he hates heights and had 'suffered' enough on the old road from Pescia to Modena .....'You're too close to the edge!' and other unhelpful comments to which I finally replied that he should put a paper bag over his head and be quiet. So 'Going to Gummer' was me going solo. I left him to wander around the charms of Bolzano and he gave me an hour and half! Well, as the map and link show, the roads became hair curling BUT when I reached the Gummer plateau it was AMAZZZZingly beautiful...and a toddler in a stroller could have been my brother fifty years earlier. I didn't take photos of the hairpin bends but include a map and a few photos of the Gummer area, which is a ski resort in winter and is also known for its 80cm telescope.

Way to go!

The start of zigging and zagging

Heidi Country! 

The local school

Kilometres of views

https://maps.google.com.au/mapsf=d&source=s_d&saddr=Bolzano,+Bolzano,+Italy&daddr=Gummer,+Italy&hl=en&geocode=FfeBxQIdhkKtAClJcJ5BK5yCRzEqQ4s0T2krZQ%3BFfaxAIdpR2vACkvwCcLnd4RzGu464GSfVdug&aq=0&oq=Gummer&sll=-33.83316,151.195884&sspn=0.025738,0.032573&vpsrc=6&t=h&mra=ls&ie=UTF8&z=13&layer=c&ei=LqDoUZuCGurDmQWJwYC4DQ&pw=2

http://www.astrooptik.com/Projekte/MaxValier_e.htm 



Edible Z

Za'Atar is a blend of Middle Eastern herbs and seeds. I first had it on toast with yoghurt. Subsequently, David uses it a lot when grilling or frying chicken. Zensational!  














Family Z
Zorro? Zachary? Zeek? Nuh!

Unfortunately we do not have exotica for names in our family. My father and I have searched a great deal of family history and for centuries on his side the most exotic names have been Benjamin, Oliver and Kevin! There was Jeremiah Gummer a Tasmanian convict who wore a uniform with an unattractive arrow pattern but no ZZZZZs. I have found a few in England but perhaps the surname is all we share: 

GUMMER	Ziphorah	Langport	Somerset	1854	Jul-Aug-Sep
GUMMER	Zandra Michelle	Hereford	Herefordshire	1989	January
GUMMER	Zachary Christopher	Taunton	Somerset	1999	August

Zoroastrians? None yet found but possible on my maternal great grandmother's side as she was Anglo Indian.

Sarah Wicks not a Zoroastrian

ZZZZZZZZZ

When I travel, I like to take a photo of the view from the zimmers where I stay. Breaking the trip at Clausen/Chiusa, which is on the main autostrada to Austria. I slept well at Spitalerhof. 

View of the mountains from the snug room 

Zip to the other scatterers  by clicking this link:  Cinzia's site