Monday, July 7th, 2014

The forecast was for rain later in the day, which Mark greeted with much trepidation. We headed out early to Suisi Seis to take the gondola to Alpe di Suisi (SeiserAlm). It was cloudy but not raining when we reached the top. It took us a while to find the Tourist Information to figure out where we should hike, but we did and the upshot was you can basically hike anywhere, the trails are all pretty flat so we weren’t going to get stuck.

We headed out on the Panorama trail, and stopped for a cappucino (or hot chocolate) and snack at the Panorama Hutte. I love this system of Huttes, restaurants all over the meadow where you can get a meal. Where we hike in the US, you have to bring your own food in, so inconvenient in comparison! We kept hiking along the trail, and one thing we thought was funny was how all of the Germans had the latest technical hiking gear even though these trails were groomed and not that steep. Walking poles, hiking boots, these button down plaid shirts, the works (except for this old guy here who thought a speedo was good hiking attire). And here we were in tshirts and athletic shoes!

Genevieve’s goal of our hike in the Dolomiti was to get a picture of her like Maria in The Sound of Music. We stopped many times for a photo shoot but this last one was the winner. Too bad we couldn’t have borrowed the costumes our staff at the hotel had to wear, then it would have been really perfect.

It started to sprinkle so we put on our raincoats and then stopped at the next Hutte, Alpenruth I think, but there were no seats so we kept walking. We reached a fork in the road and I think we took the wrong fork because we walked and walked and walked in the middle of nowhere with lots of cows for company but no Huttes or anything. We were starting to get very unhappy, hungry and in desperate need of a bathroom. And then finally! The Rauch Hutte! Very cute place, good food, and just as soon we got in it started to pour! We spent well over an hour eating and drinking, then caught the shuttle back to Compstach where the gondola was. Man, that shuttle was full! I guess that’s what happens when it starts to rain hard. We were only the second stop so we got to squeeze on but the people in the later stops were not so lucky.

It stopped raining when we got to the gondola station, and the whole mountain peeked out from the clouds so we got some good photos. Then we boarded our gondola and made it back to our car and back to the apartment hotel.

The girls played on the playground for a while and then we all went to the pool. And then to dinner at a very German place. Man, I am just not a fan of German food.

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