Skiing in Italy- Part 1
Right now, R and I are in the middle of our last European adventure. And adventure is the right word. But, before we get to that, let's back up a bit.
The trip started out great. We flew from Prague to Italy, rented a car and drove to R's parents house just outside Milan. The day in Milan was very relaxing. We didn't even go out in the city. We just relaxed around the house, hung out with the family and, of course, stuffed our face with fantastic Italian home cooking.
The next day we woke up early to drive to Santa Christina, Italy. This is a little town in the Dolomiti Mountian range. I knew that finding a small town in an Italian mountain range would be nearly impossible, so I bought a GPS specifically for this trip. Well, check that. I tried to rent a GPS from Hertz, but the price to rent a unit for a week was 250 Euros. For that kind of money, I decided it was just better to buy a GPS and keep it for future trips (we can download a map of the US for a few bucks and use it in the States as well).
The morning drive wasn't great because it was pouring rain. Which, was actually good news in the long run because the rain that we were seeing would be snow in the mountains. But, we kept driving and got most of the way without incidence. It was supposed to be a 3.5 hour trip.
Well, the adventure started as we got to the foot of the mountains.
The rain had turned to sleet because we were getting higher up. And the roads started to go straight up. I was able to take the Ford Focus that we rented up a couple of the hills - but we got to one part of the road which wasn't particualry steep and the car just couldn't make it up. I was going in first gear and there was just nothing.
So R and I decided it was time to put some chains on the tires. I had anticipated this being a problem so I watched a couple clips on YouTube the day before about how to properly put chains on a tire. It seemed easy enough. We got the chains out of the car and, of course, the chains that we had looked nothing like the chains on YouTube. It was impossible to put these chains on without either taking the wheel off or jacking the car up. F that. Since there was a gas station at the bottom of the hill, R encouraged me to go back down there and get the chains installed professionally. Good idea on her part. We got to the gas station without any problem and the attendant jacked up the car and had the chains on within 10 minutes. I handed him a 10 Euro tip and we were on our way. (It should be noted that we were one of the very, very few cars that needed chains. Our good friends at Hertz rented us a car with summer tires despite the fact that we told them we were going skiing and needed a suitable car)
The good news is the chains worked like a charm (for now). We could get up all of the hills and mountains that we had problems with before. But the bad news is that this is the time the lady inside the GPS decided to go crazy. We'd be going in the direction she told us and out of no where she would just yell "TURN LEFT NOW". She had no fucking clue where we were. And, neither did we. So we ended up going through many more mountain towns than we needed to and asked directions along the way.
As if this wasn't stressful enough, one of the chains on the front right tire broke. The whole set of chains was still on, but one individual chain came undone and would bang against the car with each revolution. I got out and tried to fix it but, without any tools, didn't have much luck. We kept driving and driving while making a horrible noise through the mountains. Finally - after a solid 45 minutes of this, we saw another gas station. When we got in there, we realized that the broken chain finally fell off and was gone. But the chain on the LEFT side was now completely broken and barely hanging on. The attendant at this gas station couldn't get the chain off; it was so messed up that he had to use wire cutters to cut it off. (And, remember, don't laugh at the New Yorker who doesn't know how to put chains on his tires. You're right, I don't. But I'm smart enough to pay someone who does. I paid a guy to do this who works at the foot of the mountains and probably puts on 50 chains a day).
So now we were left with no chain on one tire and a broken chain on the other. I was afraid to take the other one off in case we needed to get up another hill. Truth be told, I was also a little bit afraid that, with only one chain on, I would have to go up the mountain in circles. The good news is that the gas station attendant knew where our town was and pointed us in the right direction - just 15 minutes away. And if you tack on another 20 minutes driving around that town trying to find our house on a hilly mountain road, we finally made it there about 2.5 hours later than expected.
Whew! So this drive now is officially listed as my 2nd worst drive ever. Oddly enough, the top 3 are all ski related (#1 was a drive from San Francisco to Tahoe in one of their worst storms ever. #3 was from Montreal to Cleveland
during a horrible, horrible ice storm). I guess that makes sense. You would expect to have your worst drives when you are going to places specifically because they are hilly and have lots of snow. You should just be smart enough not to rent a shitty Ford Focus with defective chains with summer tires from Hertz before going skiing.
Now that we made it here, I think the above story will be my only complaint all week. We have a great little apartment that is a 5 minute walk to the ski slopes. The town is a great mixture of Italians and Germans. Meaning you get the best of both cultures - including the food. I'm drinking a great German beer while I type this.
And, of course, the skiing is amazing. I spent so much time on this post talking about the adventure to get here, I'll do another post in a few days to discuss the skiing. But here are some pics from in front of our apartment.
The trip started out great. We flew from Prague to Italy, rented a car and drove to R's parents house just outside Milan. The day in Milan was very relaxing. We didn't even go out in the city. We just relaxed around the house, hung out with the family and, of course, stuffed our face with fantastic Italian home cooking.
The next day we woke up early to drive to Santa Christina, Italy. This is a little town in the Dolomiti Mountian range. I knew that finding a small town in an Italian mountain range would be nearly impossible, so I bought a GPS specifically for this trip. Well, check that. I tried to rent a GPS from Hertz, but the price to rent a unit for a week was 250 Euros. For that kind of money, I decided it was just better to buy a GPS and keep it for future trips (we can download a map of the US for a few bucks and use it in the States as well).
The morning drive wasn't great because it was pouring rain. Which, was actually good news in the long run because the rain that we were seeing would be snow in the mountains. But, we kept driving and got most of the way without incidence. It was supposed to be a 3.5 hour trip.
Well, the adventure started as we got to the foot of the mountains.
The rain had turned to sleet because we were getting higher up. And the roads started to go straight up. I was able to take the Ford Focus that we rented up a couple of the hills - but we got to one part of the road which wasn't particualry steep and the car just couldn't make it up. I was going in first gear and there was just nothing.
So R and I decided it was time to put some chains on the tires. I had anticipated this being a problem so I watched a couple clips on YouTube the day before about how to properly put chains on a tire. It seemed easy enough. We got the chains out of the car and, of course, the chains that we had looked nothing like the chains on YouTube. It was impossible to put these chains on without either taking the wheel off or jacking the car up. F that. Since there was a gas station at the bottom of the hill, R encouraged me to go back down there and get the chains installed professionally. Good idea on her part. We got to the gas station without any problem and the attendant jacked up the car and had the chains on within 10 minutes. I handed him a 10 Euro tip and we were on our way. (It should be noted that we were one of the very, very few cars that needed chains. Our good friends at Hertz rented us a car with summer tires despite the fact that we told them we were going skiing and needed a suitable car)
The good news is the chains worked like a charm (for now). We could get up all of the hills and mountains that we had problems with before. But the bad news is that this is the time the lady inside the GPS decided to go crazy. We'd be going in the direction she told us and out of no where she would just yell "TURN LEFT NOW". She had no fucking clue where we were. And, neither did we. So we ended up going through many more mountain towns than we needed to and asked directions along the way.
As if this wasn't stressful enough, one of the chains on the front right tire broke. The whole set of chains was still on, but one individual chain came undone and would bang against the car with each revolution. I got out and tried to fix it but, without any tools, didn't have much luck. We kept driving and driving while making a horrible noise through the mountains. Finally - after a solid 45 minutes of this, we saw another gas station. When we got in there, we realized that the broken chain finally fell off and was gone. But the chain on the LEFT side was now completely broken and barely hanging on. The attendant at this gas station couldn't get the chain off; it was so messed up that he had to use wire cutters to cut it off. (And, remember, don't laugh at the New Yorker who doesn't know how to put chains on his tires. You're right, I don't. But I'm smart enough to pay someone who does. I paid a guy to do this who works at the foot of the mountains and probably puts on 50 chains a day).
So now we were left with no chain on one tire and a broken chain on the other. I was afraid to take the other one off in case we needed to get up another hill. Truth be told, I was also a little bit afraid that, with only one chain on, I would have to go up the mountain in circles. The good news is that the gas station attendant knew where our town was and pointed us in the right direction - just 15 minutes away. And if you tack on another 20 minutes driving around that town trying to find our house on a hilly mountain road, we finally made it there about 2.5 hours later than expected.
Whew! So this drive now is officially listed as my 2nd worst drive ever. Oddly enough, the top 3 are all ski related (#1 was a drive from San Francisco to Tahoe in one of their worst storms ever. #3 was from Montreal to Cleveland
during a horrible, horrible ice storm). I guess that makes sense. You would expect to have your worst drives when you are going to places specifically because they are hilly and have lots of snow. You should just be smart enough not to rent a shitty Ford Focus with defective chains with summer tires from Hertz before going skiing.
Now that we made it here, I think the above story will be my only complaint all week. We have a great little apartment that is a 5 minute walk to the ski slopes. The town is a great mixture of Italians and Germans. Meaning you get the best of both cultures - including the food. I'm drinking a great German beer while I type this.
And, of course, the skiing is amazing. I spent so much time on this post talking about the adventure to get here, I'll do another post in a few days to discuss the skiing. But here are some pics from in front of our apartment.
posted by N at
11:29 AM
1 Comments:
Hi there, you guys don't know me but I love reading your blog! I don't even recall how I stumbled upon it, but being Czech and living in NYC all the while wishing I was in Prague...well, you can understand. I hope you enjoyed your time in Prague and Europe, and I thank you for the laughs (ie, shitty Ford Focus in snow...turkey in a plastic bag...your dog having the time of his life there). All reminds me of memories from my time there. That being said, I'm booking a flight to visit my folks as we speak. Prague pulls on my heartstrings and I hope it will yours as well once you're back in NY.
Eva
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