Dolomites!

Hello Hello Hello, 

To start off, I am dying of the plague. I have been sick for three weeks but this weekend really got me and my immune system is non-existent. 

The Dolomites were fantastic and I miss them terribly. Dylan and I were the only two on the trip and it was a nice break from all of the people...although by the end we both needed a break lol. We took two trains and a bus to get to the small town of Ortisei. Our hotel, The Hotel Rodes, was a 15 minute walk outside of the town and was very very nice for being not very expensive. The first night we found a super crazy yummy restaurant in town where the portions were ginormous. I got gnocchi and a pizza with pineapple (wow I miss Emmy Squared). We wandered a little bit through town on our way back to the hotel which was light with lights and the shadows of the mountains made it a little bit spooky. 

We had to get up pretty early in the morning to get hiking but it was worth it! We had to take a bus into town, and then a funicular up to the trailhead. At first we were slightly concerned that we had wandered onto someone's property because the signage was severely lacking but then the trail turned into a gravel road. I think I would've preferred more lack of signage than the gravel road with construction trucks but it was still very pretty and picturesque. We stopped for lunch at a Rifugio, which are little huts on the mountains that serve food but also have beds if you are doing a longer trip. That food was also delicious, also I think that anything I ate at that particular moment of hunger would've been delicious. The top of the trail was stunning. We were surrounded by striking peaks on one side and then a long rolling valley leading to more mountains on the other. Dylan liked the peaks the best and I preferred the valley. - Don't worry I will add photos! 

We were getting a little miffed at all the fake hikers at the top. The funicular technically goes all the way to the top but we chose to get off at the trailhead and hike, obviously. All these fakers were just taking pictures acting like they had done all this work to get there. Puhlease. The only exercise involved in their journey was the exercise of their credit card to get funicular tickets. 

We had a second yummy dinner in town, although we both preferred the first night. Back at the hotel we bought a bottle of cheap prosecco and then I made the mistake of telling the bartender that, despite my small stature, I am a heavyweight - Mama can attest to this fact. So he made it his personal mission to get me drunk! I was introduced to a lovely drink by the name of a Bombardino, had two of those. And then I had a flaming sambuca shot - by inhaling the vapors, the alcohol gets to your bloodstream faster (little biology fact for you). I was tipsy but nothing crazy, Dylan is the lightweight between us and was drunk of his prosecco lol. 

On the way home we stopped in Bolzano because of a gap in our trains and spent time walking around there. It is a very cute town with lovely winding streets and reminded me of a French town instead of Italian. Our lunch there was nothing to write home about, in fact it wasn't even particularly memorable.