After saying goodbye to the Prices on Thursday, we spent the
rest of the day hanging out and relaxing (and catching up on the blogging!). Most of Friday was also spent hanging out in
Treviso…Julia and I went out to do some shopping – we would like to come home
with some cute Italian dresses but haven’t given it much effort and haven’t had
much luck. We walked off in a different
direction past where we normally turn around and found a whole new area of town
we hadn’t seen before. Rather than ask
for directions we just wandered until we found something familiar again and in
that process happened on a store called Playlife that we both loved. My rule is that any clothes we buy this trip
have to be made in Italy and preferably cheaper than we could find them in
LA. I did one better - finding clothes
that are actually from Treviso, Italy (they are under the Benetton label) and
not yet available in the US. It was
pretty cheap and the whole store was 50% off on top of that. I think what I really found is Italy’s Old
Navy. But, that’s about our speed.
Friday night, however, the weekend trip to Cortina d’Apezzo (just
1.5 hours north of Treviso) began. I got
to choose my destination for my birthday and going into the Dolomite Mountains, my favorite terrain, was my top choice. We had originally planned
to spend just Saturday night but when Jim’s work schedule allowed it, we
decided to go up on Friday night instead so we could wake up in Cortina on
Saturday and spend the whole day exploring. Italians like to vacation up there because
even when it is super hot in the rest of Italy the mountains are cool. The weather forecast had been saying that it
was going to be highs in the upper 60s and raining all day long on Saturday,
except for when it was thunder storming.
But, we kept to the plan and brought games and movies in case we were
stuck in a hotel all day with no view of anything but clouds. We weren’t able to add a night onto the hotel
we had booked for Saturday (which was out of town) so we chose one right in the
heart of Cortina for Friday night to give us a different experience. We checked
into the Hotel Olimpia and got a recommendation for a restaurant that makes
homemade pasta and pizza. We went back
to the rooms and watched the opening ceremonies of the Olympics – which felt
fitting in a hotel called Olimpia in a town that hosted the seventh winter
games.
Saturday we woke up and it wasn’t raining and surprisingly
it wasn’t even all that cold. Jim and
the girls went to the free buffet breakfast in the hotel and snuck food for me
to have in bed (as is our birthday tradition). They also had some great gifts they had picked
up on our travels – a sunglass cleaner with Botecelli’s Venice on it, a deck of
cards from Lake Garda, an apron decorated with fresh pastas, and a water glass
made in Murano. We wanted to take
advantage of the clear skies so we set out to find a place to hike in the
mountains. (We had brought warm clothes with us to Italy
in case we needed them and so far all they had done was take up space in our
suitcases, so I was disappointed to not need them in the mountains either.) We decided to go see Tre Cime di Lavaredo – a
well-known mountain group in the Alps. Just 20 minutes outside of Cortina we came to the beautiful Lake Misurina,
where the last natural ice Olympic speed skating events were held in 1956. From
the lake you get beautiful views of two of the three peaks (‘cime’ means
peaks): Cima Grande and Cima Ovest.
Shortly after the lake, you have to pay a heafty entrance fee (22 euro)
to continue driving on a winding mountain road (with far fewer guardrails than
there would have been in the US). There’s one awe-inspiring view after another –
no matter which way you turn – truly indescribably beautiful and majestic. (I was
hoping that the pictures would describe it better but even though we took over 300 that afternoon, they don’t even do it justice
– I guess everyone has to go there for themselves to see.) Though Jim doubted
me, the Dolomites were formed from coral reefs which give them a pinkish hue. You can drive as far as Refuge Auronzo,
from which you are still only able to see the same two peaks.
The minute we parked the car and got out, we
realized how cold it had gotten as we gained elevation and dug through our
suitcases to pull out long pants and jackets.
While we were still at the car the forecasted rain arrived – but even
more than rain, it started to hail!
Luckily we had brought umbrellas from Treviso (thanks Guerrino!). The rainy hail came down hard and lasted until
we found refuge inside. We wondered if the
peaks would be covered in clouds and if we should just turn back, but inside we
spoke to a woman who told us two very important pieces of information: 1) though
it takes about 5 hours to hike all the way around Tre Cime (not something we
were prepared to do) continuing on the trail passed the second refuge (but not
all the way to the third) would give us a view of the backside of Tre Cime, and
2) the weather changes from minute to
minute up there – so even if you can’t see the mountains now, you just must be
patient. So, we continued on, along the pretty flat trail to the second
refuge debating whether we were walking or hiking. There was no rain at all and the views were
spectacular.
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| Do you see Jim? Click to make it bigger |
Just as we approached the
second refuge it looked like rain was imminent and the girls were really hungry
so we found a table inside, just as the rain and wind kicked up outside (it
looked bad from the people we watched through the window as we ate our soup,
pasta, and hot chocolate). From here we
could now see the third peak: Cima Piccola, but not the other two. We realized just
how close we were to the Austrian border…as all signs were in Italian and
Germany. In turns out that before WWI,
Tre Cime marked the border between Italy and Austria, but after the war the
land became Italy’s. The rain let up
just as we finished our meal and we headed out toward refuge number three…and at
that point the trail became quite steep and there was no more debate: we were
hiking.
We didn’t have to go far until
we reached the point at which you could see Tre Cime. Up to this point we honestly weren’t quite
sure what we were looking at - it was all beautiful, but which peaks were which hadn't become quite clear. I love
that the only way to see the three peaks together is by foot. We made our way back to the car, and just as
we arrived back to the first refuge the rain started again. We timed the rain perfectly and got to see
such beauty along the way.
We drove back down the hill in the rain, stopping for more
hot chocolate on the way to our hotel. The
view out my window was exactly as I had hoped and the balcony covered so
thoroughly that even though it was raining out we could sit outside. We all found spots sprawled out on beds or
sitting on the balcony and spent the next glorious hour reading while the rain
came down outside. We didn’t feel like
going back into town for dinner, so went to the little restaurant attached to
our hotel. When we walked in and were
the only customers we wondered if that was such a smart move, but turns out that
at 7:30 we were just early for dinner…it filled up as time went on. We each ordered tortellini served a different
way, and had some great desserts – apple strudel, chocolate lava cake, panne
cotta – but no gelato. A gelato-free
birthday!! And, yet, still the perfect
day!
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The new Playlife dress and the
controversial jean jacket finally in use! |
The thunderstorm with hail overnight
I’m told sounded like a helicopter landing on the roof, but I slept through
that and we woke up to dry skies and started planning another hike. Within
an hour the rain started in earnest again and the lightning spotting became our
game. A hike wasn’t going to be
happening so we went to Cortina’s Museum of Modern Art before driving back back
to Treviso, stopping to have lunch in a pizzeria along the way. It was 13C (about 55F) and raining when we
left the mountains…90 minutes later in Treviso it was 35C (95F) and sunny! A whole other world.
After returning from Cortina, Jim and I got ready for a dinner in Venice with Luigi (co-worker), Miriam (girlfriend) and Joe Guy (Jim and Luigi's boss in town from Atlanta). We picked up Joe around 5:30, leaving the girls to fend for themselves (correctly guessing that would mean the usual pizza from St. Agostino's and a movie or two). We, on the other hand, were in for a very different experience.
After dinner, Luigi had arranged for us to be picked up by a private water taxi...though I think it was closer to a limousine than a taxi and we stood up in the back where we could get a great view (like sticking your head out of the sunroof in your limo). It was amazing to be in Venice after dark - a whole different view of the city. The taxi took us to St. Mark's square by back alley rivers. I am constantly amazed by how big the city really is - much larger than it appears at first glance. We went for a drink in Harry's Bar. I had been wanting to go in there, but was never really dressed appropriately until then. They sure have a good thing going, charging tourists 16.50 euro for a Bellini (which Hemingway didn't even drink) in a room that, once inside, you would never know you were on the Grand Canal. I did learn that Hemingway drank very strong martinis, and because I had so many questions, the waiter even brought me a shot of Hemingway's drink to give it a try. I guess the fact that I ordered a 9 euro virgin Bellini (so, just peach juice) didn't tip him off that I might not want a martini. 
