2011 - Switzerland, Austria - Day 7 - Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy and Innsbruck, Austria

Today was a lot of driving through gorgeous scenery. Unfortunately, it rained off and on all day, so the clouds were covering most of the mountain peaks. We drove from Austria into Italy through the Croci Pass, and stopped in the ritzy skiing village of Cortina d’Ampezzo. Several movies have been filmed here, including a James Bond movie. We had lunch in an Italian Pizzeria. Amber has always wanted to try an authentic Italian pizza in Italy. Today, she got her chance. She got a tomato pizza, I got pepperoni and olive, and mom got ham and mushroom. Amber’s was the best. My olives still had the pits in them, and mom’s mushrooms were slimy and gross. But I enjoyed it. We then continued driving. The little villages along the mountain passes are so beautiful and charming. There are houses and fields right on the sides of the mountains. The mountain we were driving through is called the Dolomites. We also had a little rest stop at a mountain lake. It was gorgeous. The toilets were the squatting kind, which surprisingly, several members of our tour had never seen before. I don’t mind them. They have saved my comfort many times all over the world. After lunch we drove back into Austria. We are staying in Innsbruck, home of the winter Olympics in 1964 and 1976. Our hotel was built in the 1400’s, and was modernized into a hotel. It’s pretty nice, and our room is very big. Susie (our tour director) lives here in Innsbruck. She took us on a short walking tour through the city. We saw the Golden Rook, which I believe was where Maxmillian, a ruler that was tight with money, painted his roof with gold leaf. I probably have that wrong. She was talking about it while were on the bus, and I was half asleep. Then we saw Jacob’s cathedral. It was beautiful inside. We were then given some free time before dinner. We walked through some shops and spent the rest of our Euro’s on souvenirs. Amber got T-shirts for her boys, I got one for me, and mom got a piggy bank. Dinner was in the city at a local restaurant. It was pretty good. Austria loves pork. We’ve had it almost every dinner. We had cream of broccoli (or possibly asparagus) soup, with pork loin and potatoes and veggies and apple strudel for dessert.