Posts from the road

Unusual road trip from Lennoxville to Quebec City

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(Québec City, Québec, Canada)

After leaving the Coaticook Gorge, we stopped at Ayer’s Cliff and North Hatley before our last night in Lennoxville.  North Hatley has a beautiful location but we only stayed long enough to have some ice cream made by the Laiterie Coaticook…it’s extremely popular around here.  Dinner that night was a delicious pizza at the Café Bla-Bla in Sherbrooke.

View from the top of the giant cow at Saint-Georges-de-Windsor, Québec

The next day featured a long road trip through various Québec communities with little in common…other than the fact that they are communities in the Province of Québec. Our first stop was just outside Saint-Georges-de-Windsor. We saw a sign for a “scenic viewpoint” and decided it would be a good time to stretch our legs. We pulled into the parking lot…only to be immediately confronted with a giant cow (see photo at the top of this post)! And the scenic viewpoint was on top of the giant cow!

Another view (you can’t have too many) of the giant cow at Saint-Georges-de-Windsor, Québec

We saw lots lots of huge roadside attractions in Alberta but were not expecting to see them in the middle of rural Québec. Anyway, we climbed the cow, took some pictures, and moved on to our next (planned) stop: the town of Asbestos.

The partially-filled Jeffrey Mine at Asbestos, Québec

Yes, Asbestos is named after the fibre that was once hailed as a miracle but eventually was disgraced because of its deleterious effects on human health.  Asbestos grew wealthy from asbestos, long before it was recognized as a carcinogen, and the mine only shut down in 2011.  It is a huge open pit measuring six square kilometres that comes right up to the edge of Asbestos itself.

The edge of the pit and the slowly deconstructing mining buildings at Asbestos, Québec

In fact, the pit does more that just come up to the edge  of Asbestos.  A large part of the original town had to be relocated because lucrative additional deposits were located underneath it, adjacent to the original mine.  Will the mine re-open?  This looks unlikely, as Canada formally banned asbestos altogether in 2016.  And where does that leave the town of Asbestos and its 7,000 residents?  Apparently, the name now has such negative connotations that the town is considering a name change.  The least harmful option appears to be “Amiante”, which is the French word for asbestos but does not carry as much baggage.

Immense cathedral in Sainte-Anastasie, Québec

After taking some pictures and gawking at the massive pit (now partially filled with extremely blue water), we moved on and made a series of short stops in Victoriaville, Princeville, and Plessisville (to buy lunch, eat lunch outdoors, and refuel respectively).  No giant cows or giant mining pits were evident.   Shortly afterward, we had to stop in the tiny hamlet of Sainte-Anastasie to check out the beautiful (and massively disproportionate) cathedral that completely dominated its surroundings.  After that, even the brilliant silver roof of Saint-Étienne-de-Lauzon’s cathedral was not as stunning as it might otherwise have been.

Cathedral at Saint-Étienne-de-Lauzon, Québec

We were nearing Québec City and our next destination.  Québec City is even more prosperous than the last time we were here:  perhaps too much so, as it was stuffed to the gills with tourists and transport trucks.  It is undeniably unique and a great destination…but maybe not in the middle of the summer.   We saw the Château Frontenac and the walls of the old city but pressed onward to our surprising base for the next couple of nights.  Stay tuned for the details!

Posts from the road

The Eastern Townships: School, Croquet, and Fearsome Gorges

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(Lennoxville, Quebec, Canada)

Our Eastern Townships home base is Bishop’s University in Lennoxville, just south of Sherbrooke.  I had heard about Bishop’s while attending Queen’s University but had never actually visited the campus.  However, university residences are an excellent alternative to hotels for summer travel:  they are generally inexpensive and often have great settings too. Bishop’s is awash in red brick (see photo above) and seems like it would have been a nice place to spend a few years of studying!

The Johnson Science Building at Bishop’s University (Lennoxville, Québec)

The next morning, we ate our first university cafeteria breakfast in a very long time before heading south to our first destination of the day:  Compton, Québec.  I had never heard of Compton before this trip but this village of 3,000 has made a significant contribution to Canada:  it is the hometown of Louis St. Laurent, Canada’s Prime Minister from 1948-1957.

The general store run by Louis St. Laurent’s father (and many other family members), in Compton, Québec

St. Laurent’s childhood home and the adjoining general store remained in the St. Laurent family from the late 19th century until they were acquired by the  Federal government roughly 100 years later.  We visited the site (now run by Parks Canada) and enjoyed both the multi-media presentation and the tour we received of the general store.  The store has been restored to how it would have been at the turn of the 20th century, while the house itself still has most of the St. Laurent family’s furnishings.

Inside the St. Laurent general store (now a National Historic Site) in Compton, Québec

We saw some interesting photos of St. Laurent playing tennis and croquet on the grounds.  While the tennis court is gone, there was a croquet set available for our use!  Of course, we jumped at the opportunity to play croquet at a Prime Minister’s house.

Playing croquet at Louis St. Laurent’s house

From Compton, it is a very short drive to the slightly larger town of Coaticook.  It is known more for its outdoor pursuits and I took advantage of the fine weather to visit the Coaticook Gorge.  However, this is no ordinary gorge…

Starting my journey across the 169m Coaticook Gorge suspension bridge

The Coaticook Gorge is notable for being 50 metres deep.  OK, not quite the Grand Canyon, but still very deep when you’re at the bottom of it and looking up.  However, the Coaticook Gorge has something that the Grand Canyon does NOT have:  North America’s’s longest pedestrian suspension bridge!

Looking up at the bridge from the floor of the gorge

The suspension bridge is 169 metres long.  As a suspension bridge, it does of course move and sway when you’re walking across it.  This is where the 50 metre-deep gorge suddenly becomes quite significant.  Check out the pictures for a better idea of just how small people look from the bottom of the  gorge or the top of the suspension bridge.

View from the top of the bridge…see all the people at the bottom?

A veritable forest of inuksuks has emerged at the bottom of the gorge…there are now hundreds, if not thousands,on virtually every flat surface.  There is also an observation tower located at the very top of a nearby ridge  – again, climbing up an extra 30 metres of scaffolding doesn’t sound like much, until you’re up there yourself and very exposed to the forces of gravity.  There are also many trails through the surrounding mountains and forests, once you’ve defied the gorge itself.

Tourists and inuksuks crowd the bottom of the Coaticook Gorge

While our schedule did not permit it, there is also a “Foresta Lumina” walk that takes you on a special journey on the trails at night with “son et lumière” shows and special effects.  Apparently, you also cross the suspension bridge as part of the show!  It costs more than a daytime visit but I am sure that it would be a spectacular experience if you are spending the night in the area.

Stay tuned – our Québec odyssey is only just beginning!

Posts from the road

Road Trip to Québec

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(Magog, Québec, Canada)

This summer’s road trip is an extended journey through the province of Québec!  We are often in Québec, but it has tended to be (1) for skiing in the winter months, (2) journeys by train to Montréal or Québec City, or (3) en route to the Maritime provinces or the New England states.  This time, we have a car and we can properly appreciate this huge province in the summer months and at a relaxed pace.

Sainte-Marguerite-de-Blairfindie de L’Acadie (1801) – some say it is the most beautiful cathedral in Québec

The start of our journey was somewhat challenging.  Shortly after crossing the Québec border, we were nailed by torrential rains that essentially did not let up for a full 24 hours.  Streets were under water and the driving conditions were treacherous.  As a result, there is not a whole lot of light in this first batch of photos.

A rainy night in L’Acadie, Québec

We spent the first night in the historic village of L’Acadie.  We were looking for a place to stay in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, of which L’Acadie is now a part.  But L’Acadie was once a thriving town on its own, and our B&B was likely built a couple of hundred years ago when there was an exodus from the Maritime region of Acadia.     It reminded me of staying in an old Swiss farmhouse, complete with doorways that cannot accommodate anybody over 5’6″.  But it had plenty of character and the breakfast was delicious.

Part of the Saturday market in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu

After a brief stop at the Saint-Jean outdoor market to pick up some supplies for a picnic lunch, we headed towards the Eastern Townships.  This is a scenic and mountainous region of Québec that looks quite similar to Vermont.  We very much enjoyed skiing here about 14 years ago.  Sadly, as the rain was simply too heavy, we could not do any real exploring this time until we reached Knowlton.

The Star Café in Knowlton

We warmed up with a chocolat chaud and a London Fog (tea latte) at a Knowlton café, and then found a liquidation sale for…Christmas ornaments!  Our Christmas tree is already odd (a pickle, a chili pepper, and a hand-painted NASA ornament are only three of the dozens of unusual ornaments), but it is now even better with a skiing chicken and a set of bagpipes.

L’Abbaye de Saint-Benoît-du-Lac.

From Knowlton, we travelled to the abbey at Saint-Benoît-du-Lac.  This is home to an order of Benedictine monks and is dramatically situated high above the shores of lac Memphrémagog.  The current abbey was built at the end of the 20th century but manages to look “classic” despite its newness.  Work is an essential part of this particular order:  among other things, they make cider, cheese, and even olive tapenade!  We look forward to trying some of our purchases. 

A hallway inside l’Abbaye de Saint-Benoît-du-Lac.

We had dinner in the bustling town of Magog.  As we loved the food here on our previous visit, we returned to one of our favourite places: the Microbrasserie la Memphré.  While a cheese fondue wasn’t appropriate this time (as it was certainly not -20’C), we nonetheless enjoyed our meal in what is now an extremely popular place.   And the sun finally came out (see photo at the top of this post)!

La salade “Bonzaï”, at the Microbrasserie la Memphré, Magog, Quebéc

Last time we were in Magog, we stayed at a gîte (B&B) called À Tout Venant.  However, the summer is much busier than the winter and we ended up  booking our accommodation for the next couple of nights in another nearby community.   Stay tuned, as we dive deeper into the Eastern Townships!

Posts from Base Camp

Protests and Disruptions

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(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

It’s now been three years since I visited Peru and journeyed to the famous abandoned city of Machu Picchu.  In order to do this, our group had to take a train from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes.  This all went very smoothly and I couldn’t imagine anybody having difficulty with it.  This week, however, thousands of tourists were stranded because the rail line to Aguas Calientes was shut down.

In the middle of Machu Picchu, Peru (July 2, 2014)

Two major protests coalesced in the Cusco area: one was about the cancellation of a promised airport in the region, while the other was by 20,000 teachers seeking higher wages.  As a result, the railway operator elected to close down for two days.  This reminded me of my own overseas encounter with local unrest:  a rotating local bus driver strike in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, that prevented us from skiing at an outlying ski area for a day.   There was nothing we could do about that:  it was far too small to be covered by the international news media and we were not reading the morning Italian papers.  In any case, we still had a nice day of skiing at the local area and simply took the bus the following day.

Machu Picchu, Peru (July 2, 2014)

However, there are cases where you can do your due diligence.  Just prior to leaving for Bosnia & Herzegovina, I read about some protests in Sarajevo that seemed to be getting a little out of hand.  As I was traveling independently, my only “fixed” plan was my hotel.  I e-mailed my hotel and immediately received a response:   these were anti-corruption protests at a local government building and it would not affect anything in the “tourist” areas of the city.

A rainy but very safe day in Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina (April 23, 2014)

While I suppose that the hotel had a vested interest in ensuring my visit, I also felt better confirming the situation.  I figured that, having received their reassurance, the hotel might be more inclined to help me out if things did turn out ugly and I was exposed to a dangerous situation.   As it turned out, everything calmed down and I completely forgot about the protests when I was there.  I also found the hotels in both Sarajevo and Mostar to be very accommodating and concerned about their customers.

The old post office in Carleton Place, Ontario (June 2017)

Returning to the present:  I’ve been quiet about this summer’s travel plans.  There is a reason for this:  we decided to change our initial road trip destination because it was becoming too popular!  After reading one too many stories about the extreme tourist deluge hitting Cape Breton Island this summer, we decided to bail out.  For various reasons, including Canada’s 150th birthday, many Canadians are choosing to vacation in their own country this summer…and Cape Breton seems to be especially trendy.

A true Irish Stew in Carleton Place, Ontario

We are still going to do a road trip:  it just won’t be as far as Cape Breton.  It will focus on a unique part of our country and one that we haven’t visited enough during the warmer months.   In the meantime, I’m including a couple of pictures from Carleton Place, Ontario.  We stopped there recently on our way to Ottawa and enjoyed a seemingly authentic Irish lunch.  You never know what you will find, once you venture off the beaten path!

Posts from the road

Ottawa Extremes: Rideau Hall and the Carp Radar Dome

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(Ottawa, Ontario, Canada)

In addition to seeing the diplomatic buildings described in my previous post, we took advantage of Doors Open Ottawa to see two other very different locations: stately Rideau Hall and the somewhat creepy radar dome near the village of Carp.

The back of Rideau Hall

Rideau Hall has been the home of Canada’s Governor-General since 1867 and hosts visits from all sorts of foreign and domestic dignitaries.  The Governor-General is the Queen’s representative in Canada and plays a largely ceremonial role.  However, as Rideau Hall is not quite in the middle of Ottawa’s downtown core, it is often overlooked by visitors.  Despite visiting, studying and working in Ottawa from time to time, I had never seen it before this weekend.  And, in a way, I still haven’t really seen it:  the impressive front of the building was undergoing renovations and I was unable to take any photographs there.

The Tent Room at Rideau Hall (Ottawa)

As you might imagine, Rideau Hall has some rather spectacular rooms.  The most distinctive is definitely the “Tent Room”, which is essentially a year-round indoor replica of an outdoor tent.  It is perhaps a little more garish than you would expect in the home of the Queen’s representative, but it certainly feels like the sort of structure that you would see at a well-to-do outdoor garden party in days gone by.

Inside the greenhouse at Rideau Hall

The grounds of Rideau Hall are extremely spacious:  88 acres, to be precise!  In addition to the greenhouse and well-manicured gardens, there is even a cricket pitch.  A couple of teams were warming up for a match when we were there.  In winter, there is also a skating rink.

Cricket on the grounds of Rideau Hall

While Rideau Hall is the kind of place you might expect to see as a tourist in Ottawa, the former radome pictured at the top of this post is (forgive me) not on most people’s radar.

This particular radome (short for “radar dome”) is located just outside the village of Carp.  Yes, it really is called Carp.  It is located on the Carp River and that river did in fact have a lot of carp.  Carp (the village, not the fish) is best known today for the “Diefenbunker”.  Unofficially and somewhat irreverently named after former Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, this is an underground bunker that was meant to function as emergency government headquarters in the event of a nuclear war.   It is now a tourist attraction and I enjoyed (if that is the right word) visiting it a few years ago.

Part of the dish inside the radome in Carp

Very close to the Diefenbunker was a geodesic dome that hosted communications equipment (basically a very large satellite dish).  This particular one provided satellite communications between all NATO countries from 1960 until 1999, when it was decommissioned and purchased by a private company (Canadian Space Services Ltd.).   As part of Doors Open Ottawa, that company opened its doors (and fence) to let people check out this remnant of the cold war.

Climbing the dish inside the radome in Carp

These radomes can be found all over Canada.  The first one I saw was in Iqaluit, Nunavut, of all places.  While the distinctive dome in Carp has been left intact, the satellite communications system there is no longer being used.  We were able to climb right up into the 50-foot dish and feel the echoes of a different era.

Leftover warnings at the Carp radome

While Rideau Hall was certainly impressive, the Carp radome was just as intriguing…and something that you simply don’t expect to explore when on a weekend trip to the nation’s capital.   While we still want to see some more diplomatic locations at the next Doors Open Ottawa event,  we will also be sure to include some more offbeat sites.  There are all sorts of hidden treasures waiting to be discovered!

Posts from the road

International Adventure in Ottawa

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(Ottawa, Ontario)

A recent trip to Ottawa contained some unexpected detours with an international theme.  As our visit coincided with Doors Open Ottawa, we had access to a number of places that are not normally that accessible to the general public.

Our journey began with a visit to the Brunei High Commission on Laurier Avenue.  Brunei is a tiny country on the island of Borneo…but it has a lot of wealth.  The Sultan of Brunei’s palace is apparently the largest residential palace in the world and also the largest residence of any type in the world, at 2,152,782 square feet.

Laurier House, on Laurier Avenue (home of Prime Ministers Sir Wilfrid Laurier and Mackenzie King)

It will come as no surprise that Brunei’s High Commission in Ottawa is a spectacular building.  It is also known as Stadacona Hall (see photo at the top of this post):  it has had many famous occupants over the years, including Canada’s first Prime Minister Sir John. A. Macdonald.   We weren’t able to take photographs inside but we did meet the High Commissioner himself.  And yes, the interior is very nice too.

Overflow crowds at Le Cordon Bleu Paris!

Just a block or two away from the Brunei High Commission was another spectacular building:   Munross Mansion, home to “Le Cordon Bleu Paris – Culinary Arts Institute”.  We had all kinds of high hopes for this place, particularly as it was midday and we were getting hungry.  Maybe there would be free samples?  Alas, the line (as you can see from the photo above) was very long and we were told to expect a wait of 45-60 minutes.  As this is an annual event and there were many other places to see, we decided to take a pass and arrive earlier next year.

The Embassy of the Czech Republic, on Cooper Street in downtown Ottawa

Next on our agenda was a visit to the Embassy of the Czech Republic on Cooper Street.  While many of the surrounding buildings can best be described as “functional”, this is a charming old house dating back to 1879.   As one might expect, I talked about hockey with one of the Czech representatives!

Embassy of the Republic of Armenia, on Delaware Avenue in Ottawa

The final stop on our international tour was the Embassy of the Republic of Armenia, located on Delaware Avenue in the primarily residential “Golden Triangle”.  Here too, we met the Ambassador and familiarized ourselves with a faraway country that does not have a high profile in Canada.  The monument in front of the embassy is apparently the largest sculpture ever made (outside Armenia) from a single piece of tufa.

“Gaeng Khua Sap Pad Rod”: Shrimp with pineapple, lime juice and coconut milk in red curry.

There were a few other embassies that we were unable to see.  We missed out on Algeria, Trinidad & Tobago, Croatia, Hungary, and the United States (which required advance booking and was “sold out” by the time we realized what was going on).  However, as you can see from the photos, we did enjoy a nice Thai meal the night before.

Pad Thai at the ‘Thai Flame” in Bell’s Corners

We were staying in the Bell’s Corners neighbourhood: this is considerably west of downtown and was part of the former city of Nepean.  Fortunately, one of the city’s highest-rated Thai restaurants was right next door.  “Thai Flame” is in an undistinguished strip mall but the food was very good.  The coconut rice was particularly enjoyable and perfectly balanced the burn of my red curry dish.  It once again confirmed my firm belief that most of the best food in Ottawa is located far away from the usual tourist haunts.

Stay tuned for more on Ottawa and the surrounding area!

Posts from Base Camp

Searching This Site

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(Kingston, Ontario)

I recently took a look at the blog and realized that I have over 260 posts already!  It’s now far too large for anybody to browse through in one sitting.  That also makes it hard to search: how do you know where I’ve been?

While there is a search function on this site, that only helps if you know what you’re looking for (and if I’ve referred to it). If you’re just curious and don’t have a particular destination in mind, one option is clicking on one of the archived months and hoping it leads you to something interesting.  Or you could do a search on a non-specific word: try a word like “beverage” for an interesting cross-section of results.

I’ve decided to use this post to make browsing a little easier. Here is a list, loosely organized by “Africa and Latin America”, “North America”, and “Europe”, of some of the places I’ve visited up to 2017.  In each case, the link is to the first post on that particular destination…you can browse forward from there.  I’ve also included some of the more interesting “Travel Flashbacks” for trips prior to 2014:  those are marked with an asterisk (*).

Happy exploring!

Africa and Latin America

Costa Rica (Arenal, Monteverde, Manuel Antonio)

Peru (Cusco, Moray, Machu Picchu, Urubamba)

Chile (Santiago, Lake District, Volcan Osorno)

Argentina (Puerto Frias, Bariloche, Buenos Aires)

Morocco (Marrakesh, Volubilis, Oukaïmeden*)

North America

United States (Chicago, Washington, D.C.)

St. Pierre & Miquelon

Canada (Pouch Cove (NL), Baie-St-Paul (QC)* Ottawa 2014, Ottawa 2015, Ottawa 2016, Toronto 2015, Toronto 2016, Elgin County (ON), Goderich (ON), Regina, East-Central Alberta*, Whistler (B.C.), Yellowknife (NWT), Iqaluit (Nunavut),)

Europe

Iceland (Akureyri, Lake Mývatn, Grímsey*)

Ireland (Cashel, Inis Mór, Westport, Dublin)

Northern Ireland (Portrush)

England (Liverpool*, Cambridge, London)

France (Reims)

Luxembourg (Vianden)

Netherlands (Delft, Rotterdam, Groningen, Schiermonnikoog, Haarlem, Amsterdam, Edam)

Denmark (Copenhagen, Hillerød)

Norway (Oslo*, Bergen*, Balestrand*)

Sweden (Uppsala*, Stockholm*, Malmö)

Finland (Helsinki*)

Estonia (Haapsalu*, Tallinn*)

Czech Republic (Prague)

Poland (Auschwitz)

Slovakia (Bratislava)

Hungary (Budapest)

Switzerland (Andermatt*, Zermatt*, St. Moritz*)

Italy (Varenna/Milan*, Rome, Cortina d’Ampezzo, Venice, Cinque Terre, Pisa, Sestriere, Orvieto, Padova, Madonna di Campiglio, Bologna, Verona*)

Austria (Vienna)

Croatia (Dubrovnik, Split)

Bosnia & Herzegovina (Sarajevo, Mostar, Trebinje)

Montenegro (Kotor, Durmitor National Park)

Today’s cover photo is one of my favourites – it’s a mountain restaurant high above Cortina d’Ampezzo in Italy.  The food was cafeteria-style and not very inspiring, but what a great location!

Finally. I’m looking into an interesting new direction for this blog – stay tuned for the details!

Posts from the road

Local Food (and Bologna)

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(Bologna, Italy)

Midway through our stay in Madonna di Campiglio, our hotel put on a special Cena Rustica (“Rustic Dinner”) for its guests.  It featured hearty local winter food from this part of northern Italy.

Potato flan with Russian cabbage and local ham

Italian is a wonderful language for describing food.  Even the simplest traditional foods sound spectacular when written (or spoken) in Italian.  Our first course was Sformatino di patate su crema di verza con cavolo russo e steak di speck (a potato flan on cream with Russian cabbage and ham steak).  The next course was Orzetto mantecato ai funghi Porcini (risotto-style barley with Porcini mushrooms), while the main course was the regal Cervo in umido con polenta di Storo e crauti (stewed deer with Storo polenta and sauerkraut).  No pizza or spaghetti here!

Risotto-style barley with Porcini mushrooms

While this was not my favourite meal at the hotel, it was still fun to try food that I would never encounter anywhere else.  The stewed deer was somewhat similar to goulash or beef bourguignon.  After all of that weighty food, the light Torta Mimosa was quite welcome for dessert.

The main course for the “Cena Rustica”: stewed deer with polenta and sauerkraut

Our last stop before returning home was the city of Bologna.  Although typically associated in North America with inexpensive luncheon meat, Bologna may well be the culinary capital of a country that has one of the most satisfying cuisines in the world.  As we were there for only one night, we wanted to make sure that our meal was one to remember.

Some troublemakers I met on the egg-like Patascoss Express chairlift above Madonna di Campiglio

That was the theory.  The reality was that we had been in transit for most of the day and we were famished upon our late afternoon arrival in Bologna.  We checked into the “Hotel Il Guercino” in the Bolognina neighbourhood, just north of the train station, and immediately turned our minds to finding a nearby restaurant.  We didn’t want to return to the historic downtown core, as it would have meant going back through the train station area…and that area felt a little seedy even in the late afternoon.

Waiting for the bus to begin the journey from Madonna di Campiglio to Bologna

This turned out to be a challenge.  There were lots of highly regarded restaurants in “up and coming” (e.g. “still a little rough around the edges”)  Bolognina…but they all opened at 7:30 p.m. or later.  We tried to wait but hunger prevailed and we eventually decided to go with a restaurant that opened at 7:00 p.m.  Although I had reservations about it, the best choice appeared to be “Well Done”, one of a small chain of Italian restaurants specializing in hamburgers and other locally sourced food.

Entrance of Hotel il Guercino, in the Bolognina district of Bologna, Italy

I can hear the gasps of anguish even as I write this.  Hamburgers in Italy’s premier culinary city?  But with their insistence on fresh and local ingredients, it actually turned out to be an inspired idea for our last Italian meal.  I had the Lambrusco burger: the beef was braised in Lambrusco wine, topped with pecorino cheese and radicchio (itself braised in Lambrusco wine).  To tie it all together?  It was served with a glass of Lambrusco wine.

The Lambrusco Burger (and a glass of Lambrusco wine) at “Well Done” in Bologna, Italy

I had never heard of Lambrusco, nor had sparkling red wine ever really been on my radar.  But that’s essentially what Lambrusco wine is…and I have to admit that it worked.  Somehow, a burger goes well with a bubbly beverage.  In the end, this modern Italian take on an American mainstay was quite enjoyable.  We didn’t feel like we had squandered a dining opportunity on our last night in Italy, even if it was nothing like the dinner we had anticipated.

Stay tuned for more travel!

Posts from the road

Skiing in Madonna di Campiglio – The Final Part

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(Madonna di Campiglio, Italy)

Our final two days of skiing were a roller-coaster of skiing emotions.  The second-last day started with soft snow under a brilliant sun: while the powder wasn’t flying, there were  lots of stops for photographs and sunscreen.

Ricardo enjoys the sun at Cinque Laghi

And yet, something wasn’t quite right.  After skiing the Pancugolo piste, we felt unusually warm.   We looked up at the chairlift thermometer and it said…24.5’C!   I didn’t think it ever would be too hot to ski, but we were definitely approaching that point.  We actually moved over to the Pinzolo area shortly afterwards, where some north-facing slopes would keep the temperatures at a more manageable level.

An incredible 24.5’C at the Pancugolo chairlift!

But, for every brilliant day in the sun, there are consequences.  While we awoke to more sunshine on our final day of skiing, there was a sense of unease.  We found our way to the bottom of the Miramonti chairlift…only to be shooed away by the staff.  We tried the nearby Cinque Laghi chairlift…rejected again.   What was going on?

Oh no! Every lift is closed!

Mass confusion reigned in the lift line.  There was the occasional shouted message in Italian, but nothing in the way of official communications.  Eventually, a kind gentleman translated the sad news for us:  even though the weather was perfect in the valley, the surrounding mountains were all being pummeled by ferocious winds.  It was too dangerous to ride the lifts.  And nobody knew when (or if) the lifts would reopen.

La dolce vita in downtown Madonna di Campiglio – waiting for the lifts to re-open

It was hard to believe the ski area was closed.  We eventually decided to do something that skiers rarely have the chance to do:  enjoy a beverage at a downtown outdoor cafe.  It was difficult at first, but we finally started to get the hang of it.   Three hours (!) later, we noticed that the lifts were starting to move.  Nobody was on them, but there had to be a reason.  Just in case, we ran back to the bottom of the Cinque Laghi chairlift.   And finally, at 12:30 p.m., they started letting skiers board the lift.  Game on!

Pancugolo from a distance – sheer ice not quite evident

After all that, the conditions were…abysmal.  While there wasn’t a cloud in the sky all afternoon, yesterday’s soft snow had turned into hard ice.  And the high winds had blown any loose snow cover far away from the pistes.  There was absolutely nothing for our skis to grip.  Our excitement at being allowed on the lifts began to dissipate.  It wasn’t time to ski:  it was time to skate!

It’s 5:00 p.m. at Patascoss but nobody wants the week of skiing to end

And yet, despite the horrid conditions, we stayed on the slopes as long as we could.  The lifts stopped at 4:30 p.m. but we all knew that this was the end of another week of skiing.  Even with the treacherous ice, it was still great to be up in the mountains.  We must have waited for 15 minutes at the mid-mountain Patascoss junction before finally starting our descent to Madonna di Campiglio.  Sometime after 5:00 p.m., we made our final turns and another week of skiing in the Dolomites was history.

While this is the last skiing post from Madonna di Campiglio, there’s still more Italian food coming up!

Posts from the road

Skiing in Madonna di Campiglio – Part 3

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(Madonna di Campiglio, Italy)

For our fourth day of skiing in Madonna di Campiglio, we set our sights on the only directly connected resort we had not yet visited:  Folgarida.

An appealing lunch at Rifugio Solander, at the top of the Val Mastellina

The trek to Folgarida was not very challenging from a skiing perspective but it was still a pleasure because of the brilliant sunshine along the way.  There were a few lift lines at Malghet Aut and the pistes were rather busy there, possibly because one of the main pistes was closed for a slalom race.  Nonetheless, we enjoyed some easy cruising in the sun and were looking forward to a lunch to match the conditions on the slopes.

A less sophisticated (but still warm) lunch from Rifugio Solander

Some inspired map-reading led to the discovery of Rifugio Solander, at the top of the fun intermediate piste running down Val Mastellina.  The rifugio was on top of a sunny crest but hidden enough behind a generic-looking cafeteria that most people weren’t even aware of it.  It looked promising, and there was a table open at the edge of the balcony.  Would this lunch live up to the expectations that had been set so high in Cortina d’Ampezzo and Val Gardena?

Ricardo enjoys the view at Rifugio Solander

Indeed it did!  The warm dishes were delicious and, just as importantly after the past couple of days, still warm by the time we got to our table.  There was also an assortment of appealing fresh plates of local meats and cheeses:  we had the luxury of too many desirable choices.    We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves here and vowed to return on our sixth and final day of skiing.

The posse prepares to take on “Little Grizzly”, above Marilleva

After lunch, we did some more high-speed laps in the Val Mastellina and decided to take on another piste with a warning sign.  It was called “Little Grizzly” and the reason for the black rating was immediately apparent:  about 50 meters from the top, it dropped off quickly with a 67% incline!  Even so, there was enough snow on it to make it a much more enjoyable experience than our ill-fated journey down Spinale Direttissima a couple of days before.   We felt a sense of vindication, as we could actually link nice parallel turns here despite the steepness.

Not very busy on the “Dos Della Pesa” lift

After that, we hung around the Marilleva region for a while and checked out some of the pistes that we had missed on our first day of skiing.  The crowds were much sparser than at Folgarida and we slowly made our way back to our base camp at Madonna di Campiglio.

This is where we ended each day of skiing: just above our hotel, at the bottom of the Amazzonia/5 Laghi pistes

As always, we ended with the challenging Amazzonia piste and finished our day with a  hearty appetite.  Coming up:  details on our final two days of skiing, as well as the special dinner of local specialties put on by our hotel.

The Odyssey Continues…