Kristiania St.Christina Selva Di Val Gardena

2 planes - 1 bus - 3 trains - 1 taxi later and we arrive in Bressanone. About 40 hrs of transit was well worth it... this place is adorable - its like walking around in a postcard. Have been snowboarding the past 3 days which was lots of fun - bussed up the mountain to Plose ski fields area... have added some pictures and will caption the pictures if we can.

... communicating my room problems with them. I would recommend getting rosetta stone a few months ahead and at least learning the basics of german or italian, because not being able to communicate is brutal. Also, buy a surge protecter before you come! I haven't been able to find one here, although maybe that's just the language barrier again.


There was an orientation the day I arrived. This was very useful, not just for info but because it is a good opportunity to ...

... The open the door and sit down and begin to question this guy. I have my music playing so I was not really paying attention but I figure this guy has no documents with him. He appears to be fluent in German and wrote down his name, date of birth, phone number and maybe where he originated from. I could kind of hear them talking about some of the places this guy came from but I am not really sure what he did. They got off at the next ...

... 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 ...

... at the very start we had a very enjoyable and satisfying 300m vertical ascent and then a leisurely stroll back to the Lagazuio hut for a little celebration...

Day 4 saw us rounding Col de Bos and crossing the Lagazuoi Pass to Rifugio Averau. The day before we'd seen a Chamois mountain goat march straight past a whole army garrison and have a relaxed dump right in front of our noses as good omen for our first climb. Today we saw a family of Marmots ...

... for my family, my team, my legacy, and my wallet.

To start the game I squibbed a low kick to #19 their best Italian receiver. He collected the ball on the 20 and weaved right through our coverage team and came running up the middle of the field. I stepped up and dove at his legs to get him on the ground, but he hurdled me and ran for a touchdown. I got hurdled, it was embarrassing. The play was called back on holding penalty so Bergamo had the ball on ...

... the player ability ratings may be a bit generous we based them more on how we stack up in the IFL than the NFL), he had never faced Eric Marty the young, naïve, optimistic quarterback, who was now running the show for the Seattle Seahawks. It was a monumental day for my Madden 2003 career, after games and nights of disappointment, the Seahawks, possibly inspired by their new virtual signal caller, took down the vaunted Coach Green.

After reaching the ...

... keep them guessing. Saturday Night Fever 14-2 Marco, the chain smoking (as do a number of our players), 19 year old quarterback invited me to go to the disco with his and his girlfriend. He called me, but I missed the call. I have a cell, but I haven't bought minutes yet, so I can only receive calls, I can't make them yet, so I can't call anyone back. He called back and eventually I met him at the stadium. We went back to the casa de Giants ...