Bolzano...

Last weekend we finally managed to carve some time into an 'official' vacation! Apparently, we are homebodies in the States and haven't had a real 'family' vacation since Tobin and I went on our honeymoon (that would be 9 years ago)! I was certainly ready for one and who could have picked a better spot. As I said last time, we headed north.

First stop on the wild vacation ride was the booming metropolis of Bolzano, Italy. I have been interested in this region since I read about it in my guide book months ago. Apparently, this region used to be Austria (they speak German) prior to WWI, but after losing that war, Italy got this portion of Austria when they carved it up afterward. So the people of this region are fairly different than the Italians that we have come to know and love in the south. They are much fairer (there are actually folks with blonde hair and blue eyes) and they are just a bit bigger (stature-wise). I immediately noticed that I didn't stand out like a sore thumb (it is ridiculously apparent that I am not from Italy in the south)...and everyone spoke to me in German! The area has a very rich German influence...all the road signs are in Italian AND German...it takes a bit of getting used to! So when interacting with the locals...they all just slip into German. You know how fluent I am in Italian...so you can imagine how well those coversations go! Everywhere I go, everyone asks if I am German...I never knew I looked so German! They are honestly shocked that I am an American...you would think they would pick up the accent!

Here is an example of a sign in Italian and German...it says to push (like push the door open)...

Bolzano is surrounded by Alps and grape vines...right on the sides of the mountains! It is a pretty curious site to see grape vines clinging to the mountains...it obviously doesn't get that cold here...though it was much cooler than Montalto. They don't even have air conditioning in the hotels, but it did cool down dramatically when the sun went down!

We realized that we were very used to our surroundings here in Montalto, driving into Bolzano, it was easy to see it was foriegn...bikes were EVERYWHERE...

And the architecture is completely different...

Back to the town...here is a picture of Piazza Walther...

Bolzano's cathedral...I so LOVE the colorful glazed tile roof...

But after all it is still in Italy, so it was pizza for dinner...I so LOVE the pizza here. I especially like the personal ones you can get...I can get 'normal' stuff for the kids and Tobin and I can get whatever 'crazy' toppings that I want. My current favorite is called 4 seasons...prociutto, black olives, artichokes, and mushrooms...Yum...

And after a long day of vacationing...the crew crashed...

Day one of our first family vacation was a resounding success...even with a 2 year old and a 6 hour drive! One of our favorite things to occupy our time was to keep track of the number of tunnels we drove through each day (and each country...yes, I am a nerd)...Day one...39 tunnels!

I hope that you have a wonderful, cool day!

Ciao a tutti!