what a great idea to head over to the Dolomites. Since I spent a great deal of my childhood vacations (both winter and summer) there, they feel almost like a second home. During summer, we went to Eppan/Appiano near Bozen/Bolzano. For skiing we went to St. Kassian/S. Cassiano, which is just one valley away from Cortina and you might actually have been passing through that town, in case you crossed the Valparola and the Falzarego passes. Half of the Dolomites belonged to the Austrian-Hungarian empire before 1918 and were entirely German speaking (they still are). The other half belonged to Italy. During WW1, this was the scene of some vicious mountain fighting between the Axis powers (Germany and Austria-Hungary) and Italy. In fact, this part of the war has been described tremendously well by Hemingway in his book "A Farewell to Arms". Hemingway (aged 18 at the time) was actually a voluntary ambulance driver in the Italian army and draws heavily on his own experiences. Book ends with the kind of obstetrical cathastrophy we now manage to prevent on a daily basis, so I feel particularly attached. In the end, I believe that the protagonists have to cross the Lago Maggiore, to escape from Italy to Switzerland. Anyway, Italy lost that part of the war, but Germany/Austria-Hungary lost the overall War, so during the Versaille negotiations, "Southern Tyrol" was handed over to Italy, which caused a lot of discontent in the area, that only abated with the gradual dissappearance of national borders starting about 20 years ago. That's why all the names are both Italian and German.
Skiing there is wonderful, particularly on the many sunny days you can enjoy on this southern slope of the alps even during winter. The thought, that all these mountains used to be giant coral reefs in the ancient sea of Tethys about 200 million year ago, makes the excellent Italian lunches seem even more enjoyable. Peter would be able to provide more details about the fascinating geology of that area. There are more stories about the dolomites, hopefully we'll be able to share some of them when we come down to visit in August. Until then: Best wishes from Tübingen, Germany,
what a great idea to head over to the Dolomites. Since I spent a great deal of my childhood vacations (both winter and summer) there, they feel almost like a second home. During summer, we went to Eppan/Appiano near Bozen/Bolzano. For skiing we went to St. Kassian/S. Cassiano, which is just one valley away from Cortina and you might actually have been passing through that town, in case you crossed the Valparola and the Falzarego passes. Half of the Dolomites belonged to the Austrian-Hungarian empire before 1918 and were entirely German speaking (they still are). The other half belonged to Italy. During WW1, this was the scene of some vicious mountain fighting between the Axis powers (Germany and Austria-Hungary) and Italy. In fact, this part of the war has been described tremendously well by Hemingway in his book "A Farewell to Arms". Hemingway (aged 18 at the time) was actually a voluntary ambulance driver in the Italian army and draws heavily on his own experiences. Book ends with the kind of obstetrical cathastrophy we now manage to prevent on a daily basis, so I feel particularly attached. In the end, I believe that the protagonists have to cross the Lago Maggiore, to escape from Italy to Switzerland. Anyway, Italy lost that part of the war, but Germany/Austria-Hungary lost the overall War, so during the Versaille negotiations, "Southern Tyrol" was handed over to Italy, which caused a lot of discontent in the area, that only abated with the gradual dissappearance of national borders starting about 20 years ago. That's why all the names are both Italian and German.
Skiing there is wonderful, particularly on the many sunny days you can enjoy on this southern slope of the alps even during winter. The thought, that all these mountains used to be giant coral reefs in the ancient sea of Tethys about 200 million year ago, makes the excellent Italian lunches seem even more enjoyable. Peter would be able to provide more details about the fascinating geology of that area. There are more stories about the dolomites, hopefully we'll be able to share some of them when we come down to visit in August. Until then: Best wishes from Tübingen, Germany,
2 comments:
Dear Gene, dear Joan,
what a great idea to head over to the
Dolomites. Since I spent a great deal of my childhood vacations (both winter and summer) there, they feel almost like a second home.
During summer, we went to Eppan/Appiano near Bozen/Bolzano. For skiing we went to St. Kassian/S. Cassiano, which is just one valley away from Cortina and you might actually have been passing through that town, in case you crossed the Valparola and the Falzarego passes.
Half of the Dolomites belonged to the Austrian-Hungarian empire before 1918 and were entirely German speaking (they still are). The other half belonged to Italy.
During WW1, this was the scene of some vicious mountain fighting between the Axis powers (Germany and Austria-Hungary) and Italy. In fact, this part of the war has been described tremendously well by Hemingway in his book "A Farewell to Arms". Hemingway (aged 18 at the time) was actually a voluntary ambulance driver in the Italian army and draws heavily on his own experiences. Book ends with the kind of obstetrical cathastrophy we now manage to prevent on a daily basis, so I feel particularly attached. In the end, I believe that the protagonists have to cross the Lago Maggiore, to escape from Italy to Switzerland.
Anyway, Italy lost that part of the war, but Germany/Austria-Hungary lost the overall War, so during the Versaille negotiations, "Southern Tyrol" was handed over to Italy, which caused a lot of discontent in the area, that only abated with the gradual dissappearance of national borders starting about 20 years ago. That's why all the names are both Italian and German.
Skiing there is wonderful, particularly on the many sunny days you can enjoy on this southern slope of the alps even during winter. The thought, that all these mountains used to be giant coral reefs in the ancient sea of Tethys about 200 million year ago, makes the excellent Italian lunches seem even more enjoyable. Peter would be able to provide more details about the fascinating geology of that area.
There are more stories about the dolomites, hopefully we'll be able to share some of them when we come down to visit in August.
Until then: Best wishes from Tübingen, Germany,
Love
Sven
Dear Gene, dear Joan,
what a great idea to head over to the
Dolomites. Since I spent a great deal of my childhood vacations (both winter and summer) there, they feel almost like a second home.
During summer, we went to Eppan/Appiano near Bozen/Bolzano. For skiing we went to St. Kassian/S. Cassiano, which is just one valley away from Cortina and you might actually have been passing through that town, in case you crossed the Valparola and the Falzarego passes.
Half of the Dolomites belonged to the Austrian-Hungarian empire before 1918 and were entirely German speaking (they still are). The other half belonged to Italy.
During WW1, this was the scene of some vicious mountain fighting between the Axis powers (Germany and Austria-Hungary) and Italy. In fact, this part of the war has been described tremendously well by Hemingway in his book "A Farewell to Arms". Hemingway (aged 18 at the time) was actually a voluntary ambulance driver in the Italian army and draws heavily on his own experiences. Book ends with the kind of obstetrical cathastrophy we now manage to prevent on a daily basis, so I feel particularly attached. In the end, I believe that the protagonists have to cross the Lago Maggiore, to escape from Italy to Switzerland.
Anyway, Italy lost that part of the war, but Germany/Austria-Hungary lost the overall War, so during the Versaille negotiations, "Southern Tyrol" was handed over to Italy, which caused a lot of discontent in the area, that only abated with the gradual dissappearance of national borders starting about 20 years ago. That's why all the names are both Italian and German.
Skiing there is wonderful, particularly on the many sunny days you can enjoy on this southern slope of the alps even during winter. The thought, that all these mountains used to be giant coral reefs in the ancient sea of Tethys about 200 million year ago, makes the excellent Italian lunches seem even more enjoyable. Peter would be able to provide more details about the fascinating geology of that area.
There are more stories about the dolomites, hopefully we'll be able to share some of them when we come down to visit in August.
Until then: Best wishes from Tübingen, Germany,
Love
Sven
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