Safe in the Arms of Love: Italia, The ALPS

So, for the first part of our Italian vacation, we flew from Houston to Newark and then Newark to Munich, Germany. From there, we rented a van and drove 3 hours South, into the Italian Alps, to San Vigilio for a night's stay at the beautiful Hotel Condor. You see, my father-in-law's mother (my husband's grandmother "OMA"), was born in this small village and lived there until she married OPA and moved to the USA.

Because the Alps had not yet received any snow, they were
busy making fake snow in order to be ready for the upcoming ski season.

My FIL's aunts and cousins still live there and own the Hotel Condor, which is a ski lodge. When we arrived, the hotel had not yet opened for the season, so we were the ONLY ones staying there! It was super cool and scary all at the same time! The hallways were all dark and cold, but our room was nice and toasty. The first thing I did was take a bath--which I needed after our long journey to Italy!

San Vigilio is an incredibly charming town! In this village, they speak German, Italian, and Ladinish. (Ladinish is only spoken by about 30,000 people in just a few Northern Italian villages.) So, when the hubs and I went to the local pub for a glass of vino, we used a lot of hand signs.

Since we landed in San Vigilio on Saturday night, we were able to go to Mass Sunday morning. I was in awe of the beauty of the town's Chapel. The service was delivered in Ladinish, so us Americans just spend our time trying not to look lost or fall asleep. I wish I'd taken pictures of the church, but I decided against it....out of respect for God I guess.

After church, we went back to the Hotel Condor and enjoyed amazing lasagna while we visited with the family. The family spoke in German (my FIL would translate for us), so I spent a lot of time drinking my wine and talking to the Hubs....and trying to figure out what everyone else was talking about. I could say I spend 95% of the time doing this since English isn't widely spoken where we were.