Hotel Baita Fiorita Santa Caterina Valfurva

... want to arrive at 11, and have to pitch up in the dark, so we decided to drive until about 7 - 8 p.m., and find somewhere to stay, then catch the group up at Val D'Isere the following day. As we didn't have a roadbook for the route, we just had to figure it out. This wasn't too difficult with the maps and GPS, so we set off to see how far we could get that evening.

After the quick race across the Alps to Salzburg and back I re-enter Italy at Brunico and spend my first night back in Sesto in a part of the Italian Alps called the Dolomites. I have come to see the Tre Cime di Lavaredo, and a few hours of not-too-hard walking get me up there. They are a spectacular sight, comprising 3 craggy rock towers jutting straight up 1000 metres out of the surrounding foothills. This area was the site of much fighting between the Italian and Austrian ...

... the road, then crossing the Inn River at Chaflur. At this point, we made the mistake to believe that a bike trail in Austria and Germany means the same in Switzerland.... We were wrong; the trail took us high up before bringing us back down along the river, travelling through mud and over tree stumps crossing the trail. Even tough we eventually made it to Scuol unharmed, we had lost a lot of energy for actually a short ...

... Peter, Rowen, Kirsten, Rory and Andrew. All of us departed from Gatwick to arrive at Venice. Upon arrival we were met by Trent, Kate, Jenny and Marcelle. To say that the transfer was two and a half hours is an understatement. It took us close on three hours and way too many winding roads to finally arrive in San Cassiano. I highly recommend anyone with an inclination for motion sickness to take a few tablets before making the journey, particularly if you're ...

... shop and tourist facility seemed shut. Of course it may have been the Italian siesta time being near lunch!
From the Railway Staion one can see the gradient of the whole system clearly obvious when looking north, back towards the Albula Pass and Lake Blanco, so named because of its glacier run off water colour.

Wouldn't mind another holiday here!

... snow considering we are in the middle of winter. Less than 2 hours later we landed in London and an hour or so later, I was back home with heaps of stuff to unpack. I am feeling refreshed and ready to go back to work on Monday, although the idea of working in January seems so wrong! Am used to summer holidays in January and not working and I'll be working on my birthday- how sad!

... more and many stunningly sunny days. Unlike depressing, cloudy London....I think I can cope with the cold when Merano has quite a lot of sunny days during the winter apparently. At least you feel you can go outside and enjoy the scenery. It's nice to be only 5mins ride to the pool, work and just to get out of town into the countryside. I have a cute flat that's extremely central and has a nice view of the ...

... and everyone thought I was weird to be so excited about it! Not enough to ski unfortunately...it's been quite a warm winter and even I am surprised at how well I'm coping! With all the eating....us girls even attempted a gym session which was quite funny to say the least and the nazi woman in me came out a tad!

... ing. The city is a university town, which is nice because there are tons of students around, but i don't speak italian, so it's like looking at vancouver from the outside in. The streets are clean, the air is fresh, and the landscape reminds me of Squamish for some reason...lots of mountains and the trees are starting to turn orange.

... stroll through alpine meadows and forest to the top of the gondola was followed by a refreshing glass of Forst, the local beer, then back down to the campsite. The following day, with the weather slightly improved but with clouds looming over the mountains, we cancelled our plans for another hike and instead caught the bus into the provincial capital of Bolzano. The province itself (Sud-Tirol or Trentino-Alto Aldige, depending on your choice of language) was ...