 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Thursday we awoke to crisp mountain air and mist lingering on the lake, and had a hearty breakfast at Stadt Wien. We were sad to have to leave Zell am See, but the road – (and a new country!) - called. Today was exciting because we knew we’d be climbing the twisty 107 Grossglockner High Alpine Road to Austria’s highest drivable mountain point, and then descending down through the Dolomites into Northern Italy. It was just 170 some kilometers but would take most of the day. I absolutely marveled that we saw so many cyclists tackling that climb - I felt like hollering encouragements of “rock on, little mini Lance Armstrong” at each, but restrained myself. We reached Edelweiss-Spitz peak, and at 8,500 feet both the views and the altitude literally take your breath away (I could try to describe it in grandiose sweeping terms, but better to look at the pictures, no?)
We descended down into the Austrian border town of Heilgenblut (which had yet another awesome church – even their little local churches are amazing) for a late lunch, then forged our way toward viva Italia. We chose to stop for the night at the Hotel Cornelio (which we naturally dubbed “Cornholio”) in Cortina d’Ampezzo (Italy). Cortina is a ski village, so this being October was in low season and pretty mellow (ie. a lot of things closed by 6 pm). Still, the mountains were breathtaking, rising up like steep granite cliffs on either side of the village to snow-capped tops. We found a local market that was still open and finished the night with a bottle of 2003 La Vendemmia chianti on our deck - now that we were in Italy, it seemed only fitting to shift the beverage of choice from beer to wine.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|