Alps and puke

We get up relatively on time, head down to breakfast, force food into the girls and before we could leave the table Penelope starts puking, oh yes welcome to vacation with a three year old.  Wouldn't typically be a big deal if we didn't already have an eight hour tour of the Alps already paid for and waiting for us.  When P gets sick it always starts with the puking, but usually she gets it all out and rebounds like a champ.  We walk to the elevator to get her cleaned up and she pukes two more times in the lobby.  We go upstairs, get cleaned up, back down the stairs and yep, she does it again.  Surely by this point there can't be anything left, right?  Oh yes, this child went on the trip and I spent the entire day literally catching her throw up in baggies the ENTIRE day.  Go ahead and be impressed that not one drop hit her clothing or the car and yes, we made it through the entire trip.

Here is the part that you really want to know about though...

Absolutely incredible views outside of our windows and also one of the coldest days I have ever experienced.

We traveled through the Veneto region with our first stop being Pieve di Cadore, a quaint little village known for being the birthplace of the Renaissance painter Titian.  I could have spent hours there, but it was a short stop to see Titian's painting in a church, a quick stroll around town and of course a gelato break and then back to the car.  Just in case you were confused, it is never ever too cold for real gelato.

We had multiple opportunities to pullover and take photos, which I need to mention that most of what I post are pictures my family took because of my unfortunate camera debacle, but the most picturesque had to have been from Lake Misurina.  It was also the coldest place I have ever been.  After we got back we realized it was zero degrees minus whatever the windchill factor was, when the wind was blowing across the frozen lake it took everything I had to run the girls from the car to the restaurant.  While we were in the Dolomites we stopped at a local trattoria for lunch.  It wasn't until this stop when I was looking at the menu did I realize just how close to Austria we really were.  The influence on the food and then later when we traveled through other local towns you could really see the influence on the architecture.

Next stop was the town of Cortina d'Ampezzo, I now understand how this is the locale for the movies Cliffhangers and For Your Eyes Only because it was incredibly beautiful and swanky.  I'm pretty sure we were the only ones there that weren't dressed in either real furs or full ski gear.  Apparently this is where the Italians who want to "be seen" go skiing.  

It was a long drive back to Venice and despite the puking by P and the frigid weather it was an incredible trip to take in the sites and of course see snow.  This was also the day that P declared that Elsa made all of the snow and we were really in Arrendale, yes we have a little Frozen obsession in our house.

Oh and for those that read this and are horrified that we took P on the trip, I do have to mention that she had no fever, usually pukes a few times and feels better after a little nap and is aggravating her sister in no time.  Though this wasn't the case for this day in particular she did have moments of feeling better and  arriving back at the hotel she ate everything she could get her hands on and was up until midnight playing.