Dovster
Dec 18, 05, 2:21 pm
Sometimes, a side trip can be even more interesting than the main trip -- but I am now in the middle of a fascinating side trip of a side trip of a side trip.
The main trip was to Florida, to spend my birthday with mother and attend the Second Great PBI-FLL Meet. The side trip was a two-week stop in Milan to be with my UIG (Used Italian Girlfriend).
She, in turn, suggested a side trip to the side trip: To Bolzano, a city in the north of the country in the area known to Italians as "Alto Adige" and to Austrians as "Sudtirol". Guess what? Bolzano was a bust and we spent only one night there before heading further in to the Sudtirol countryside for a further side trip and found ourselves in a winter wonderland where Italy magically becomes Austria.
Actually, it is not so much magic as the vagaries of history. When the Austro-Hungarian Empire lost World War I, it was split up. Italy, which was on the winning side, gained the Sudtirol, changed its name to "Alto Adige" and imagined it would make Italians out of its residents. It didn't quite succeed. They may hold Italian passports but they remain very much Austrian.
German is their first language. The children are introduced to Italian only when they enter the third grade -- where it is taught as a foreign tongue. Most of the adults speak it fairly well, albeit with a heavy German accent, but there are still some -- like the 20-something waitress in our hotel's restaurant -- who can't manage it at all.
We are staying in Brunico (at least, that is the Italian name -- the natives call it "Bruneck") which is hosting a fantastic Christkindlmarkt, err, I mean, Mercatino di Natale, oops -- Christmas Market. Unlike its sister in the larger Bolzano, this one has no made-in-China imports for sale. Everything is local Tirolian. Winter clothing, toys, candles, furniture, wines and about 50 other things I won't start to list, are made in the region and most of them by hand.
For me, the major pleasures are the food. You can go from stand to stand in the market and enjoy delicious wursts, soups, goulash, cakes, strudel, wine, beer, and sundry other goodies of Tirolean origin. Other people come here for a sillier reason: They enjoy taking two sticks of wood to the top of mountains, strapping them onto their feet, and then gliding down the hillside.
In Bolzano, we stayed in a Sheraton Four Points which was more along the lines of a full scale Sheraton. It was a luxury hotel in everyway -- except one. Its location was atrocious, in the middle of an industrial park. Here, we are in a small pensione ( www.pensionprack.com ) , where the rooms are just as nice in the Sheraton, and the prices are unbelievable. Cost for a night: 98 Euros for a double room, which includes not only breakfast but also dinner. Last night, I had a giant steak, potatoes au gratin, lasagne (I passed up the salad bar, which will come as no surprise to those who know me) and still had no room for the chocolate cake. Wine, of course, was part of menu. In any decent restaurant the dinner alone would have run us 25 Euros per person, meaning that the room price was 43 Euros, with breakfast.
Well, I am about to head off for tonight's repast so let me wish you all a buona sera -- err, I mean, guten Abend.
The main trip was to Florida, to spend my birthday with mother and attend the Second Great PBI-FLL Meet. The side trip was a two-week stop in Milan to be with my UIG (Used Italian Girlfriend).
She, in turn, suggested a side trip to the side trip: To Bolzano, a city in the north of the country in the area known to Italians as "Alto Adige" and to Austrians as "Sudtirol". Guess what? Bolzano was a bust and we spent only one night there before heading further in to the Sudtirol countryside for a further side trip and found ourselves in a winter wonderland where Italy magically becomes Austria.
Actually, it is not so much magic as the vagaries of history. When the Austro-Hungarian Empire lost World War I, it was split up. Italy, which was on the winning side, gained the Sudtirol, changed its name to "Alto Adige" and imagined it would make Italians out of its residents. It didn't quite succeed. They may hold Italian passports but they remain very much Austrian.
German is their first language. The children are introduced to Italian only when they enter the third grade -- where it is taught as a foreign tongue. Most of the adults speak it fairly well, albeit with a heavy German accent, but there are still some -- like the 20-something waitress in our hotel's restaurant -- who can't manage it at all.
We are staying in Brunico (at least, that is the Italian name -- the natives call it "Bruneck") which is hosting a fantastic Christkindlmarkt, err, I mean, Mercatino di Natale, oops -- Christmas Market. Unlike its sister in the larger Bolzano, this one has no made-in-China imports for sale. Everything is local Tirolian. Winter clothing, toys, candles, furniture, wines and about 50 other things I won't start to list, are made in the region and most of them by hand.
For me, the major pleasures are the food. You can go from stand to stand in the market and enjoy delicious wursts, soups, goulash, cakes, strudel, wine, beer, and sundry other goodies of Tirolean origin. Other people come here for a sillier reason: They enjoy taking two sticks of wood to the top of mountains, strapping them onto their feet, and then gliding down the hillside.
In Bolzano, we stayed in a Sheraton Four Points which was more along the lines of a full scale Sheraton. It was a luxury hotel in everyway -- except one. Its location was atrocious, in the middle of an industrial park. Here, we are in a small pensione ( www.pensionprack.com ) , where the rooms are just as nice in the Sheraton, and the prices are unbelievable. Cost for a night: 98 Euros for a double room, which includes not only breakfast but also dinner. Last night, I had a giant steak, potatoes au gratin, lasagne (I passed up the salad bar, which will come as no surprise to those who know me) and still had no room for the chocolate cake. Wine, of course, was part of menu. In any decent restaurant the dinner alone would have run us 25 Euros per person, meaning that the room price was 43 Euros, with breakfast.
Well, I am about to head off for tonight's repast so let me wish you all a buona sera -- err, I mean, guten Abend.