Mount Blanc Hotel

June 28, 2007

At 2:30 Alberto, the boys and I left Torino for a small town, La Salle, in the valley of Mt. Bianco (the tallest mt. in Europe). The drive only took 2 hours and we saw an old fortress where Napoleon hid in while in Italy. Then we arrived….WOW Che Bella!! Just what I had imagined, this is my dream hotel. Our room was splendid. We had a view of Mt. Bianco and our own private patio. There were his/her robes and towels and (the best part) I had my own full size bed separate from the boys. We were in the same room but there was a sliding partition I used at night. After we got settled we (the boys and I) went for a walk. We stopped to get some gelato (of course, I made a resolution not to eat ice cream for a week but come on we’re in the Alps!!) Then we went to the park. There were several nannies and kids already there. However, only one of the women spoke English. I had a nice conversation with her though. She was from the Philippines and couldn’t understand why I would want to come to Italy because her dream is to live in America. She is trying to get her papers so hopefully her dream can come true. We went back to the hotel and I took the boys to the hot tub. This was very stressful for me at first but then I reminded myself where I was and what I was looking at around me. The boys don’t listen that well to their own parents so I try to tell myself don’t get too upset just roll with it and enjoy your time in the Alps.

For dinner we met up with Alberto and went to the restaurant. I felt had cause we were the only nanny-kid group. The meal was out of this world. We started with a plate of ham and salami. Then the primi course was spiral pasta with fresh veggies. The waiter told us the pasta is all made here at the hotel. The secondi was wild game from the mountains and potatoes. Finally tiramisu for dessert. By this time the boys were really tired so we came back to our bedroom for “lights out”. Alberto keeps saying it’s a four star hotel but I give it five stars!!

Cute side story: When we were in the restaurant, the Matre D asked a little boy sitting next to us what his name was and he replied Leonardo and the Matre D said “My name is Michelangelo.” Then he asked Ruggero what his name was (Ruggero was really tired at this point) and he said “Raphael.” For all of you Ninja Turtle fans you will understand this joke. Ruggero likes the NT and I guess he wanted to be like them (for you who aren’t fans the Turtles’ names are Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael, and Donetello).