Made it to Italia!

Saturday, 9 March, 2013

Ciao from La Bella Italia!  (Although to be honest, we’re so close to the German/Austrian border here, that most of the people we’ve seen so far address us in German!  Oh my!)

Toward the Brenner Pass

Toward the Brenner Pass

Toward the Brenner Pass

Up this morning about 6, as we were scheduled to pick the car up at 8 a.m.  Went down for breakfast about 6:45 a.m. – and I stopped Robert and asked:  Should we wait a bit for places to open?  Response:  No problem!  So…out we went to totally deserted streets!  I mean, it was so quiet all around that it was actually a little bit scary!  And NOTHING, I mean NOTHING was open!  In despair, we actually tried the Starbucks – only to find that it didn’t open until 8 a.m.!!  Next tried McDonald’s and their McCafe – which of course wasn’t open yet, but at least opened at 7, so not too long to wait.  Got espresso, croissant for Robert, and hot chocolate, a FABULOUS chocolate cake for me!  (I have to STOP having chocolate cake for breakfast…domain…) Back to the apartment for a final look around, and then out with the luggage about 7:45 a.m.  Really sorry to leave; it’s a beautiful apartment in a really beautiful city, but definitely time to move on!

Room 604 at the Magdalenahof, Bolzano

Our room

Our (bath) room

Walked over to the #49 tram; had 9 minute wait, then all aboard.  We are very fortunate that it is a Saturday morning, as the streets are really deserted and not much traffic anywhere! We are also extremely fortunate that we didn’t get rained on!  It had rained during the night, as the streets were wet, but we had no drops at all on our way to the car place. Caught the 71 tram to Europcar, and voila, there we were!  Only took a few minutes to complete the formalities – and we’re in a stunning brand new (29 km) Skoda (CZ car) station wagon!  It’s amazing – very complicated – like the back-up system, letting you know when you’re too close to something, or something is too close to you!  Also, rather than having just 5 gears, this one has 6!  I don’t think I’ve ever driven a car with that many gears before!  Went to pick up the car in the closest parking garage, and it was interesting – what they don’t tell you at the office – and is all in German when you’re looking at the elevator – is that you have to scan the bar code of the parking ticket they give you in order to activate the elevator to get down to the rental cars!  Just amazing and way too high tech for us!  Robert almost half-way back to the office by the time I figured it out – whew! 

Surprisingly, getting out of Vienna was actually amazingly easy!  Most of the streets are now one-way, which helps immensely.  And, it being early on a Saturday morning, there was very little traffic – it was great!  We had no problems at all, and suddenly found ourselves on the A1 in the direction of Salzburg.

A view from our balcony

Snack time

The GPS (with Robert’s help) led us through Austria and out the other side – back into Germany – for a bit, until finally back in Austria, turned south and over the Brenner Pass.  We were really amazed at the traffic on the autoroute – at some points, it was like a parking lot!  Not sure if it’s because it’s a weekend, or because the weather was a bit dicey – or a combination of all of the above – but finally Robert got us off the autoroute and onto some wonderful side roads leading to the Brenner Pass.  (The last time I remember going over the Brenner Pass was on our first trip to Italy, years and years ago – Robert promised that if I got him OUT of Italy, he would take me to McDonald’s at the Brenner Pass!  Looks like the McDonald’s has closed, so how can I be bribed this time?!)  As it turned out, we decided to put pedal to the metal and get to Bolzano, rather than stop for lunch.  Not sure it was the right decision, but the traffic and the weather were fairly difficult.

Arrived at the hotel, the Magdalener Hof, about 4 p.m. in the pouring rain; about a 7½ hour drive from Vienna.  Checked into our Deluxe Room 604, which is really quite lovely!  Room to spread out, a lovely balcony to enjoy (if the weather ever permits…), free parking and WiFi access!  Who could ask for more?

Margaret with Salad

Baked scallop with asparagus and salmon

Steak with Borolo Sauce

Steak Slices with Potato Pancakes

We were, however, starving, so went down to the bar in the main building.  R had red wine, I had Prosecco, and we were served some tortilla chips and salsa … like eating a salt lick, I’m telling you!  Back up to the room and a nice hour’s nap for R.  He, poor Sweetie, has caught my cold, and is blowing away non-stop; I feel so guilty!

(Break for going down to a terrific dinner!!)  Got down to the dining room a few minutes after 7 – and boy, is this the place to be!  Turns out not only do they have the restaurant, but they also have a pizza oven and make pizzas!  It was lucky for us that we made a dinner reservation when we checked in – otherwise, I don’t know where they would have put us!  Walked past a salad bar!  First time in a LONG time!  So, I started with the salad bar – lettuce, arugula, beets, onions, tomatoes, corn, marinated green beans – it was wonderful!  Robert had the asparagus starter – he got three things, but couldn’t remember what they were [Oh, yes I can.  A baked, breaded scallop, a puree of asparagus and smoked salmon] …for mains, I had the beef slices (rare) with fabulous potato pancakes – FABULOUS; R had filet of beef with a Barolo sauce and rice – but I gave him one of my potato pancakes.  Nothing really spoke to us for dessert, so we ducked out early and back to the room to post.  I’m sure that the restaurant will be busy late into the evening, as it appears to be a very popular place – especially with families and groups!  By the time we left, it was wild – and the waiters were really moving quickly!  Will post now and hopefully get the pictures in as well – then to bed, as we have an ice man to see in the morning!

Lots of love,

m

xxx