We decided to spend Valentines Weekend in the Dolomites since we heard amazing tales about the Italian alps. The drive took longer than projected so we stayed busy practicing "Italian for beginners" mp3 downloads. I mastered a few crucial phrases such as: "Buon giorno, Mi chiamo Megano'!"
We reserved an apartment in a teeny tiny alpine village called Sottoguda. This town was randomly picked because we found a "smart deal" with great reviews on booking.com (my favorite site for hotel deals in Europe.) Luckily, the room also turned out to be in a really special area of the Dolomites!
The Dolomite region of Italy was declared a World Natural Heritage site and we stayed near a deep canyon called the Serrai de Sottoguda. Our apartment was just 300 meters (my brain now thinks in terms of meters not yards so hopefully the U.S. will get on board with the metric system by the time we move back) from this majestic ginormous gorge!
The gorge is famous for ice climbing because there are over 20 huge frozen blue waterfalls!
Ice climbing is an "extreme" sport that looks intense. In some ways it resembles normal climbing with ropes, carabiners... (which I tried once indoors in Ann Arbor (thanks to Mical's hippie boyfriend) and was sore for weeks) but ice climbers wear crampons (scary ice pick boots) and use ice axes!
 |
| Above: one guy on the ice waterfall and one guy on the ground is "bellaying" him (thank you Wikipedia) |
 |
| Does this look fun to anyone? |
 |
| Brrrrr |
 |
| Most famous of all the waterfalls - known as the "Cathedral" |
 |
| Photo taken with Scott's go go gadget arm since we didn't want to disturb the ice climbers |
Scott completed the Sellaronda ski tour which covered over 40 km of pistes (aka - ski runs)
After a long day on the slopes, we met up at a bar with an indoor fireplace and had some table wine (only $1.75 a glass, Buonissimo!)
 |
| (Whose hair is scarier - my slick grease locks or scoots sweaty fro?) |
Later, we enjoyed a delicious dinner at the local pizzeria
 |
| Menu= tough decisions: Cured horse's meat topping (sorry Tash)? Or the American pizza topped with fries? |
We opted for the caprese salad, antipasta, and a perfect anchovy spinach pizza
 |
| Fresh mozzarella in Italy is totally different - Scott thinks it's the local mountain cows |
Our last day was amazing since it snowed and the conditions were perfect! We had a blast and met some local Italians who introduced us to Grappa. These locals were in great spirits! "Chin chin" we toasted as we discussed world politics and sang Diamonds in the sky.
We then headed back to the gorge and squeezed onto Scott's snowboard. I was reminded of how exhilarating it is to go night sledding!
 |
| Add caption |
I sat on the back and held on tight
Arrivederci!!
Thank goodness we are going out west next week or I might have tried to climb through this computer to reach yall! How fun!!
ReplyDeleteWow - that looks so fantastic! Wonderful experiences - thanks for helping me.us live vicariously through your blog.
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday Scott - we will point our glasses east and toast you, Megan, and your great adventures! Chin-Chin!