Not the Drei Zinnen

The reason why I rented the house we're in this holiday was because it was at a fair distance from the Drei Zinnen. A famous landmark of the Dolomites. And today we were going to visit it. I was looking forward to that very much!
We left early because the location is popular and I knew it would be crowded. Alarmclocks went off at 06:00 am and by 07:10 we were in the car to cover the 30 kilometers.
When we were 6 kilometers before the parking the road was blocked by carabinieri. The police. The parking 6 km ahead was already full. It was 07:45.
Crazy! People everywhere, trying to find a space to park and walk the final distance. We didn't opt for that. We took our loss. We wouldn't see The Drei Zinnen. What a pity. Then I remembered you can also go by shuttle bus for Toblach. Plan B was made. We drove there and parked at the trainstation. We there learnt tickets had to be bought online. No problem, a huge QR code  was available.
But tickets for today were sold out. Except for one space at 16:13. Not an option.
Now we definitely wouldn't see the Drei Zinnen.
We went to a terrace for a cappuccino and moment to discuss what would be our plan C. By then is was 9 o'clock.

The cappuccino was nice, and so was the Apfelstrudel that came with it.
Plan C was made. We would drive back to Cortina d'Ampezzo, to the cable car station that would take us up the Cime Tofana di Mezzo.
The highest point in the Dolomites, at 3244 meters. Wow! That's pretty high up.

When we arrived we saw three stations uo there, each one going higher.
Brave as we all are, we bought the tickets and went up the mountain.
It was beautiful and the Drei Zinnen were soon forgotten. Well almost. I choose not to mention it anymore. There will be a next time, I hope... sometime in the future.
The views we had were unforgettable. We could oversee the Dolomites completely, and further even. What an impressive landscape. See the extra photos for an impression.

After an hour we went down one station and had lunch there.

In the afternoon we did some shopping and I made a home cooked dinner in the evening. (Gnocchi pesto with caprese salad. Lemon ice for desert.)

Slowly but surely we're coming to the end of our trip and I must confess I don't mind going home next Sunday.
Tomorrow we have our final daytrip. Lago di Braies is our destination. Should be just as popular as Drei Zinnen, but this time I have booked a parking ticket and shuttle bus in advance. We should be fine!

FYI: This is what we missed: Drei Zinnen