Last Italy Blog

We had to prove we reached the snow level.
This was our lunch stop for the day--at 2327 meter elevation -- convert to feet--quite high!
This is our hotel--more updated inside than out. The food is good.
The native animals were not scared of us.



Since we will be leaving soon we will leave you with photos from an excellent hike in Gran Paradiso National Park. The weather was perfect and we didn't get lost. It was a 7 hour hike--elevation climb of about 4000 ft. The view of the glaciers is stunning. Our son Dustin would have enjoyed the flowers. We will travel to Geneva, Switzerland for our flight home on Wednesday. We hope you enjoyed sharing our travels! Ron & Sharon

Aosta, Cogne & Valnontey, Italy

One last view from our hotel at Santa Margarita
Cogne, Italy--above and below.

Aosta breakfast, above and below. Notice the view out the window.

Aosta center, above. Best pizza of the trip below (wood fired, of course).

Our Aosta hotel above.

Hello: We have now traveled to the northwest corner of Italy. Aosta is where we stayed last night in a very nice hotel. Aosta is considered the Rome of NW Italy. It has alot of ruins from ancient times. That is about all we know. . . We had great food--including the best pizza of the trip--of which we have included a picture. The breakfast was also the best of the trip. The scenery from the hotel is beautiful. . .but we are back to having some rainy, cloudy weather--so the views are not always clear.

We will be here in Valnontey for the next 3 nights. There is excellent hiking promised--it is the oldest Italian national park.

We can tell we are close to Switzerland. The menu had cheese fondue for the first time. We had to taste and it was good. It was a first to have pickles included for dipping--also bread, meats, and potato.

This is our last stop for activities. From here we will go to Geneva for our flight home next Wednesday.

Santa Margherita Legure/Rapello/Portafino

We have move north to a "higher end" part of the Northern Italy coast. We walked from Santa Margherita to Portafino. It is not busy here so the walk was nice--we were told when it is busy season it is less desirable.
We are taking a "rest day" today--everything is relative--we still are walking locally.

The photos below are of our last two days in Cinque Terre. For those who know Vernazza the "pirtate brother breakfast" will have meaning.



Tomorrow we travel to Aosta-- Five hours of train travel. More hiking once we get there.

Cinque Terre

There are some great refreshment stops along the way.
The view from our balcony.
Looking down onto our balcony (above).
A view from our room window.
This is Ron's favorite spot in Vernazza.

We are warching carefully to learn some new tricks with the wood burning oven.


The hiking and the views are excellent.

Cinque Terre

We are enjoying the sun and hiking in Cinque Terre. We will send pictures when our internet connection is better.

Molvena, Italy

This is the view from our hotel room (above).


Hello friends and family:

We have been in a different part of the Dolomites for two days. This is south of Bolzano. It is beautiful, of course. The food is actually better than what we have had in the other areas. We had a great 5 hour hike today. We started with a lift ride straight up the mountain. Tomorrow we part our ways with Dustin--he goes to Milan for the last two days of his week. We are off to Cinque Terre. We hope for sunshine!

Dolomites Continued

We are leaving Castelrotto today. We have had three great hiking days. We did get wet each day but that is out of our control. . . We all have sore legs so today is a travel/rest day. We will go to Molvena--a new part of the Dolomites for all of us. We are hoping for some better weather--especially when we reach Vernazza/Cinque Terre. All is well.

Dolomites

 Hello: It has been a few days since we posted. We are now in Castelrotto, Italy--in the Dolomites. Dustin is here with us. We had a nice hike today--in spite of the rain coming in the afternoon.  We had an incredible meal tonight--Dustin's treat!  I will post a few pictures--none of the meal tonight--they are on Dustin's camera.  But we ate at a mountain Hutte that we like.  I also will include a picture from the Ballet--to prove we went.  We will be here for three more nights and then go another Dolomite area.

Last Day of Biking--Back in Vienna

It is sometimes difficult for Sharon to know which BR to use. Luckily this door had an extra hint--a woman's bicycle.
We are at a beer garden in Vienna. This is a posed shot--Sharon had to borrow a beer. Ron was disappointed that the beer was Budweiser--with lots of foam. We discovered the foam is piped into the mugs first!
This is a famous ferris wheel---the Reisenrad--"as seen on the Amazing Race". It sustained damage during the war.
When we arrived back in Vienna it was a challenge to find our hotel. We carried our heavy bikes up and down several sets of stairs.
We are now entering the end of our destination on the bikes. Such a nice ride!

Today we will sightsee in Vienna. Tonight we see a Ballet at the Staatstoper--quite a sophisticated event for us! We will try to behave. We will NOT be the best dressed there I am sure.