Dolomiti - Day 2

Today we got 8.5 miles of hiking in (probably more with the walk to the Seceda lift & back). 

This is the entrance to the lift

This is a cable car then gondola ride. Once up top, we did the walk Tom planned out for us. We had an option to walk down but we planned to assess if we felt like doing it as it’s a long steep downhill. This is the hike we did 

After the Firenze hut, we walked up to Col Raiser then took the cable down. We continued walking from there until into Ortisei, roughly 4 miles.

Ortisei was our destination 

Photo dump of the hike 

This is me and my sister in law, Beth

The motley crew 

Heading to PIERALONGIA

We walked in a cloud 

PIERALONGIA 

This is the “hut” at Rif Firenze

Headed to Col Raiser

At the cable car 

On the ride down 

From the bottom we walked back to Ortisei. Here’s a photo dump of that 

Dolomíti Day 1

 It’s beautiful here, Here’s a photo dump

Our hotel is on the hill to the left of the cable cars

The hotel 

View from our room / patio

A walk from the hotel to the village 

Wooded trail 

Another view from our room

Tomorrow, depending on the weather, we are going to take a gondola ride up and do some hiking, and see even more views! 

Dolomiti - day 1 (food)

The Dolomiti are about a 3-4 hour drive from Milan. We will be here for 3 nights, staying at a half board hotel that provides a substantial breakfast buffet and a multi course dinner (fine dining). Tonight we had salad bar starter (ok salad bar is not fine dining but wait for the pics). I didn’t take pictures at dinner because I was too busy having “which utensil do I use anxiety.” The courses were

• Salad (help yourself salad bar)
• Starter (carpaccio)
• First course (chose of 4, I had the carrot soup)
• Second course (choice of 4, I had the Beef Tagliata) 
• Dessert (Tiramisu with hazelnut icecream)

Photo dump of the salad bar 

How sandwiches are part of a salad bar — idk! 

Caffè

The espresso here is amazing. I love these places where you order and drink espresso like it’s a bar. They had them all over Milan and during our drive to the Dolomiti todsy, we stopped along the roadside for a espresso break, it is just fabulous. 

First espresso in Milano

Last Milano espresso 

Standing outside drinking an espresso 

You can get really good espresso in
what Americans think of as gas stations 

Autogrill is a gas station but also so much more!

This was at a “gas station” — we had a
picnic lunch and then…

That’s right…got an espresso 

I’m wide awake still. Hmmmm

Milan on top

Today we toured the Duomo — inside and on rooftop. It was pretty awesome. Rainy day on & off, but managed 12 miles of walking, 1 pizza eating, and 1 gelato eating. 

 

Milano on a Wednesday morning

Photo dump! We started with espresso and croissant (coronetto or croissant — dunno). The thing is: it was very good requiring a second espresso. The price was so amazingly low for such good food. 

How inexpensive 

After, we just wandered around. 

Sforza Castle

Monument of San Giovanni Nepomuceno
(yeah I don’t know him either)

Arco della Pace

Cable car near Piazza Sempione

Taken when waiting for the
rain to stop in Brera neighborhood 

Milan at night

Trying to stay up until 10p to switchover without jet lag….so we jumped on the metro and went 2 stops to the Duomo. Here’s what we saw 

Milan

We have arrived in Italy. Made it to our Airbnb … took the train from MXP airport to Milan Centrale then into the metro for two stops, a short walk to the Airbnb. It’s surprisingly spacious! Next up, grocery store then finding some pizza! Tomorrow we have a tour of the Duomo with rooftop access and plan to walk around the canals. It’ll be a fast couple of days here. Oh we have to jetlag here too. It’s 6pm and we are on track to stay awake until 10pm! 

View from our window 

Living room

Entry toward the dining and living room