We arrived in the Dolomites to our first rain since Slovenia. It was falling hard as we got off the bus in Ortesei and our plan for finding our guesthouse was to ring them to request a pick up. Robin rang the number but instead of getting "Tochter" the helpful English-speaking lady he'd spoken to earlier he got "Vater" who could speak Italian and German but no English at all. Robin last spoke German when he scraped through his exams in 1994 and he could not remember the German for "Please pick us up from the edge of town". Hanging up after five minutes of fruitless back-and-forth frustration he convinced Jess that we could walk armed only with the memory of the large static map posted helpfully by the phone booth at the edge of town.
We set off in the pouring rain, our backpacks getting heavier with the accumulated rain water. The further we walked the clearer it became that the way was all up-hill and that this was our first impromptu Alpine hike. When we finally arrived our Haus Vater was cheerily waving to us from the shelter of his veranda. Although, he spoke no English he made it clear that us drowned rats were to leave all of our wet gear including our luggage in his boiler room to dry off. Having no common language but for Robin's half-remembered German we settled into our room exchanging mostly bemused looks and nervous smiles.
We later met the Haus Frau who explained the rules (in German) and who exuded a homely, friendly feeling and also lent us slippers for wearing around the house and an umbrella for our trip to the restaurant in the rain.
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