We woke up this morning at 3 am to catch the plane for Milan. Guess who wasn’t a happy camper? 🙂 After saying goodbye to Hungary and family at the airport (I might have more to say about that in another post) we flew into Milan, grabbed a train to the city centre, grabbed another train after that and were on our way to Tirano, a small (tiny) ‘city’ in the valley of the Italian Alps.

And since arriving, also since taking a nap, I’ve between smiling like crazy. This is the place for me. You can keep you large and striking cities; give me flows of streams and waterfalls tumbling down mountain sides; give me vineyards that layer themselves one after the other up and up into the clouds; give me a cool rainy day with a complete lack of tourists (except us); give me a riverside hotel room and mountain view; give me baskets of strawberries for only 60 cents. That is all I ask to make me happy. 😉

Gosh, I’ve missed the mountains. One summer over ten years ago, I had the joy of working on top of a mountain for the Jasper Tramway in Alberta. That was a very special time. Looking up into the mountains, particularly when the air was damp and cloud hung low in random wisps – it felt like being wrapped up in God.

So, you can understand why Tirano makes me smile.

Zsolt and I spent a few happy hours walking around this compact place and snapping pictures like crazy. We must have looked ridiculous. It was raining all day here – so whenever Zsolt pulled out the phone to snap a picture, I’d hold the umbrella way, way high up above his head, and somehow we kept walking around like that! 🙂 Did I mention this umbrella is BROKEN and half flops down into us? Well, there you go.

The smile didn’t leave my face for the entire afternoon. Maybe it is because we had time together, just the two of us. Maybe it was because I was delirious for lack of sleep. But most likely it was because I felt so blessed and so happy to enjoy this beautiful place.

And tomorrow gets even better!! We will be going through the Alps on the Bernina express. It will be spectacular.