Is there anything better than the Alps? I'm not sure. I love spending time here.
A couple weeks ago, I was in Munich, Germany for a board meeting. The girls were in UT, so I decided to add a few days to the trip. I headed south, through Austria, to hike a few trails in the Italian Alps.
I only had time for a few Google searches in terms of where to stay and ultimately hike. Limiting the searched ended up providing a bit more serendipity into quick trip. Usually, we spend time planning. I typically have a picture already in my head of what I'll be seeing.
After being steered in the right direction from a few locals, I ended up at Lago di Braies. A beautiful alpine lake, Braies is mostly secluded, except for the large hotel and parking lot on the north side. Once I arrived, it felt like the best place for a home base. And although the hotel listed wifi, it didn't work, which was perfect.
I snuck these pics in before our first hike. It was about 5:30 in the morning. You would think I was the only one up at that hour desperate to get a good shot. What you don't see is the 20 other tourists behind me. By 9:00 AM, it was packed.
The first hike was about an hour south of lake, Tre Cime. I may have taken hundreds of pictures during the 9 hours of hiking. And despite the on/off raining and cloudy weather, the temperature was perfect.
I didn't have my girls to photograph, so the cows and horses got shot.
Back at the lake ... home base. A relaxing evening and dinner at the boat house.
The next hike was on the other side of Cortina d'Ampezzo (Queen of the Dolomites), at Cinque Torri. There was an option to climb the mountain by way of tram, but I hiked up.
This town was beautiful. Borca di Cadore is hard to describe. It feels Austrian but very much Italian. It appeared they were in the middle of some festival but apparently, it was just every day life.
A few shots of Lago di Braies:
On the way back up to Munich, I stopped in Austria to repeat a hike the girls and I did a couple years back while we lived in London.
These horses were super friendly--and much bigger than they look here.
As for the Dolomites, we'll be back. Lauren and I are already planning her 12-year-old trip!