15th June 2017

Hi,

The family gathered together from Scotland, England, Japan and New Zealand with the main intention of celebrating Donald's sixtieth birthday in Venice. Before getting to the city of Venice itself we journeyed a couple of hours further north.

Dolomites? Cortina? For those of us brought up in the seventies these were names of cars. However a two hour road trip took us to Cortina d'Ampezzo, situated just under the Dolomites, a stunning mountain range. The photos should speak for themselves, but we stayed two nights in Cortina at the Hotel Meuble Royal. This was in a central location and highly recommended. On the culinary side I had my first sample of deer chops served with polenta. Delicious, if a bit on the pink side for me.

We hiked in the National Park and the following day took a gondola ride up to the Cinque Torri (5 towers) for a short visit. We then transferred via cable car up to the Refugi Lagazuoi, a bunkhouse at 2752 metres for an overnight stay. If you get the time and opportunity to visit these locations do not miss out!!!

I could spend all day waxing lyrical about the landscapes, the light on the land, the sheer scale and extreme gradient of the mountains but the photos will hopefully provide the best description. Even better is having the family together from all over the world and catching up collectively and individually.

Happy days.

Enjoy.

Murdo