Kylajane37's travel blogs:
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Mountains to the Sea, Snowstorms to Sunshine
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We awoke in Samedan to almost eight inches of snow. Needless to say we were tempted to cancel all plans and head for the mountain again today to take advantage of all that powder. We had, however, arranged to be in Trieste, Italy on Tuesday night to meet up with a friend of the Hartmanns. Anyway, the sky was still grey so we decided to hold out for a sunny day on the slopes later in the week.
Before heading for Italy we toured around the trio of towns of Samedan, Pontresina, and St. Moritz. Each visit was pretty short. We tried to drive around Samedan, but the snow quickly made that difficult. We went back to Pontresina to stock up for lunch. Lastly we headed for St. Moritz, the land of the rich and famous. The streets here are lines with fancy shops like Rolex and Louis Vuitton, among others. We were told you don't get a place in St. Moritz until you make your first billion.
As we continued heading south past St. Moritz Pierce spotted some snow kiters on the horizon, gliding across a frozen lake. We immediately tried to find the lake, but this led us down a narrow street and, eventually to snow filled impasse. We were stuck. We pushed as much as we could with minimal success until a Swiss man and his two children arrived on the scene. He first told us what a bad idea it was to have come down this road (as if we hadn't realized that) before he and his son lent a hand to get us out. After much grunting, pushing, and slipping on the ice we were back on the road.
Although the weather was still grey and snowy the mountain pass was spectacular. It had to be the most winding road any of us had ever driven on. Once we reached the other side it was as if we already in Italy. The architecture was gradually changing. Furthermore, on the southern side of the Alps, the clouds were lifting so we could be begin to see the fantastic jagged peaks we'd been driving through. By the time we crossed the border, the sun was out and we were drooling over the amazing views as we drove south through Italy.
Pierce pressed hard for us to drive past Lago di Como because he thought it was a well known kiting spot. We were all glad we did, because it was absolutely gorgeous. A beautiful blue lake with soaring mountains behind. We stopped for a gelato to take it all in. It was indeed windy, but no kites were seen. Pierce later remembered that the kiting lake was really Lago di Guarda, but we enjoyed Lago di Como nonetheless.
After our scenic journey through the Alps we got on the super expressway and zoomed east to Trieste. It was hard to pass right by Venice without a stop, but we'd dawdled enough on our way down. We reached Trieste around nine and eventually met up with Stefan...this took a little work (Vivica began to fail us once we got out of Germany). Stefan is an Austrian friend that the Hartmanns met on their honeymoon. He is living in Trieste because of business. He cooked us some delicious pasta and we spent the night at his apartment sharing a few drinks and stories.
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| 20. | Mountains to the Sea, Snowstorms to Sunshine - Trieste, Italy Apr 11, 2006 |
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