Vineyards on hill
Apple Orchards
View of hairpin curves
Pinocchio a picture for the boys
On our journey to Castelrotto
Alpine Suis
One more beautiful view
View from le Tofane
View from Cortina
St. Mark's Square
Side Canal in Venice
Grand Canal in Venice
Beach Chairs on Adriatic Sea
Another church
Fiat in Mosaics
Ravenna MosaicsTuesday day and night was spent in Cortina. A striking town to say the least! The only thing Greg and I can compare these vistas to are the Canadian Rockies, yet these mountains are bigger. We are actually in the Italian Alps and the mountain peak we rode up to today was over 10,000 ft. That is what we think with us refiguring meters to feet (3244m). The 1956 winter Olympics were held here and the ski slopes, bobsled track, ski jump, and hockey rink are still here and in use during the winter season. Our trip to the top of le Tofane was on a gondola which we had to change 3 times before reaching the top…with Phil and Greg slightly afraid of heights that made the trip even more fun! It is cold here also…when we went to buy gondola tickets the girl indicated we MAY want more clothes on. We quickly returned to our hotel and pulled out long pants and jackets. At the top it was cold enough to see our breath. Tonight is actually very chilly. We forgot to ask for heat in our room so we have none. We are sitting around with our jackets on! This area of Italy has a great German influence; in fact most of the towns have the German spelling and the Italian spelling to their town names. Many Alpine type buildings decorated with beautiful flower boxes filled with trailing geraniums. It is just a scenic little town.
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Wednesday – "A Step Back in Time"
Today has certainly been that! We left our "apartment with 2 bedrooms" and headed out of town on the wrong road again! We did discover after only 4 kilometers we were wrong. We headed through the Dolomite mountains and on into the Alpine Suis. This is Europe’s largest high-alpine meadow. We stopped at a little town called Castelrotto (Italian) or Kastelruth (German). It was a scenic small town of 2000 just nestled in the mountains. We then journeyed on to Bolzano. We drove the scenic route that had no less than 57 hairpin turns, no center line, and many turns had mirrors to see what was coming from the other direction. Fun driving for daredevils and racecar drivers! We met many tour buses that took both lanes on the curves just assuming you would wait for them! All of this and seldom getting in 3rd gear in our 5-speed car. We have not had reservations for the last 3 nights of our trip, because we were not sure where we would end up. Phil and Deanna have not been to this part of Italy so we’ve just picked out places on the map to go. Tonight we thought we would not have any trouble finding a place, but we were wrong. We are in a SMALL town called Caldaro (Italian) or Kaltern (German). No one speaks English and most speak German. Just when we had learned to read Italian menus, tonight’s menu was all German. Go figure…but we are making memories and and enjoying every minute. After checking 5 different places for "zimmers" (rooms) we settled for an older hotel. Interesting to say the least! Although it looks like everything here is old! They do not have an Internet café or anyplace to get internet! The last place didn’t have Internet either. We haven’t quite figured out what the attraction is here for there to be no rooms, although we are surrounded by grape vineyards and apple orchards. It may be the Napa Valley of Italy, but it is definitely not like 2008 here!
Today has certainly been that! We left our "apartment with 2 bedrooms" and headed out of town on the wrong road again! We did discover after only 4 kilometers we were wrong. We headed through the Dolomite mountains and on into the Alpine Suis. This is Europe’s largest high-alpine meadow. We stopped at a little town called Castelrotto (Italian) or Kastelruth (German). It was a scenic small town of 2000 just nestled in the mountains. We then journeyed on to Bolzano. We drove the scenic route that had no less than 57 hairpin turns, no center line, and many turns had mirrors to see what was coming from the other direction. Fun driving for daredevils and racecar drivers! We met many tour buses that took both lanes on the curves just assuming you would wait for them! All of this and seldom getting in 3rd gear in our 5-speed car. We have not had reservations for the last 3 nights of our trip, because we were not sure where we would end up. Phil and Deanna have not been to this part of Italy so we’ve just picked out places on the map to go. Tonight we thought we would not have any trouble finding a place, but we were wrong. We are in a SMALL town called Caldaro (Italian) or Kaltern (German). No one speaks English and most speak German. Just when we had learned to read Italian menus, tonight’s menu was all German. Go figure…but we are making memories and and enjoying every minute. After checking 5 different places for "zimmers" (rooms) we settled for an older hotel. Interesting to say the least! Although it looks like everything here is old! They do not have an Internet café or anyplace to get internet! The last place didn’t have Internet either. We haven’t quite figured out what the attraction is here for there to be no rooms, although we are surrounded by grape vineyards and apple orchards. It may be the Napa Valley of Italy, but it is definitely not like 2008 here!
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