Went to bed early last night in Portoroz, Slovenia, tired out from a long day. Up early this morning, bright of eye and with bushy tails, had breakfast and checked out of the hotel. Into the car and onto the road, the day bright and sunny and the air clear with excellent visibility. What a lovely city and country and we have had a lovely time here, we leave with great memories.
As we hit the road, we know that we have to exit Slovenia and then traverse a lot of northern Italy, as far as Verona. We plan to either stay there in Verona for the evening or turn right, which is north, and see how far we can get. Our ultimate goal for the night is Innsbruck, Austria, but that is a long way to go. Coupled with the fact that this is mid-March, still winter, and it is the Alps that we are going to try to cross. Wait a minute ... the Alps plus winter equals snow. SNOW!! Now the only question is how much snow, will the road be plowed, will we need chains, will the cops be stopping cars to check on their winter capabilities, what about avalanches? Holy Cow! I'm getting my knickers in a knot and we haven't even left Slovenia yet. Over breakfast I was wondering how long it would take to dig us out of an avalanche, etc. Lucky I didn't share my thoughts with Jan. Still, we will be going through the Brenner Pass, and they do get a lot of snow there, don't they?
We exited Portoroz (Port of Roses, a lovely name), Slovenia, heading west guided by the intrepid Hal, who had another brain fart. He was intent on having us on the non-toll road today, and sent us there at every opportunity. We didn't go, we stayed on the toll road instead, but left Hal on for company as he chatted to us frequently to get us to exit. Which we didn't, but it was entertaining to hear him repeat in his frustrated voice 'Recalculating ..' and then tell us to drive further on A4/E70 until the next exit. At the start, he had us getting into Verona at 4:00pm and we were concerned at how long it would take. But every time we stayed on the toll road rather than exiting, the ETA in Verona would shrink to 3:35, 3:15, 2:56, etc. We wound up making excellent time, and passing above Verona at about one in the afternoon.
We turned north, away from the flat land of northern Italy and caught our first glimpse of the foothills of the Alps. THE ALPS!!! Where's the snow? How much snow?? We drove onward. Would we make it? I checked the car's road temperature gauge, it showed a whopping 17.5 degrees. Positively balmy.
Onward we went, rising at a gentle rate, where's the snow? The sky was blue, the sun shining above the smog that lay like a blanket, the air warm. There are two large towns coming up, Trento and Borosa, either of which will serve for accomodation if we are closed out by snow. On we went, where's the snow? There has to be snow, this is the Alps and it is March. No snow. On we went ...
Finally in the distance, a mountain with snow on it. Uh Oh, here it comes. Nope, that mountain is way off to the west. On we went, past Trento, finally past Borosa, counting down the kilometers to the Brenner Pass which is the border between Italy and Austria.
so what finally happened? Did we see snow? Did we get snowed in? Blocked by snow? See an Avalanche? No, No, No, No. Nothing, nada, zilch, squat, bingo, nothing at all, bare and dry road the whole way, sunglasses required throughout. Once again, I have worried about so many things in my life, and very few of them have actually been worth worrying about. The Brenner Pass was another one of those.
At the top, just into Austria, we stopped and bought a Vignette. This is a small pass you put in your window, costing 7.90 Euro used to go toward the cost of maintianing the Austrian road system. But without it, a 500 Euro fine and apparently they mean it. Afterward, down the hill about 30 kilometers and into Innsbruck. We found a hotel, parked in the hotel parking lot, and went out to shop and sightsee and have dinner. Now, at ten pm, in the hotel room preparing these notes and Jan picking pictures to share with you.
Tomorrow we journey down into Germany to Furth-im-Wald where Sonja's family lives, and we will visit with them. But what about the snow? Will there be snow on the road as we go down, maybe we'll skid into the ditch, maybe an avalanche, maybe ...
Ah, shuddup, Dennis and go to sleep.
