At the beginning of August I spent four days in the Dolomites, a mountain range in northern Italy that is actually a section of the Alps. I don't know any Americans who have heard of them, but in Italy everyone goes there to ski and enjoy nature or whatever. I'd never been (I don't know northern Italy very well at all), but I received an invitation from a choir friend whose father spends his summer avoiding civilization in these isolated mountains. How could I not accept?
The weekend was a fantastic mix of food, hiking, sunshine, and family time (I was staying with three generations of my friend's family: her kids, husband, and her parents). Regarding children, I had the important revelation that some - maybe a very select few - are truly amazing. These kids, Mila and Nico, are beyond wonderful.
Smart, funny, affectionate, sensitive - if I have kids one day, they'd better turn out this great. Mila and Nico accompanied us on every hike and were great sports; being small, they were also talented wild berry harvesters. This is important in these mountains, where the wild berries are amazing.
I enjoyed the scenery, especially because it's light years away from Bologna's landscape - even the architecture seems to come from a different nation altogether.
Plus, the dialect is a mix of German and who knows what. The kids and I understood very little of what was said, even when the locals were speaking in Italian - their accents were just too much for us. We let the grownups figure things out.
Between forests, ancient cowpaths, lessons on the significance of Harry Potter and mushroom scavenging, it was the best long weekend I could've hoped for. And we've already started discussing possible babysitter exchanges during the year. It's probably one of the best surprises to come out of the entire summer!
1 comment:
Stuey has been to the Dolomites! But I guess 6 years in London makes one a little less Americano, eh?
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