Hotel Royal Bolzano

... returning to Cortina, Cindy slept off an upset stomach while the kids relaxed and I did a 10-mile run exploring south of Cortina. We all went on a stroll (hike is a bad word now) afterwards to enjoy the first extended period of sunshine since we arrived in Europe a week ago.

... were gone, Cindy and Alycia walked around town some and went to a market next to the hotel. They grabbed pizza at a new restaurant, which all of us returned to that night for a nice dinner. Trey and I ate several meals apiece in a single sitting to make up for the energy expended during the day. We have a newfound appreciation for the bikers competing daily in the Tour de France this month.

Today was an easy day. Trey was still suffering from altitude sickness and stayed in the hotel for most of the day.

Cindy, Alycia, and I went up into the Confini del Parco Naturale delle Dolomiti d'Ampezzo nature preserve north of town and hiked the Number 10 trail to go see the Cascata de Fanes waterfalls. The hike was very nice, including wide paved trails, crushed gravel trails, bridges and lots of elevation changes. It allowed ...

... much to the annoyance of the Austrians who could not shake them off despite constantly dumping bombs on them. The Italians in turn dug a tunnel upwards over 1000m until they were able to deposit a mine right underneath the Austrian positions and literally blow the top off the mountain. Of course the Austrians had heard the 3 months of digging underfoot and had dug down themselves in vain to try to blow up the Italian tunnel! They had also moved back a bit so ...

... cover 4, keeping 4 defenders back to stop the long pass. Forlai jumped up on a run fake and #3 ran right by him. They couldn’t run the ball so why our safety wanted to jump up and respect the run fake is beyond me. Just do your job, stay deep – trust your teammates.

Back on offense Reggie rushed for 16 yards, I hit Beppe for 12 yards on an arrow route, then scrambled for 8, before hitting Panzani for 16 yards on a deep comeback ...

... running afterthe play and was right there) and Ciba and I were both shocked when thesideline ref threw a flag for clipping. I was yelling at the ref saying it was a terrible call, but it wouldn'tbe a huge penalty because we still got the first down and from there we wouldjust get backed up 15 yards to the 40 and have 1st and ten with twominutes left.  But Ciba was a bitmore upset than I was and managed to get two personal foul flags as he beratedthe ref.  So now we had 1stand 25 and ...

... in our redzone.  On third and 15 their American ran an out while I just mindlessly stared into the backfield and kept dropping back.  By the time I realized the guy broke off to the out, he was open by ten yards, but the throw was very short and he dropped it trying to pull it off his shoe tops.  It wasn't my best effort at corner but I got lucky.   When we finally got the ball again we drove easily with Reggie running and our passing game carving up their secondary.  Piva ...

... etc, I got Tom to tell us the exact coordinates of where we were, explained that 112 is the number to call and that there was good phone reception and that we were only 50 metres from a road and 20 K from Dobbiaco, but I think we are relegated to stopping now where there are lots of people!!! I have also made the decision that in Italy if there is an autostrada to use we are going to use it, too much stress on their little roads!!

... on the Autobahn. It was Verona or bust. He was a bit perturbed at the traffic, which mainly consisted of 18-wheelers on the two-lane freeway that slowed our pace. He said on weekends, 18-wheelers aren't allowed on the road. We got down to Verona found a spot to park and spent the day wandering around different shops, looking at very nice clothes neither of us could afford and eating one horrendous lunch. Both feeling very hungry we searched for a ...

... singing Tisma's slave song, "You got to move! When the load grows weary, you got to Move Child!" In his baritone voice and accent it's so funny I want to cry. Then Alex the corner told me about how last year after he and the rest of the Arena team won the Superbowl they partied long and hard enough that he was still intoxicated when he went to work at the stand at 8am. He said people ordered a hamburger; he put all the fixings on a bun and then ...