Thursday 1 July 2003. After our stop in Bolzano we were back onto the coach and travelled a bit then we found ourselves heading up a mountain on a cable car.
We had arrived at a place called Renon, where we were about to catch a tramcar to - I don't know - somewhere near Renon... Once at this destination lunch would be provided and then there would be a short walk to see some "pyramids". We were a bit agog, thinking that if there were pyramids in the Dolomites, why had we never heard of them...
Anyway, one tram came and went then another came and Lucille, our guide, said we had this one to ourselves, much to the disgust of the Germans, who were waiting close to the tracks, ready to jump on!
Once we were all inside, the tram ran along the edge of some fairly spectacular precipices and Lucille told us that the pyramids were a natural phenomenon, and not man-made.
The tram stopped, we got off and were herded to a tavern where lots of other parties were in the process of being disappointed at the tiny miniscule portions offered to us by smiling staff. Put it this way; you could have, as a drink, either beer or wine. I chose a beer and almost anywhere else in the world would have been given more liquid if I had asked for a small wine... If you go on this trip, take a picnic.
From there we followed Lucille, who was striding purposefully way out in front whilst the rest of us followed in a straggly line, tummies rumbling with hunger and already feeling as though no pyramids could possibly make up for the disappointment of lunch. No wonder the staff were smiling - they must have been making a fortune out of us as the cost of the food would have been included in the cost of the excursion.
We were also starting to wonder how far we were going to walk... At one point we passed a small terraced cafe.
"Have you any spare drinks?" we were wailing plaintively as we passed...
The amount of resentment amongst the party must have been the reason Lucille had set off at such a pace so that she was in no danger of anyone having breath left to complain. We could have been about to witness the most incredible sight in the entire world and we would still not have appreciated it.
The pyramids were pillars of sandstone formed by some weathering process. "We have something similar in New Zealand" Kell said, "and it's the same thing. You see them, say 'Yup...' and walk away again!"
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