ITALY!!!!!

Dec 27 I flew out of La Palma leaving behind a pretty sunset with palm trees and tropical islands in the distance. The 2 flights went by quickly, and I felt like pretty cool traveling to Europe from Europe (since usually I would just go from the U.S.) In the last 5 minutes of the flight everyone took out huge furry coats, scarves, hats and gloves, whereas all I wore were 3 shirts and a fleece. Nina and Andrea (her dad) picked me up and we drove 3 hours from Milan to Bolzano/Bozen a town where both Italian and German are spoken. Their house is right at the base of the mountains and is walking distance to the chairlifts or the gondola that goes down to the town. When I met the rest of the family and also they’re good family friends, I felt as though I had always known them and had just seen them recently.

Right away we all put on snow pants and bundled up to go walk about 45 min to a restaurant for dinner. I borrowed in total, 18 items which ranged from goggles, to slippers to a bright yellow snowsuit with shoulder pads. While walking in the snow, we 7 kids (Nina 18, Fosca 15, Mario 12, Riccardo 17, Alvise and Riky both 15 talked in English and some Italian and sang some Disney songs in both languages, threw snow balls, etc. The highlight of the meal was when I pretended there was something behind Fosca (Nina’s sister), so I pointed and gasped and while she turned around I stole some of her dessert. From then on, everyone at every meal was trying to do that same thing. We ate fresh bread and pasta and really good desserts.

For the next 4 days we went skiing/snowboarding while the parents went cross-country skiing. Sometimes we’d meet up with them at lunch on the mountain. I’ve never been skiing in a place like this before. There were hotels with cars parked, and horse carriages going through the mountains, right where we skied. I want to go back sometime in the summer when there is no snow and cows are roaming the lands.

We went on lots of big jumps and everyone had some good wipeouts. There was a run where you go straight down and get your speed clocked. I went on it once and got 82 kilometers/hour, which is kind of slow compared to what others have gotten (around 100). In the 4 days, we got around to a bunch of different mountains all very close. A few times we took a bus, otherwise we’d gondola/chairlift or just ski over.

On the 4th day of skiing, Andrea came with us and we went through powder and woods and made our own trail. We could have taken a bus to get to the mountain we ended up at, but our way was definitely better. I liked skiing with Andrea because he knew where the best places to ski were. We took some gondolas and lots of good runs. One was 10.5 kilometers long, and it took us 19 minutes to go all the way down without stopping.

On the 5th day in the mountains, January 1st, we could have skied but instead decided to go sledding. I had seen people sledding before, but only on the bottom part of the mountain and nowhere else. Well, we went sledding on the same places we had skied. It was really fun taking the chairlifts all the way up, and then going all the way down on metal sleds. The first run I went down with Alvise, and I was in the back, which meant I had to steer. I didn’t really know how to steer since I had never been on a sled like that before, nor had I ever had to steer down a mountain. I’m used to just going straight down a little Wisconsin hill. We ended up going over the edge of the path (a road in the summer) and crashed into some bushes! Didn’t get hurt, but after that I went on my own on the sled a few times to figure out how to work it. That day we stayed out until the latest possible (until 5 when it gets dark and chairlifts stop). At about 4:00 it was snowing and our goggles were foggy and weren’t able to fix them completely. I had some pretty adventurous runs down a long winding path and not knowing where I was going. Caught some air and crashed into some ice blocks, but it was all fun and painless.

One day after skiing, Fosca, Nina and I walked to the gondola that took us down to Bolzano, where we each got a haircut. We went to a place where Nina’s mother, Francesca loves to go. It was a tiny little shop with 3 women working. Fosca’s hair was almost down to her butt, so got shampooed first. She ended up being the last one to finish since it took sooo long to dry it all. It was the best haircut I’ve ever gotten: 3 massages, some fancy perfume in the hair and I had no idea what my hair was going to look like when I was done since the lady was speaking in German, but it turned out pretty darn good. Afterwards Nina’s parents and Mario came to pick us up and we went to an Ice Show. I thought it was going to be ice sculptures, but it turned out it was figure skating. I sat in between Fosca and Nina and we had a blast. We had binoculars, so we looked at people in the audience, played I spy during intermission, and enjoyed the 3 hour show. It was a good variety of serious and good skating, and also some funny acts. The next night at home, the ice show we had just seen was broadcasted on TV, and we all watched it again but I fell asleep.

Okay next topic: food! The food was SOOO good, I loved it. I ate lots of pasta, ham, pizza, sparkling water, desserts and clementines. One day at lunch I bought a 5,30 euro (like $6) cup of tiramisu and it was delectable. At restaurants, Nina would just order something for me, and wouldn’t translate what she ordered. One time at lunch she thought she ordered ravioli, but it turns out it was a dessert. I don’t think the German waiter understood her, but I was happy with the flaky pastry powdered sugared dessert. After skiing each day, we would all eat clementines like potato chips. For New Years Eve, we 11 people gathered around the table in their house, ate lots, and played LCR (thanks mom!). We ate a variety of things: 3 types of cold cut meat (salami, 2 types of some meat with olives in it), jamon cerrano, sausage, salmon, some German creamy pasta, mushrooms, olives, 2 types of cheese, 3 different breads, pickles and I think that’s all. For dessert we had apple strudel, white creamy cake and chocolate cake with jam.

Afterwards while playing LCR we ate peanuts and walnuts. While waiting for time to pass and for it to get to midnight, we kids played a simple board game where you move spaces and have to do weird things. I had to sing some songs, and also yell out of the window as loud as I could: “Basta con la solita minestra” which means “Enough with the soup.” Some others had to act out actors, or smell someone else’s feet or armpits, etc. I took lots of pictures and some movies, and pretty soon it was just before midnight. We put on our snow pants and jackets and lit fireworks outside. Neighbors and people up on the mountain in the hotels also lit some bigger ones. I called some friends in Spain and also talked to Sam and Charlie, which was fun.

On the 2nd Nina’s parents drove us to the train station. We walked around the town for a little and ate lunch in an 800-year-old building before catching the train to Venice. A lady with a dog sat next to be on the train, but got off a few stops before us. Nina and I were getting really excited as we got closer. Maybe I’ll post some video from it. After the train we took the boat, which is like a bus on water to Lido-the island Nina lives on. Even though it was dark out, she pointed out everything. Her good friend Irene met up with us after the boat, and we took the bus to Nina’s HUGE house. We made some pasta for dinner and drank homemade sparkling water. We watched a movie, The Graduate in Italian with English subtitles.

On Tuesday we met up with Irene again and went to the market in Lido. I bought a shirt, some dried fruit, candy, parmesan and gorgonzola for my Spanish family, and Nina and I bought fried food for lunch. We walked a bit to a grocery store to get some stuff for breakfast: chocolate croissants and cookies. That afternoon Nina and I watched another movie, and later went out in Venice. Walked around a lot, saw San Marks Square, which was beautiful and ate at a pizza place.

On Wednesday we went to Riccardo and Alvise’s house (family friends) for lunch. We ate really good food once again, and Alvise’s homemade birthday cake. That afternoon we met up with Irene again and tried to get into the palace with our ID’s (I had Fosca’s) in front of San Marks Square, but we needed other documents proving we’re residents so that we wouldn’t have to pay the fee. Instead we walked in the big church, Basilica di San Marco, which was beautiful. We shopped in a bunch of stores, but lots of stuff was expensive.

We went back to Nina’s house and made more pasta and ate fresh bread with cheese. We also ate REAL mozzarella, which was the best cheese I’ve ever had. I had half of the log of mozzarella, which was a lot.

On Thursday morning we both packed (nina was going back to the mountains) and got a train to some town where Andrea picked us up. Fosca ended up coming also, and I was glad she did. On the way to the airport we stopped at the biggest lake in Italy. It was surrounded by snow capped mountains.

At the airport we had some time so we ate lunch together, and then said good-bye. It was sad to say good-bye, not knowing when will be the next time I’ll see them, but I was excited to get back to Spain to my friends and be in warm weather! It was such a great trip, and so good to meet Nina’s family and see where she lives, which is bellisima!

here is the first of 4 albums that are posted from my amazing trip. so go to this and check them out:

http://homepage.mac.com/mbrummitt/PhotoAlbum31.html