Cortinaaaaargh

So what do you do with a forced mini-break in Cortina???

Walk into town for starters. One of the very fine things about Cortina is the bike path that runs up the valley for about 40km into town...this means you can walk the 10 miles from Fawlty Towers to town without having to deal with traffic - brilliant. And on the way, there are loads of super groovy buildings with great roofs...they have a hint of 'Psycho' about em, but I have to admit, I'd quite happily have a roof like that on my house.

So...the Cortina challenge was 3 fold:
1: Find Internet access (failed)
2: Get a good cup of coffee (failed - in Italy of all places)
3: Find something cheap in town (not on your nelly).

The town is dripping with furs...if they aren't wearing em, they are walking em. I've never seen so many shops with 5000+ euro price tags. There was a very nice petrol blue fur  jacket - reduced to 4000 - oooh hold me back!

And as for the dogs...you've never seen so many lap dogs, particularly the ones that look like they've been smashed head first into a brick wall...which brings me onto the dog launderette...I kid you not!

A real life dog launderette - for those who don't want to get fur balls down their own plugholes...comes with sinks, shampoo and conditioner, doggy nibbles(!), hair dryers (!!)....amazing.

I somhow can't imagine that the fur-wearers will be doing the dog-wash thing...suspect it's the preserve of the serfs.

I never knew things like this existed, but I guess when it comes to dogs, I'm of the eat 'em rather than walk 'em school....






Impressions of Cortina overall weren't too favourable - far too smart for its own good. However....and this is a big however...the galleries where you can buy art were AMAZING...and a reflection of the money about. There were works by Miro, Warhol and Keith Haring for sale...originals too...we're talking LOTS of zero's on the price tags!

Also - some stunning bronzes by someone called Fernando Bottera and another guy who's name began with 'R', but my memory fails me.

And finally...having raved about the art fart, there was an exhibition in town called 'real forgeries' where you got to see forgeries of the mona lisa and other such works....but you have to ask...what the hell's a real forgery - the whole point of a forgery is that it's fake...so does that make a fake forgery the real thing...I'm very confused.

Didn't like Cortina...wouldn't go back, but thought the Dolomites were speccy and worth another visit :-)