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Published: January 18th 2010
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Though it would have been nice to get a full night's sleep, instead, I slept for about two hours before I started waking up almost every half hour. I had to be up by 4:30 because of the early flight to Innsbruck, so I think I was subconsciously worried about sleeping too late. I finally got up about 3:30 and puttered around until I had to get ready. I STILL had the migraine, so I had a coke which I hoped would be just enough sugar and caffeine to drive it out (it wasn’t).
We made it to Frankfurt airport in plenty of time and checked in for our twin propeller flight to Innsbruck. You know, one of those flights where they take regular-sized carry-ons from you and put them in the baggage compartment because there isn’t enough room on the plane.
It wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be and it was the first time I’d ever been able to see the wheels up close as we lifted off and touched down. Plus, it was a cool-looking plane, so I took a quick picture of it when we landed, with the Alps in the background, which
made me feel very posh (though not as posh as whoever got picked up from the same plane on the way back in a Porsche, right on the tarmac).
Then, it was time for the 90-minute drive to San Vigilio. When we drove here
two years ago from Munich, it was mostly at night, so I didn’t get the benefit of the lovely view. It was a beautiful morning, cold and crisp with bright blue skies, which were the perfect backdrop for the towering mountains. I’ve only seen a few American mountains in my life, but I have to say that the Alps are really much more impressive and imposing. It reminds me of Crocodile Dundee’s quote - “That’s not a knife. THIS is a knife” - “that’s not a mountain, THIS is a mountain!” However impressive though, I do prefer them from the ground. More on that later.
We arrived in San Vigilio in time for lunch and found a little place that was open - it seems that it’s not really ski season yet, so there are quite a few places that are closed and it’s nice and quiet from a tourist point of view. Choosing lunch was
an adventure since the menu was in Italian and German, but I chose an orzo soup (soupa d'orzo), which I could tell also had beans in it - it is apparently a local specialty, which I learned later that evening when we had it again for dinner. It was delicious and filling, and I hoped that it would turn out to be the cure for my migraine. Still not though!
Fortunately, we were the first to arrive at La Bercia by a few hours, so I was able to go to bed and sleep for about four hours. I felt a little better when I woke up, though I realized that a few of the others had arrived, so I jumped up to get ready a bit quickly. We did have a fun night though, reconnecting with old friends, laughing and eating a wonderful home cooked meal by our hostess and La Bercia proprietor, Giovanna.
Although neither I nor my roommate slept very well that night, we woke up fairly refreshed (and migraine free! Yay!) on Friday morning for our first full day together. After a lovely breakfast (I've found that I really like the local yogurt and
having some bread with nutella for breakfast), most of the group headed out to rent their skis and get a few runs in and we agreed to meet at
Furcia Pass for lunch. I remembered Furcia Pass from the last time we were in San Vigilio and felt tense already - the last time we went there resulted in a lot of crying and breath-holding on my part. But this time, the roads were clearer of snow and we didn’t encounter as many cars, so while there were some sudden drops that caused me to close my eyes and pray, it wasn’t too bad.
Unfortunately, the stress to get up there was for naught, because the two restaurants up there were both closed! We did get the chance to take some photographs of the view before we found the rest of the group and decided that we would eat at the bottom of the mountain. I took a video on the way down with my camera, and could only watch it once I was safely ensconced on the couch later that day. Lunch with everyone was delicious and a lot of fun, though we were in the minority without any ski
gear on!
After an afternoon relaxing at La Bercia while the rest of the group skied, they returned and we had a cozy night in. Giovanna prepared another wonderful meal, starting with a tortellini soup, followed by pork and chicken with roasted potatoes, and topped off with a chocolate and whipped cream cake - SO good. It was nice to stay in and relax, catch up, and joke around. Then finally, it was time for bed and this time, we all slept like babies. My roommate said it was the fresh mountain air that tired us out!
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