The Alps are the limit

I went to Austria last weekend. It's strange to think that Innsbruck is only 4 hours away and I've never taken the chance. The difference between North Italy and Tirol was simply striking: just a few hours of driving had taken me to a place where it snows continually, people make gingerbreads for Christmas, use the sauna and eat heavy breakfasts. The fact that everyone was speaking rich Tirol-German didn't even seem to matter. I felt right at home. There is more cultural distance between Vicenza and Innsbruck than the latter and Tallinn. Who would have thought?

Or maybe I'm just homesick?

We stayed in a bed&breakfast at Seefeld. The house was exactly what one might expect, thinking of the Alps, Austria, the winter. Cosy. Breathtaking view all around. Interiours bordering on kitsch, but somehow sweet all the same with the endless teddy bears, doilies and Christmas decorations. It was almost hobbit-like with all the comfort and tranquility. We arrived late, so the landlady left the keys on the door for us. Just like that!

Here December doesn't mean snow, but fogs. I leave from Valdagno each morning with a clear blue sky and find a dense opaque wall of fog halfway down to the plains. Some of the evenings the visibility is so bad that the only reason I manage to weave my way through the twisting roads is that I know them by heart. Halfway back up again towards the mountains the fog disappears though, and the stars blink down in the cold night. But the winter in Italy is not gratifying. There are none of those rare evenings that make the Nordic winter worthwhile: the ones when it snows slowly and the quiet makes bitter people feel at peace with the world. Instead there are bright days, the bare trees full of persimmons like orange lamps and no real need for a woollen hat. That's obviously very nice, but all this, and the panettone or nativity scenes have nothing to do with Christmas in my mind. I need to stock up on other accessories, such as gingerbreads from IKEA...

I'll be landing in Tallinn at 16.00 on the 27th.