We
had a sleep in as there wasn’t anything worth capturing that we
hadn’t already taken. We showered, packed our things and checked
out. Then we had a quick breakfast back at the same place we’d
eaten breakfast and dinner most nights previously. It was our last
time to experience the BEST croissants EVER! Chocolat & Creme!
YUMMY!
We
jumped in the cars and we started our drive out of Val Funess –
Villnoss and headed towards Cortina.
We
stopped off at Lago De Briers …. today is a public holiday in
Italy, so the lake was PACKED full of people! It was nearly lunch
time by this stage, so the light was altogether wrong. The water in
the lake was very low, so unfortunately for me, I was not going to
get the iconic shot I wanted with the boat house and boat – nevermind. I took a few images
anyway, and met the boys as they had not bothered to get their camera
out and went and had coffee instead.
Tim
and Scott left us as they wanted to head straight to the Tre Cima
Laverna (Three Peaks) as they decided they were going to camp up there
for 2
nights. Camping was not the best time for me, so we decided to
leave them to it, and we headed into Cortina just the three of us, (not
that the boys minded - Luca was sick, Steve was getting worse, so
sleeping in a warm environment was the best thing for them in reality!)
We
stopped off at a view point where we could see the 3 Peaks.
Luca
took us to a small lake - Lago Antorno, that we can see the back of the 3 Peaks
reflected in it and decided this would be a good sunrise spot for
tomorrow morning.
We
drove through Lake Mesurina and stopped for lunch. The lake is nice,
but the wind was slightly up, so no reflections on the lake. Most of
the shops were shutting today for a month and the hiking store guy
was shutting up for the next 6 months!! He closes over winter. Its
amazing to us that they do that.
Being
a public holiday (Day of the Dead), and Siesta time of the day AND
the fact that we are now in November, most of the places over here
shut for a month or two prior to the Ski/Winter season starting on
8th December. So Cortina central was like a ghost town.
I
have to say Cortina is just gorgeous. Like Banff only on steroids.
Its a very big town. Its full of expensive boutiques and “beautiful
people” and “beautiful cars”!! Its very expensive to stay in
Cortina as well and eat compared to the rest of Italy - that's what you get for being a tourist town.
The
church in the centre of town looked great, but they were in the
middle of mass, so I couldn’t walk in….I did have a sneak peak
and I just have to go inside at some time – it looks so beautiful!
We
had a great walk around the city. It was just lovely walking along
the cobblestone streets.
The
church bells started to ring and before we knew it, the priest
holding a large cross was walking and singing as he was walking the
streets, followed by about 100 people behind him. WOW – what an
experience. Being the “Day of the Dead”, its all about you
respecting the dead, visiting the graves, putting flowers etc, and
going to church.
(
I took about 1000 photos of Cortina and the mass, but all on Steve's
phone and we are struggling to get them off - so bare with us - photos
will be uploaded when we can get the photos over to the computer!)
Whilst
everyone was out on the streets, I ran to the church and had it to
myself for a few minutes. I didn’t have my big camera, so Steven’s
phone got a huge workout! WOW – so beautiful! Right up there with
the ones we saw in Rome. I’d love to get back in here with the
good camera to take some images (and I did - so here they are!)
Finally
we could check into the hotel. Siesta finished at 3pm. Luca raced
in there and he was very lucky to be given the key to the apartment.
They wanted Tim who made the booking etc to do the check in. We
didn’t have passports etc and the guy at the check in was freaking
out….but thankfully Luca managed to get the key and we drove like a
maniac through town to get to the apartment to dump our gear.
The
apartment is….hmmm…. Quaint. Nothing like Funess thats for sure!
Being so expensive, we are in a modest apartment. Steve and I have
a double bed. The boys are in bunks. The bathroom is so small –
no shower. It will be interesting to see how the 5 of us go with
sharing it! Not even bothering to take photos of it.
So
Luca Steve and I jumped back in the car and we drove to this mountain
that overlooked Cortina – Giau (pronounced Jowell). Steve and I
weren’t expecting too much, but WOW – it was another spectacular
mountain.
We walked up the very steep path leading to the mountain.
It was just lovely. We ran around taking different images and then
they sun went down and the appenglow started….then we took MORE
photos. We started to head down the hill and turned around and wow –
it was still going off….so got the cameras out to take a few more
photos. This happened like 3 times! I should have just left my
camera out of the bag!
It
was really lovely to have been up there on the top of the world! It
really is a gorgeous plart of the world.
Luca
found us and we drove back down the hill and found dinner at a local
restaurant. We had some pasta. Suddenly Tim and Scott appeared!
They couldn’t get supplies due to the public holiday and they
couldn’t check in due to the time of siesta, so they didn’t camp
up there. So we had to finish dinner quickly to get Tim into the
apartment.
We
went to bed quite early.
Tim
and Scott are heading up to the 3 Peaks again for sunrise and leaving
at 4.30am. Luca, Steve & I are driving close to where they are,
but are wanting to see this small lake we stopped off at earlier in
the day to get some morning light on the peak with a reflection in
the lake. We’ll leave at 6am.
Buone Notte Cortina
xxx
