Today we took the "local" train up the river a few stops to visit the Museo degli Usi e Costumi della Gente Trentina. Starting from the train platform we crossed the river on a pedestrian suspension bridge and meandered into the small village of San Michele all'Adige. The museum was pretty great. Next time you are in San Michele you should make it a priority. It was essentially a very well curated collection of pre-industrial revolution technology from the immediate area. Think stuff that Laura Ingalls Wilder would have had if she had grown up in the Dolomites. The chipper gentleman selling the tickets (like many places in Italy, kids were free) gave the girls a couple of pencils and a scavenger hunt/word puzzle (in Italian; luckily, we had brought a handy bilingual seven year old friend with us). Upon completing and returning the puzzle it was discovered that the "prize box" was empty. Instead of a shrug and a sorry/bye (which we would have been completely okay with), the guy asked us to wait for 5 minutes while he (hurriedly) went upstairs to one of the classrooms. He came back with large painted hair clips and some wooden door signs (which were, obviously, in French). Maya's is a rabbit themed "open/closed" sign and Cora's is a no smoking sign depicting a smoking bear. You know, your run of the mill cultural museum children's parting gifts. After the museum we walked across the river and under the autostrada to the frazione Grumo because it seems that old town San Michele all'Adige does not believe in restaurants. We were a little worried about our choice for lunch since it was really large (by Italian standards), looked kinda fancy, and swallowed and seated a tour bus of people immediately preceding our arrival. Turns out the place was really good. So, priority two of your trip to San Michele should be Ristorante da Pino. After lunch, instead of *just* taking the train back to Trento from San Michele all'Adige, we walked a couple miles along the river to the precedent train station and hopped aboard home.
