The transition from Italian to German hit us in Bolzano when Britt unknowingly ordered weiners for lunch. Yes, plain ol' Oscar Meyers! Everything was German on the menu and the waiter didn't speak much English. Two lowly weiners and a pile of fries! It was pretty funny!
We noticed Italy changing while we drove north as the mountains got larger and the Italian houses got smaller and smaller until they disappeared and turned into German-looking buildings with pointy rooflines edged with bad mansards; which in my opinion are bad in the first place! The houses all turned beige, trimmed with brown wood and lined with flower boxes of colour. This is a totally different look than we have seen anywhere else in Italy. We felt the loss of the Italian atmosphere that we have come to love so much and decided that we need to embrace the new atmosphere and give it a chance. Entering into the Dolomite area helped to change our minds quickly. Not because of the buildings but because of the massiveness and beauty of the mountains.
We are staying in Selva di val Gardenia and feel like we are in a different country. The population is 2,600 with the capacity for 8,100 tourists, who were all walking on the main street when we arrived. They speak 3 national languages here: Ladin, Italian, and German. Signage is in German and Italian.
The sun is shining and the sky is blue but it is freezing here; 16 degrees which makes us think we are at home in Canada! Inga, our B&B person, told us that it is warm at 16 degrees and that she was feeling rather hot, although we noticed that she was wearing a wool turtle-neck sweater!
I am posting this on Friday morning, as the internet connection was fighting with us last night. We are getting rolling for the day and the first thing on the activity list is to buy a sweater! We are then heading to the next town to take the cable car up as high as we can go, so get ready for more mountain pictures!
We noticed Italy changing while we drove north as the mountains got larger and the Italian houses got smaller and smaller until they disappeared and turned into German-looking buildings with pointy rooflines edged with bad mansards; which in my opinion are bad in the first place! The houses all turned beige, trimmed with brown wood and lined with flower boxes of colour. This is a totally different look than we have seen anywhere else in Italy. We felt the loss of the Italian atmosphere that we have come to love so much and decided that we need to embrace the new atmosphere and give it a chance. Entering into the Dolomite area helped to change our minds quickly. Not because of the buildings but because of the massiveness and beauty of the mountains.
We are staying in Selva di val Gardenia and feel like we are in a different country. The population is 2,600 with the capacity for 8,100 tourists, who were all walking on the main street when we arrived. They speak 3 national languages here: Ladin, Italian, and German. Signage is in German and Italian.
The sun is shining and the sky is blue but it is freezing here; 16 degrees which makes us think we are at home in Canada! Inga, our B&B person, told us that it is warm at 16 degrees and that she was feeling rather hot, although we noticed that she was wearing a wool turtle-neck sweater!
I am posting this on Friday morning, as the internet connection was fighting with us last night. We are getting rolling for the day and the first thing on the activity list is to buy a sweater! We are then heading to the next town to take the cable car up as high as we can go, so get ready for more mountain pictures!
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