Dishes are done

We'll the trip is over and we're back to reality.

I posted all the photos on the my mobileme account. I made them full size and down-loadable for my Momma and M-Law or anybody else who want them. Unless you're some creepy dude that just wants a picture of my hot wife...you can't download one.

Jet lag was a piece of cake for me. You can't phase this insomniac however the narcoleptic suffered from it and still goes to bed pretty early, but what else is new.

Turns out writing is pretty fun and I'll try to find some other time in my life to blog about something. Until next time.

Here's the pics.
Click here

Homeward bound

We had a relaxing day yesterday. It was pretty hard to sit still but I eventually figured it out. We sat around a drank some coffee, walked down to the market and got food to make lunch, and
I did some yoga. Other than that not much really happened, but I think it was necessary.

Cyndie and I talked about the trip over lunch. We discussed what was the best, worst, neatest, what we will do different next time, and just overall reflected.

Here's a couple of things that made the top of the list.

Most amazing thing we saw:
By far St Peter's Bascilla

Most fun part: Cinque Terre hike in the rain (paragliding was a tie for me)

Biggest mistake/rip off: Laundry in Orteisi for 28 euro and they weren't even dry or ironed and smelt like smoke.

Things we'd do a little different next time:
Plan a little more about where we are going.

Things we are really glad we did:
Bought comfy travel pants, ditched the car and took trains.

Best meal: for me an authentic pizza shop in Selva, Italy. For Cyndie the pesto in Cinque Terre. Overall though I have to say I really wasn't impressed with the food at all, and we really tried to find authentic meals. America has much more of a diverse variety when it comes to food.

Some things that are just different in Europe:
Everyone smokes....everyone.
No variety in drinks.
Only bread, meat, and cheese for breakfast.
No road rage over here even though it's chaos out there. And people had every right to be mad at the American that didn't know what he was doing.
The two stroke motor lives on over here.
No bumper stickers on cars.
Much thinner people. Especially in Italy. We didn't see any over weight people there.
And lots lots more that I'd love to talk to you about.
Water is more expensive than wine and you always have to pay for it when ordered.
No ice used in drinks (this is a problem for me. I like cold drinks)
Everyone shuts down at lunch time for at least two hours. Grocery stores, post office, shops, even restaurants. If it's from 12 to 2 just forget it.
Italians dress really nice and everyone wears perfume/cologne.

A big thing we noticed over here is Jesus is everywhere. There is so many murals, carvings, statues, paintings, and churches with His face on them. The faith seems to be less divided and more united.

Funny story about our trip to the airport. I mentioned a nice lady that helped me navigate out of the city yesterday. Well her name happens to be Rosealee. We were at the bus stop this morning catching an earlier bus than expected and started talking to a nice lady. I felt like I'd seen her before and as soon as I mentioned our bike ride it clicked. She was the same nice lady. 600,000 people in Geneva and we get the pleasure to talk to her twice. These are those moments that I like to call divine intervention.

Oh and I just found out that airport security is very relaxed. Not sure if I'm cool with that one.

I think it's very important for people to get out and travel to experience different cultures. I strongly encourage you to just go and explore.

We're excited to be homeward bound.
God bless America.

Running of the Bulls

I'm willing to bet that riding through Geneva feels the same as it would if you were running from the bulls in Spain. Just picture the bulls as buses, cars, and motorcycles though. Our ride took 11.5 hrs all together with 8.5 hrs of actual ride time. We rode 123 miles and I crashed and ended up under a car at mile 115. Read on for the rest of the story.

We got up this morning about 6:30am to have the biggest breakfast we could stand for our long day of riding. We walked outside around 8am and it was still about 39 degrees. The first part of the ride was freaking cold and we got lost in downtown becasue of construction. It was pure madness for about 45 minutes till a nice lady saw me looking at the map and pointed me in the right direction.

Once we got moving and out of town it wasn't so bad. We were riding along the lake on a bike path for a ways and things were nice and pleasent. Then we got to France. You would think the country with the biggest bike race in the world would be set up to have a nice place to ride a bike, but we bascially road on a freeway till we got back to Switzerland again. Then the bike lanes reappeared and life was less stressful.

We grabbed a pretty terrible lunch because we got sick of trying to find pizza (I really wanted pizza). We got back on the road and put in some good time before the next stop. We took a bio break in a vinyard and snagged some grapes. They were pretty good but all the grapes over here have seeds, and I'm over grapes with seeds by now.

About mile 80 my bottom side was really starting to feel it. We stopped to take a break and stole some apples this time. The apples were so delicious. So crisp and sweet and juicy. It reminded me of when I was kid. We used to take fruit all the time and to this day I don't really enjoy apricots.

I pulled (rode in front so Cyndie Belle so she could draft me) till about mile 100 then I let the freeloader take over. From mile 100 on things were pretty tough and uncomfortable. My shoulders were hurting becasue I didn't fit on the bike very well. We finally pulled back into Geneva just in time for rush hour. Fantastic! There is lots of railways throughout town and I've been super causious when crossing them before, but I think I was just mentally fatigued and not paying attention. My front wheel fell into the rail way and I went down fast and hard and slid up under a car waiting to go at a red light. Cyndie was right behind me and rode over my bike but she kept it together (good girl). I hit my face on the ground and the rear axle of the car (that's how far under the car I was). I just walked away with some more scabs. Something my body is very used to at this point in my life. I crawled out from under the car as fast as I could and just wanted to find Cyndie and make sure she was okay. Once the driver realized we didn't speak french he just hopped back in his car and took off. I wrecked up the borrowed bike pretty good. Hopefully I can give him some money and we'll be square. It was a super old bike and he didn't use it so he probalby won't care. Cyndie tried to get me to take the bus the rest of the way, but I told here "No! I don't quit, I'm finishing this ride". I rode that broken bicycle the rest of the way and finished. This isn't our exact route but it's very similar.



We were going to ride tomorrow but since the bike doesn't really work now I came up with a new suggestion. We're going to do nothing with our last day here. That's right, nothing. We're going to sit around and drink tea and coffee (yes, coffee). Walk down to the local market and get some lunch. Maybe take a little walk. Maybe not. We want to take the time to refelct on the whole trip, remember what we've seen, and what God has tried to teach us. God has been very great to Cyndie and I and were super thankful we could do something like this. You learn a lot when you see different cultures and we just want to take the time and relax. Yep the adverntures are going to relax... On that note I'm out. I need to google how to relax. I'm not to experienced in that arena.

Slower day

I don't really have any exciting news for today except we made fajitas for dinner tonight and they were great.

We woke up and looked out our country side chalet to views of the Swiss alps. I didn't even know what a chalet was. Turns out it's French for cabin. We're staying in a one room chalet with a friend outside of Geneve. It's fantastic. I needed a change of pace from the hostels in downtown areas.

We walked down to the local market and bought food for breakfast and lunch. We made delicious bacon and eggs.

Coolest things we saw today was some pigeons, ducks, and swans going crazy for some bread a girl was giving them and I watched a kid flying on a motorcycle straight up t-bone a car and fly over the bars doing a front flip. He appeared to be okay. It's amazing to me how fast the scooters and motos go out here. Even old ladies carrying groceries on there Vespas pin it through the busy streets. My dad "captain safety" would not approve.

We tried all day to find a road bike rental. You would think that in a big bike town that rentals would be easier to find. Nobody out here rents. We eventually found some to borrow through the people we are staying with. We plan on riding around lake Geneva tomorrow. I hope we have the legs for it. It's about 120 miles so it should take all day, but it's suppose to be one of the top rides in Switzerland.

I'm having trouble uploading photos so picture me having fun in your mind.

Money doesn't grow on trees

I've had major problems with this post and have lost all that I typed more than once so you're getting the condensed version.

We got to Zurich and started looking for a hotel. Things are crazy expensive. We settle for a pretty sleezy place but we didn't find any bed bugs so it was sleep-able. The showers were communal and gross so we showered in our room sink instead.

We got some free rental bikes (the only good deal in Zurich) and rode around. We saw some old churches and just sight saw because everything else was too expensive.
see 3 pics here for blog

The next day we got breakfast for 26 CHF which is basically equal to 26 USD,and all we got was a cup of coffee, tea, some juice, and bread! We hunted for a grocery store for lunch and got twice as much food for the same price. Then we had a picnic.

After lunch we went to get our train tickets to head to Zermatt. They were 260 CHF. Something we didn't expect. The night before we checked the weather there and it was below freezing. We wouldn't really be able to do anything because we didn't have the clothes for that. We decided to head straight for Geneve. We're staying with a friend and the train tickets were way cheaper. Overall we will save tons this way.

We're hoping to get some road bikes and maybe ride around the lake. It's 120 miles it will be a big trek if it works out. It's really tough to find rentals.

Don't judge me for complaining about money you don't know how I was raised.

Sands through an hour glass

Do you guys remember Days of Our Lives? My momma use to watch that before I would head off to school. I wonder what that cast is up to?

I like the long train rides. Train rides force everything to pause. Time out! The feeling you get that your vacation time is coming to an end and reality is catching you slips away. There's really nothing you can do but throw on some good tunes and just watch the country side go by.

Well if you're Cyndie than you just sleep. Riding on the trains is probably one of my favorite things about this vacation. It provides valuable reflection time.


I made a playlist before I left home called "glass cage". It's basically a bunch of songs that bring all different kinds of emotions out of me. I have those songs on there that take you back in time to a place in your life and just make you think how time is just flying by. How do I get this sand to flow slower through this hour glass called life? There's still so much to do and see. I heard some great advice the other day at church. It was to try and take the words "should have" or "shoulda" out of your vocabulary. There's nothing we can do about time that's past except remember it so choose to only remember the things that brought you joy or something you learned a valuable lesson from. There should be no life long regrets, only well feathered steps. Don't sweet the small stuff and enjoy what short time we have in this glimpse of eternity.



See, she's a sleepy head. And a pretty head. A pretty sleepy head.

What's my age again?

I thought long and hard on writing this blog because I don't know if I'm cultured or embarrassed.

The red flag should have been the people that suggest the show to us. A very nice senior citizen couple just loved this Tyrolean folk show they attend last night and suggested we go see it. Well we had nothing going on so we rounded up some tickets at the tourist info station and made our way to the folk center by bus. The place was also a restaurant and we had a pretty good dinner before the show. It was more tyrolean food that had delicious dumplings mixed with some scrambled eggs. It tasted like a good homemade scramble from Cracker Barrel.

When we went and sat down in the stage area something felt a little off. I said "Cyndie do you notice something here?" she just started laughing cause we just wondered into something that would resemble a Red Hat Club prom littered with q-tips (little old lady with poofy hair) and bald heads.


We gaped everyone in there by at least 30 years. Icing on the cake was you could pick up a VHS for 20 euro at intermission and people were.

I don't feel like I wasted my money because I was entertained to some degree. However, it was almost awkward for us being we didn't experience the depression like everyone else.

Now let me tell you about the show. I think yodeling began from people getting wasted and wanting to hoot and holler because well... they were drunk. The dancing was just straight up goofy.

And though I'm sure yodeling is difficult when done correctly. I think I could probably do a pretty good job just acting silly.

Some interesting things from the night where the instruments they chose to play. Basically if you were sitting at at a dinner table you had the full orchestra. They would use spoons on sticks, cowbells, hit hammers on rocks' chop wood, and one guy even used his knuckles to hit the table.

This goes to show how song and dance can bring people together to enjoy life (although beer might of helped a lot with this genre). I may not have a musical bone in my body but I'm pretty sure I could play all the instruments they did tonight to some extent. I find it interesting that all the senior citizens were entertained to their hearts content while I was thinking to myself "this really isn't music it's just dressing up an making noise". But come to think of it that's probably how older generations see my generation and the music we like. In fact almost all generations can be divided this way. One of my favorite bands is an Irish punk band that brings folk music to a whole new level. I want all those senior citizens to attend a Flogging Molly concert with me to see how an accordion should really be played "in my humble opinion :) "

What's left of the flag, by Flogging Molly

All differences and generation gaps set aside at the end of the show they sang typical songs from every nation. For USA they did Yankee doodle (I think). They would have anybody from that country stand up and sing along. There were people from everywhere. Germany, Poland, Canada, Japan, Korea, and many more. It was really interesting to hear all the languages and see all the people gathered together in peace enjoying the universal language. Music.

Down came the rain and washed the spider out

You can't really tell from the picture but the rain is coming down something fierce. We plan on doing all in door stuff today. A couple of museums and old town centers. The rain doesn't stop the Austrians from riding their bikes though. They ride like it's not even wet

We went to the swarovski crystal world today.



I thought it was going to be a tour of the swarovski factory and how the crystals are made but it wasn't at all. It was more of a modern art museum with some crystals and a big jewelry store. Most of the artwork was pretty neat to see with the crystals and the light but I'm just not an art buff. Especially if it's modern art. When it looks like a kindergartner can make it than I'm not really impressed. Now the works of people like Robert Feuille that just amazes me. A cool part about the museum was it was way out of town so we got to take a bus out there and see more country side.

The rain stopped once we got out of the museum. Probably because I paid 10 euro for an umbrella. Grrrrrr.

Weather actually turned out to be really great. I wish we would have known that we could have gone mountain biking. We bought some tickets for a musical tonight. Some people on the bus recommended it. There is legit yodeling. I'm pretty excited for something different to do tonight. I hope it will be really entertaining.

Today was pretty slow. After the museum. We went and found some lunch. I got a kabob that gave me some major stinky gas, but it was really good. Lots of walking and just sight seeing. Better slam some caffeine so we make it through tonight.


We moved our train ticket time up because we've pretty much seen all of Austria. Heading to Zurich tomorrow.

G'day mate

Yes I know it's not Australia. For those of you who don't get it... Well I just feel sorry for you. We're off to the unknown again. No idea where to sleep, no idea what to do, I don't even know what language they speak in Austria or what their currency is. Oh this is fun. I wish you guys could hear Cyndie try to speak Italian. 90% of the time she says gracias instead of grazie and she can't role her r's at all. It's very entertaining.

Cyndie and I got off a train today to walk around the train station asking people where our next train was and then we got back on the same train. Little language barrier problem.



We made it to Austria and checked into our hostel by noon. This is probably the least nice place we have stayed so far. I found a bug in the bed but Cyndie said it wasn't a bed bug. Guess I'll have to trust her on this. She did some researching before we left cause she was all freaked out about bed bugs.

We were completely lost on what to do today, but we knew we wanted to spend it outside because the rain is suppose to come tomorrow. So we started looking for some bikes to rent. I found out Austria has one of the most technical downhill tracks in the world, but Cyndie didn't want to ride DH. We ended up getting some towny bikes which turned out to be perfect because we basically saw all of Innsbruck. See this is why I love bikes, you can cover so much more ground and it's more fun and it doesn't hurt.


We rode to a little historic district and actually put in 20 miles on the townys. Innsbruck is super cool. Absolutely everyone here rides bikes all over. There are 10 times more bikes than cars. The cooler part is it actually seems like the bike is cooler the more crappy it looks. Some bikes didn't even look like they should roll.


Most people don't even lock their bikes but some do with just a little tiny cable. If someone showed up with a normal pair of bolt cutters he could pretty much have his pick. This might be
Why the ride super junky bikes. I'd like to know the stats on how many get stolen.

We stopped in a little plaza where there was a bunch of street performers and found this little tasty treat. Very original.

We ditched the bikes and hunted down an authentic Austrian dinner. We asked some locals and found out that this is where wienerschinzals came from so we found a restaurant known for that. We had a wienerschinzal and some tylorean. Tylorean is this dumplings gravey meat sort of thing. We can just refer to it as delicious. After dinner we grabbed an ice cream cone and strolled back to the hostel. Walking back to the hostel in Austria was actually the first time I felt a little unsafe. We passed a couple sketchy bus stops and there wasn't many people out so it just made me a little more alert.
Here's a picture of me in a typical old man German hat.


Safe with the bed bugs now. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Good bye small paradise

Well today will be our last day in the small paradise of Ortisei. Locals that Cyndie and I have met at different restaurants, hotels, and other places are recognizing us around town and saying hi. I'm pretty sure the people up here live the least stressful life possible. I wish America could adopt this lifestyle so I don't have to work 50hr weeks. The bike shop guy told us yesterday to not bother showing up between 12:00 and 2:30 because he has to drink coffee and relax. In fact all the stores do that here including the grocery store and post office,and pretty much nothing is open on Sunday or Monday.

We started out today having breakfast in our little spot with our sweet lady serving us. Here's where we've been enjoying our meals.



After breakfast we headed out on a ride. The air was pretty brisk at first but once we pointed the bike uphill we warmed up fast. Especially because once we started climbing we didn't stop for 2hrs. We went from 4200ft to 7200ft without a single break of downhill. Cyndie was struggling pretty bad but we finally made it to the top and she was proud. The view was panoramic and absolutely stunning.



From there we traversed across the mountain on what would have been a pretty fun trail but there were so many hikers and they weren't super happy to see mountain bikers all the time. While traversing on the trail I pinch flatted on some rocks. I let some air out of the tires to help soften the ride. Opps!


We finally got to an intersection and started heading down. This trail was actually really fun with some good technical sections. Cyndie was a champ and rode everything. This was the start of the downhill.



Some of the sections would have stair steps of rocks. They didn't feel the best on the hardtail but everything was manageable. If you can try to not focus on my bulging bicep notice the terrain of the trail, Cyndie also cleaned this section.


Here are some more shots from the downhill.






After the downhill we didn't go all the way down the mountain. We caught a cable car half way down and went up to a different summit and planned on descending the section we climbed yesterday. We found a small section of singletrack that the MTB shop told us about. It had these long sections of pure grass that were super fun to just rip down.


The trail was just faint enough to make out but here is where Cyndie and I missed a very costly turn. We started heading down and we could tell we missed the turn and at the next intersection we turned and headed back up and got back on track, but on a different route. This route turned out to be a very steep climb for about a half a mile. I was in my easiest gear and kissing my handlebars the whole time. It was really tuff but I cleaned and Cyndie pushed her bike on the ski slope and met me up top.


We raced back to the shop to be there by 2:30. The bike shop guy said he would only charge us a half day if we made it by then. He was really just hooking us up because he closed around 4.
We had a good stretch and went and grabbed some grub. We showered and walked down to the grocery store to buy dinner. Tonight was a simple chicken and veggies.



We're all packed up and catching a bus/train in the morning. There's a huge storm moving in tomorrow which made us change our plans a little. It's 40 degrees an supposed to snow in the Swiss alps so we're going to Austria (good day mate) for a few days. We might get one more day of nice weather if we do that. I love the flexibility and the unknown.

Oh wheels, you complete me

We got a fairly early start this morning. Had breakfast at our apartment that we're staying at. We have our own room but the kitchen and dining area is communal. There's this sweet little old lady that puts on a little German made outfit (think Heidi) and serves us breakfast. We talked with the first Americans that we seen since we've been in the mountains. I love sharing stories with people. They were celebrating there 25th anniversary. Everyone we've told that we are celebrating our five year comes back with "Really! We thought you were on your honeymoon". Bam! Still got it.

We got riding around 11am. The bike shop gave me a trail map instead of charging me which was really nice of them, and he showed me a whole route to take. The bikes we got are pretty nice. Much nicer then other rentals I've seen in the states. Both of them are hardtail cross country race bikes. After riding it all day it wouldn't be my choice for a bike but did the job great for today. We started out on some pavement till we hit a dirt road.


We climbed for a little while but nothing too difficult. The terrain is pretty rocky and loose gravel in some areas. The trails were more of a scenic leisure fire road than an aggressive fun trail, but that's okay cause the scenery more than made up for it and we kept wanting to stop and look.


We dropped back down into a neighboring city and stopped to have lunch. We finally found a good authentic pizzeria. This was probably the best meal we've had yet. A local was telling us that the one guy who runs it and cooks is really famous around here for being the best. I can see why. The cook didn't speak any English, but we finally got the point across to just bring the best and he did.

We started the ride back up on a trail out of town, and I ran into this (see pic). The cows just kind of wonder around town grazing. There's some fences but I don't think they do much good. We had to act like cowboys and herd him out of the way. Cyndie was scared of course.


After that we rode a trail that had some sort of Jesus sculpture carved in a tree about every 100 meters. Then came some really challenging climbing. I probably had the most fun on this section of trail. It felt good to be back on a bike. My legs were saying "See you idiot! This is what we like to do, not hike!"
Cyndie wasn't having as much fun as I was climbing.



At one point I raced ahead of her and made this in the grass. She really like it.



Every once in a while we would catch some single track that was pretty fun. At one spot we were flying down the grass like little kids frolicking down a hill. This section was pretty fun.



Occasionally we had to ride through farms. This one had a huge rooster in the road and he stood up all tall at me and started flapping his wings. I had a flashback from my childhood when a rooster chased me all the way to my friends house scratching my legs. I rode away quickly and some what teary-eyed from the flashback.



Over all we only road about 26 miles and it took us around 5.5 hrs. In a race I usually do 26 miles in about 1.5. We lost time mostly because we wanted to stop and enjoy the scenery, or wait for Cyndie or take pictures or try to figure out where to go. Navigating was probably the biggest time killer but for someone who doesn't care what time or day it is, this is no problem.


We finished the ride, came home and showered, and went to buy groceries to make dinner together again. This has been super great. We save money and it's pretty fun. Our apartments have this little nook in the dining room where we eat and we can see most of the small town. It's so quiet and peaceful. Probably the most romantic dinner we've had yet. I tried to take a picture but the room was to dark for the iPhone, but I got one with the canon that I'll post when we get home.



Another fun day for the adventure lovers. More riding planned for tomorrow and we need to figure out the best way to the Swiss alps.

Location:Rezia Strasse,Urtijëi,Italy

What day is it?

By now I have no idea what the day or date is. Although today was a slower day the action and adventure was not absent.

I woke up this morning and stood up to go to the bathroom and my feet hurt so bad! Yesterday was super hard on this fragile boy. Cyndie and I weren't really sore this morning but as the day went on we got more and more sore.
All this helped us decided we needed a slower day. So what could I do that doesn't require much effort??? Dusty you can sit in a chair a thousand feet above the ground. I'll take it! I made an appointment for 1pm and we met at the base and rode two different chair lifts way up to here.


We suited up on the grass and hooked together. We tried to get in the air once without success and had to hike back up. To get going we basically just ran straight down the grass till the canopy filled with air. Kind of like when you were a kid and you would run to keep your kite in the air when there was no wind. As soon as it filled up with air he gave it a little flare and it just lifted us right up. Quite simple actually. What you can't see in the picture to the right is a huge cliff and than way down is where the town is. We turned right and flew along side the cliff (really close actually). Close enough that we scared some mountain goats and the took off running straight down what appeared to be a 90 degree cliff. It was incredible. From there we headed down the valley and caught a couple of thermals. I got him to do some aggressive acrobatic turns. We were literally inverted while spiraling down. The centrifugal force was unreal I almost lost my lunch but it was worth it. It had a lot more force than the canopies I've flown. Cyndie could see us and said she got nervous. We cruised over the town for a bit then landed in a field beside Cyndie. It was way worth it.



After paragliding Cyndie and I went to the local resort pool. Everyone had to wear swimming caps and I was the only guy not in a speedo. The pool had a small little circle that had a fast flowing lazy river moving the water in a constant circle. These two late twenties adults turned into kids immediately and had great time. We giggled a lot with each other trying to swim against the water and playing save me from the current.

We hopped hotels today and got a place with a kitchen. Tonight we went to the grocery store to buy food and make our own dinner. We saved a ton of money this way and wished we would have done this more.


Bikes are on reserve for tomorrow and we plan on riding till our legs fall off. Sounds amazing!

Location:Bahnhofstrasse,Urtijëi,Italy

More cowbell!

Cyndie and I settled in a town called Ortisei for the night. We had absolutely no plan on where to stay so we just started asking hotels "quanto custo?" which means how much. Most of the three star hotels (bottom of the barrel around here) were about 80 euro for one night. Thats about a hundred bucks a night. Sounded like a bargain compared to a holiday inn. We finally said "i guess that one". This is the view from our balcony.



We lucked out big time with our hotel too cause the front desk lady was super helpful and we really needed some help. We basically had no more than a name for the hut and a neighboring town. We found out we missed the only bus to that town early this morning. This turned out to be a good thing. The front desk blessing showed us another hut that was much more on the possible scale and she said the views were more spectacular from this side of the mountain anyways and she said we could keep our big bags at the hotel even if we weren't planning on staying here again. This was fantastic cause we didn't want to lug our full packs up to the hut. We also dropped some stuff off at the laundry service. The only one in town was not self service and won't be done till tomorrow. All good things cause we didn't want to deal with it and this gives us more time to play. Not to mention my bag was starting to smell like a rotting corpse and that's no exaggeration. I feel sorry for that lady.

We took our small packs, the clothes we had on, and some croissants we grabbed at the hotel breakfast and headed for the hut almost 4000ft higher than where our hotel was. To get to the trailhead we had to hop on a bus to the next town and take a cable car up 2000ft. We arrived here.



This area is probably the prettiest country my two eyes have ever seen. We got off the lift and grabbed some lunch at restaurant that was right there. I wish I had a photo on my iPhone to show you here of where I sat for lunch. Some random old German guy came up to Cyndie and I and wanted a picture of us. I told Cyndie he just wanted a picture of her.
Our trail went straight over this mountain.



We hiked and hiked and hiked some more. It took us about 4hours to reach the hut. The trails were very steep at times, almost hands and feet climbing. Very jagged rocky terrain screams ibuprofen for this tenderfoot.


We laid down in a meadow to take a nap and I could see two paragliders way up in the clouds. Guess I know what we'll do tomorrow.



We finally made it to the hut. There were bunnies running around, sheep, and chickens. It was really neat but there was one problem. We got there much earlier than we expected and we would have just sat around the rest of the afternoon. That wasn't sitting very well for these two ADD kids that saw mountain bike rentals down in town, and that hot tub was sounding pretty good by now. We bailed on the hut and booked it back down a different route to town (a much longer hike than expected).


Got back to our three star refuge by catching the last bus back once we got off the mountain. We had dinner at our hotel tonight and ate tons of food. We were surrounded by senior citizens and they were all staring at us. I felt like I should be playing bridge. We're going to sleep in and try to paraglide or mountain bike tomorrow. My feet hurt so bad I could barely stand in the shower. Better get some rest so we can attack tomorrow. Everyday is an adventure!

Location:Stufan Strasse,Urtijëi,Italy

The Labyrinth

I may not be able to spell but what I lack in literacy I make up for in having a keen sense of direction. I've always been pretty good at finding my way around new unfamiliar places as long as I can see a map, and usually if I go some place once I can find my way back from then on. Throw all that out the window when it comes to Venice. Every tourist there has their heads down staring at a map trying to navigate unmarked alleys that lead nowhere. This place is a real life sequel to the Blair Which Project. You'll find yourself halfway across the island or right back where you started when you thought you were on track.



Cyndie and I were super excited to take a romantic gondola ride down the water ways of Venice. That dream quickly died at the price of 150 euro! We had a great time just wondering the streets trying to figure where we were though. We toured all the little shops and hunted for a decent meal. Do any of you remember the seafood and crab sandwich at subway? I know Jonce does. While most people would cringe at the thought of it, I liked it and Venice had the real deal. I ate three sandwiches in one setting cause they were so good.



The weather was cold and wet. Our shoes were still soaked from Cinque Terre so we were rocking the flip flops. We walked eight miles in those. I don't think I've ever walked one mile in flip flops. The new Reef flip flops did a pretty good job though. We finally found our way back to our hotel & put on our walking shoes because we were so cold! Then, continued to wander around for another 8 miles. The pic below is in San Marco square. Everyone was feeding the pigeons, but there was no way I'd sacrifice my food. So I just faked out those pigeons!


We set off today not knowing where we're going to sleep. It's a feeling I wish I had more often. Tomorrow we will stay in a hut at the top of a mountain that you can only get to by hiking. I'm super excited and hope the weather stays good for the hut.


On a train now just heading north till we get to Bolzano. From there we'll have to find a bus or maybe hitch hike to the smaller mountain towns to get us closer to the hut.


My litte bride is puckered out sleeping beside me on the train. What a lucky man I am to have such a fun wifey. I found out that Belle in Italian means beautiful. How fitting for Cyndie Belle.

Location:Via Alcide De Gasperi,Trento,Italy