On our first morning in S ΓΌ d Tirol, the kids woke us up at 7 AM. It was very dark in our apartment, since we had closed the exterior shutters, and there were no night lights, so we were all sort of stumbling around. The bathroom is one step up from the rest of the apartment, and there are thresholds to step over from one room to the next. Any bruises we have may be a result of that. The next nights we didn’t bother to close the shutters. Those of us living on the plains need reminders of what a mountain morning in October is like. There’s no bright sun streaming into your room at 7 AM. Once we were up I suddenly had a brilliant idea that we should go outside to see the sunrise. I quickly made coffee, got dressed and everyone bundled up so we wouldn’t miss it. Our hostess, Maria, saw us leaving and commented on our early rising. When John told her that we were going to see the sunrise, I wonder if she laughed a little. There we were...