Alpine Day!

     Yesterday we said farewell to Venice with one final, exhilarating (some would say freezing, but not me!) ride on the vaporetto and began the journey to Cortina D'Ampezzo, a small skiing town in the Italian Alps! On the way we made a stop in Vincenza to look at some Palladian architecture which was very attractive though I think Thomas Jefferson did it better! We took a great group photo at the Villa Rotunda.

Also, Alex and I shared this delicious creation 

      It was a long ride up into the Alps. When we started it was about 70 degrees, and by the time we got off the bus an hour later it was like 40! The road was windy and arduous around the peaks, and it was so exciting to start seeing snow capped mountains and even some patches on the ground! We are staying at the adorable and rustic Hotel Impero, run by a brother and sister who inherited it from their parents and who have been welcoming European Studies for 26 years, since they were our age! They have a cozy downstairs room with a wood burning fire and bar, and Pierro loves to stay up late playing hard rock and roll music and talking to ES students! It sort of smells and feels like a more authentic Wilderness Lodge at Disney World. We felt welcomed right away. Even better, Meg took up our journals and Stevens very firmly ordered us not to think about them for the next 48 hours--heaven!

Our balcony, bathtub and room at Hotel Impero!

      We had group dinner at the Restauranto and Pizzeria Torri 5 with lasagna, pork and apple streudal then i fell immediately into bed at like 10:30--riding on buses and eating huge meals is very taxing!
      Today was our day to just relax and enjoy the mountain scenery. I dragged up just in time for breakfast then Alex and I took a leisurely stroll through the town, window-shopping and admiring the views. It is off season so many of the shops are closed, and there are not many people up here. I ended up taking a long 3-hour nap because I wasn't sure what to do with myself without our normal pace, but i think I must have needed it. Then Alex and I walked again, went to the grocery store for some essentials (toblerone and--the greatest desire of my heart--popcorn!) and went in a shop or two. We decided to go back to the place from last night for dinner and I had an excellent goulash soup that felt very alpine and wintery to match the cool weather.

      Everyone hung out down in the sitting room for a while and I had a great time visiting and just relaxing! Later on Alex and I went upstairs, popcorn popped and ready, to watch Shakespeare in Love! What a movie. This day was totally devoted to leisure in a beautiful mountain setting, but its back on the trail tomorrow as we head through Austria to Munich!