Today I took Eric and Nate up to the same plateau I was on yesterday, except we went further up the mountain to the Corno del Renon, a scenic overlook. It involved 2 gondolas, a train, and a bus. It was a beautiful day, and though it was 90 degrees in Bolzano, it was easily 65 at the plateau. We enjoyed a nice lunch and a bit of light hiking and came back for a nice nap. Rain is in the forecast for the next few days, but it tends to be later in the evening or at night, so we’ll see what we feel like in the morning and plan accordingly. We did buy Sud Tirol Mobil cards, so we have access to all of the local trains, buses, and gondolas for the next 7 days, so there’s no telling where we might head to. The card basically paid for itself the first day. At the restaurant tonight Eric and Nate had Italian and I had German (spinach spätzle with Speck, which is kind of close to spinach gnocchi in a sauce with the regional specialty ham), but I ordered in Italian, and the waiter complimented me on my fine Italian skills. I guess nearly a month here helps out the old language skills.

Gus reports that he is getting a lot out of his private lessons and was complimented on his own skills. We’re glad he’s having a good experience, but we miss him!