Onto the next thing

I’ve finished going through the guidebooks trying to decide we would like to visit on our holiday in Italy. The list is long. We will decide exactly where we want to go according to how we feel & what the weather is doing. There are certainly no shortage of places to see both near & far, a mixture of dramatic scenery and more cultural activities. I shall be amazed if we return without having seen some Renaissance frescoes. The lake area seems to have been much fought over, sometimes being part of Austria, sometimes Italy. One village even has 40 castles! I don’t expect we will visit them all!

So now I’m turning my attention to learning a bit of the language. As readers of the Fox’s blog will know, he is having some difficulty with Italian. I’ve always found languages fairly easy to pick up. I’m surprised to find I can already pick up the essential meaning even from the last reading passage in our course & I only did a couple of lessons last time we went to Italy some 3 years ago. I’m not saying I would pass as a local but I can usually get to the stage of making myself understood & understanding what others say to me fairly quickly. Unfortunately it will be the Fox who will have the job of finding out if something is accessible, if so by what entry, & to ask for help when needed.  I won’t be able to get up the steps to ask.

I remember when we went to Pompeii about 3 years ago having a fascinating conversation with our hotel chambermaid. Her son was working in Brazil, her daughter learning English at school. All this was done in Italian with a dictionary on the table between us.

I also remember that most of our conversations with non-English people ended up being in French. Even the French couldn’t believe we didn’t come from France! Maybe that will be the case this time.

We expect a fair amount of English to be spoken as clearly this hotel is expecting many English guests coming through Saga, unlike last time in Pompeii when I can’t remember bumping into any English people at all. I gather at the hotel, with Saga, some Italian classes are available. Maybe the Fox will find it easier to learn the language when he is surrounded by it being spoken around him. I hope so.