Headed off to Italy (as you do) to meet up with the Portmen for a week in the Dolomites. Flew from Stansted...flight was at 6:30am, so we arrived at airport about 4:25am and only just made the flight (there was no one waiting to board at the gate - they were already on the plane). Ah the joy of the new security arrangements! Once we managed to get the hire car out of the car park and onto the correct side of the road quite a pleasant drive up into the mountains - a stunning collection of viaducts, tunnels, steep gorges and rivers and HUGE mountains. We were booked in to a chalet in Arabba, which no one seems to have ever heard of, but is a little village in the Livinalonga valley and very pretty. The Portmen beat us in by a few hours - they had been in Venice for a few days. The hire cars looked very fancy, we had an Alfa and they had a Peugeot 407. Unfortunately the climate control on ours wasnt working, so it was windows down in the hot weather (a bit more problematic on cold mornings which were below zero).
Our accomodation was the top 2 appartments in a 3 storey house thing. We had the top one with a great kids room at the top - headroom of about 4 feet, so perfect for small people N&J&M spent most of their time up there playing when we were in the appartments. They also spent some time watching cartoons in Italian. Apparently it doesnt matter what language they are in (although you still have to have the sound as loud as possible).
We went with Colletts Mountain Holidays which gave us the option of joining organised activities each day if we wanted, so we decided to try their basic via ferrata on the Monday - with children.
Drove to the Passo Gardena above Corvara and all died walking up the hill. Kids did really well - climbed 100m or so up a broken gully to the start of the ladders and cables of the Via Ferrata, but decided they didnt want to go any further so big MP&M&R took them down to the easy track below the gully and M took them down and back to Arabba. JP had continued on the VF and MP&R quickly realised they had no food - M and JP had it all so we had to hustle to try and catch our lunch (no luck until back at ski lift ristorante). VFs are fun...climbing for the middle aged with children). Via Ferrata are protected routes with cables for clipping to and ladders or stemples on awkward bits. Still quite strenuous and there are plenty of unprotected bits!
Tuesday we did a big walk with the kids on the Viel Del Pan. MP and R did a car shuffle early so we would have a car at the Passo Pourdoi when we finished...the problem with the climate control in our hire car particularly apparent on this very cold (sub zero) morning. Had to drive up to the pass with the windows down. Big, scary cable car ride up the mountain at 8:30am. Saw deer, fox and marmots from the cable car, and lots of marmots everywhere. Great views of the Marmolada (glaciers, cliffs etc). Saw a Lammergeier (maybe) at least a very large bird of prey about wedgetail eagle sized.
Track was quite scary with the kids - steep snow grass drop off for a few thousand feet down in to the valley - but good surface and easy grade. Very tired children at the end but they walked well and had a good time. J especially pleased with seeing his eagle and all like marmots and marmot holes.
Wednesday the kids spent at the playground with M. MP, JP and R went to do a climb (grade IV+) called the "Little Micheluzzi", little being a relative term here as it is 6 pitches and about 240m of climbing. However the freezing cold wind. snow down to about 2000m and lack of thermal on MPs part(s) caused a retreat after a couple of hours of wandering about trying to convince ourselves to pike out. In the evening M & R went for a beautiful stroll up the valley.
Thursday M & R took the kids for a walk above the village through meadows of crocus and classic alpine hay sheds. MP & JP went to do a Via Ferrata (see their description - but they didnt get back till 3:30!).
M & R went for a walk up towards Lago Boe but were beaten by the late hour. Still a very pretty walk and one for the kids next year!
Friday was another perfect day so MP & R went off to do the Little Micheluzzi - confident we would be back for lunch! Got on the climb at about 9:30am...really nice climb, hard bits extremely well led by MP and grovelled up by R. Really LONG descent in the hot sun across very exposed rubble ledges only a few hundred metres above ground. Got to the car at 4pm, drove to nearest ristorante and each drank 1 litre of mineral water straight away. Meanwhile M sensibly set off for walk (part of the Incisa walk) which took here to some relativley deserted and isolated parts of the nearby mountains and lots of alpine pastures and ancient mushroom gatherers. She beat us home by 3 hours. No pictures cause everyone refused to carry the camera. Kids blobbed at home and went to playground for a bit.
Saturday after much dithering we all went to Passo Falzarego to descend from Lagazuoi through the WW1 Italian tunnel system.
Pretty amazing place, kids did really well. (Though highlight for J was definitely the existence of snow at the top of the cable car!) My knees are shattered! Little M got sick of big steps down so started bouncing down the steps. Had best ever pizza at end of day in Arabba - little local restaurant.
Sunday - setting off for Treviso. MP and JP flying out that day, so said goodbyes. We then drove over to see some real dinosaur footprints accessible by a 1 hour walk from the pass. Of course the 1 hour turns out to be the time pre-kids 25 year old pace..... took us about 3 hours return (we are slow middle aged people now apparently).
It was probably the hardest walk the kids had to do, with a 300m ascent involved. They thought the footprints were well worth it though - 4 different types of dinosaurs had walked across this huge slab. And it was an adventure to get there!! They then slept in the car all the way through the rest of the windy passes back to the main autostrade (tollway to Venice). Good thing as little M gets a bit carsick! Bit of a drama finding the hotel (as usual when everything is in a foreign language). Found somewhere for dinner - very strange, food was good, alcohol exorbitantly expensive, and not sure it wasnt a front for some other activity!!! Certainly it looked like we were being served by the bouncer - bit Arthur Daly really! Then up early and on the plane back to home and all arrived back safely about 2pm. Kids promptly went and rounded up their friends and went for a swim in the River Cam!!
"THE END - can we come again next year Dad??"
This has got to be the smallest car I have ever seen...it was only just longer than the scooters and only a little bit wider!
On our first day we went to the vatican...the queues for St Peters were filling the piazza out the front so we went round to the Vatican Museums and only queued for an hour! It is an amazing place, I especially liked the map room which was decorated with maps of italy like this one. The sistine chapel was ok too, although we almost died of the heat and crowds getting there - there is a one way system and lots of narrow passages and crowded rooms.
Second day was spent wandering round the roman ruins in the forum and the colosseum. Saw the Tarpeian rock where traitors where thrown to their deaths and the Tullianum where Vercingetorix was executed and thrown down into the Cloaca Maxima (although St Peter and St Paul were incarcerated there as well so it is a full on shrine).
The colosseum is an amazing building, especially considering a large part has been torn down. I was surprised how small the arena is - I doubt you could hold a cricket or football match there.
We wound up at the Scala Sancta which are supposed to be the steps up which Jesus was dragged to see Pontius Pilate in Jerusalem. You are supposed to ascend the steps on your knees, praying at each step, so of course as soon as he saw them michael said 'lets do it'. It is painful. You cant pass the people in front who are praying on each step so it takes a long time. When you get near the top you get photographed by groups of tourists who have walked up the steps you didnt see which go up the side behind a wall. This is Michael pretending it doesnt hurt and trying to make up his mind to miss a step.
Next day was spent on the train to Napoli and Pompei. We only had a couple of hours in Napoli and didnt find the nice bits, it was a bit too industrial for us, so we hopped on the circumvesuviana train to pompei asap. The ruins are right next to the station and we only had to walk 200m from our hotel in the morning.
We decided that although the Romans are famed for their roads and engineering skills, there wasnt so much evidence of it here...the road surface was horribly rutted and uneven, and it has only been there for 2000 years! I am looking forard to going back to Roma and Pompei with J - his class are studying Celts and Romans this year so quite topical.
