Ugh I cannot connect to the internet. I’m typing from ms-word again. -.- The pillows here are huge o.O but they are very airy(maybe just be this places pillows) Still think Arabba place is nicer; More woody and comfy :) That place was more of a hotel though.
Sigh.. It is our last night here. Time flies so quickly, have not played any games or watch any movies yet. :( Going to Salzburg tmr, 2h40min drive, but probably will take longer hahaha. (we are 20km from Innsbruck currently, staying in Neustift.) Dad just said this whole region is called Stubatai, which is a valley. -.- so many different names. Confusing.
The weather for the past few days has been bad; cloudy and rain. The clouds have also been descending very low, which was what happened at in Arabba as well. The locals say that it is going to be clear and sunny tomorrow. We are really hoping that is going to be the case.
Scenery in Italy was nicer; in my opinion that is.. Maybe it is because we did not go on hikes like the one last Tuesday; did not go on that many hikes even though this place was advertised as the starting point of many hiking trails haha. Austria is more organised though(than mid italy)
We went hiking today though; the scenery downhill was very nice, lots of trees that look like Christmas trees :) Don’t know what the name of the mountain was. (took cable car up again as we have free rides daily with the card) Think it is Schlick (name). I may scan in the maps when we get back home haha.. NO the name is not schlock. The different peaks have different names so I have no idea which is which haha..
We missed a turn so we took an extra 2 hrs but as a “reward” we got to see a small lake and went through a mini adventure course. The landscaping done throughout the course was very nice, very good planning was employed. :D Saw many cows as well, whenever we looked at the cows we said,” LOOOOK. FOOD!” :) Just beside the lake after (and beside) the adventure course there were these comfortable wood chairs (large pieces of wood joined together to make a chair) there were some tables there as well, very nice place.. Also, I found the first chin-up bar in 1 ½ wks. So happy.. But I only can do 7 now.. Prob cos I was wearing boots and and jeans and 2 shirts -.- But then again that is not a lot of extra weight. Finally have my 6-pack back hahaha.. Had a little bit in p4 but is disappeared in p5/6.. That was random xD
Had a barbeque just now, had sausages, a (1 piece) piece of marinated beef which we shared, and some flank steak. It was so tough but the barbeque taste made it taste nice. I have been killing so many slugs xD. They are the Spanish slugs, one of the 100 most invasive species. Killed one with eggs inside. So I smashed all the eggs I could see. Smashing them up is therapeutic.(slugs) I’ve killed at least 30… Maybe(just maybe) I’m cruel but they are pests to farmers all around so why not kill them o.O they make squish squish noises when they are getting pounded. Shawn must have violent tendencies -.-"
Oh yes, realised that I’ve not posted for Sunday and Monday.. Going to do a quick summary, I hope. (heh it became a very long summary haha)
Sunday
Put quite a few slugs together in 3 piles, regret not flattening them xD(early in the morning)
We bought the Stubatai card which enables us to take the cable cars foc, each one once a day. Then we went up some mountain called Efersbitze. It rained up there and me and dad climbed up to a hotel with a restaurant below. All of us went up at first bit it started raining with very strong wind. There was this sign on a chair 7/8 way up about not stopping as the top is near or smth like tt..Was in Deutsch and we forgot to take a photo of it haha.. Met a family with a very fierce small dog haha.. We saw a very nice rainbow up there too :)
Then we went to a waterfall called Grawa. It was raining so it was very muddy.. But the photos were nice.. Saw some goats at the road leading to the waterfall. If we had walked a little further we would have seen the whole waterfall. There was cow poo everywhere(farm outside, whole of the Stubatai region has cows and lots of poo)
We had claypot rice for dinner. Listened to a message on sermonaudio and we all laughed when the guy said "pit pit" Whats a pit pit? It's the Pittiest of all pits xD
(going out now, continuing this later, its actually thursday now)
Tuesday
We took a cable car up to Tirol, the highest peak in Austria(thats what the brochure said although i saw peaks that are higher on the information plaques). Ride up took 1hr. Nice view up though. Think the elevation was 3200m plus.
It was cold up there, and it was very cloudy. Clouds had descended over the mountains below. There was a layer of fresh snow too. Glad i was wearing winter clothing haha.. Had a shirt, another long sleeve a sweater and my thinner winter jacket. Ears froze up quickly up there. Hands went pretty much frigid x) Walked into this restaurant place and had 2 apple strudels with (sugarless)cream and 4 hot chocolates(also with bland bland cream). The strudel was very nice.. But it cost 3.40 eu a piece though(if I remember correctly). The piece was about 18cm i think. The toilet there smelt like someone was boiling naphthalene inside. Went back out and i sat on the deck chair outside. It was this nice red chair :)
And then it started snowing; Snowing in the middle of summer; Snowing really hard. We could play with snow that built up from the previous night. Dad found the observation deck he had been looking for previously. All the stairs and hand rails were covered in snow. The view from the top of the deck was magnificent, although I really still think the dolomites were nicer. The plaques telling us which mountain were covered in 3cm thick snow. Which means it is one darn scary climate there. If it is sub-zero in the height of summer (okay that was with cloud cover) then winter must be extremely harsh right? But there were many ski lifts there. And it was a very big ski station. The carpark was HUGE. THINK FOOTBALL FIELDS.
We left top and came down to the second the cable car station from the bottom(4 in all, it goes from the bottom to the 3rd station where you have to change) and walked out and took a few photos. Saw a deer hunter with a gun(and heard muffled gunshot sound later one) as well as sheep there. I got chased away by a male sheep -.- Can’t they recognise me as one of their kind? xD (shaun the sheep, you know, the cartoon. Diff spelling though -.-) Took a lunch of nice bread/bun with sausages(chipolata) and cheese we bought the previous Thursday. Played with some mini water locks(or were they dams) and saw this mini house model with a water wheel.
Later on we drove half an hour to another mountain with a much shorter cable car up. We had wanted to take the toboggan ride down but it was closed as it was going to rain. Horrible. It had not even started raining yet. It was a good half hour before it started raining. There had actually been a queue for the ride down. Since we had already made the ride up, my bro and me went to play on the see saw. Had a hard time balancing ourselves out.. Moments is harder to apply with only a 3m long board on each side. Dad bought us 2 cakes for 2.50eu each. The first was a cheese cake and the other was a chocolate cake. Both were moderately nice, I have tasted nicer ones before :) And I don’t eat a lot of cake so that says something haha. We did not go on a hike as the rain was getting heavier.
After that we went to Billa and bought quite a large trolley of things. Shawn bought 2 new packs of chips(the pringles extreme flavours which are not sold in Italy. I like the product packaging), 2 packs of 4 mini mars bars and a a pack of 6 mini bounty bars.
We went for a swim after that. Went in free due to the stubatai card. I was using the top of the cubicle to do chin-ups.. It was what my friends used to do in the toilet. Have not really talked to anyone. Never mind hahaha I’ve been forgotten liao xD Like who would remember. I wouldn’t haha.. xD
The changing room was very stuffy as the whole thing is heated. The pool area was so hot that it was hard to breathe. Went to the pool outside where I could see the water evaporating. I think these people are crazy o.O I mean it can be heated but it does not need to be heated to the extent that its stuffy and ultra humid right?? O.O There was this slide that was done very nicely, there were lights inside and the slide is done such that at the end the you(and the water) will move up the wall by 1/3. It is better than the water park in Garda. Oh about Garda, the Dolomites are nicer haha.. Although Garda is nice too. The slide was supposed to be used with a float but no one bothered as there was a shortage of floats.
Dinner(at the apartment) was very normal, but the desert was special. When we took it out of the fridge we thought it could be eaten cold. So we rolled it in the sugar and sesame seed coating. Someone remarked that it looked like tang yuan. Then mom(who speaks zit German) realised that it has to be cooked. Dad checked(with his 28 year ole German skill) and confirmed that it has to be boiled. So we boiled it and later on coated it in the coating, all along thinking it was tang yuan. Then I took a bite into it and said it tasted sour.. Dad and mom tasted it and then (I think) dad said it is cheese). Super funny hahaha…
Whee. I’m done. Its Friday now. Time passes so very quickly; this week especially. Our holiday is coming to an end. Today is the last day in Austria and tomorrow we go to venice for a night. Then its straight home. So sad, I was hoping it would last longer. We have just arrived at großglockner. It’s a glacier south of where we are staying; biggest in Europe. I shall type about it later, still have to type about Wednesday and Thursday o.O Now I have to type about 3 days. Past 3 days we went to a lot special places past few days. Oh well. I shall enjoy the scenery outside now. We paid 28eu “toll” to come in. Just hit 1924 words.
Bye bye:)
Hmm since its already so many words, why not make this 2000?? We have just left the second last stop of the place. Its 6.56 pm and we are driving out of this place now. Europe’s largest glacier seems to be very small o.O I think its because this is the height of summer although its 13degs outside -.- There are many stops in the place, we kept stopping to take photos. Saw a lot of smart cars just now. WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO ITS 2011 WORDS ALREADY (end of sentence).
Bye bye for real this time. :) Going to type abt Wednesday and hopefully Thursday in the car (yeah I have the com in the car, don’t know if I mentioned it previously up there..)
Oh i did not type abt anth. I sorted the photos and looked at scenery haha.. JUst reached home. Gonna have dinner soon even though its 10pm..
Reached Austria on sat evening. We are near Innsbruck now, staying neustift. The 3 ppl we asked things on the way here(all austrian ppl) are all pretty unfriendly. The person who is in charge of this place seemed to have waited for a long time, we reached at 6pm. She spoke english though. Dad can still speak German.. Pwn, its been 28 yrs or so.. And he still says his memory is not goodOh i did not type abt anth. I sorted the photos and looked at scenery haha.. JUst reached home. Gonna have dinner soon even though its 10pm..
Before coming here we hiked up this mountain (It did not have a name, multiple mountains). Took off my shirt for some time because the horrible sun came out. Free sun-tan hahaha. At least I'm now wasting time sitting there turning red -.-
Ate lunch at this restaurant (walked from elevation of 1602m to 2076m) called Rifugio Beć De Roces. Seems French hmm? Anw the lunch was very nice. No cover charge, no charge for bread(nice bread though) and the food was very nice. Was quite diferrent from Tuscan cuisine(tuscany is a region in middle Italy. Currently staying in Livorno, somewhere smack middle-west of Tuscany, i think? :)
I had "noodles" with game sauce but the "noodles" were flat, moderately long pieces of pasta. German word for it is better, bandnoodlen(smth like tt)It was nice..
Looks nice rite? I was nice haha
Iain's dish was some pasta with lotsa cheese, mushroom and ham. Very nice and nicely cheesy haha
We actually ate a little of that which explains the stain at the side of the plate
Clare had some soup with Tyrolian (Tiroy) dumplings. DUMPLINGS? Maybe its how i understand that word. anw,
Oh. Quoting wikipedia, "Dumplings are cooked balls of dough. They are based on flour, potatoes, bread" Well i was wrong.. hahaha
Dad and Mom shared some Self invented dish by the restaurant, the egg like stuff is actually polenta, boiled cornmeal. The meat was very nice. Not sure what it was.. Don't I'm going to ever find out haha. I'm not big on the idea of climbing up there xD
Oh there were 2 meats. Both were very nice though. Dad had a small glass of beer. He said it was nice. I tried a little bit but it had a bitter after taste. Maybe thats how it is supposed to taste o.O
Talked to an elderly Italian couple from Milan
We walked back to Arabba from some route down the mt. Dads knee actually hurt a little bit on the way down :( Was okay after that. We took sticks and made them into walking sticks haha.. Dad bought a pair of socks for clare cos she said her foot was painfull(WOW I SAID THE CORRECTLY! I USUALLY SAY, "cos her foot pain" HAHAHA)
The drive to austria took quite some time, longer than expected.. May be the way dad drives or how the GPS calculates timing.
The apartment is not as nice as the one in Arabba, that one is wood everywhere. this one is more of a normal hse. There is a garden outside that we have been poking slugs around on. (raining past few days) At least the internet here is whole day and it is in the apartment itself.. Shawn hates fog. Shawn still hates the fog. Shawn can’t figure a use of fog besides it being a umbrella on ultra-hot places. But does it fog in those places, NO IT DOESN’T -.-
Today is our last day here. Typing this just before I go and sleep. We had pineapple-rice for dinner. Parents were packing up just now. Came back up for dinner (internet is only downstairs) aft I saw the ppl that were manning the place having dinner.. Not polite to watch ppl have dinner haha. Mom burnt her hand just now… Ouch.
We decided to go to Cortina today. Drive was supposed to be around 53 mins. The route we took to get there was very nice :) We kept stopping to take photos. I saw the really blue lake from some lookout point. Think that feeds the one we saw on Monday. I videoed some parts of the journey, at some parts holding the camera out of the window not knowing where it was pointing at. The whole area is so nice, I figured tt whatever I filmed would be good right? Well I was right hahaha.. :)
On the way to cortina we had actually turned into the base area of Cinque Torri. The skies had been very clear. We took this took that and when we finally bought our tickets and were on our way up, the stupid cloud had to descend. Sigh… Dad just figured out we were not actually on Cinque Torri. We were at nuvolau. Wth! The tickets were not cheap either. The ride up was quite long. When we reached the cloud was starting to descend. Let me repeat that more forcefully. WHEN WE REACHED THE !@#$ CLOUD STARTED TO DESCEND.
By the time we started to climb up the very high rock formation the cloud had totally descended. After much contemplation as were coming down, it started raining. Dad got completely soaked. All our pants got soaked. In fact, it more or less rained the whole day.
Sad day. The view would definitely have been good, I saw the view upwards. So the view down would HAVE BEEN EVEN BETTER!! Thats the second day in a row that the fog has totally blocked obliterated our view -.- Maybe it has got to do with today being Friday the 13th haha..
The fog/cloud is starting to distort my perception of nice scenery. We went to Cortina d’Ampezzo and even though its surrounded by mountains, nth could be seen because off.. YEAH THE FOG. -.-
I’m going a little overboard here but.. sigh.
Waited for the tourist office to open at 3.30(what type of tourist office open only at 3.30 o.O) and bought some groceries at this supermarket. They were selling fresh salmon in containers I think. Oh they are smart. The fruit is picked by the staff to prevent people from choosing only the good ones. Good for them terrible for us. But still, the fruit seemed to be of good quality. We bought some cakes there too, 10eu’s for 3 slices. Have to treat eu as sgd here if not we won’t buy much stuff.
Iain and Clare went for swim again. I don’t fancy going into a pool that has an extremely high concentration of chlorine. I went into the room and actually choked for a while. So I opened the window for a short bit. Dad tried the sauna yesterday. He is going crazy haha. He stayed inside a 85-90 deg room and he came out perspiring all over... I went in for a while and when he poured the water containing menthol over the coals It became so hard to breathe. I just walked back out. They have a sunbed and a Turkish bath thing here as well. Keep seeing it on hotel adverstiments.
I shall stop here. MS word says I’ve typed 673 words and counting. 677. No, 680. Augh I’m going to sleep. My standard of English has totally deteriorated. I did not even spell that word correctly. The spelling suggestions are all wrong. Sigh. Have to start reading more. I have stopped doing essays for a long time. Blogposts are actually one of the only ways I’m keeping my English alive. I even forgot the opposite for steep (gentle) on Tuesday. And I just spelt Tuesday with a small “t”. Oh dear…
I’m going to sleep. Bouna notte tutti :)
(post for thurs)Went to see cheese making in the morning. Was raining and it was 12 degs outside.Had to wear caps and things on our feet. They were making some fresh cheese. Saw how they let the cheese curd and collect in cloth like bags while letting the water drain out. They actually used their teeth to hole on end of the cloth. Then they put in in moulds and soaked it in brine(salt solution)
Tried the cheese before it was put into the brine(i.e. just after curding). Tasted like tofu o.O Like totally like it. Was a bit nauseating. First time eating smth like tt. I have always eaten tofu with at least some salt. Cheese is really bland before you salt it.
The room tt they let it ferment in smelt like ammonia. horrible smell o.O Saw mould growing on the cheese. The room was cooled to the same temperature outside.
Saw them make the cottage cheese(which is boilt twice). Did not like it when i tried it in livorno.
Went to a cheese tasting session after tt. Liked the cheese there. Was not too strong. Bought some and 2 packs of sweets. Cheese was not too expensive. 7 eur for a reasonable amt(of cheese)
After lunch we went to take this train which turned out to not be a train but a tram -.- Paid 3 euros for adult and i dunno how much for iain. Clare was free i think. The ride in was awesome. Contemplated on whether or not to go up to a super foggy mountain which was at 6 degs. I was wearing bermudas and t-shirt w/ a jacket. Went up in the end.
Wahh that was one big mistake. Even though tt is the highest mountain in the rejion, the fog was so thick tt we could not see a thing. Visibility was abt 10-20m. Was soo cold up there. Met this Israeli family and talked for quite a bit.. Worst thing was the ticket up was 64 euros. Thats a lot of money. Stupid fog :( [i'm typing this on fri, the ppl at reception(family) are having dinner now. Oh dear. better move]
Dad took a piece of rock from the top of mountain and put it in Iain’s bag hahaha.
I believe if the fog was not there the view would have been really really really awesome. IT WAS THE HIGHEST PEAK IN THE REJION :( oh well.. maybe can go back up in december. Although it will be circa -5degs. sigh. On the way down the person manning the car was rushing us down. Horrible. Just to end his stupid shift. Hopeless. Thought tt only happens in mid and south Italy.
The walk out via a gorge called Serrai di sottoguda. Wahh it was very nice. Although i still think if the mountain was not foggy it would have been better. It is 2km long stream like thing. The signboard at the start indicated that the gorge was very dangerous. Apperently it will flood during winter and its very dangerous. They had to remove the bridges before the first snowfall otherwise when it flooded after winter the wood from the bridges would endanger the village below. See the board below :)
Not sure if fb compressed it. Hopefully not. I'll check later. Wait i'll prob forget. haha
Made a slight detour to Alleghe to see the place tt we will be staying in december w/ gugu(aunty esther).
Had chicken curry with rice for diner hahahaha. Then had apple strudel for dessert. Bought it on tues on the way here. It is different from the ones we ate before.
Shall go now.. 2nd last night :( Time goes by wayyyyyyy TOOOOOOOO fast.
Running downstairs to post this.. bye bye :)(internet swiches off at 9 wth)
(Post for wed, did not get to post)
Took a cable car like thing up to a point called Portavescovo and walked to Passopordoi where we took It took 5 hrs as we stopped for lunch and walked slower while stopping to take pictures and veering way off course to see even more awesome scenery. We were supposed to take only 3 hrs hahaha.
The view was bellissimo. :) There was actually snow on the mountain opposite us. The road was very steep at the start (like 10 metres long, 50-60 degs? ) but became more or less very gentle after that. Saw some strange beaver like animal at the start. But there were much bigger O.o It was moving around eating grass and we only saw them once.
Dad, bro, sis and me climbed up this steep path to go as far up as possible (after lunch). Went up But could not go further cos the path was not very walked so it was not marked. The scenery up there was what one sees in postcards and those scheming travel brochures. But for real :) Thoroughly enjoyed it. Tickets were not exorbitantly expensive too haha..
Had some salad for dinner. Cannot remember excatly haha(its friday now o.O) Its 10.42 here(in the dolomites) now, and outside was 9 degs and it snowed a short while back. The 5 r drive was pretty fun but the last half hr which became 1 hr was killer for dad. The road up had so many turns and the was snow on the road.
Then we saw this mass jam downhill. Dad was wondering whether there was some mass evacuation going on. SomeQuite a few of them actually had snow on top and on the bottom of the windscreen. It actually hailed during the last hr of journey, but i was drowsy drowsy (zzzzzzzzzz.......) so only saw a lil bit.
We had left all the snow stuff at home..(the scraper and snow chain) Had some problems fitting all the stuff into the car boot. we brought more or less everything here. o.O carried quite some things on our laps.
The scenery here is awesome. super awesome :DDDDDDDD Panoramic view is great. Loving the cold weather. We stopped by this lake which was very very very nice.. Although no one is allowed to go swim in it haha..
I guess we like mountains.
This hotel is much better than the garda one and the one back in abetone. Only thing is tt the internet can only be accessed frm the lobby area. They have a dish washer but no instruction manual.. Don't know which soap to use and how operate so i ended up washing it -.-
Apparently this is not the hotel with the gym :( should have just gone to jog ystd. Here no chinup bar no parallel bar -.- and i did not bring the exercise mat. So have to do on the floor which has been walked all over by shoes. -.- sigh.. oh well.. When i'm done i will go take a bath. Our room is at the top floor. Its cold outside. I'm typing this in the attic room upstairs and i shall run down and hit the publish button. :)
Shall go now.. getting late. slept at 1am thereabout ystd so i want to catch up on my sleep.
bye bye:) maybe i shall upload some pictures while i'm downstairs.. Today is national day. converted the 1730hrs wrongly so missed half the show. -.-
1730 hrs = 5.30pm sg time = 11.30 ita time -.-
Watched iain and clare have a swim with the neighbours downstairs. (they have their own pool with barbeque pit and all.) Then we invited them up to play table soccer.. 2 boys(one neighbour, other his cousin) and the younger sis came up(clare's age ard there o.O i think?) Had just eaten lotsa watermelon so i sat there feeding stupid mozzies. Did not manage to kill any.. Was bored to i was blowing at the mosquito coils. The burning ones that go round and round and round..
Leaving for the dolomites tmr.5 hr drive. Gonna use the sour dried thing to keep dad awake
.. 2 wk holiday.. dled some songs for the long long drive.. i like long drives. its fun o.O
Have to go make sure the socks i'm bringing will not kill my feet with the shoes. Still have to go grab the books i'm bring along..
Shall go sleep now. its past 12.. :)
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