07 August 19, 2008 – Crossing Into Italy – Cortina d’Ampezzo

Tuesday August 19 – From Pfarrwerfen to Cortina d’Ampezzo

Next day (Tuesday August 19) we would need to play catch up and reach Austria and Italy border.  One large city on the way to Italy was Lienz.  We arrived there around 1PM, had lunch, visited supermarket and away on our way to Italian border.

We hardly noticed the border: just a blue sign with ever increasing number of stars – Italia. First point in Italy was town of Toblach.  Without any stops we turned here south to Cortina d’Ampezzo.

We knew it is a very expensive resort and the host of 1956 winter Olympics, but we had to go there to visit the most scenic road in the whole Alps.  Village is extremely cramped between four mountain ridges, so we got stuck in a local traffic. There is a two lane one directional round-about road circling middle of the town. But the traffic is fierce.  Streets are filled with confused tourists and casual locals.  Everything is moving very slowly.

We found a parking spot, we got a hotels brochure at tourist center, but here my body failed me.  I had such a powerful dizziness, that I had to lie down on the ground for 10-15 minutes.  Something similar happened to me only once after hit by a soccer ball with missed breakfast and some blood.  This time I send Lira on a mission to get last pieces of information from Tourist office and stayed on the grass to catch my breath.

We checked-in to the first hotel on our way for 150€.  It was a normal room with a bath.  Lira found it to be exceptionally luxurious, but staff didn’t bring us any soup, or pillows, or table-lamp despite requests.  Apparently they were waiting for tips or just being plain lazy.

Night life in Cortina is concentrated around one main street.  Tourists are entertained by multiple performers.  On this occasion, we saw professionals dancers from local Dance School intermingled with regulars, and some were even called from the crowd. Couples were dressed in pretty real and fancy ball dresses, and they appreciated the crowd as much as crowd liked the show.

That night I woke up in the dark room and immediately was struck by the thought that I am blind.  I thought this is sequel to my dizziness from previous night.  I was bringing my hand right to my eyes – and nothing – absolutely nothing!  Complete uninterrupted darkness all around me.  It turned out that room had very tight shutters on windows, and I was too tied to plug any blinking chargers into the wall.

Navigate through the List

1. 12 Trip to Austria and Italy – August 26-27 – Venezia II (2023/11/12)
2. 13 Trip to Austria and Italy – August 28 – Back to Wien (2023/11/16)
3. 14 Trip to Austria and Italy – August 29 – Back to Boston (2023/11/20)
4. 01 European Trip 2008 to Austria and Italy – Preparations (2024/09/24)
5. 02 Trip to Austria and Italy – August 13-14 – First Steps in Wien (2024/09/28)
6. 03 Trip to Austria and Italy – August 15, 2008 – Wien (2024/10/04)
7. 04 Trip to Austria and Italy – August 16, 2008 – Wien (2024/10/08)
8. 05 Trip to Austria and Italy – August 17, 2008 – Salzburg (2024/10/12)
9. 06 Trip to Austria and Italy – August 18, 2008 – Ice Caves (2024/10/16)
10. 07 August 19, 2008 - Crossing Into Italy - Cortina d'Ampezzo (2024/10/20)
11. 08 Austria and Italy – August 20-21, 2008 – Crossing the Alps (2024/10/24)
12. 09 August 22,2008 – Back to the Wild - Rifugio Alimonta (2580m) (2024/10/28)
13. 10 Austria and Italy – August 23-24, 2008 – Overwhelmed (2024/11/04)
14. 11 Austria and Italy 2008 – August 25 – Venezia I (2024/11/08)