Ciao Italia! Or should I say "hallo Italien"? We made a stop in Glurns (Glorenza) in South Tyrol (i.e. Südtirol or Alto Adige). German and Italian are official languages here, along with Ladin in some municipalities.
We spent the last week of January 2016 skiing in Madonna di Campiglio, Italy. My wife had visited the town with her friends last year already, while I had to stay at home. This time I was able to join the group, and it was really a spectacular trip!
I was concerned how broken my body would be after four full days of skiing. I don't exercise, and I haven't skied that much since I was a teenager. As usual, I was worried for no reason. Especially towards the end I felt really comfortable even though my technique lacks the flair of the experienced skiers.
Madonna di Campiglio is worthy of praise. It is more affordable than similar resorts in Switzerland or Austria, and the food in Italy is just amazing (I did order a schnitzel, but in Italy it is called Cotoletta alla milanese, so it doesn't count). I ate the best risotto I've ever had, tried some local mountain food which was delicious, and devoured too many pizzas. I gained weight despite all the skiing!
The only complaint I have is about the global warming. Most of the pistes were open, but it is sad how little there was snow outside the maintained areas. I saw the temperature going up to 15°C in the village during the trip! I would love to go alpine skiing in the future again, but perhaps I should take water skiing lessons instead.
First day of skiing. The weather was great, the pistes were very well maintained, and I didn't have any blisters in my feet (yet).
The Dolomites are a UNESCO World Heritage site.
First time on snow shoes. For some reason snow shoes are not common in Finland (when I was little, I just wore skis). I clumsily broke the other shoe, and was rewarded with the happy colours of Sweden. :-(
According to our guide, lakes are uncommon in the Dolomites because of the limestone. Well, this one was frozen anyway.
Our Belgian-Brazilian-Italian-Japanese-Finnish travel group was very "multikulti".
Caffè – in Italy, less is more. Espresso equals coffee. I had to adjust my caffeine consumption, since it was impossible to find just "regular black coffee".
I was carrying my little Olympus while skiing, and tried to catch some photos on the way. I fell a couple of times, but fortunately nothing got broken.
My souvenirs. We ended every day with a shot of grappa. It was love at first taste! Especially the aged ones are delicious, and the pine flavoured "mugo" somehow "tastes like Lapland" in my mouth.