Hiking in the rain with German tourists

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I have been defeated by rain. Apparently, the first week in June is monsoon season in northern Italy. I swear, it just keeps raining here. Meanwhile, this is the week when I planned to visit places where all the activity is outside.  Sweet.

But rain aside, I made it to Bolzano yesterday, which is in the northeastern part of Italy in the Dolmites...although you would think you were in Austria or Germany. Through some interesting treaty-making after WWI, this region was taken away from Austria and given to Italy. About 2\3 of the population speaks German. The rest speak Italian, but no one, it would seem, speaks English. So just when I finally had mastered being confused in Italian, I now am confused all over again in a whole other language. And sadly, my ability to actually communicate in Italian is marked by a distinct hit-or-miss quality. Sometimes it works, and other times, whatever I say leaves them gaping in either pure confusion or horror. So Balzano has been interesting.

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Today, I did my own Italian version of plane, trains and automobiles. I set off for Alpi di Suis, Europe's largest high-Alpine meadow. I had to take a bus, a cable car and a chair lift. But I made it and in the end, almost had the whole meadow to myself. Apparently, high-season in the Dolmites doesn't start for a couple weeks, and the only people there were me and a handful of middle-aged German-speaking tourists. I blended right in.

Given my usual lack of grace, the rain, and the lack of people around to hear me scream, I wisely decided to keep to the easier hiking trails. It was great.  I meandered for awhile and enjoyed the views.  Although it was rainy and cloudy, it was still absoultely gorgeous.  And being alone has its advantages....no one could hear me when I cried a little bit in the cable car on the way back down. Going downhill in one of those things is, in my niece's words, "kinda scary."