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Dave's Photos |
September 19, 2014
Today we travel to Madonna di Campiglio, a big ski resort in the southwestern
corner of the Dolomites. After a bus ride to Bolzano, we rush over to the
train station and make a connection with just four minutes to spare. During
the pleasant ride, we observe road signs changing from German-Italian to
Italian-English.
After getting off the train, we have about fifteen minutes to locate the bus
station and make that connection. Dave and I have a simple little system
worked out. While I stow the luggage, he fights the line to get on board,
then saves me a seat. The system breaks down, however, when Dave says that
this isn't our bus. I pull the luggage out; then it is decided that this
is our bus after all, and the luggage goes back in. This of course makes
us last in line now, and we must stand for many miles as we watch the signs change
back to German-Italian.
We book into an old hotel, which is quite nice. The room has two real beds, with real sheets on them for a change; and the bidet is a good place to stash my hiking boots. This being the shoulder season, there seems to be just one other party staying here tonight, which is pretty weird considering the size of the place.
Internet service is excellent; but I can access it only from the lobby,
which is fine. There is no useful space in the room anyway. The only
drawback is that I must listen to the proprietor's television set droning on the
other side of the room. All that I can hear is canned laughter from insipid
comedy shows. In contrast, Dave watches 'great' reruns of Zorro and Streets
of San Francisco in the room — all dubbed in Italian, of course.
When we arrive in town, nearly all the shops and businesses are closed; but
that's because they are on "ski-town" time, when everything closes between
noon and 4 p.m. on the assumption that all the potential customers are up in
the mountains doing their thing. Surely enough, some places open up promptly
at four, including the grocery store just across the street. That location
is most convenient considering that in Dobiacco the market was three-quarters
of a mile away, and in Corvara the best way to get there was by hopping a bus!
Finding a place to eat dinner in the dark is difficult; but we manage. Dave has his usual pizza, while I try a plate of fried vegetables, most of which I do not recognize. They are tasty, though. We both also enjoy a huge, inexpensive salad, which helps to offset the $3 cover charge.
Because there was no hike today, I offer a few more of Dave's photos, arranged in no particular order:
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