Dolomites

Mittenwald to Castelrotto
After a few days in Mittenwald, we drove down through Austria and the Brenner Pass into Italy and the Dolomites. We stayed on the highway much of the time, but got off early in order to take a more scenic route to Castelrotto. It was a beautiful drive.

Castelrotto
Castelrotto is one of the bases for recreation in and around the Alpe di Suisi - an expansive alpine plateau set way up among sharp mountain peaks. The most well-known peak is called the Scilitar which figures prominently in most views up from Castelrotto. As the town sits on the slope, there are beautiful views down valley as well.

That night we had dinner in the restaurant. After stuffing ourselves, Stacy decided to try an old wives tale about Sambuca calming the stomach. So, after a bottle of wine, Stacy lays on the Sambuca and gets a bit drunk. But she's quick to point out that her stomach felt great. Thus began our ongoing affair with Sambuca as an after-dinner drink.

The day we arrived, we took a chairlift midway up to the actual Alpe di Suisi plateau and hiked down through the forest back to town. We had a great time goofing around and the forest was beautiful. The next day, we were headed up to the Alpe di Suisi by bus and discovered that it had snowed overnight. We stood there for a few minutes wondering what to do and noticed all these people walking up one of the roads... so we follow them. We followed the road for miles before we reached a mountain house full of people getting sloshed on beer and wine. We joined them for a while and then decided to beat the crowd down the mountain. It as an invigorating hike with georgous views everywhere you looked.

That night, I had trouble sleeping and got up around 3am and wandered around the town. It was so quiet and peaceful with nothing but the sound of the livestock (neck bells) outside of town, the occasional coughing from a window, and the churchbells every 1/4 hour. I hated not being able to sleep, but the hour I spent in the dark was worth it. As usual, Stacy slept through it all.

Alpine Outfits
What we haven't mentioned yet are the traditional Bavarian and alpine outfits. All over Mittenwald and in Castelrotto (N. Italy that was part of Austria until WW1). It was just as you might imagine from pictures of mountain festivals - except these guys wore this stuff in all seriousness. The green and brown clothing, wool sweaters, wool knickers with wool socks pulled up and with tassels on them and leather shoes or hiking boots. We only thought to snap one picture as we were leaving but many of the guys were saw were dressed up much more than the one we photographed.