A family experience in the Italian Alps

Backyard view from Florian's house. Epic.

Half-eaten main course of lunch at Florian's house. The blurry thing to the right is Franziska, Sabine's pocket-size best friend who spent almost the entire weekend with Sabine and me. The food, Sabine's good friend and the family playing cards in the background well sum up the weekend.

Getting ready to ski!

This weekend I went to South Tyrol, the Italian area bordering Austria where most speak German before Italian. It was a snow-covered and family-oriented place where most grow or raise a portion of what they eat. I stayed with Sabine, a girl who stayed with Anna while on a school trip in my first two weeks in Florence. Highlights were hearing 'Sweet Caroline' in two different bar settings and claiming it, plus sweet hot wine with a German name I can't remember. Low points were on the 6-hour train ride to and from, and on the return having to stand for two hours while 14-year-olds kidded around and bumped, though really worth it. I slept in Sabine's bed, we painted our nails one night, it felt like a sleepover.

First night: went to a Christmas market in Bolzano and drank that hot wine, then went to a hockey game. The fanatics had drums and flags. I'm not sure if it was this night or another, but I believe we went to a town famous for its nativity dioramas in store and home windows. One was made of chocolate.

The first full day we went skiing in the Italian Alps (!) I borrowed Sabine's mom's skis, Sabine's ski clothes, and we just went when we woke up, no big deal. It was beautiful and warm. The rocks that made up the mountains were a light brown, not blackish brown, which I'd never seen before. We ran into one of Sabine's old friends, Filippe (sp?) and skied with him for a bit. He's a butcher, meaning when people in the area want their animals killed and gutted, Filippe's the guy to call. At lunchtime, we ate in a restaurant on the side of the mountain and went into this bar in a tent where people were dancing and swinging around their drinks in a way I always pictured Germans would. It was warm and jolly.

That night we had pizza for dinner, take-out from a place that was walking distance from her house, and went to a pub and 'Juwel Club,' pronounced three different ways depending on if you want to say the name in English, Italian or German. The D.J. at the pub said that I was the first American he had ever met and gave me a shout-out in English. Nice change to be the 'cool' American tourist. We were at Juwel until it closed at 4 and walked home. The music was mostly American, as it has been most places I've visited in Europe, but there was the occassional German tune and less occassionally Italian songs. It was a young crowd, a weird experience to be in a club and feel older than the room's average, though with enough bright pink Hello Kitty shots I didn't care.

Sunday we saw Ortis, a man from the Bronze Age that was discovered near the area. The scientists know almost every mundane fact about Ortis, from what his last meal was to what areas he lived in to how long his hair was. We had lunch at Sabine's boyfriend's house. Her boyfriend's a carpenter, and his family runs a bed and breakfast. SO good. The appetizer was bacon with two great breads, main course was dumplings and strodel(?), then the dessert was essentially funnel cake and jam, but better than the state fair.

Overall, it was neat to stay at a home in a completely unique culture and setting from anything I've ever experienced. I took apples for the train ride home that the Schrotts had harvested themselves, plus a turkey sandwich. Also great to see snow and ski for most likely the only time this year right before Christmas.