Madrid

The final destination on my never ending summer was Madrid.  We took a long layover in the city to visit our friend Jessie and see the Spanish capital.

Venezia

We had a weekend get away in Venice.  Eva's parents gave us a ride to Villach and from there we caught a direct train to Venice.  We spent 3 days in Venice.  We went right after Carnival, so the tourism was low (for Venice) but we had absolutely beautiful weather.

Ponte Rialto.

Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute.

Looking at San Marco from the other side of the Canal Grande.

Rialto by night.

Night time cafe on the Canal Grande.

Glass blowing in Murano.

Sitting in a cafe in Cannaregio watching loud, masculine Italian men drink aperol.

Osteria al Diabo'lo e l'Aguasanta.

The view from Ponte Accademia.

Österreich

After going to Easter Island, Peru, Bolivia, and all the way to Tierra del Fuego, I needed a vacation from vacation.  So of course, I went on three more weeks of vacation.  The destination this time was Austria to get to know Eva's homeland.  My time in Austria was spent mainly meeting lots of new people in Steiermark and Wien as well as a few cool other places.

The Riegersburg Castle.

At Fastnachtsdienstag or Carnival, the day before the start of Lent.

Skiing in Teichalm.

Drinking a Cocoa with Ron Apres-Ski.

Family rooting for the Austrian Ski team.

Eating ceviche de salmon prepared as a treat for the Austrians.

Raw cheekiness.

Waiting in line at Demel for the famous Annatorte.

Isla Navarino or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bog.

Our final destination on our trip through Patagonia was Isla Navarino.  This island is just across the Beagle Channel from Ushuaia and belongs to Chile.  The town of Puerto Williams is a small Chilean naval base on the island.  Puerto Williams is the farthest southern permanent settlement in the world.

Puerto Navarino is a tiny border post directly across from Ushuaia.  One agency runs a small boat from Ushuaia to Puerto Navarino daily.  Otherwise the only other connections to the island are by air or sea via Punta Arenas.

On Isla Navarino there is a number of rustic treks available.  The most popular is a five day trek called "Los Dientes de Navarino."  Since we only had a few days left we did another trek that started the same way but after the first day cut off to the south.  The name of our trek was "Lago Windhond."  It was a three day trek.  We climbed up through the dientes (teeth) and to the back side of the island.  From there we continued to Lago Windhond with a view all the way to Cape Horn.

Our first summit on top of Cerro Bandera.  The flag flies on the cerro to remind the Argentines whose island it is.

The tiny painted markers we would end up searching high and low for several days.

Overlooking Los Dientes de Navarino and Lago del Salto.

We arrived at the pass between los Dientes.

On the summit of Montaña Bertinelli.  From this point you can look south from the island to Cape Horn.

Coming down the cliff face of Montaña Bertinelli.

Lost in the bogs.

Camping at Ex-Refugio Beaucheff.

Warming our feet post bog.

After our three day trek through bog, stones, forests, snow, lake, beaver dams, mud, more bog, up mountains sides, down cliff faces, and not another person in sight we made it back to Puerto Williams.  The next day we took a small plane back to Punta Arenas and quickly had another connection back to Santiago.  The trekking on Isla Navarino was the most unique thing I have ever done and it is the memory that will stick with me of seeing Patagonia.