“Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.” ― Dr. Seuss

The last week. We have been discussing about the sports therapy exercises and taken some more pictures. On Tuesday we had a climbing course in the lake Pragser Wildsee. It lasted about four hours and was a lot of fun. Even Gleb (who though he would be afraid to climb high) climbed all the way to the top all the four walls! The climbing required trust to the person below who was holding the rope. Apparently we did quite well since the guide told us that we could make it up to the highest of Drei Zinnen with some guides with us. Obviously the highest of the Drei Zinnen peaks is not that challenging to climb but you have to be in a good shape because of the height of it.

After climbing we got to try a cool swing that was attached on the rock wall. The swing was scary as it was attaches so high but we all tried it anyway and after jumping and letting go of the rock it felt as if you were flying.

And we will be flying back to Finland tomorrow. It feels good to come back and see some other faces for a change! We have learned a lot in here, about sports therapy, about setting up own business, about sports instruction and physiotherapy... we have even learned a bit of German. It's weird to think that soon we'll be back to Rovaniemi, waking up at the sound of alarm, knowing that the day will be like any other day in school. There will be no more exciting new adventures up in the Dolomites, no more hiking and wondering which path to choose, no more Italian or German people confusing us by trying to explain something.

We know three months isn't such a long time to spent abroad and that it's not hard at all to adjust again to everyday life back in Finland (just a one hour time difference and a flatter terrain). We know that Finland is unique as well with its large forests and it has a beautiful nature in a different kind to re-discover. There will be different kinds of adventures ahead of us, different kinds of paths to choose.

But as we leave, it feels like some part of us stays in here. The Dolomites have a strong grip on that part. And even if they would let go, we feel like we didn't want them to. Instead we want them to hold on to that part and never let go.

Because maybe someday we'll come back.

Second last week

On Monday we set off to Drei Zinnen once again. It was with Markus this time, through Talschlusshütte. We should have had a climbing course but apparently Markus remembered the day wrong, so we had the whole day to do what we liked. We started the journey from a parking lot near Talschlusshütte. We took a route around the mountain in the south of the hütte. The weather was pretty cloudy but there were a lot of people hiking.

We stopped at first in Zsigmondyhütte where Aino had something to eat and we continued to Büllelejochhütte. From there tho Drei Zinnen hütte the route was familiar to us, so we walked it quickly. Markus took some photos and we kept on going so it wouldn't have felt so cold.

"SMILE"

The way back was easy and we ate again back in Talschlusshütte. Even though the weather wasn't really on our side the trip was fun and we'll be taking the climbing course next Tuesday!

During the week we have been a lot in Bruneck, working in front of the computer. We have completed (finally) a few exercise packs for Markus and made a little slideshow for his little screen that will be placed in the reception of the hotel. We have also planned the rest of our stay here so that Markus has time to check the Sports therapy tasks we have completed (there's four of them). We will also be having a little feedback discussion of our stay in here with Markus before we'll be heading back to Finland.

Snow wall swallowing Gleb

On Friday we took another little hiking trip to mountain Helm. It's a mountain situated on the boarder of Italy and Austria. We felt a bit lazy (the closer we are coming back to Finland the lazier we feel) so we took Markus' car to Sexten and even took a ski lift up to the mountain. Up there we walked to Sillianerhütte which was four kilometers away from the ski lift station. There was only a little ascent so the route wasn't bad at all, but the weather wasn't on our side this time either. The whole mountain was literally inside of a cloud so we couldn't see the beautiful landscape.

A little stone marking the border.

We walked down on a route that was surprisingly long and full of scary animals we had to avoid. There was one electric fence that we had to turn down before crossing it and turn it on again afterwards - all the while being watched by the bloodthirsty mammals.

Another peak reached!

We had an umbrella with us the whole time due to the threatening clouds hanging on the mountain; it even rained a bit, but we didn't feel like using it so we just carried it around classically. According to Markus and some locals it has been a very cold summer. Some hüttes are almost "depressed" because there's not enough tourists visiting and even in southern Italy there has been 17% less tourism.

But the weather has not affected on our adventures that much - maybe we would have taken even more hiking trips if the weather had allowed. But we feel happy and extremely lucky just to be here, in the middle of the mountains for one more week.

Fearless Aino asks the terrible beast which way we should continue.

Three adventures - one post

Friday 8.8 - Rotwandwiese & Historical route

The first point of the Historical Route - Some soldiers slept hiding here during the war

We started a bit later the journey to Rotwandwiese, because we had to fix the bike first. Gleb took it to the bike store next to the hotel and it took half an hour to change the tire. Since Gleb is a much faster biker we thought that he should be the one to bike the worse bike. Unfortunately we couldn’t get the seat low enough for the better bike so that Aino could have cycled it so she had to take the crappy bike…

The passage to the Open Air Museum

In Sexten we asked from the tourist info about the Open air museum which was a Historical route on the Rotwandwiese –mountain and we bought a little book and a map so that we could take the route by ourselves. When we reached the hotel at Moos we ordered something to eat at the hütte next to it. After eating we learned that the we couldn’t pay with credit card because the signal wasn’t good enough. We should have biked down to Sexten to withdraw some cash but we felt lazy, so the waiter gave us the opportunity to pay tomorrow. It still would have been easier to go down to Sexten and bike back up (would have taken about 15 minutes) but on Saturday Gleb biked from Niederdorf to Moos to pay the bill.

We walked on the mountain where everyone else was taking the ski lift. The way up was a piece of cake, the uphill wasn’t steep at all and it took about an hour to reach the hütte where the ski lift went. On the hütte we ate again and continued the route to the Open Air Museum. We visited four points (1, 2, 3 and 7) that told us about what the soldiers had done and how they had lived during the first war on the mountains.

We walked down to Talschlushütte (the first place we ever visited!!) on a path that we had to take really carefully because it was steep and full of little rocks. From the hütte we walked back to Moos and rolled on the bikes back to Niederdorf.

Sunday 10.8 - Adventure park!

Monkeying away

Don't look down...

We took a train to Niederdorf to loan the bikes and to cycle to an adventure park in Toblach. The weather was at last good enough to complete this plan we have had a long time. The adventure park was small but there were even a few climbing routes that were on the trees 20 meters high!

The starting info was quick and we learned fast how to use the safety equipment. There were 10 routes on the trees – lower numbers were easier than the higher ones. We started from number two and kept on moving up to number 7. Number 8 was the route that Gleb couldn’t do anymore, but Aino struggled it through. Meanwhile Gleb had a change to take some photos from below. 

After completing the route we had a short pause and Aino moved on to the most highest and scariest route – number 9/10. The route had two crossings that were numbered 10 and Aino took the other one. Getting through the route was slow and Aino’s technique wasn’t the best one (it was mainly hanging in the harness and pulling herself forward using the features on the route). Gleb helped and urged her forward from below and took some pictures. After the crazy adventure we came back to the hotel and the hotel’s owner permitted us to use the sauna and the Jacuzzi.

Monday 11.8 - Some lakes again

Antholzersee

Obersee

It was a cloudy day and the feeling of rain was in the air the whole time. We should have taken a bit harder and longer route today, but because Aino felt really tired we drove to Antholz where the biathlon arena is. We took some pictures and walked to a lake of Antholz.

At the border of Italy & Austria

We walked half way around the lake and started getting up a mountain nearby. Markus had told us to take a route up and then come back but after we reached a hütte on top Markus called us and we realized we had taken the wrong route.

There was a road that went up to a different mountain which was on the boarder of Italy and Austria. So we walked to Austria to take some pictures and to have something to eat at the hütte next to a lake called Obersee which was on the Mountain. Luckily we had some cash with us this time, because the connection didn’t work and if we hadn’t had any cash we should have walked down to either side of the mountain for 10 kilometers to withdraw some cash.

After walking back down to Antholzersee the rain finally caught us. It was a pretty short shower but very hard and there were even a short shower of hail. Fortunately Markus’ pro camera was all right but we were soaked after reaching the car. 

Epic pose

Drei Zinnen Wednesday

Morning sun :)

We had to give back the bike Aino has been using and we realized that the spare bike we had, had a flat tire, so we couldn't use bikes. Instead we headed early on the morning to Dürrensee by car and took Markus' systems camera with us. We had to take pictures and visit two hütte.

The route to the Drei Zinnen was very long but gladly not so steep. It took about two and a half hour to get to the first hütte (drei zinnen hütte) mainly because Aino kept on stopping to take more and more pictures of the mountains and landscapes and marmots. We had already stopped once to take some snacks so we didn't have to stop at the hütte for longer. The hütte was full of guests anyway, because of the great weather.

We continued on the mountains to the second hütte (the name of wich is too complicated and I can't remember it). The view was like from some western movie at first but as we continued there were little lakes and meadows.

The other hütte was full of people as well, so we only took something to drink and kept on going. We walked around the mountain we had just passed and walked down to a meadow with horses grazing on it. We continued to Lavaredo hütte, which is the same hütte where we were with the Finnish group. In there we finally got a little bigger brake and had something to eat.

We could have continued straight to the place where we had got up to Drei Zinnen, but instead we decided to go around them and to take a different route down that we had noted on the map. We were already very tired and because it wasn't that hot we hadn't put on any sunscreen so now we were sunburnt. When we found the place where the route down should have started we found a little route that vanished on the way. We lost about half an hour to try and discover where the route started but we couldn't find it. So we headed to the same route we had taken up.

The route down seemed to go on forever as our legs were stiff and we were both extremely tired. On the way we saw the mysterious route which starting point we couldn't find, but it seemed very steep and it was full of little rocks so it would have been very slow to go down. When we finally reached the car we had walked on for 9 hours with only short pauses. Glad we couldn't take the bikes.

Climbers on the Drei Zinnen

We also hiked on the Rotwandwiese -mountain on Friday but we don't have the photos yet so we'll tell you about that later!

Weekend in Venice

We visited Venice by train during the weekend. We left early on Friday morning and arrived in Venice at midday. It was funny to step outside from the railway station and see that the roads were actually all just rivers and were there usually drives cars around the city there were plenty of boats and gondolas. The taxis were taxi boats, the buses were little ships and of course the little alleys were filled with (ridiculously expensive) gondolas.

The architecture exhibition

We stayed in a little one-star-hotel, which was all right and not so expensive. It was located in a little alley but fortunately it was easy enough to find, even though Google maps said it was completely other way. It was very hot all the time so we were glad that we had an air conditioner in the room, and even though we had booked a room with shared bathroom, we had a bathroom of our own. And the price was still the same!


The first day we walked around the main island and visited some free of charge museum which had an architecture exhibition. The most interesting part of the exhibition was to visit the highest levels of the building which were under renovation. From up there we also had glimpse of the city above.

The next day we spent just walking and walking. It feels like we walked around the whole Venice. When we felt lost we just kept on walking straight on and soon we arrived at a familiar place. We had to buy a Venetian mask (at least Aino had to) and finding the "right one" took a long time.

There were maybe too much people (tourists) wandering around the city and everything seemed expensive. But the city was beautiful, unique.

A week of this and that

We biked to Brunico one day to find out how long was it going to take.

This week has been quite rainy so we have stayed indoors in front of the computer collecting "the exercise bank." We have also finally done something for the sports therapy course! Markus made up a task for us; we had to write up instructions for a fictional person who has problems with her back. We found out that we already had some information related to this task - it had come up while searching for regular exercises with BOSU ball. We have also taken tons of pictures of Aino doing exercises with resistance band. Today we finally got them all and moved on to BOSU ball exercises.

Finding things to do on boring Sundays.

The hotel's owner made a wish that we could some day instruct a little workout for the people in the hotel, so we planned a simple resistance band workout for them. We will probably organize it next Tuesday.

The picture shows our great innovation to get stuck sheets out of trees from balcony. A string attached to a coat hanger which had an ankle weight on it so the wind wouldn't swing it. It took about half an hour to get the sheet back up (we were actually trying to drop it down but strangely it got stuck on the hanger). It had fallen out while being drying out and it was too high to reach from below but too low to reach above. We could have just grapped it if one of our room mates were still here, because it had dropped just at the level of his room's window.

Tomorrow we'll go to Venice.

Biking to Cortina

We got pretty lucky during these two days. For Monday the weather forecast promised cloudy but not rain and for Tuesday it promised rain for the whole day. Well, we decided to stay in Markus' practice for the whole day on Monday, searching and writing down some BOSU ball exercises and it turned out that IT was the rainy day. Today on the other hand, we biked to Cortina, which took us pretty much the whole day, and it only rained when we reached back to Niederdorf!

The bridge

Best cake ever! Only 3,50!!! should bike here every day.

Cortina is 32 kilometers from Niederdorf, South from Toblach. The route was familiar all the way to Dürrensee, which is located halfway. We used the opportunity to take some cakes in the nice restaurant next to Dürrensee and continued forward. It was downhill from Dürrensee to Cortina and the scenery was magnificent on the way. We biked in the middle of the mountains and next to a clear light blue river, cycled over a bridge that crossed the river frighteningly high and pedaled through dark tunnels through the mountains.

Creepy tunnels!

Cortina is beatifully surrounded by mountains

It felt easy to reach Cortina where we ate and checked out some shops, but the way back to Dürrensee was uphill. Fortunately it wasn't a steep uphill, but uphill all the same and Aino felt all ready tired. However, we stopped a lot to take pictures so it didn't feel so bad after all.

So we sure learned that the weather forecasts are pretty much the same as they are back in Finland... only broken promises.