Juan blogs about walking and climbing in the mountains here, taking pictures of this travelling in Europe here and looking at flowers, here. I share some interesting reflections from the culture on the Italian Alps. For much of the 18th and 19th century, the Alps represented the idea of the mountain. In literature, poetry, opera and popular imagination the Alps dominated the imagination of the English, French and Germans especially. In the UK this leads to the creation of the World’s First Mountaineering society, the Alpine Club in 1857. My…