Posted by: Becca

Today we took the day off from riding our bikes and drove to Italy. We went to the home of the 2006 Olympic sking events, Sestriere. The drive was full of twists and turns, tunnels, and amazing views. The town itself was pretty small. We had a nice lunch of pizza and cappuccinos before leaving. What was a little weird was that the waiters spoke to us in French instead of Italian. I don't understand either, but Italian seemed more appropriate...

After lunch we headed to Briancon, France. The guide book said it was the highest town in Europe, this doesn't quite make sense based on the elevations of some of the towns we have visited on our bikes, but maybe I am misunderstanding the definition of a town. Briancon itself was pretty big, but it was built around a small, medieval village. We stopped with about one million other tourists to check it out. Besides being a fort at one point, the road that passes through the center of the town has been a Tour De France finish.

After Briancon it was off to Les 2 Alpes. This was quite a mountain resort, full of people, ski shops, and restaurants. We wandered into a Festival of Hay and watched little kids, maybe 10 years old or so, race donkeys. This is probably something that wouldn't happen in the US due to liability issues, too bad, because it was hysterical.