Our flight took off on time and we landed in Frankfurt, Germany where we met our connecting flight that took us into Venice. In Venice we got on a bus for the long ride to Cortina. The travel time was long so I decided to catnap on the way to Cortina. I was sleeping soundly when Randy woke me up to this beautiful scene. This was my first picture of the Dolomites. WOW !!!

As we were getting close to Cortina we ran into a huge backup of cars and trucks. Were we on the I5 instead of the road to Cortina? This wasn’t suppossed to happen in Northern Italy. Our bus driver pulled over at the nearest truck stop and the guide explained to us that the Olympic torch was coming through this area. WOW !!! No one ever expected to get a chance to see this. There was a bridge going over the highway where I took these pictures from. It was very exciting.

Unfortunately the bus driver had told us to meet back on the bus in 10 minutes. As soon as everyone was back on the bus the torch bearer went through this area on a small road above the main drag. Everyone with cameras quickly got off the bus and ran up the stairs of the bridge trying to get pictures. However the torch bearer was so far away it was impossible even with telephoto lens. We missed it by about five minutes. We were relieved to hear that there was going to be another torch ceremony in Cortina on Thursday.  I did happen to get this video although the torch bearers were some distance away from us.

We finally got to Cortina late and checked into our room without a hitch. We had a fourth floor room so we took the elevator. It was the smallest elevator I have ever seen. It only held two people with their luggage. It was a good thing as I was too tired to carry that luggage up four flights of stairs.

The room was nice and very clean. You could look out the bathroom to the Corsa Italia (the main walkway through Cortina) and see the shops.

I was exhausted so only walked around town for a short while to try to get orientated. Finally crashed and slept like a log after a whole day of traveling and a nine hour difference in time.

To see pics in full view click on slideshow after clicking here