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| Anna Skydiving on one of her weekends! |
This summer, I got the chance to live in a castle in the
mountains of northern Italy, of all places. I could not have imagined somewhere
more magical or surreal to spend a month of my life. Named Schloss Brunnenburg,
it is situated in Dorf Tirol, a small German-Italian town near the border
between Italy and Germany. Every morning, we would wake up to a magnificent
view of mountains and valleys all around. When it got rainy, which it often did
for the first half of our stay, the clouds would descend and envelop the tops
of the mountains, which was so beautiful in its own way. In addition to being
an architectural museum, the castle was home to a family that farmed, made
wine, and ate delicious organic food. For the first time in my life, I got to
see what it was like to work for a day in the vineyard, feed and play with
piglets and goats, and eat an egg straight from the hen's nest.
However, it wasn't just the architecture of the castle
that enchanted me. I loved the people who lived there, too. In fact, they were
descendants of the late Ezra Pound, none of whom my friends seem to know by
name, funnily enough. We got to have tea with Mary, Pound's daughter, in the
afternoons, and that was a magical experience. She is such a cultured person,
and I have a lot of respect for her. I also got to befriend Brigitte, her
daughter-in-law, and India, the girlfriend of one of Brigitte's sons. They
brought me along on their daily chores and very kindly showed me the ropes. By
the end of the month, it was hard for me to leave Schloss Brunnenburg, not just
because of its surrounding beauty and serenity, but also because of the inner
warmth and peace that came with living there.
