As soon as we crossed into Italy, the sun burst through the clouds, the driving got crazy, and the gas prices got even crazier. (People in the know fill up on gas in Austria.) Our first stop in Italy was in the Dolomites where we were blessed with good weather. We climbed to an altitude of about 2000 meters (6000 feet) in Tre Cime, and got to enjoy incredible views of the mountain valley. We rewarded ourselves with a yummy Italian dinner. You'll notice that this became a common pattern for us!
It is worth mentioning that Italian campsites felt like 5 star hotels to us -- some included a swipe card to get into the fancy faux marble bathroom facilities, one had a terrific restaurant on its premises with live folk music, and one had the cutest kids bathroom with a larger than life red mushroom bench. Ari really wanted to use the kids bathroom, but you can imagine how that would have been a problem :-/.
During our camping adventures, we got to meet Douglas, a painter from Alaska who was traveling Italy in search of mountainous inspiration. We got to enjoy some of his beautiful sketches.
After Tre Cime, we drove up and down miles of wiggly roads to Alpe di Suisi. We were not as lucky with weather though the rain and fog conveniently meant that we didn't have to pay for parking :-/.
Conversation:
Random man in campsite: You no camper!
Ari (puzzled): We have tent.
Same random man: But you no camper. No caravan.
Ari: #?!#!??? (Thinking: Seriously?)
 |
| Our view from 2000 meters |
 |
| The Dolomites |
 |
| Tre Cime |
 |
| The view from our first campsite in Italy |
 |
| A Dolomite peak wrapped in morning fog |
 |
| A brief glimpse of the view on our Alpe di Siusi hike |
 |
| The view from our second Italian campsite. That's our tent! |
 |
| There is no shortage of amazing meals made out of bread in Italy, much to our ongoing delight. :) |
No comments:
Post a Comment