South Tyrol

Hello, everyone, from South Tyrol. I am still without the Internet, so this is going to be a visual blog, full of images and not much witty banter.

South Tyrol is an area in what is now Italy, close to the Austrian border. So, sometimes it is Austrian, and sometimes it is Italian, depending on who wins the war. But it is really something else -- South Tyrolean. It would be as if the people from New York and the people from Texas were both trying to conquer New Jersey. Well, they could both try, but the people from New Jersey are not conquerable. They will still keep their culture. They will feel closer to the people from New York than the people from Texas (and South Tyroleans feel closer to Austria), and they will reluctantly obey, but their souls will never belong to either.

So, Meran, or Merano, where I am, is now Italian, but many people don't speak Italian. They speak German. Everything is printed in both languages. Not many people speak English, but they would probably like to speak English rather than Italian because the Italians are the enemies. The Italians have the government jobs, so it is a strange feeling for me, because, of course, I live in Italy! More on this in the future, because it is time to go -- everything closes for lunch (like we used to do in Venice!)

And, yes, it really is as beautiful as you see in the images.

Ciao from Meran,
Cat