Germany- Austria - Italy.

We had a long driving day. 

Roads in Germany and Austria generally wider than they were in Switzerland, which makes the twists and turns a bit easier.

Stopped in the Austrian town of Matrei am Brenner for a coffee. All the buildings in the main street are highly decorated with various historical figures, etc. We were intrigued to see photos of the town with extensive bomb damage, which showed the village virtually destroyed. We asked the girl in the tea shop about it, and she explained that it was heavily bombed in the war, and has also been destroyed by fire twice in its history. It appears today as it would have done in the 1930´s. 

Crossed the border form Austria into Italy: getting used to a different set of signs can cause a little confusion, especially German language signs in Italy. 

By this time we are in the Eastern Tyrol\Dolomites area of Italy near Brixen (Bressanone). This part of Italy has changed hands many times:  we think it belonged to Italy before WW1, then Austria between the wars, then Italy again after WW2. Schools teach in German, and the locals consider German to be their mother tongue. Local Italian papers are published in German, and the guard on the train is bilingual. All very confusing!  

Found the aire in the town of Klausen also known as Chiusa. Needed to stretch our legs after the drive, so decided to walk up to the monastery perched on top of the cliff above the town. Delighful pathe led up up to the top, passing wayside shrines depicting the stations of the cross. Near the top and elderly nun in a red habit was tending the vegetable patch in the relative cool of the evening. Got to the convent, and the chapel door was open, but a nun called out "we are shut!" in a very firm tone. Halfway down we took the opportunity to look inside another chapel, and almost got ourselves locked in, because the door latch did not want to work from the inside. We had visions of being stuck there all night.