Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Bike Trip Day 5 - Maria-Luggau, Austria to Pfalzen, Italy, 90 km - Sunday, June 17

I was was not looking forward too much about biking into Italy based on the previous two attempts with James (Trieste and Cividale/Castelmonte). Also, I do not know any Italian, only German. Big suprise though, in Sud Tirol they speak German and pretty much only German. And they dress just like they did in Austria's Tirol. In fact it seemed that I was still in Austria. This is the area of Austria that was awarded to Italy after WWI in 1920. I don't think these people got the memo though, because they still very much consider themselves Austrian, even to the point that they really try to show how loyal to Austria they are. I could swear that the Sudtirol flag is even the Austrian National Flag.

I stayed with a wonderful older couple at Haus Valentin just West of Pfalzen who were overjoyed to get an extra 22 Euros. I was overjoyed that she brought some food up for me for dinner.

I can definately come back to this part of Italy. And Frau Valentin made me promise to bring my husband and (future) children to come back and visit. I would really like to come back to this area and where I would be biking the next day.

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