SOELDEN, austria — I skipped last weekend’s downhill and super-G races in Norway and took some time off in Venice and Verona with my girlfriend. It was nice to get a break from skiing, especially when you’re on the road as long as we are.
Venice obviously is very unique. But if somebody goes there, they really need to go to Murano, a nearby island. You take a little boat ride over there and it’s really cool.
Venice is kind of touristy. Yeah, it’s cool because it’s Venice and it has its own charm. But Murano is one of the coolest places I’ve ever been.
Murano has canals going through it, but it’s like a small fishing village. All the houses are neon painted. It was fun to discover something outside of the usual Venice. I’ve been to Venice a bunch of times, because the company that makes my goggles and helmets is based there, but it was fun to discover something new.
Verona is really cool, too. When you are a ski racer, you drive by Verona a couple times a year but I’d never stopped there. It’s a cool city — the cleanest city I’ve ever seen. It has like shining marble streets in the walking area of town. It has a cool history — there’s an old coliseum there, and a pretty cool castle with a bridge over the river. It’s one of the most picturesque cities I’ve seen. It’s really neat, and really close to skiing. It’s a great place to visit if you’re skiing up in the Dolomites.
We spent the weekend training here, and will have some more training in Reiteralm before racing giant slalom and slalom this weekend in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia.
Ligety, a three-time World Cup giant slalom champion, reports regularly in collaboration with Denver Post ski writer John Meyer
