Italy

Italy ’98

SFO -> EWR

EWR -> MXP

MXP -> VCE

VCE -> Cortina

Cortina d'Ampezzo

Hotel Royal

breakfast

stadia

around town

Carnival

Mangia!

Tavernetta

Faloria

Refugio d' Faloria

Freccia Nel Cielo

Lagazuoi

Monte Cristallo

Socrepes

Socrepes skiing

Venezia

19980223. At one end of the main street of Cortina lies the Olympic Stadium. It, and the ski jump found on the outskirts of town, are a source of pride to the locals. The stadium still flies the Olympic rings, and you can see the well-known pattern etched into a lamp cover, which appear every few meters around the entire stadia.

Inside the stadium, in addition to the track and bleachers, was a long skinny building. It was the evening, just after we had a fabulous dinner at the Tavernetta, and we had time to kill. My curiosity piqued, I ventured over and opened a door. A blast of cold air brushed past my face.

It was a curling practice area. A long strip of astroturf ran the length of the building, parallel to a strip of smooth ice over a pattern of circles and lines.

Even this late at night, or perhaps especially this late at night, a team was hurling a stone back and forth for the length of the rink. Skaters with brushes were furiously sweeping the ice in front of the stone to melt the ice slightly, directing the stone. I'll be watching future games to see how this team does.

And the mystery bonus picture: my sister Felicia. The original title of the picture was "embarrased about misunderstanding", but I have no recollection at all about what was misunderstood, and why she'd be embarrased about it.

Just enjoy the picture :-)