Dolomites!

Today we took a goldala into the high country near Bolzano, and hiked towards the Dolomites, a range in the Italian Alps. ASTOUNDING!!! These are high mountains, sometimes rounded, other times craggy that reminded me of breakers that were suddenly changed from water into rock. Some of the mountains (which are about Sierra Nevada size) are tall and thin, like stone icicicles. There are glacial valleys and streams everywhere, and thicker forests than we have seen since leaving California. We will get pix up, I promise!!!

There was once an inland sea here, with sediments of quartz that were formed in volcanoes about 200 million years ago. The sediments were elevated when the African and Eurasian plates collided. The Alps are actually still rising, but erosion is wearing them down faster than they are being elevated. The Dolomites also contain
formations from ancient coral reefs. There are also strange formations called the Pyramids. They look like tall  thin rocks with boulders on top. All the information we have seen is in Italian or German. As close as I can figure, basalt boulders settled on sandstone formations. Rain eroded the sandstone, but the boulders sheltered small areas, producing the pyramids. Strange but interesting if true.

There are marmots in the mountains, along with deer, badgers, weesles, and (apparently) wolves.
We heard many songbirds. Buttercups, red poppies, wild roses and many other flowers are everywhere. The rain may keep us out of the mountains tomorrow, but who knows?

This area belonged to Austria until WW!, when Italy aquired it. The architecture and culture are more Austrian than  Italian for the most part. My background is German as well as Irish, so I am getting excited as we get closer to Germany. Today we hiked through a village where I rediscovered my passion for apple strudle. How could I ever forget apple strudle? More to come tomorrow.. guten tag!