First Formia Days

My first couple of days in Italy have been everything I dreamed of and more. I am staying with my cousins Jane and Peppe who have given me the royal treatment and showered me with so much, food, sights and attention I feel like the most doted on guest in all of Italy. Upon my arrival at the train station, we went and had real Quattro stagione pizza which means 'four seasons pizza' (think Vivaldi!) and has four different toppings separated into quarters- mushroom, olives, Mozarella, and cuttlefish. It was delicious, so light and the sauce was truly something special. Above is a photo I took on my first full day. After lunch, I went with Jane and Peppe's son, Adriano (in the back holding the two salami) and Alessia, to the home of their friend who was making sausages from a wild boar they had slaughtered the day before. Each person at the table has a job. One fills the casings, one ties the link closed, one pokes the holes for the air to escape and one seperates the big link into smaller links. This is exactly why I came to Italy- to see people and families, continuing traditions and making things on a small scale where they know exactly what is in the food they're eatinga nod why it tastes the way it does. 

Later that night we went for a walk in Gaeta which juts out into the sea. The town is a seaside paradise, with roots dating back to 338 BC, with roman elements still surviving. 

Gaeta goes all the way out to the far point in this photo. The town is beautiful and I look forward to exploring it more. It was an important port in the past and the US military still has a naval base here. The thing I'm looking forward to the most through is the fish market that happens on Thursdsy. Peppe and I are planning on picking out some fish so stay tuned for that.

There's a cat in the blue boat licking itself. There are lots if cats here which is great since I'm starting to pine for my Cakebread....

Trains to Formia

The train ride to Gormia-Gaeta was a wonderful way to see the country side change from north to south, I went from Innsbruck, to bologne where I caught the high speed train, the Frecciargemto, to Rome. The slow train was beautiful and out the window there were lots of scenes like this:

 The ride to bologne was amazing, it was like the alps mixed with little farm house answer villas and vineyards and vineyards- miles of them. At one point in the ride we went over a road and shooting out the other side was a little black fiat that then proceeded to zip along through the vineyard that was parallel with the train tracks and stayed even with my seat for a couple 100meters, it felt like it really couldn't get more Italian than that. In Bologne the sun came out but there also was a shower of rain. 

If you ever get a chance to travel any of the high speed trains in Italy- do. It's amazing, there's a speedometer in the tv screens and they travel around 250km per hr and it's amazing to feel. 

The Sardine Can

Skiing into Switzerland is really quite a thrill. There are bars and shops  and lots and lots of duty free goods- from perfume to chocolate. Even though it's just a couple lifts and ski runs from Austria it feels quite different, maybe because they still use the Swiss franc. 

It's all good and well until you have to go back up. On the Austrian side the cable cars are small and follow the countours of the mountain, but on the Swiss side they go peak-to-peak which isn't ideal for people who are afraid of heights. 

Here's a photo of where it came in to, which was two levels to accommodate the two level cable car. I chose the top because obviously if you were going to crash to the ground from 1,000 feet up you'd probably have a better chance of surviving. Needless to say, I survived the harrowing journey, and I've taken one step closer to conquering my fear of heights. 

This is the peak-to peak route that the Seilbahnen at Ischgl takes. 

Una Penna

I'm determined on this trip to actually use some Italian after all the time I spent practicing it in the car to and from my old job. I'm happy to report that just hours after crossing the Italian border, right after the train departed from Verona, I asked my cabin mate for a pen. The lovely little, older woman in a bright pink sweater and silk scarf heard me speak my first shamble of an Italian sentence 'scusi, per favore, ha una penna?'. I'm sure this is in someway incorrect, but she knew what I was talking about and after un momento and rifling through her purse, she found one! I said 'grazie' and upon return I said it again and she said 'prego' ('don't mention it'), and oh-my-word I cannot believe that this exchange took place without a single word of English in between. Even my Dutch which I heard spoken for two whole years, and studied at college level for another 3 years barely got this much use without dissolving into a 'do you speak English' disaster. So, I will continue to try out my home-grown Italian and hopefully be able to get more than just a pen in the future. 

Skiing Ischgl

Ischgl is an amazing place to get outside. The ski area sits on the border of Austria and Switzerland, and the 44 lifts on the mountains can carry up to 90,200 people each hour. With kilometer after kilometer of groomed trails ranging from a meandering wandleweg (waking way) to a trail with a 70% gradient that has to be groomed with a special groomer and and winch system, this is a paradise for every level of skier. I chose to snowboard this time even though there are considerable flat lengs at the bottom and between peaks where you have to unstrap, and even though it's much less popular than skiing in Europe. I wanted to try something different, and I'm glad I did because the conditions were perfect for it, Here are just a couple of photos of the skiing and I'll post a couple more of more specific things-

These were the lines to get up he hill using the silvrettabahn cable car in the morning. Each cabin holds 24-18 people depending on how you pack them, so it doesn't take as long as you might think, maybe 20minutes...

Views from the silvrettabahn...

 

Top of the mountain reading the map (which I could only do for about 5 minutes before I would give up!)

Everything else...

To Italy! 

 

And I'm off! Out of the lap of luxury and into the European train system. This is me at the Innsbruck train station, and I'll be the first to admit it- I look like such an American!!! And I feel like such an American! With my giant backpack and Merrells it would be hard not to, but I guess you can't change what you are. Anyways, off to Italy in 20 minutes via bologne, Rome and last stop- Formia-gaeta. 

Nachtrodeln

Last night Anna and I braved one of the classic Tirolian traditions - the Rodelbahn. When the sun goes down, a 7km long course of ski trails is illuminated and the sides are built up to create a kind of luge for sleds. The course is one of the longest in the world. Since it combines all the fun bits of sledding (going down the hill) with none of the boring bits of sledding (walking up), it is an absolute dream for any one who wishes sledding was a little more exhilarating. 

At 7pm, Anna and I took the 15 minute Silvretta cable car ride up the mountain. Once you get to the tippy top, you pick up a tobagan, that looks more like a child's toy than a speed demon, but dont be fooled- they are in no way too cutesy to actually be functional. They fly!

The course follows the outside of the ski slopes and is complete with hair pin turns and steep, steep drops.  When you first start moving it's like getting into a car with no brakes, and no steering wheel on a down hill. By trial and error you quickly learn that dropping one foot lightly will point you in the right direction and by digging in both heels you can almost stop. 

Nachtrodelbahn is really one of those things that you just could never see happening in America they way it is done here. Since the only real 'precaution' is at most a two foot high barrier of snow separating you from the precipice on the other side, it makes sense why children ride with parents in most cases. In some places the trail just drops away into the alpine forest. But unlike what my dad tried to get Anna and I to believe, there are no ambulances waiting at the bottom and everyone generally makes it down in one piece. 

If you're wondering how they get all those sleds get back up to the top of the mountain? They put them on a giant sled and pull them up on a trail groomer.

Anna and I made it down in one piece and enjoyed every second of it! Even if you don't have a 7km long course, get out there and sled! This reminded me what a good time it is, even if you do have to walk back up- it's worth it to feel the whoosh of childlike joy that sledding always brings.