Sunday the 14th

Wow,wow,wow!!!!! I need to begin with that!  I left Aquileia this morning about 10-ish and started driving toward the mountains. Wow,wow,wow!  To the right...Slovenia 30 km, straight ahead...Austria 69.5 km. I turned left toward Cortina. Italy that is.

So here we go. Went through a town that was a Roman fortress called Palmanova. The town was originally shaped like a star. I had to pass through two city gates to get through. Both were one lane with a stop light to allow traffic to pass both ways. That was quite amazing. I suppose to the people here it is quite normal. 

Then I started into the mountains in earnest. Imagine the narrowest windiest road you've ever driven on ( think Powder Mountain for Utahns). Now multiply the narrowness by two and the windiness by two and you have the road I drove on for three hours. But AAahhh the views. Imagine Oregon coast times the Tetons on steroids. 

 

I got to Cortina and I'm camping at Camping Olympia. Got the tent set up and went back into town to find the tram that goes up the mountain. I figured I'd go take it tomorrow if I missed the last one today which I figured I would. The town square is quite lively and I walked around a bit. Then I finally found the tram and guess what...today was the last day the tram was running and I missed the last one! Bummer!!!!

So here are some pics of Cortina anyway. 

The front of this church had a mural, but this is all that's left. 

Couldn't pass up this hotel with all the bright flowers. 

This is the church in the main square. The half mural above is where the clock is in this pis. 

So I came back to the campground and I'm having pizza to console myself. Tasty! Haven't eaten this much gluten in a long time. We'll see how it goes. I may be fat and bald by the end of next week. :)

A couple of observations...the forest is hemlock, pine, and alder.  Imagine that... it smells a lot like Ketchikan here. It is quite humid too, and threatening rain so I feel right at home!  Love!!