First trip to Italy

Thanks to working in Grenoble in March, I had the opportunity to visit Italy. I met an Italian girl, Silvia, in Grenoble and she invited me to visit the mountains in northern Italy near the border to Austria. Magical mountains, I can add. I spent one amazingly wonderful week with her and her family. The view wasn't that bad either...

As we planned my visit to Italy, Silvia wisely suggested to go to the mountains. +38 C or even above +40 C in the cities with high humidity is intolerable for the Italians, so you can only imagine how does it feel for a Finn… High temperatures are much more tolerable in the mountains, and it wasn’t that hot.

We stayed the week in Rasun (di Sotto or di Sopra, I can’t remember). First day we walked in Valley of Fiscalina, saw Lake Braies and Lake Anterselva, and stopped by in City of Monguelfo.

Second day we spent in Austria in Kaiser-Franz-Josefs höhe to see Grossglockner and Pasterze. It’s a pity that the distances and sizes do not translate to the pictures.

The next day we rode a bike in Valley from Rasun to Anterselva. In the evening, I prepared some Finnish food: pulla, and Finnish-style meatballs with potato puré. Everybody ate, so it probably means that they liked.

The fourth day we woke up early to go to Tre Cime and did a hike around the three tops.

On the way back, we visited the city of San Candido, but it was way too hot to stay there for a long time. We ate dinner out, in a restaurant name of which I’ve forgotten. The end of the dinner, that’s unforgettable. There was a huge thunder storm with incessant lightning. We ran to the car in pouring rain and got soaked. But what a laugh in the car… :D

I miss the Italian sun already...

The next day, us ”three kids” went shopping and sightseeing in a town of Brunico. We took a train there. On the way back, the train was an old one and that was an experience... No air-conditioning and the window was jammed! I can’t understand how the Italians do that!

We headed also to Prato Piazza to see a view to the mountains.

Last day in the mountains, we headed to Lake Anterselva. We did a tour around it with a beautiful view.

I realised that even if I’d spoken and even thought in English for a week, but if I’m surprised or scared, my mind is still very much in Finnish. That’s why I cried ”hyi saatana” out loud when I saw a snake, probably a viper, on the walking path.

Last evening we returned to Bergamo, or actually to a small town nearby, Chiari. Late in the evening I got a tour in Bergamo with Silvia. Even at 23 o’clock the temperature was well above 30 C. I could manage with less...

After this week, I’m able to translate the recipe of pulla in Italian, but I can’t order anything in a restaurant. Not yet. I need to go back.

Words are not enough to describe my gratitude to Tullio, Roberta, Silvia and Enrico. All I can say is ”grazie mille”, and hope to see you again. And of course, it goes without saying that if you ever come to Finland, I’ll try to beat your hospitality.