Saturday, 20 September. After an exceptionally fine buffet breakfast at the Locanda, we were on our way about 11:30. We intended to drive west, straight to Trento, then take the autostrada north before turning east back into the Alps. However, the GPS had a mind of its own. It took us north, I think at Civezzano, on a tortuous drive through the Alps on narrow twisting roads. For about an hour we had no idea where we were.
 
The first landmark I can identify, even now after scouring maps, is the village of Molina di Fiemme and its neighbor Castello di Fiemme. Shortly after that, we came to Cavalese, a large town for that area (pop. 4,000). Cavalese is probably most noted for the terrible accident that killed 20 people in 1998 when a U.S. Marine Corps plane severed the cable of the cable car from nearby Mount Cermis to the town.


The GPS urged us onward through places we were surprised it even knew existed. From Cavalese we headed up the narrow Val di Fassa, flanked by steep rock formations on both sides. We passed through the villages of Moena, Soraga, Vigo, Pozza, Mazzin, and Campitello, all charming and picturesque, surrounded by fantastic scenery. Not surprisinly, all these places are popular ski resorts.


We eventually came to Canazei, a slightly larger village (pop. 2,000). Here we made an abrupt left turn off the "highway" (a narrow 2 lane road) onto a tiny road that went up the side of a mountain to the Sella Pass (elev. 7,362 ft.). It was barely one lane wide and nothing but switchbacks.  It did not look like two cars could pass. Fortunately we did not have to find out because we did not meet anyone coming down. We stopped at the top to recuperate from the ordeal. It was 1:00 and we had only been driving about 90 minutes, but it seemed like at least twice that.

At Canezei we left the "good" road

At the top of Sella Pass

Continuing through the Sella Pass

 We were now close to our next destination, the mountain pass above Selva di Val Gardena (aka Wolkenstein), location of the ski lodge where our family went skiing in December 1971 and 1972. It was called the Refugio Cir at that time, but it has since been enlarged and is called the Hotel Cir. (Cir is the name of the spectacular rock formation just behind the building.)

We drove directly to the Hotel Cir, but unfortunately it was closed until the ski season starts. There was a new hotel in the pass, right across the road from the Hotel Cir's long private driveway, and a few smaller buildings had been added nearby. Other than that, the pass was pretty much as we remembered it.


Then we drove down the mountain to Colfosco, the tiny village we skied to on Christmas Day to attend Mass. We had skied right up to the little Church, stood our skies in the snow and went inside, clomping down the aisle in our snowboots. Those are memories we will never forget. The narrow, twisty road to Colfosco was worse than we remembered, but then, we had never driven it when we skied here. We found the church without difficulty. It had been enlarged, too, and the village had grown considerably.


By then it was approaching 2:00 and we still had not had lunch. We drove back up to the new hotel in the pass, but it was too crowded.

We descended the pass the same way we had come and drove into Selva, several times larger than when we had last seen it. By then it was after 2:00 and we still had not had lunch. Most businesses were closed, but we found a tiny, but nice, pizzeria in the back of a little shopping area. They even had Magnum ice cream bars for dessert. We continued on through Ortisei toward the autostrada. This route was familiar, though much built up, because it was the way we used to come when we drove down from Germany to ski.

We got on the autostrada at Chiuso. The GPS told us to exit the autostrada at every town we passed, but we ignored it. When we got to the Brenner Pass, where we would cross into Austria, traffic was backed up for miles at the toll booth. It took at least half an hour to get through. (Could the GPS have known that?) The autobahn took us through part of Innsbruck, but far from the route we had taken so often in years past.
 

The Edelweiss Hotel

We were staying a week at the Edelweiss. This beautiful new military hotel is located at the foot of the highest mountain in Germany, the Zugspitze. Garmisch is where we first skied with our boys. It is in Bavaria, probably the most beautiful area of Germany. The little towns have beautiful alpine chalets with window boxes of flowers. The high craggy mountains provide a magnificent backdrop.