Dolomites

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Magic! I woke early to open the curtains and found a winter wonderland. “Lindsay, you’ve got to get out of bed to see this. Come on. It’s special”. “Huh, grunt”, but he did get up to look. What a contrast from yesterday. Last night we had rain and thunder in the mountains and then awoke to an almost whiteout of snow blanketing the landscape and cloud coming and going. We couldn’t leave until the snow plough came in and cleared the road. Rather ironic that it’s so hot down by the coast and so cold here. But it does make for a good night’s sleep. There was about 6 inches of snow on the ground and the trees were covered. We were supposed to pick Diego up from the station at Cortina but that wasn’t possible. Piero was able to contact Pierina to contact Diego to tell him to get the bus to Dobbiaco. After the snow plough went through we drove down to pick him up. We went from 0 degrees to 12 degrees and sun in Dobbiaco. From there we drove into Austria to Linz. Piero picked up a guidebook and we did a circuit of the town. It included the old town buildings, the old wall around the town, some typical Austrian houses, a castle downtown, some Patriots cemeteries for 1st and 2nd World Wars, and finally a visit to a castle on the hill above the town. It contained an art display by a well known Austrian artist as well as the architecture of the 12th century and later. We climbed up the tower for a magnificent view over the town and the Dolomites towering over the town.
On the way back to the hotel we visited the Lago de Braies not too far from the hotel. It is stunning. The water is an acquamarine colour with an old hotel overlooking it, but best of all are the towering peaks of the Dolomites. They really are spectacular and so much more dramatic that other alpine regions we have visited. In some aspects the lake area reminded us a little of Lake Louise in Canada and also Ochenesee near Kandersteg in Switzerland.
We returned to the hotel to find that the snow of the morning had gone from the trees and much of it had melted around the hotel. Still only a few degrees in temps though. Another superb day in another part of the country and in Austria. It was strange to suddenly hear German being spoken with words that we knew and understood from our numerous visits to Switzerland.
(photos to follow when a good internet signal can be acheived)

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Photos

The Hotel in summer snow
The Hotel in an unexpected snow fall

The valley of Isel from Linz castle
The Isel valley from a window of the castle above the city