The Goat in the Mirror

Today is Sunday May 15 and I haven’t blogged since May 7. Chris and I just finished a 5 hour hike (and I got up early and hiked 2 hours before breakfast) and we hope to hike another two hours out and back to Lichtenstern - where we can get ice cream cones! (My sugar sobriety which I have taken very seriously for decades does get suspended for European vacations). It is warm and sunny today (as it has mostly been since we arrived a week ago Monday) but rain and thunderstorms are forecast so we don’t know if there will be another day warm enough for ice cream. I don’t have a relevant photo so here is one of last night’s full moon. 

So here we are in Klobenstein just north of Bolzano Italy in the southern alps or Dolomites. 

We left Crete exactly a week ago (May 8) and flew to Venice. Everything went very smoothly - an express bus from the airport was just ready to depart when we hopped on (I had bought our tickets online). The walk to the hotel from the bus station (remember - no vehicles in Venice, only foot traffic and hand carts) was only about 25 minutes but the many little bridges with stairs proved daunting to River who insisted on carrying both suitcases. We were pleasantly surprised by our hotel (which we had chosen mostly because it was one of the rare ones under 100 Euros) - our room was spacious with lovely hand painted furniture - and the woman who welcomed us carried our suitcases upstairs to our room (making River very happy).  Again no relevant photo but here is a canal in Venice. Nothing special - just the way that a random photo of a canal in Venice has reflections that make it look like a painting. 

We went out to walk around Venice and after we managed to argue and enjoy a shared meltdown we settled down for an early dinner. Chris noticed a couple of young women checking out our restaurant (we were sitting at an outdoor table) and we got in a conversation with them about the food, and then Chris asked if they were a couple (they were most impressed by her “gadar”), then told them we were too. Before long we had fallen a little in love with Kate and Natalie from Scotland. We got a passer by to take a photo of the four of us -,and we have had a lively text conversation with them since leaving Venice. 

We arrived in Klobenstein joining Chris’s sister Hanna, her daughter Katrina, Katrina’s partner Pete and her two children Markus and Katja. Chris’s parents came to this same small hotel in the Dolomites for many years. Both Hanna and Katrina had come with them in the past. The woman who now runs hotel Dolomiten, who is named Katja, was a child when Hanna’s daughter Katrina first visited. Katja of Klobenstein inspired the name of Katrina’s daughter Katja, and her brother Markus of Klobenstein (who now runs the restaurant where Chris and I just had lunch) inspired the name of Katrina’s son Markus.  Here’s a photo of Katrina and Marcus and Katja skipping along the Fenn promenade, a short loop hike very near our hotel. 

Hanna talked about a photo she has of her parents (whom we all call Mum and Vati) sitting on a bench on the Fenn promenade looking at the view. She had taken a picture of her husband Gene on the same bench. So I suggested I take a picture of Hanna and Chris in that bench. Here it is. 

Later I took a photo of Katrina and her children on the bench. 

And - my favorite of the bench series - Katja on the bench, taking a photo of her mother and brother in front of the view. 

I didn’t know Katrina well and had barely met Katja and Markus before, but had the chance to really fall in love with the whole family during this visit - especially Katja who reminded me of myself at that age (7th grade).  Of course I wanted to swoop in and rescue her from making all the mistakes I made. Not possible but it was a joy to be moved so deeply by her and care so much.  Katja loves playing cards and was perfectly willing to teach me to play all the games I had forgotten or never learned. We played cards every night after dinner (for the three nights they were here) and sometimes also during the day. Chris dislikes card games and I really like them a lot (a safe, structured way to be around people!) No photos of card games but here’s one of a sculpture of a goat holding a mirror (at the Klobenstein train station). After all my reflections on sheep vs goats it seems absolutely appropriate for a goat to be holding a mirror ( sheep being herd animals, compliant, and, metaphorically, saints; goats being independent and adventurous and, metaphorically, sinners). Of course the goat would be the one to fall in love with her own reflection. Narcissism is not for the timid. 

Let’s see - we arrived Monday - and Hanna and family left Thursday morning. There was lots of energy and drama and it was exciting to be part of a multigenerational family on vacation. I missed them all when they left. Of course it was also both a relief and wonderful to be alone with Chris again. Chris and I have been hiking daily and napping and enjoying the good food here at the hotel. Mostly the weather has been unbelievably beautiful.  

Yesterday we thought we might walk to Lichtenstern for ice cream cones. I had asked Chris what she wanted to do and she had said “I want to do what River wants to do.” Then she mentioned walking the hour to Lichtenstern for ice cream. The uncanny thing was I had just been thinking of that very thing - only I had censored it because a whole two hour hike conceived as an excuse to get ice cream sounded like the plan of a sugar addict to me. But Chris said she wanted to do what my id wanted to do - not what my righteous super-ego thought I should do. So that’s what we decided to do. I wasn’t very hard to convince. Every once in awhile Chris and I have these little psychic connections - her picking up my idea of an ice cream hike - always about the most mundane things. Actually an ice cream hike is a lot less mundane than our usual psychic connections. Here’s a photo of us yesterday after we set out on the ice cream hike but had to turn back because of rain. 

The funny thing is I have spent so long on this blog it is now 4pm and too late for an ice cream hike. Oh well maybe the sun will shine tomorrow in spite of the forecast. Meanwhile, I think this is enough blog for now.  I promise to blog more often next week. We will be heading home on May 24. Thank you thank you thank you for reading this blog and coming along with us in imagination. 

WAIT - I think I forgot to tell you that my iPhone was found. After many many phone calls and emails to International Lost and Found (part of Finland’s train system), they finally confirmed it as found. After I learned how to transfer funds into a Finnish bank account to pay the shipping fee, it was finslly shipped on May 1 and arrived here Friday May 13.  So now I have two iPhones!

What, you might ask, does a photo of Chrissy smelling lilacs have to do with my having two iPhones? I will leave that for you to contemplate …