Day 12 - A day in Bern - Meiringen, Lauterbrunnen, Interlaken and Grindlewald

1:38 PM AirplaneFoodCritic 0 Comments

We slept with the door slightly open on our deck. Hubs had washed every single item of clothing he brought yesterday so there were things hanging from every possible surface. Pants, shorts and shirts were all hanging from the curtain rods. Socks and more hung from the hooks and shower rods. The items that were hanging on the deck were still wet only now they were very, very cold. The sun was coming out and there were zero clouds in the sky. The highest mountains were crisp and clear, covered in snow. The sun was hitting only the largest, highest peaks when we woke up at 8:30am. The bed we slept in has a headboard and a foot board so Hubs didn't sleep too well because his feet hit the foot board. We tried to sleep diagonal but I don't think it was enough to get Hubs fully rested. He was in high spirits nonetheless.
Views as we were driving around today.

The breakfast room has to be the most spectacular of all the breakfast rooms of the whole trip. It is inside but the walls are all glass. It is like having a breakfast picnic on the edge of the world. We looked down into the green valley dotted with chalets. We looked down at the town of Meiringen. Speaking of Meiringen, if the name sounds familiar at all it may be because the dessert called meringue was invented here. Meringue is whipped egg whites folded with sugar then baked. It is very sweet and a little crunchy and very airy. Five years ago I had a meringue in the very cafe it was invented. They told us the story of how it came to be made. Apparently, there was not much ingredients left over one evening when some sort of dignitary arrived asking for dessert. They took the left over egg whites from some other dish, whipped them up, added sugar and baked it, hoping for the best. Boom. Meringue. I forgot to mention that last night we split a dessert that was two massive lumps of chocolate meringue and two scoops of ice cream, one strawberry and one vanilla. Everything was covered in whipped cream.
More views from the car.

I also forgot to mention that while in Grindlewald yesterday we bought some chocolate. There was this one store in Lugano that had chocolate in the windows. There were all these varieties displayed in smooth slabs. It looked so darn interesting and delicious that it stayed on our minds. In Grindlewald we saw the same store so we decided not to pass it up this time and bought a little bag that held 2x1 inch bits of each flavor of slab. Normally I like dark chocolate the most but the milk chocolate in Switzerland is just incredible. I had dreams of it last night. Later on in the trip we will go to a chocolate factory. The chocolate in Switzerland is just the best possible.

Back to breakfast....It was pretty much the usual spread. The bread was slice yourself and it was fresh, brown and wonderful. The butter, even though it comes in little prepackaged tubs it is fresher than any butter I have ever had. There were three or four types of local Swiss cheeses and a couple meats, one was a salami and one was a sliced ham. There were yogurts and a big bowl of fruit. There was orange juice, milk and coffee. They had two home made jams as well, apricot and cherry. We sat next to the window, ate and planned our day. We decided to head out to the various towns in the region and then maybe try to have dinner away from the hotel then come back to rest before bed. There were only 4 of us staying at the hotel and the food was limited so we thought we would give the chef and waitress a break.
The morning view from our balcony in Meiringen, Switzerland

We first hiked down the falls all the way to the top of where the funicular goes to. As we hiked on this sunny, clear, perfect weather day, we came across some workers. The workers were clearing away the old vegetation and rocks. They had chainsaws and were hacking away at whole trees. We hiked down to the main landing and were all alone besides the workers until a bunch of little school kids started piling off the funicular. The train went down and came back up with a while load more of them. We were surrounded by kids so we decided to head back up the falls to the car. As we got half way up we heard this beg crash. We looked up and saw all these rocks and big ass boulders coming down over our heads. The workers were tossing all the loose scree off the slope and into the basin of water below. It was a spectacular sight to see, a bit scary but looked like fun fore them to do. We had felt the urge go throw rocks off as well but we weren't getting paid for it!
Stubbach Falls, Lauterbrunned, Switzerland. 

We got up to the hotel and had a little cappuccino on the patio before we got in the car and headed out. We had the idea to go to this big city in the area called Interlaken. I have been to so many towns in the area that are really small and adorable but never bothered to go to the big city so we headed for it first. I have never really wanted to visit Interlaken because it was so big and crowded. It was just as I had figured it would be. There were loads and loads of tourists taking photos in this big field that is in the center of town. I don't know why but this trip there has been a huge amount of Muslim people here. The men are all walking several feet ahead of their women. The men are all going to Hooters and stuff while the women have to be all wrapped up so you can only see their eyes. It is so different to see for me. The city itself is dirty and the shops are pretty much gross. There are lots of watches and jewelry stores and some crappy clothing stores. The restaurants are all Chinese, Korean and Indian. Hubs wanted to do some shopping but once we walked around a bit we found that there was nothing worth looking at. He got hungry so we found a hot, over priced Kebab place. I was not hungry so I didn't get anything but he got some falafel and fries. We sat in the park and watched all the bazillion hang gliders and parachuters landing in the park. There must have been a few tour buses in town because there were just crowds and crowds of Chinese people taking photos in the park. The buildings in Interlaken are all dirty and covered in soot. There are a few giant hotels and casinos that just look sad because they seem to have seen their day. There are rich Muslims walking around and the lobbies are all expensive and opulent but it was just ugly and sad to me and I wanted to get out right away. Next we drove to Lauterbrunnen
A photo taken from Interlaken, Switzerland

I usually stay in Lauterbrunnen when I come to this area. Lauterbrunnen is my favorite town in all of Swtzerland...in all of Europe. We always stay at a hotel called Hotel Schutzen where we get a perfect view of the Stubbach falls. The town is situated in the base of a flat little narrow valley. Either side of the valley you see sheer clif faces that rise straight up several hundred meters. You can take a train up one side to the town of Wengen and then from there you can take more trains up to the top of the Jungfrau and the Piz Gloria where a Bond movie was filmed. The Jungfrau is the highest peak in the Alps, I am pretty sure. The other side of the valley you can take a funicular up to the next town of Murren. There are very few little towns up on the steep cliffs on that side. That is the same side that the Stubbach falls fall from. We drove through the tiny town and parked near the falls. It has been a dream of mine for a long time now to hike to the back of the falls. I only learned a few years ago that you could even do that. So I was super excited to be able to do it today. We parked and I ran up to the base of the falls. We hiked up the switchbacks. There were little goats with little bells around their necks grazing nearby. I tried to call to them to get them come close to me but they didn't. We got to a big tunnel made of corrugated metal. At the end of the tunnel we got to some rough stairs carved out of the rocks. The rocks were all wet and slippery but there were handrails to help us get up. The excitement was mounting. The water on the ground was increasing. We were walking along a little cove cut out of the rock. There was some water falling from the rock above to the rocks below. I could hear the falls getting closer and closer. We were so close now. There were to men taking photos that we had to squeeze by and I knew after we passed them we would be right behind the falls. We slid past the men and the path abruptly ended. What? I thought the path led right behind the falls! Maybe it was because there was not a lot of water falling today. Maybe it was the wind blowing it in the wrong direction. Whatever the reason is, there was no wayt we were behind the falls. I was a bit let down. No matter, we were still in my favorite little town in Europe and there was shopping to do!
Having a beer in the shadow of the Eiger in Grindlewald, Switzerland
Our strudel with vanilla sauce and a yummy cream of fennel soup. The bread was fantastic as well.

We hiked back down the hill and walked the darling, darling town. I found my favorite shop and bought all sorts of things. I got some stickers for my car, a belt because my pants were falling down, some magnets and pins. I was super energized and took all sorts of photos. I just love this town!! After a while of enjoying the darling town we got back int he car and drove to Grindlewald. We drove about 15 minutes to get there. We parked on the far end of town and walked down to the cafe called C und M. It is my favorite place to have a snack or a beer because it has unobstructed views of the major mountains of the area, the Monch, Eiger and Junfrau. We split an apple strudel with vanilla sauce and a cream of fennel soup. I got a giant beer. We sat in the sun and basked in the views of the mountains. It was nice and relaxing. We shopped a little more after that but I felt like I has spent enough money. Switzerland is very expensive. A magnet costs 7 dollars, a spoon or thimble cost 10 dollars. We had time to kill so we stopped again and had more drinks. I had a little wine and he had a watery hot chocolate.

Our second stop for drinks in Grindlewald
At this point is was a reasonable time to drive back to Lauterbrunnen and have dinner. I really wanted to eat at the hotel Schutzen because I have stayed and eaten there so many times in the past. We were met at the hotel restaurant by a super friendly man. He sat us down and was talking to us in excellent English. I was looking forward to having fondue and Hubs was excited to have the rosti potatoes. The menu looked very similar to what he remembered. There were four types of fondue, all of which I have tried. There was a tomato one, an herb one, a garlic one and a regular one. I was all ready to order the plain one when we saw on the menu that you could only order for two. That meant that either I had to get something else or Hubs couldn't get his rosti. I just ordered the raclette instead and he got the Rosti. Rosti, if you don't know, is a big, flat pile of hash browns that are cooked to a crisp then topped with all sorts of good things like cheese, egg, tomatoes...whatever you might want. I talked to the nice waiter man because I wanted to know why they changed the menu like that. I also told him that we have been coming here for years and years and we love this hotel. He explained that the family who has owned the hotel for so many ears no longer are there. A Chinese owner now has the place and things are different. He didn't seem too pleased with the new owners. So far neither were we. I noticed that the place which is usually the center of the local hubbub was empty. In the past we have always seen meetings of various local groups like marching bands, rotary and more. It was totally deserted now. There was one group of loud Americans out front in the cold but that was it. They usually have a big roaring fire lit inside but it was just pain and cold. When I got my Raclette I was also disappointed. It normally comes with cornichons and baby onions and loads of little boiled potatoes. I got four tiny potatoes, not nearly enough. I also got a bowl of then little onions, some GIANT pickles and then it was also filled with baby corn like the kind you get in a stir fry. I hate those little corn things so I just didn't eat them. The Hubs' rosti was awful too. It was not crispy but rather soggy and watery. We were so so sad. I don't think we will be coming back to this town to stay anymore. When we went to pay the nice waiter he became a little less nice. He made a point of telling us that tip was not included. He basically asked us to tip him so we did. He did not seem like he was going to be working there much longer.
A blurry shot of my Raclette. Pretty pathetic.
Saddened, disheartened, and disappointed, we drove the dark roads back up to our nice hotel. We watched tv until 11 and went to bed

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Day 13 - Meiringen to Charmey via Gruyeres and the Callier Chocolate Factory

9:25 PM AirplaneFoodCritic 0 Comments

Beautiful Swiss cow.

Even though it was a bit warm, we slept with the patio doors closed and the curtains tightly sealed so we could get some dark, quiet sleep. The Hubs is getting tired of getting up early. I think that two weeks is the max he can handle in Europe. I have always known that a vacation traveling in Europe is not necessarily a relaxing one. It isn't like laying on the beach in Hawaii with no responsibilities. In Hawaii you can eat any time of the day. You are using the same currency you use at home. You can read the menu because it is in English usually. The people around you speak English. You don't have anywhere to go or to be. You don't have a time schedule in Hawaiian vacations. At least I don't. The reason I come to Europe is because I want to be in a different culture so I am not complaining in any way that they don't speak English. I am just saying that it is a little stressful. I am not complaining about anything in fact, I am just stating that traveling through Europe is stressful at times but it is absolutely worth it for the wonderful experiences. That is why I keep coming back. But after a while of being on the road for a couple weeks it can wear on you. We are not eating very healthy. There is a lot of heavy, rich food. It makes sense though, eating out every meal no matter where you are will take it's toll on you. This trip we have been visiting the Coop a lot which is the main grocery store. We are in Switzerland so it is still pretty expensive but we can get fruits, veggies and little salads.

So we woke up at the usual times and had breakfast perched on the top of the world again. The chickens were cooing, the cows were ringing their bells. It is a perfect day out. After breakfast we took a walk down the tiny road that leads to a little town called Fulcheren. If we continued further down the road we would end up in those caves where we turned the car around the other day. No people .... or very very few people....were out this morning. The air is so fresh, so crisp. The sky is super blue, there were a few puffy clouds and some puffy persistent contrails. I breathed in the perfect, invigorating, rejuvenating Swiss Alpine air. We walked arm in arm down the narrow road. We passed a glorious garden with a little woman gardening. There were flowers, Swiss chard, lettuce, and other veggies. A perfect garden. We walked on. On either side of the road the grass is green and bright. Above that the hills full of trees are just beginning to turn color for the fall. The forest greens are sprinkled with yellows and oranges. Above those hills the stone and snow covered Alps provided the backdrop. The fields are dotted with cows and perfect chalets. The chalets are dark wood and white stucco. Every single windowsill had geraniums just exploding all over the place. The main color used is red which contrasts with the dark wood and white of the houses but there are also pink and white geraniums. I admire how well the residents keep their window boxes. Perhaps they don't do anything at all and geraniums just love the Swiss air as much as I do.
Me and some Swiss cows.

We continued along the road and as we rounded a curve we came upon our favorite chalet. This is the house that when we first saw three years ago we both just stopped and said "This is the house I want to live in!". I love when we do stuff like that at the same time. We did that in Florence when we were walking along and passed an artist on the sidewalk. We both saw the art and it stopped us in our tracks. When that happens we just know we have to have it. The same thing happened in Paris and we bought a painting. No, we did not buy the chalet, but we both fell in love with it at the same time. We admired it again and then walked a bit further as the road took us down the hillside a bit. I wanted to see some cows. We could hear them as we hiked along but I had yet to see any near the roadside. Five years ago when I first walked this road I saw all these sweet brown cows with big eyelashes and big, bright, brown eyes. When I approached the cows they would come up to the fence near me and dance. It made me crazy happy. I wanted to pet some cows today. We came across a couple herds on either side of the road. The got up and walked with us as we moved down the road. I got close to a couple. They didn't quite dance but they let me scratch them on the head between the horns. I don't know why the  cows in Switzerland are so much cuter than in the US. I think they are just happier first of all. They have endless tender, fresh, abundant grass and wildflowers to eat first of all. They have tons of exercise. They don't just stand there, miserable in their own shit. The Swiss cows are clean, soft, healthy and gentle looking. There are Holstein looking cows and other cow breeds that we have in California and the US but there is one breed that I think is only here in Switzerland. It is a velvety light brown cow with those amazing, long eyelashes I love so much. They have big whiskers that wiggle when they chew their cud. They are nimble and move around a lot. Like I said, they dance when I walk up to them. It seems that the animals are all treated so much better over here than in the US. Makes me sad for the American farm animals.
Some views on our morning walk.

We had to get on the road so we have time to get to the chocolate factory later before we arrive at our hotel so I had to tear myself away from the hike. We said our goodbyes to the Swiss cows and traced our steps back to the hotel. They had the darnedest time figuring out our bill which was comical because it is so straight forward. We had dinner and drinks and a room for two nights. It took three people to look at all the receipts. They finally got the right price and it was actually $20 less than I was originally quoted so I was very happy. It cost a bit more than we had wanted to spend on this grip but it was worth it to splurge to stay with such a spectacular view. We hopped in the car and drove to the next region.

This next region is called Fribourg. It is a French speaking canton known mostly for it's cheese. The town we are staying in is called Charmey but we passed through it first to go to the town of Broc. There isn't that much in Broc to see except for one important thing: The Callier and Nestle chocolate factory! Sure, a few years ago we already had done this tour but it isn't something that you forget! We got a tour as soon as we got there. Last time we had to wait and wait in big lines and crowds in order to get in an English tour. This time we were part of a four person group. The tour is so fun. It is like a Disneyland ride. You start by walking into a giant elevator that lowers you a bit which reminds me of the Haunted House. Then you walk out into a fake jungle. A booming, disembodied voice explains where the cocoa bean plant comes from and it's religious uses. Then a door opens and you walk into the hull of a ship heading for Europe. At first, chocolate was not used with sugar, if you can believe that. In the 1700's and 1800's they drank it before, during and after sex. The caffeine and endorphins gave them a good buzz apparently. Not too different from now. Of course, the church decided for a bit that it was not Godly and they banned it. But it was too yummy so it was unbanned. Oh, religion! Did you know that a cup of hot chocolate was Marie Antoinette's choice for a last meal before she was executed? Interesting stuff!
Chocolate Factory in Broc, Switzerland

Then the tour went into how milk chocolate was invented by Mr Nestle who had a baby formula recipe. That recipe helped make the milk stay in the chocolate and milk chocolate was born right here in Switzerland! There were a few other men involved in the making of this chocolate brand. Together they managed to keep it all afloat during the stock market crash in the 20's. At the end of the Disneyland like part of the tour they show us the raw materials that go into the modern chocolate. We get to touch and taste the cocoa beans, nibs, butter, sugar, vanilla, almonds and hazelnuts. We got to walk along a functioning chocolate conveyor belt and then eat the chocolate right after it gets wrapped up in it's wrapper. Then we enter the tasting room. The last time we were here, a few years ago, they had almost 40 different types of chocolate samples to try. I ate all but one because I don't like coffee beans in my chocolate. This time there were only about 10 to try. I still tried them all. We took some fun souvenir photos and exited through the gift shop. We went crazy buying chocolate for everyone watching our pets and for our friends and family. We also got ourselves some chocolate of course.
Alien

From Broc it was only a few minute drive to the darling town of Gruyeres. Gruyeres is a medieval town built on the top of a hill and surrounded by ramparts. There are no cars allowed in the tiny cobblestoned town. Probably the most famous Swiss cheese is Gruyeres cheese. It is the main one used in fondue usually. The town smelled strongly of cheese and it was wonderful. We walked straight through the town and up to the castle at the other end that is owned by the late HR Geiger. We had already visited the Geiger Museum when we were here last but we wanted to see if we could get anything at the gift shop. Most of the stuff was over $5000 so we bought what we could afford as a gift for a friend who is an Alien fan and left. We shopped our way back to the beginning of town where our car was parked. We got a water bottle with a big Swiss flag on it. I have been looking for a sports bottle the whole trip but they are so so expensive! I got a really big one so I felt it was justified. Plus, things seemed to be a tiny bit more affordable in this town for some reason. Hubs got his mom a couple really cool birthday presents. I bought my aunt a birthday prezzie too.
Is there something behind me? At the Giger Museum, Gruyeres, Switzerland

It was late in the day and time to check into our hotel in Charmey so we drove the 15 or so minutes back to the town. Our hotel, Hotel L'Etoile, is in the dead center of town. The reason we are staying here is because tomorrow, September 26th, 2015, is the celebration called Desaples.

Desalpes happens once a year when the cows come down the mountain after spending the summer high up in the upper Alps where the grass is tender. The best cheese and creams are made from the milk the cows produce when they are up in this area so it is important that they make the trek every year up there. Once the winter begins to creep up, the cows and farmers must come back down the hill. This is a time of celebration because the farmers get to meet back up with their families. This is also the best time to celebrate the great tasting dairy products that have been created. When the cows and farmers come down, they are led in a long, day long parade. The cows are all decked out in flowers and massive cow bells. The farmers are dressed up as well in a traditional shirt and sometimes lederhosen. Our hotel has a front row view of this parade and the corresponding celebration. This will be my first time attending Desalpes and I don't know what to expect exactly. I am very excited. Time for some good rest.

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Day 11 - Lugano to Meiringen, Switzerland

9:36 AM AirplaneFoodCritic 0 Comments

We came across a cuckoo clock factory in our shopping travels. This is me with a giant clock.
The crazy road we got stuck on.

The town of Brienz, Switzerland
The view from our balcony at Hotel Zwirgi. That is Meiringen below.
The photos are not submitting in the correct order...this is our hike along the Reichenbach Falls
All last night it rained and rained. We left the door slightly open but we closed the cool metal shutters. I don't know what kind of weather they can get in this town but they have these awesome metal doors that you open and close with the touch of a button on the wall. When you close them they come sliding down and seal up like you are in some bunker waiting for Armageddon. We closed that and left the door slightly ajar so we could hear the crazy hard at times rain and the occasional thunder and lightening. It made for a fun sleep. Every now and again I would wake up from the storm and get all excited. I would say quietly to the Hubs something like "That was thunder!" or "It's raining REALLY hard out!" I am not sure if I wanted him to wake up because of my talking or not but I figured if I said it softly enough he would wake up only if he was already awake...you know what I mean? What I am saying is that I said it quietly enough that he couldn't really blame me if he woke up. When we finally got up it was still storming a bit but it was still grey and wet out.

This sign is at the top of the falls and at the base of our hotel.

We had breakfast as usual then went to get the car out of the parking lot. When we first arrived at this hotel, the Hotel Victoria, I went in and asked where we are supposed to park our car. The lady directed us to an underground parking lot that is right across the street so that is where we parked. But I kind of figured that they had some sort of deal with the hotel or something. I was wrong. Quite wrong. After all, we are in Switzerland $$$ (Hubs told me to put that in.) It cost us $90 to park in that stupid parking lot. Everything here is so freaking expensive it is astonishing. We are hoping that it is just Lugano and the rest of Switzerland is a little better. Lugano is kind of a rich person town anyways. Most of the stores are jewelry and watch stores. We drove out onto the wet streets and headed for my favorite part of Switzerland. Switzerland is divided into kind of states called cantons. The one we are leaving is called Ticino. Ticino is the southermost canton and the only Italian speaking one. It is also the one most of my family comes from even though most of them have since moved to other parts of the country. The canton we are going to is called Bern and it is in the middle of the Alps. It has the mountains like the Eiger, the Mounch and the Jungfrau. It has towns like Grindelwald, the one we are staying in called Meiringen and my favorite town of all, Lauterbrunnen. The reason we are not staying in Lauterbrunnen this time is because a couple years ago we were in the area and took the funiculear up the Reichenbach falls just abouve the town of Meiringen like I often do. What I love doing is taking the train up to the top of the falls then walking the tiny, tiny, unpaved, farm roads back down. Last time we went up but couldn't hike back down because it was too wet and rainy out. We were cold and wet and tired so we happened upon this crazy hotel on the very top of the famous falls called Hotel Zwirgi. They had a restaurant so we took shelter there and had a nice hot cocoa. We were super hungry so we got to talking to the waitress. There was no one else around because of the iclement weather so she talked to us for a long while. She recommended a dish called Kaseschnitte which ended up being so awesome that we ordered it everywhere we went after that. I even began making it at home. It is a big hunk of bread, dipped on one side in white wine then baked with cheese, tomatoes, ham and topped with a fried egg. The Hubs just gets it with no meat of course. Other places we had it it was like a pizza sort of. We had it with pineapple on top or other pizza-like toppings. But the best was at the Hotel Zwirgi. We swore we were going to come back to this hotel to stay next time so that is where we are staying now. The hotel is perched on the steep side of a massive mountain. There is little surrounding it but cows, scattered chalets where real Swiss farmers are working and living and the falls.

Kasseschnitte, our dinner.
As we drove along we went through about 1/4 the amount of tunnels as we did in Italy but this time they were all like 15 minute and 20 minutes driving. The tunnels are so long in this area that you even took exits inside the tunnels. The times we were not in a tunnel we were almost swerving off the road because all the mountains were letting the rain water fall in the form of a million waterfalls. There were up to 12 or 15 in one sight-line. It was like there are more waterfalls than in Hawaii. We are lucky that it did rain recently because it is like a freaking wonderland here. The waterfalls are hundreds and hundreds of feet high and drop straight down. It really is a sight to see.

The whole area is so beautiful. I think it is like Yosemite on steroids. The Alps in Bern make the mountains of Yosemite look like a snow globe in your hand. Before we went to our hotel we first drove to a nearby town called Brienz where we always find good shopping and last trip Hubs had the best soup of his life. It was a cream of asparagus soup that was so decadent that even I, who hates asparagus, loved it. We drove to the town and found parking right on the ice blue glacial lake. We went directly to the shop that has all the best stuff and bought lots of stuff. Because I don't have a job and have not for the past several years, I was only able to buy so much stuff but I still managed to fill a Swiss bag full of trinkets to take home and enjoy. We then walked along the lakeside looking for the restaurant. It dawned on me that the last time we were here it was Spring so of course there was asparagus. Now it is Fall and the likelihood of there being a spring vegetable on the menu was not good. And I was right. We found the restaurant and it was not serving the soup. It had really good other foods there but I felt guilty eating lunch there when we had a car full of food that needed eating that we bought at the coop the other day for a million Lugano dollars. So, I had to let the Hubs down and we left to eat in the car. We snacked and drove our way to another cute Alpine town, Grindelwald. It is another smallish town set in the backdrop of massive mountains like the Eiger. I used to come here when I was little and it was a tiny town. Since then it has become much more popular with the tour buses. It has specially caught the eye of the Chinese and many of the stores are now owned by and patronized by Chinese people. It still is a very nice town but you just have to not be surprised to find no Swiss people around much anymore. We did a little shopping around the town. The rain had almost subsided. After shopping, where I got a thimble for my friend who asked for a spoon...it's a long story....we programmed the Hotel Zwirgi into the map and headed off to check in. It was getting kind of late. We were going to get to the hotel right at 5:00pm. That is the cut off time that the hotel gave us that if we were going to be any later we needed to call them to let them know. We drove to the town of Meiringen and followed the GPS up the hill towards the hotel. We took one turn here and another turn there and then the pavement went away. Then we were scraping both sides of the car on the walls of the road because it was so narrow. Then I recognized where we were. We were being led up the same hiking path that I used to take down after going up the funicular. We got to a point where we could not possibly even back down. This is the second time this GPS program had taken us on pretty much undrivable paths. I mean, we were literally driving on a hiking trail. We were stuck. The ground was very wet so we were in a real risk of getting stuck in the mud. We had no room on either side to turn around and there was just no way to back down without ruining the car. We we got out and left the car. We hiked up the road a bit until we got to some caves. The path actually went through some caves. Luckily there was a bit of room just before the caves to maybe turn around at. We just had to drive up and then move some boulders. We scraped pretty good going up to the turn around spot. We easily could have high centered but we managed to not only get up there but to turn around with a few hundred point turns. Back down the road we went and tried the next road up. As we tried to turn up the next little, tiny road some construction guys up on the hill who were moving some dirt for whatever reason, were laughing at us. It's like...well you COULD have told us that we were going the wrong way but thanks anyways, poo heads! We squeezed up the next barely paved road and finally arrived at the hotel. I remember there being buses and stuff up there so I knew there had to be an easier way up. We found it the next day. Who cares. for now we were at the hotel and only a half hour late. They waited for us, luckily! We checked in. The nice folks we met before were all different nice folks and they didn't speak English. I used my broken German and we got to our AWESOME hotel room.

All the rooms here are named something. This room is called 1000 and 1 nights or something like that. Our view is just freaking unbeatable. We can hear the tinkling of the cowbells from the surrounding farms, there are chickens cooing and roostering near us and we can hear the rush of the falls right below us. The people here said that it was cold weather out today because it snowed last night. We could see the highest peaks all had snow on them. That had just happened. They told us that tomorrow will be clear and warmer again. We are hoping that is true because we have this incredible view but the mountain tops are shrouded in clouds. We still managed to get some great sun setting photos. We rested and washed some clothes. We went for a quick hike down a bit of the falls. I was all skippy and happy. The rain had totally stopped by this point and it was beginning to clear. The ground was wet still and there was no one around. It is very quiet and we feel like we are the only people up here. We had to come back to the hotel for dinner before 7pm because that is when the chefs and staff went home. We came back up the hill in time for dinner. Boy were he excited to have the Kaseschnitte again.

This sweet young lady was our server. She spoke the best English of anyone here. She explained to us that the chefs have changed since we were here last but the recipe for the cheese sandwich is the same. We both ordered it and I got a little bottle of wine. We also both got a bowl of cream of vegetable soup. The soup was fantastic as it always is...how can you go wrong with cream of anything really? The kaseschnitte was lacking. We still enjoyed our dinner, specially the views. We had the whole restaurant to ourselves. We finished dinner as the waitress was leaving to go home. Hubs chased her down so we could give her a tip because she was so darn nice. Back at the room I showered as Hubs hung up all his laundry. I think he washed every single item of clothing he had. It was hanging on every surface in the room. A bit stuffy and creepy if you ask me but you gotta do what you gotta do I guess. We started to watch some tv. We brought some Key and Peele on our surface tablet which has been great fun to watch as we wind down for the evening. I konked OUT at 9pm. Hubs said he saw that I was sleeping completely outside the big, warm, fluffy duvets we had on the bed so he felt bad that I was so hot. See, I am always way too hot and he is always way too cold. He was such a sweetheart and opened the door a couple inches so I could sleep better. He put on his eye mask and ear plugs. We both slept very well and had really great dreams. It was yet another great day and night!

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Day 10 - Lugano, Switzerland

12:32 PM AirplaneFoodCritic 0 Comments

Good morning, Lugano!
We started out with all the energy in the world. I mean, here I am at the home of half my family. I have so much I want to get out and experience. I am stoked. I am excited. I am ready! Breakfast was a great start. One of the best breakfasts of all. Loads of fresh loaves of bread that you have to cut yourself. The Swiss yogurts, milks, butters and cheeses are better than anywhere else in the world. They have the happiest cows, despite what California commercials will tell you. They also have the cutest cows. I don't know how that adds to the taste of the products but it does! I had a great yogurt that had fruits and meuseli in it. I had coffee with cream, and I buttered the breads before I put on the meats and cheeses to make my usual breakfast sandwiches. I really should take a photo one of these days! Sorry I have not yet. I am shocked I have not yet. It is my favorite part of the day! I have taken at least one photo every morning at breakfast but it is with my camera and not my phone so there is no way to get it into my blog.

We have good internet here so I am able to talk to the people staying with our animals. Our cat sitters are telling me our cat is doing well but misses us. Our dog is staying at a friend's house and he is doing even better than when he is at home with us. It is like he is at camp. He gets to go to the beach and loads of walkies. We miss him so much though. We know he is in good hands but that doesn't make us miss him any less. We always talk about how he would like this or that. We talk about trying to get my Swiss passport and moving here. Link would love this place. The air is fresh, there are so many outdoor activities. The people here are all healthy. The food is all local and real. Ahh, I love it here. Back to breakfast, I shouldn't be too surprised but this is the first place that had my favorite meat, the German Bologne. Oh man do I love that stuff. I love the salami too. Why is it so much better here than at home? Why is it more tender, more flavorful? I don't know. But it is. I made a couple butter, bread, cheese and meat sandwiches, had my fruit and yogurt and a pastry with delectable cherry jam on it. I had my juices and coffees and saved a packet of hot cocoa for later. In our room there is a little table with a tray. Most of our room have had little packets of instant coffee and come mugs available but I have not been interested. Yesterday I was just in the mood so I put water in the little electric kettle they provided. I got a mug ready. I opened the packet that was sitting with all the stuff. The packet said kaffee on it. I opened it and dumped the contents into the mug as the kettle was going off. I looked into the mug and it was just sugar! What?! They only left us some mugs, a kettle and some packets of sugar. I didn't realize because it is all in another language. I knew it would not be all that satisfying as instant coffee anyways but I was still disappointed. Oh well. So this morning I grabbed a packet of hot cocoa in case I wanted something later today.
Part of the store we did our shopping in. This display had bags of cheese for fondue on the left and raclette on the right. Ohh yeah, right up my alley.

After chowing down on brekkie, which was by the window with a whole, beautiful lake view again, we freshened up and walked across the street to the boat dock. We had planned a boat ride to a tiny lakeside town called Gandria, a visit of the town and maybe a drink, then take the boat to the town of Lugano to find the souvenir shops I need. If there is time or energy we want to take the boat to the bottom of Mt Bre and take the funicular to the top but that is only if we have time. We got the tickets which were WAY more expensive than I had planned. It is a ticket for the whole day and you can hop on and hop off but the times were not all that correct and it cost more than the gondola rides in Venice! Over 50 CHF later we were on the boat and cruising the lake. It ended up being pretty much worth the money. I just LOVE being on the water. The boat stopped at three or four little towns before Gandria. The weather today is a bit more cloudy than yesterday. It says it might rain on my phone but I don't think it will be an issue either way. We disembarked and I was like a kid all of the sudden. I went running up the streets. The town reminded me of Dino, a town nearby where we used to stay when we visited family. The smell of the wet chert and limestone stones just brought me back. I went bounding up and down the little streets that were all five inch high steps. There are no cars in this town. Up and up we went. I took a million photos trying to capture what I was experiencing. The grey stones, the bright green grass, the brown, wooden trellises with ripe grapes hanging from them. We passed a church and kept climbing. We came across a shop. It was the only shop we would see in town that day. It was a pottery shop where a husband and wife did all the crafting. The kiln was right there in the back of the shop. I fell in love with one of their designs. I wanted a bowl with the design of these delicate purple flowers on it but there was not way I was going to get it home even if I could afford it which I could not. I was able to talk to the owner and take photos of the kiln and the shop. I really wanted something from this store. The little dishes were hand painted with the name of the town written on the bottom. I got a brochure for next time. I normally don't care all that much for little pottery shops but that little design was just so pretty and I loved this town so much. The memories it brought back to me despite never having even been there!
The boat dock to Gandria, Switzerland. And a silly husband

After looking around the shop I continued bounding up the little stairs taking photos of every little alleyway and garden. We ended up at a road that ran along the very top of the town. It must have connected the town to Lugano and the nearby towns. We walked across the parking lot that lined the road and dropped back down some stairs. I wanted to head back down another side of the town so I could really see all of this tiny, hillside town. We ended up walking along a gorgeous green pathway. We were all alone. We held hands and breathed in the damp, cool air. Tiny bits of rain fell down. It was wonderful. The surroundings were just wet enough to bring out the brightest colors of everything around us. I was in absolute Swiss heaven yet again. We stopped and smooched and hugged and walked at our own pace back down the lonely path. We looked onto people's back yards and private gardens. I was jealous of them but I could only be so secluded on holiday. I could definitely rent a house here for a week though. I would drink wine, eat pasta and do puzzles and just be the two of us. It sounds like nirvana to me.
Part of the path we took back down to the dock on Gandria.

I misread the boat schedule so we ended up back at the dock 45 minutes early. The rain was coming down very sparsely but enough that we didn't want to sit at the dock so we walked up to the nearest restaurant. I asked in my broken Italian if we could have a coffee or a drink and they sat us in the back. We wanted to sit by the lake so we got up and walked over to a table nearer the lake. It must have been only for people who were eating whole meals because I asked if we could move and the waitress said NO!. So we asked for a food menu. The Hubs gets hungry every couple hours so he thought he could eat a soup or something. We got the menu and it was just freaking highway robbery. It was 40 CHF for fondue for one person. It was 60 CHF for two people to split a fish. No thank you! I think that because this place is so secluded they get to charge that much. We noticed yesterday that the prices in Lugano were higher than normal as well. The Swiss Franc (CHF) is practically the same as the dollar so there is little calculation to do in our heads...this stuff was EXPENSIVE!! We thanked them for their time and left. It looked like the waitress was pretty used to people seeing the menu and walking out because she was like....yeah, ciao!
Waiting for the boat in Gandria.

We went back down to the dock and found a sheltered place to wait. We met a cute little Swiss family with a little 14 month old baby who were on vacation from Zurich. The boat came and we had the whole ferry to ourselves besides the family. I was pretty tired from running all over the place so we sat in the back and I rested my head on my husband's shoulder and watched the unmatchable beauty go by. The boat stopped at a few little towns before the city of Lugano where we got off and did a little shopping. My aunt told me of a store that had souvenirs on the bottom floor so we found the store that was sort of like a Macy's and took the escalator to the bottom. Down there we did not find any souvenirs but we did find a food court and a grocery store as well as a shoe purse store. We were more interested in the food though. We decided to get food to snack on now as well as food for dinner tonight and to eat on our drive to Meringin tomorrow. We ran around the store like it was that supermarket game show. I got these tiny, one inch big salami sausages made from wild boar and two kinds of breseola, one freshly cut and one prepackaged. We got a couple cheeses, one was really stinky and one was a feta in a chili sauce. The Hubs got a couple grilled veggie salads, some fruits and an avocado. We got a bag of little breads, some chips and a screw cap bottle of local Ticino white wine. It was 73CHF worth of food but we figured with the super high prices of the area, we were getting a bargain by skipping dinner at a restaurant. We took our bags of food and walked the streets of Lugano again looking for souvenirs. We walked further up the hill this time. I finally came across a tobacco shop that had magnets, spoons, key chains and stickers. I started to buy a few things when the Hubs pointed out that most of the stuff I was buying was just Switzerland stuff and not specific to Ticino or Lugano. The prices were crazy high too so I put most of it back. I got a magnet that said Lugano on it, one for me and one for my brother. it was the ONLY thing that said Lugano on it in the whole city and it was not cheap. The spoon I almost got said Switzerland on it but it was 10 CHF. The ones in Venice were 4! I bought the magnets then when I walked out I saw stickers that said Ticino and Lugano so I went back in and bought that too. Armed with what we NEEDED to buy in this town, we walked back to the hotel. We got back at about 3:30, put the food in our semi cool mini fridge and laid down for a nap.
The view on the boat ride home from Gandria. 

Two hours later we woke up to rain outside our French doors. It was a nice way to wake up. We made a picnic on our bed and had the wine,cheese, olives and meats from yesterday and today. We never left the room again for the rest of the evening. We got a great rest and the view out the doors are so wonderful, who needs to go out? Goodnight, Lugano, thanks for another spectacular day!
Our dinner picnic on the bed. And a little Key and Peele to boot!

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Day 9 Venice, Italy to Lugano, Switzerland

11:08 AM AirplaneFoodCritic 0 Comments

Goodbye, Venice, we shall meet again!
Now I know, next time we come to this area, spend a few more days in Venice. I seriously could just hang out here. There are not that many places I feel that way about. The general vibe of the place is fantastic. The bright, fresh feeling I get from this city is invigorating and relaxing at the same time. Last time I was here I was 10 years old and I was just getting over a terrible, terrible cold or flu. I remember getting sick in Grindlewald, Switzerland. My parents were so mad at me and my brother. We had not experienced sleeping in down comforters and the beds we had in the tiny Alpine town had these crisp, white, fluffy duvets rolled up on the bed like a burrito. What we would do is stand out on our balcony in the evening and get really, really cold then dive into our puffy blankets. We did that over and over. My folks think that cold then hot is what got me sick. By the time we got to Lugano, Switzerland, I had come down with the worst cold of my life. And that is saying something since I have been pret-ty sick in my day. In fact, there is the possibility that I was bit by a tick here in Switzerland. I know that one of the first symptoms of Lyme is a bad fever. And my fever was bad. It was in the 80's so there was no such thing as a digital thermometer. My mom had brought along a regular mercury thermometer. My fever went up to the very end of the stick. I had at least 107F temperature. I was dizzy, out of it and hallucinating. My mom, dad and brother had to go visit our family in the nearby towns so they had no choice but to leave me in the hotel in Lugano. I was so crazy in the head with fever I really didn't understand what was going on around me. I remember three things from the few days we were there. I remember the maid coming in and seeing this super ill little girl and she got pissed. I would be upset too. You don't want to clean a room and catch some awful bug because of it. I tried to explain that the room next door was my parents' and they could stick me there while they cleaned my room and then I could come back when they were finished. All I managed to say was "Me madre et me padre et qui" and pointed to the next room over. I didn't speak much more of any language than that at age 10 so I was glad it made sense to them. I felt like I was floating into the next room because I could not feel my arms and legs. The other thing I remember is that my local family heard I was sick and they made me some soup. It was the best soup in the world. Ana, my aunt, makes the best food in the world so it isn't too surprising. She sent it back to the hotel in a thermos with my mom and dad after a day of visiting. Usually, when I visit my family in this region we have the freshest, most amazing, yummiest food imaginable. Ana makes these massive bowls of gnocchi. She makes one bowl of gnocchi, potato dumplings basically, with tomato sauce. The bowl is a foot and a half across. We eat as much as we possibly can because we know we won't be able to have anything like it anywhere else. Then, when we can't fit anything else in out tummies, Ana brings out the identical bowl of gnocchis, this time with Gorgonzola. Well, that is my favorite way to have gnocchi so I eat more. I can only eat so much so I have to stop and she looks at us all surprised and says "You no like?" Yes! Yes, we LOVE! It is just so so much!
The view from our room in Lugano.

I digress. The third thing I remember from being sick in Lugano is that in the hotel room, there was two beds, one for me, one for my brother. Then there was a small bathroom with a sink, tiny shower and toilet. We were on something like the third floor and there were floors above us. Every time someone flushed their toilet above us, the water would rush past our little bathroom. I could hear the water rushing every now and again. In my fevered madness, I was convinced it was the sound of my brain frying. I would hear the sizzling sound and then panic that I was dying. I was ten years old at the time, mind you so don't laugh! I would try to check the various parts of my brain by doing different tests. I mean, like I would be able to know what part of my brain was frying but....well anyways...someone would flush and I would start trying to do math problems. Some one else would wash their hands and I would try to remember my address. Oh, Airplane Food Critic, you are a silly one. Well, after a few days my fever broke. I soaked my tender limbs in warm water and it felt like glacial water. I was finally over the worst of the cold by the time we got to Venice. And you were wondering how this all related to Venice! Well, the point of this story is this: I was here last when I was getting over a cold and could not breathe. I had heard that Venice was smelly. I heard that it was smelly because back in the old days, residents used to dump their garbage and human waste right into the canal and water ways. I don't know if this is true, but my brother, who was 13 at the time, told me that I was lucky that I could not breathe because it is so stinky in this town. Now, I have to say also that we were just kids who hated most everything that was not super bland and plain, so he may have just been smelling the seawater. I don't know. What I DO know is that I am here now in Venice and it smells fresh and delightful. So don't believe everything you hear.

One negative thing about our stay in Venice is the mattresses. The Hubs woke up with a super sore back. I had to stretch his arms for him and rub out his back. I left him in the room to do some yoga and stretches while I got breakfast. The breakfast was the same as the day before with the tiny sandwiches and other crudites. We filled up as best we could, checked out, pet the big sleepy dog in the reception area (these hotel dogs make my whole day!) and went out in search of the elusive olive store that we couldn't find yesterday. It was right where we were looking yesterday but this time it was open! I had only a limited amount of Euros on my in cash because it was our last day in the EU. Switzerland uses Swiss Francs. I figured I would spend all that I had left in this store if I could. We got a huge bag of olives. There were about five huge bins of fresh olives in the window so I had the man at the counter give us a big scoop of each type of olive. There were green, dark green, black and dark black olives. Then I got some fresh slices of mortodello. The mortodello I chose was sitting along the wall behind the counter and had to be 10 inches in diameter! I got three slices and it was more than I could try to eat in one sitting. I also bought some stinky looking cheese called...oh I forget what it was called taglio or something like that. I could have stayed in that store all day. I love the smell of these kinds of stores. They smell like stinky cheeses and cured meats. But, alas, we had to get to our car. I went to pay and it turned out I did not have enough in euros! I was about 60 or 80 cents short. The man was so nice that he let me have it anyways. The Hubs said it was because I made him smile. I like to think it was because it showed how much I loved this little town.

We rolled our luggage to the Rialto Vaporetti and bought our 7.50 euro each tickets to our parking lot island. Once again, the ride was part of the fun. Nothing in Venice seems like commuting, it all feels like fun. We saw all the locals doing their daily activities: delivering mail, dirt, boxes, wine....they were going to work and moving about the city. I will seriously miss this place. And to think, I almost didn't want to come this far East because I thought it would be just too much driving. We did agree that next time we come, not only will we come in the cooler months...one might think late September is a cooler month but it is not!...we will take the train. I normally love driving but in Italy, not so much. Plus, we only are visiting the main cities in Italy so a train would suffice. The roads in Italy are a little confusing for me. Maybe it is because I speak so little Italian. Maybe it is because I am so unfamiliar with Italy all together. Maybe it is because of all the toll booths I have to stop and pay huge amounts of money at. Whatever it is, I think a train might be less stressful. Then, after my next trip leaves Italy, I can just rent a car again. We squeezed every last drop of enjoyment out of our taxi boat ride to the car then it was time to figure out how to pay for parking.

We walked around and around....those are five words I have used WAY too much this trip!!...We could not find anywhere to pay for the parking. I figured I was supposed to pay at some sort of machine with my ticket I got when I pulled into the lot. We found no such machine. I figured, maybe you were supposed to pay as you drove out so we got in the elevator in section A where our car was. That, of all weird places, was where the payment info was. And the info told us to go BACK down to the ground floor and walk to section C to pay. Thanks, Italy, for the super helpful placement of information. We went BACK down the elevator and walked toward the C section. But of course there is no direct way to get to that area so we rolled our little cases all over the place until finally we found where to pay. And back on the road we went! No worries...next stop...Switzerland!!
Lunch on the balcony. See how big that mortadello is?!

I had planned on hitting up some little towns on the way to our destination, Lugano, but it was getting a little late now that we took forever to pay for our parking ticket and to get out of the general Venice area. So we skipped Bellaggio and Lake Como. I am not too bummed because I was just crazy excited to be back in Lugano. The first time I was here I was 2 years old. I had come here several times since but then, after age 10 we stopped coming. I have such specific memories of this place. I remember sights, feelings, sounds and smells. I even remember tastes. I remember being at a family member's hotel and the smell of the stone hallway, the smell of the coffee and red wine from the tiny cafe below. I remember walking along the late and smelling the fresh alpine air while eating an ice cream. When we got to the city of Lugano I was just bursting. I was sighing and squealing. We both were relieved to be in Switzerland, too. Lugano is the main city in the Canton (cantons are like states) of Ticino. Ticino is the only Italian speaking canton in Switzerland. This is where half of my family is from. Many of my family members have since moved to other places in the country and the ones who remain are pretty old. I was not able to get in touch with the ones who remain here in town but just being here was heartwarming enough for me.

Our hotel, Hotel Victoria, is in the tiny town right next to Lugano called Paradiso. It is a little bit less expensive to stay in Paradiso than Lugano so we can afford to stay in a room right on Lake Lugano. Not only do we have a room with incredible views of the lake and of the city of Lugano, we are situated right in front of the famous fountain. We love our room and our hotel. I am trying to figure out how to get the comforter into my bag without anyone knowing and that is saying a lot since normally I think hotel comforters are the nastiest thing in the world. See, the comforter is usually some pretty color unlike the white sheets below. Therefore, they never bleach or clean the comforter so as soon as I get into a hotel I usually take the comforter off and sit on the blanket underneath. Not here though. It is a soft, fluffy, blue, pretty comforter. We got to our room, opened our French doors onto our balcony and had our meats, cheeses and olives at the little table over looking the fountain and the alpine lake of Lugano. What heaven!
Ok, so my phone does not take the best night photos but this is a look over at the city of Lugano, Switzerland. We are in heaven here!

After eating and a rest we walked the 15 minutes along the lake to the city of Lugano. All the feels came rushing to me. I was walking on air. The city isn't exactly as I remember because I remember being at people's homes with gardens, farms and trellises but it still in my family's Lugano and I felt at home. We walked along the lake, through town and into the park. We walked the length of the beautiful park stopping for rests on the red park benches or to take photos. We got to the end of the park where a little river met the lake and people were sunbathing on a little beach. We sat on a boardwalk and watched the local dogs play in the water and the kids play in a big park. We took a lot of photos. After a long time just hanging out we walked into the city. I had a list of things my family at home wanted me to get. I had to get stickers for my aunt, a spoon for my friend and a magnet for my brother. We walked and walked the streets but didn't come across any what I call junk shops...the shops with all the souvenirs. We only say fancy shops like Lanvin and Hermes. Next thing I knew we were back along the lake and I was no souvenirs the richer. Oh well, we were tired by this point and didn't want to back track so we just kept heading to the room. The sun was setting and we got lots of romantic shots and feels. At the room I sat on the balcony and had a grappa before we headed down to the hotel restaurant for dinner. We saw a menu in the elevator that had risotto and we both wanted to have some at some point during this trip. We meant to have some in Italy but being in the Italian part of Switzerland would do too. Most of the risotto we had seen previously had seafood in it or if it was vegetarian, it had mushrooms and we are not big mushroom fans. This place had at least three vegetarian risotto options, saffron, pesto and funghi (mushroom). There are no places to eat that are ON the lake here because that is all a walkway or park so the next best thing is right across the street. We had a perfect spot with a view of the fountain that shoots over 100 feet into the air and the park at the base of the fountain. Nighttime was falling quickly. We got seated right by the window so we had the best possible view. Right then, the fountain lit up. They have a way to light the entire fountain and the colors change from blue to red to green. Awesome.
The nighttime view from our room of the fountain and Mt Bre.

I had a craving that lingered from Venice and I just had to have wiener schnitzel AGAIN. We split a risotto and the Hubs got the biggest calzone I have ever seen! We had a cocktail to start. I had a Campari Soda and the Hubs got a Baileys. I got 50 cl of the local spritzy white that I love so much. Things are much, much, much  more expensive here. I am hoping it is just this town and the rest of our Switzerland adventure is a bit cheaper than this or else I will be going broke really quick!! Dinner cost an arm and a leg but BOY was it great! We came back up to the room and I finished the night off with a grappa from the bottle I bought in Venice. Yet another perfect, romantic, WONderful day! Thank you, Switzerland!
A terrible close up of the fountain as seen from our hotel balcony. It is 1000000x better in person as I am sure you can guess.

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Day 8 - Venice, Italy

12:14 AM AirplaneFoodCritic 0 Comments

I love Venice. I love Venice. I love Venice!
I love Venice! The weather is just perfect. The skies are blue, the Adriatic Sea is green. There is a light breeze and I am with my wonderful husband. There is not all that much to do in this city as far as museums and attractions go but that is what I love about this city. The attraction is the city itself. We had breakfast at the hotel because as usual, it is included with the room. I had coffee, yogurt, and fruit. This place had something a little different. They had little sandwiches already made for you. They were like teach sandwiches. I had a ham, salami and cheese with lettuce on a seeded roll. I also had a little tuna sandwich square on white bread with the crusts cut off. There were halves of boiled eggs speared to a tomato slice with an olive on top and some crostinis with chopped tomatoes and a tangy aoli. We filled up as usual and headed out the door to take a gondola ride.
Gondola ride, Venice

I had read  a lot about gondola rides before we arrived and I decided we would not take one. Everything I had read said the 30 minute ride costs about 180 Euros. That is just waaaaay too steep for us and just wasn't worth it. But once we arrived, we saw that the ride is only 80 euros and that is for the whole boat not per person so if you got the maximum 6 people on the ride, you would not be paying all that much after all. We went down to where the gondolas were loading people up. There are several places like this in Venice so we went to the one nearest our hotel. There was basically no line. You can find the places that load the gondolas by looking for the signs that show the tarrifs. The signs are all the same and all have the same cost. It is 80 euro for up to 6 people all day until 7pm when it switches to 100 euro for up to 6 people. We split the gondola with another couple that was standing there so it ended up costing us 20 euro per person and it was TOTALLY worth it. I enjoyed the hell out of that 30 minute ride. The temperature was PERFECT. The waterways and streets were quiet. It was about 10:30am and I think most of the tour groups and cruise ships had yet to arrive. In fact, when we left on our little ride I looked back and saw the massive tour group just coming in behind us. There are a lot of tour groups in Venice. There were in Florence too but it is much more noticeable in Venice because the streets and alleyways are much, much more narrow so you are walking along and all of the sudden you are locked in a sea of people, fighting to get out. Then you are on your own and walking free again.

The gondola ride took us through the city on little, narrow waterways then we came out onto the canal for a short ride before we ducked back into the little side "streets". It was just beautiful, relaxing, quiet and even better than I ever expected. I am so glad we were able to do it. We lounged in the soft little seats, looking around at the interesting buildings. We got to peek up little side alleys that were dark because they were so narrow. We passed little restaurants that had the smell of fresh fish and fried goodies. We got to hear the soft lapping sounds of the water along the walls. Our gondolier pointed out various places of interest but he was so quiet that I only heard what he was saying a few times. I heard him say that the small waterways we were on were only 2.6 meters deep. I learned that there are over 400 gondolas in Venice. We passed some buildings that were apparently interesting. The only one I heard him mention was Casanova's old home. I liked looking into people's back yards and terraces. I doubt I could handle living in Venice with all those tourists and flooding but if I did live there I would have a terrace with lots of plants and flowers and a fountain. It would be my sanctuary from all the hubbub. After the ride was over I was all happy and in love. I clinged to my husband all lovey dovey as we meandered our way to the Rialto Bridge. We had a great hotel that was centrally located between the Rialto Bridge and St Mark's Square.

The Rialto Bridge is the busiest bridge by far. It is also only one of a couple that cross over the main canal. There are hundreds of little foot bridges in Venice. It took some 15 bridge crossings for me to realize this and finally stop taking a photo at every single one. The rialto is really wide and goes up a bunch of steps then flattens out a little before it goes back down. All along either side of the bridge are shops. Most of the shops all had the same things for sale. There were cute little snow globes on little gondolas, there were a bazillion masquerade masks of all sorts. There were scarves and purses. And then there was lots of glass. In Venice, a boat ride away from the main part is an island called Murano. Murano is famous for it's glass so there is lots of Murano glass in all the shops. I already have a bunch of glass stuff from when my aunts and uncles have come to Venice so I didn't have to buy anything. What confuses me is how many masks there were. Masks made from plastic, some made of wood, some porcelain. They had feathers, and lace and sparkles and paint. Some covered your whole face, many just your eyes. Then there were boxes and dolls all with the masks on it. Who is buying all these masks? What do you do once you buy one? Where do you wear these elaborate masks? I wouldn't even want to display one on my wall or mantle because, well because it is a creepy mask. They had all sorts of shapes too. They had the animal ones and the spooky plain faced ones and then they had the black plague, long nose ones. So many masks! I bought some tiny fans for the kids who live above us because the family is taking in any packages that may be delivered while we are gone. I just don't have the heart to buy any of those masks. I don't want the vendors to think that people want those masks and maybe they will stop selling them. It is like walking around in a clown town. Clown and joker masks everywhere!

Once on the other side of the canal, and out of mask-central, we started just wandering around. We stopped in a little food shop and got some goodies.  I found a bottle of grappa for a really good price. We got a bag of rice and spices that is all ready to be made into risotto and a bag of dried spices and chilies that you just re-hydrate and dump on top of pasta and you have your sauce done. We poked in and out of shops not bothering to look at any maps. We turned down little streets and went over tiny bridges. I kept saying "the is ADORABLE!!" and "I love this place!!" And I was not lying. I was having so much fun just getting lost in Venice. We went down little streets that were not wider than my arms could stretch out. We were in the shade every where we turned because no matter the direction we were going, the streets were so narrow that we were never in the sun. But I could look up and see the beautiful blue sky above as the yellow and pink pastel buildings leaned over me. Sometimes we would turn down an alley and see the end that looked like there was no where to turn only to find that there is a little doorway for us to go through that leads to the next bridge or alleyway. We would suddenly pop out onto a square where there were a few tables and chairs hiding in the shade of a tree. I wanted to sit down and have an ice cream or beer in every single one of them. One thing we found odd was that there is graffiti EVERYWHERE. I can only guess that they don't remove it because of the age of the buildings. It might be uglier to have a power washed side of the building or to have that patch of obviously fresh paint that never matches the rest of the building. I don't know. But there was graffiti on every single building, no matter how residential or how tiny the alley. It isn't nice graffiti either. It isn't art. It is just people's scribbling in black spray paint or black pen. Still though, it was not enough to ruin my time or the scenery. The blue blue sky, the orangey yellow buildings and the green plants that spilled out of all the windows and terraces all made for a perfect day. I could not get over how much fun I was having. Once alley we went down had big fat red grapes hanging from side to side as it crossed the road above our heads. We tried to steal some but they were too high up.

Unlike in Florence, my husband downloaded the CORRECT Tripadvisor map and we had to use it to help us get back across the canal. We had walked all the way to the next bridge down from the Rialto which is quite a ways away. Once back on the same side as our hotel we went searching for some snack foods. We circled around trying to find this one shop we had seen yesterday that had all these wonderful olives and meats in the window. We went round and round and round but never found it. Then we realized that it was Sunday. Many places are closed in Europe on Sunday. Turned out the place we were looking for was all closed up behind metal shutters and we were passing it over and over. We gave up and got a slice of olive pizza and a veggie calzone and walked towards our hotel to get ready for the opera. Right near our hotel we found a little walkway that slipped away from the main walkways and lead to some steps that went right into the water. We sat down on the steps and had our lunch. It was a special little quiet spot just for us. We watched as the crowds passed over a nearby bridge as we ate. Every now and then a gondola would go by us but otherwise it was secluded and private. It was a lovely place to eat lunch.

After lunch we went back to the hotel to rest our feet for a little bit. We got ready and headed back out to the Teatro de Fenice to see Tosca. We had gotten tickets way back in April for a matinee showing of the opera. The opera house was about a three minute walk from our hotel. I didn't know what to expect when we went to the opera house, I just wanted to see an opera in Italy because I love the opera so so so much. We showed our tickets to the people at the entrance and they directed us up the stairs so we went up the stairs. We kept going up and up and up. We got to the fourth floor and showed our tickets to the attendant. The attendant then walked us to our little viewing room. In the room there were 8 chairs grouped into two groups of 4. We were sat in the back row in the center of the little room. There was no one else in the room so I took the opportunity to lean out the balcony and have a look around. The opera house is AHmazing. Every surface is covered in gold. There were ornate carvings, massive chandeliers, the ceiling was painted with cherubs with gold wings. I was just in awe. I didn't even know that a place can look that fancy. Our balcony looked directly onto the stage so we had a full view of the whole area. Before we left on this trip we watched Tosca on tv to get an idea of the story. I figured there would not be English subtitles like they have projected above the stage at the SF Opera so I wanted to be able to follow along. The orchestra warmed up and the lights went down. The curtain went up and the opera began. I gasped when I saw that there were, in fact, English subtitles projected above the stage! English was on the right and Italian was on the left. I was thrilled. The opera was incredible. We got all teary-eyed at the end. There were no speakers or microphones, just the pure, raw music and voices. What a fantastic experience. There were two intermissions. The first one we got some water. The second one we wandered around a little. They didn't seem to bother checking your ticket so we walked around to other rooms and levels. Every room we went into were just as ornate as the main room. There were all sorts of crystal chandeliers and gilt sconces. Just beautiful.
Opera House in Venice, Italy

After the opera we walked back to the hotel to change out of our fancy clothes and back into our day clothes. We decided to walk down along the canal to find some dinner. I didn't care if it was touristy or a rip off, I wanted to eat near the water tonight. I have read a lot of bad stuff about restaurants in Venice. People say that the worst food in all of Italy is in Venice. They say that the service is garbage because there is such a steady flow of tourists that they don't need to worry about repeat customers. I also heard that you should not trust the restaurants that have the displays out front of all the seafood in ice and that have the waiters hollering for you to come sit down. But that is precisely what we did anyways. I did not care. I wanted to eat ON the water, in view of the Rialto Bridge, preferably on the side that was not under construction.
Dinner in Venice.

The first place we tried said there would be a table opening up in 5 minutes. Five minutes in waiter talk must mean 20 because we waited and waited. Finally we asked for a drink menu so we could at least enjoy a drink while we waited inside for a table outside. They brought the menu and it didn't have any vegetarian options at all so we left. We walked a couple more restaurants down to the first one that said they had pizza. My husband can always eat a veggie pizza if all else fails. We immediately got a seat as the waiter threw out a couple who just sat down without asking. He sat us right on the water and in view of the good side of the Rialto Bridge. Exactly what I wanted. I got a breaded veal Milanese style with french fries. The Hubs got a quattro fromaggio pizza that was soooo good. It is that New York style that I just love: flat, floppy, greasy  and cheesy. My meal really hit the spot too. It only exactly what I was in the mood for but it was really good. So who knows what you will get from one of those restaurants. So many people warned us about how much of a rip off and how horrible the food would be and how bad the service. We decided to have dessert for the first time of the trip because we were just enjoying ourselves so much. They came with this whole dessert menu with photos and everything. Oh man, everything looked so so good. Right when we were about to order, a woman who was sitting right next to me jumped up. She said "my purse just went into the water!" Everyone jumped up. We looked over the railing and there it was, floating along. One of our waiters jumped over the railing and walked across the fronts of the boats. Another waiter started to take his shirt off but he was totally joking. At first I didn't realize he was joking and really thought this guy was going to jump in. The woman was totally distraught. She had her phone, passport, everything in there. The first waiter leaned down into the water and scooped the purse up as it began to sink as it moved down the current. What excitement! Ever since I heard about my Aunt dropping her camera into the canal I have been totally afraid of something like that happening to me. I just keep my whole purse across my chest, even when I am eating dinner. I don't want to lose anything. I have all the money, credit cards and my passport, my phone, my medication...everything is in my purse. My heart was racing after that incident. We finally calmed down and managed to order our desserts. I got a bowl of marscepone cream with chocolate syrup and macaroon crumbles on top. He got a strawberry frappe. All in all it had been a perfect dinner. We paid the relatively low price and went to take some night photos of Venice. We crossed over to the Pizza de San Marco which was considerably less crowded than the last time we were there.
Venice at night.

I had heard from many sources that the nighttime was the best time to really enjoy Venice because the tours, cruise ships and most of the tourists are gone and it seems this is true. We took a bunch of time lapsed photos to really get the twinkly lights. Meanwhile, we got to listen to beautiful live music that was coming from the cafes scattered along the square. We walked to the canal and took photos of the Adriatic Sea and all the gondolas that were parked for the evening. I was so happy and in love. Today was for sure a highlight of the trip and a highlight of my life. We wandered back to the hotel and went to bed. The only negative thing is the bed. I slept alright but the husband's back does not do well on the mattresses here. Oh well, it is our last night and then on to Switzerland!

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