La Contea

What? It's that time of year again? That means Italy---Bormio, to be precise.

The Shire. 

Most of the time we are in Bormio gets spent catching up with family and friends. Bormio is home to the Men's Downhill Skiing World Cup, which we watched this year, but despite all 2000 meters of skiing glory we still didn't make it to the slopes this year (next time, as we have said for three years now). It snowed quite a bit and it was pretty cold, so we spent a lot of time inside.

Dat stack!!

Sumptuous dinner at the enoteca.

Always miss that stove....

Perfect harmony between beasts: ass, cow, and ostrich. 

Despite not making it to the slopes, we still made it into the snowy outdoors to go snowshoeing, or ciaspole in Italian. The first day we simply hiked out of Bormio and up towards Oga for a panoramic view of the town.

The view towards Valdidentro was particularly charming: 

The next day we drove up to Santa Caterina in Valfurva. Due to the mountains around it, Santa Caterina always gets more snow than Bormio, fewer daylight hours, and, of course, colder temperatures. This makes it ideal for snowshoeing, even if for only a few hours during the day.

Up or down?

Yeah. 

As always, the time in Bormio is too short, but hopefully this coming summer without school we'll be spending a good deal of time there. On Friday, we tearfully packed our bags with food and drink and began the long journey back to our windswept isle. 

One for the road; I always chuckle to myself when I have to answer on the customs form, "Have you been on a farm or handled livestock?" Heh.