Northern Itlay by Train

Trento in the northern region of Alto Adige is only a side note in many tour books, but a place I would highly recommend. Trento is a university town and also the capital city of the region. Up in the mountains, the train ride is a treat and the town is a nice place to take a break from constant site seeing. The cobblestone is cruel to new boots, but the city is fairly easy to navigate. Only 5 minutes from the train station is a very clean and modern hostel and for 14 euros you have everything you need. We only stayed in Trento for a night, but hear the region is great for hiking and other outdoorsy activities. Just walking around we saw 2 castles, 2 incredible churches, 3 parks, many stores, and a beautiful main piazza with a massive fountain. Mountains rise up all around the city and in the morning we saw just how green the terrain was. From there we took the train to Venice, but first the train shot up so north we were nearly at the Austrian border. It was easy to forget where we were. Here Italian isn’t the main language and many of the people on the train looked Austrian or German. They also kept asking if I could speak German even when I assured them in my minimal Italian that English was really my only language. Me, speak German? Ha! Nine!
The train ride at this point of the trip took us through one of the most beautiful landscapes I have ever seen. We passed lakes and rivers, wound past mountains, vast fields, forests, and green farms dotted with sheep. When we were eating breakfast that morning I heard an Australian woman who looked about 25 telling another how excited she was to be meeting up with a friend of hers in Milan that coming afternoon. She said she had been traveling for over a month alone and had seen many wonderful things, but nothing beats sharing beautiful experiences with a friend. I remembered this as our train wormed though the landscape of northern Italy and realized not only how lucky I am to be here, but to be here on this adventure with a friend who is looking out the window and seeing this beautiful place too.