Woke
up at 5.15am to get ready to leave, when Luca knocked on our door and
said that due to the weather, there is no sunrise forecast on the
mountain, so we got back into bed and rose at 7am.
SNOW
– there is a blanket of white snow all over the mountain!! YAY!
The boys headed down to breakfast – but bugger breakfast when there
is snow around!
Steve
came out to take a few quick photos, and then I ran around taking as
many photos of the church as I could. Not sure of the exact
forecast, but it was something like minus 6.
The car was a tad frozen - took a few minutes to break the door seals to be able to get into the car!!
Got
a nice road photo on the way down the mountain.
And
I am in love with this mountain! Not bad for an image taken on the
side of the road!
We
saw a deer, but it ran off into the forest, but not before I took one
shot – wrong lens, but I still got to see it! :)
The
road was closed back to Carezza which is the quick way to Trento, so
it meant we had to take the very long way down the mountain – over
2 hours. This was more than fine with Steve and I as we got to see
new sights along the way! This is why we couldn’t do sunrise we
found out later as they had closed that road to where we were going.
Not that there was enough snow for a road closure Luca thought, but
they were also doing road maintenance, so thats more likely the
reason.
We
got into Trento fairly early. Too early to pick up our hire car at
Hertz. So we grabbed our gear and went off in seach of a Post Office
so we could send back the Tent and our sleeping bags home, as our
suitcases are ridiculously heavy and full and every day we fight to
get things in and out.
Luca
took us to a small post office. This event turned out to be quite
hilarious! The man helping us was awesome! Great sense of humour
(thank god). Of course they didn’t have boxes big enough to fit
the tent, so that had to stay behind. But we did manage to get 1
sleeping bag, and 2 mats and a pillow into a box to send back to
Australia. 55 Euro, so that wasn’t too bad we thought.
I
wish I had the small camera to take a photo of the nice man at the
post office – he was so funny and lovely. He made a time consuming
job (and confusing for us non-italian speaking Aussies) a great deal
of fun!
So
I’ve taken Steve’s sleeping bag, so thats one less thing out of
his suitcase. He has the tent, but he has a little bit of space now.
We
grabbed a coffee and a hot chocolate (it was like custard – you had
to eat it with a spoon – YUM!), and then went back to Hertz.
Hmm,….
This was not going to be fun. The lady there was….well…..
“difficult”. Luca taught me some swear words in Italian to
describe her. I won’t put them here, but lets say they were along
the lines of her being a street worker and not attractive!
Even
though we had already booked and paid for everything prior, because
she couldn’t take an imprint off a credit card she wouldn’t let
us have the car. My Debit Card linked to my credit card wasn’t
good enough. Stupid me should have just bought my credit card on the
trip! Steve doesn’t even own a credit card. We’ve travelled
Beijing, Canada & New Zealand with hire cars all booked ok on our
Gobal Travel Card….but not Italy it seems.
So
here we were in Trento, basically stranded. THANK GOD for Luca!
Honestly, this man has been amazing and has really helped us so much.
He
found Europcar. This was our last resort as Trento only has Hertz &
Europcar. Thank god Steve has booked cars with them many times in
the past etc, so they had his details on record, so it wasn’t a
problem for us to get the car!!
YAY!!
I swear to god Steve and I aged about 40 years prior to this. Its
interesting to think what your train of thought does when you think
you are stranded!
Anyway
there was no need to panic in the end, Luca helped us with the
transaction etc. and from there we went and had lunch at an awesome 5
star restaurant (it was the only thing open on a Monday!). WOW –
food was nothing short of spectacular! We felt a tad underdressed
in our hiking gear….and everyone else was in suits and fancy
clothes! Well – I felt underdressed. Steve and Luca couldn’t
have cared less! Ha ha
So
with a belly full of fabulous food, we went back and got our hire car
– a Fiat Bambino – 500L (the big one!) and loaded in our gear
(just).
We
said our good-byes to Luca. I know he was happy to finally be at the
end of this trip. It’s been very taxing on him the whole way. I
know he’ll be glad to get home to see his girlfriend and his dog
Oliver and to sleep I his own bed! I was sad to say good-bye, Luca
has been nothing short of amazing. He's been very sick with the flu,
but that did not stop him - he was by our side helping us every step of
the way! We’ve spent the whole trip with
him, so its been wonderful to get to know him. If you ever want to
do a photography trip anywhere in the world – I highly recommend
Luca Benini!
Steve
got into his new toy car and we started our drive back up to the
mountain from whence we just came. Tonights apartment will be in a
small town Vigo Di Fassa – Casa Mason La Zondra.
We
drove straight to Lago Carezza. It was still early – about 2.45pm.
We had a good walk around the whole lake. Yesterday the lake was
crystal clear and the reflections were amazing – but due to the
rain and fog we didn’t stop the take any photos. Today, the snow
had fallen and it looked magical, but the water had basically frozen
on the top overnight! Bugger. Nevermind. We stood in our
positions for 2+ hours. Stupid me left my big down jacket in the car
and was too far away to go get it. Froze our ass’s off. Thank god
there was no wind down by the lake.
The
clouds cleared over the mountain and we could finally see it for
sunset! YAY! Although there was no sun on the mountain. Luca got
mixed up – Carezza for sunrise, not sunset! Never-mind – we
still had a lovely sunset, and the little cloud that hung around for
us did have some nice colour. We could come back here in the
morning, but eh – it will depend on the weather.
You can see the lake starting to freeze - its amazing to think how quickly things change!
Steve walking back to the car park at Lake Carezza.
Steve and his new toy!!
With
the sun now down, we raced up to Vigo De Fassa. Took us a few
minutes to find the apartments, but WOW – very nice! Gosh these
things look brand new! Iris met us and showed us to our penthouse
apartment! (well, not penthouse huge, but top floor!) It was so
gorgeous – just for two people! She’s styled it beautifully!
I
didn’t want to go for a walk, but Steve insisted. Bloody Hell –
the temperature had already dropped well below zero and it was cold –
really cold! And this town is built on the side of a bloody hill –
so everything was up hill from our apartment! Ha ha
We
had a walk around the small town which at 6pm at night was totally
deserted! Most things were shut and no restaurants were open, so we
found a small supermarket and Steve bought some Prosciutto and Cheese
and that was his dinner. I was very happy not to eat anything. I
need a break from all the food!
Its
another gorgeous little ski town. Can’t wait to see it in the
daylight! It has a hut in the town that dates back to 1606 !! OMG –
now thats old!
We
bought some Hot Chocolate and an alcoholic drink - Bombardin. We didn’t know
what it was exactly, but it was 7 Euro and I had to try it.
It
turned out to be a drink that is consumed on the ski fields –
traditionally served hot with whipped cream. An egg nogg of sorts.
Yummy!
An
early night after showering and sorting out our gear. We’ve
decided that we won’t do sunrise, as it was forecast to be minus 16
overnight and Steve doesn’t want to go out in that cold. Fair
enough – I didn’t need to much convincing to stay in, especially
when we laid on our new bed, that it was the softest so far!! So
sleep in we will!
Buona Notte Vigo Di Fassa
xxx
