Off to Cortina

Long awaited start of vacation finally arrived but the excitement was tempered by the weather forecast for the Dolomites that showed a washout of truly apocalyptic proportions with no end in sight. I suggested we just ditch the tickets and go to Wales for the week but Iestyn was against, and he’s the decision-maker. So we bravely got out of bed, finished the packing and took the bus to Liverpool Street station for our Stansted express train. We arrived at the airport with plenty of time and with our biz+ tickets, which didn’t save us too much time on the check-in due to some local mismanagement but we did get to go through the fast track security. After that we had a quick lunch, and then it was already time to board. The plane was jam-packed but everything went well save for some turbulences for which totally freaked out the girl next to us, and soon we were landing in hot steamy Treviso. We got our little car (carcon), and off we went up north under the gentle guidance of our Google navigation.
Once we drove into the mountainous region the overcast sky off before became a range of heavy low lying clouds hanging ominously over all the peaks and hills. It started to rain too. We didn’t let that discourage us as we were also already prepared mentally for the situation and soldiered on towards Cortina. Alas! about 8 km from Cortina there was a road block – but just that; no people guarding it, no sign with explanation, nothing. We saw everyone else just turning around, so we decided to return to the last town on the road to get us some dinner, and see what the situation is after. In San Vito di Cadore we saw carabineri turning cars away from the road, and they explained that the road to Cortina is closed because there some landslides, and won’t open tonight. The alternative detour would take almost a couple of hours. We sat down for dinner in La Stua pizzeria, and while munching on a couple of delicious pizzas we were thinking what to do. It was rainy, getting dark and unpleasant, and we were facing still quite a drive – so the prospect was to be pitching a tent in coldness, rain and total darkness, way after Gina’s usual bedtime. So we just gave up that idea and searched some B&Bs nearby. We found one not so far away, in Caralte, which had good ratings, reasonable price and the inviting promise of a proper bed – so we booked it and set off. Shortly after nine we arrived and were met by a nice owner; our room was up in the attic and had its own balcony (we left the door open for the night), and we were the only guests around. After a nice hot shower we crashed into our bed and were out right away.

Dinner

Dinner

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