Not that it has taken me this long to realize it, but I am NOT a
blogger. BUT, seeing that our time here in the UK is now limited
(Heading home to WASHINGTON in the spring!) we are set on seeing as
much as we can while we can. So, over the summer break we took off for a
nine day road trip in the Alps. Here is a little of what ensued...
Day 1, 16th August- Home to Treviso, Italy
Hopped a Ryan Air flight and wandered across the street to our dive of a hotel to sleep in the sultry heat.
Day 2, 17th August- Treviso to Verona, Italy to Lugano, Switzerland
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| Placing our names outside Juliet s Balcony in Verona, Italy |
That morning we woke up, got the car (an Alfa Romeo,
ha!) and headed to our first stop, Verona. After adjusting the dash
sat-nav's tendency, we were able to get there, park and wander around
to see a few sites. We followed the Adige river around into the
historical center. We did see "Juiet's Balcony" and scrawled our names
on the premises. It was PACKED with tourists, so Olive didn't get to
grope Juliet for a photo op, but she did get to dance about in the tiny
square a bit instead.
We had a picnic lunch of pizza
in a small park. Entertainment included a male couple shaving each
other, a group of surly individuals a few boxes of wine down, and a man
in short running shorts bathing in the fountain. Once one of them sat
next to Josh, and put his head on the table; it was time to quietly
leave and make our way to the next destination.
After a 'bit'
in the car, we skirted Milan up to Switzerland. A 40 Euro vignette later, we
were road ready. Our stop for the night was in Lugano. That evening we
wandered the town in the balmy 30 oC temps and marveled at Lake Como.
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| By the Lake Como in Lugano, Switzerland |
The Hotel we stayed at was the Hotel Victoria. Family
run by some obscure branch of Russian Royalty. The little prince had some lovely portraits around the hotel of him growing up. Now he runs the front
desk. Maybe he had something to do with the unique decor.
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| Hotel Victoria- note the Gnomes |
That
evening's dinner was in a plaza where Olive got to get her dance on again. This time is was to an American
Rockabily/Bluegrass band.
Day 3, 18th August- Lugano, to Chocolate Factory, to Lodrino, Switzerland to Vaduz, Liectenstein to Garmish, Germany
First stop on this day was the
Alprose
Chocolate Factory. It was a quaint little factory that was asleep for
the weekend. We took the self guided tour, watched the video, and hit of
the gift shop. (For the rest of the vacation I was trying to keep
chocolate from melting- not such a good choice for souvenirs!)
Onward
we traveled North to the small village of Lodrino, Switzerland, the homeland of my mother's grandfather. We easily found the church in town
which was located between the quarry and a valley with a waterfall.
Inside was an organ my great-grandfather help raise funds for. There
wasn't anyone around to talk to, but we spent some time in the cemetery
looking at the Genzoli's tombstones. No doubt some of our handsomeness
comes from those ancestors.
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| Grape Picking |
Not
ready to hop in the car yet, we took a walk about. On the side of the
Church was an arbor of grapes that Olive and Josh kept eating in atempt
of finding a tasty one. The opposite direction was a natural stone built
area used like a restrurant. Apparently that night there was to be a
festival held there, but alas, we needed to be in Germany by nightfall.
So off we were.
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| Lugano, Switzerland |
Somewhere in Switzerland, we all needed out of the car. After a
fabulous family meltdown, we all had a bit of a splash in the fountain.
Also they drank a bit of the water as well. Luckily, all was well after
that. Did I mention it was HOT?
On
our way to Germany, we took an hour or two to see Liecternstein. We
stopped in Vaduz, the capital, for our first passport stamp of the road
trip, for which we had to pay (very bummed that we didn't get all the
countries we visited in there!)
No
offense to the Principality, there was nothing wowing about it. A very
expensive drink stop later, we were back on the road through the Alps
taking in the sites when we were not in tunnels.
Eventually
we ended up in Garmish, Germany to stay at the Edelweiss resort- an
American run military hotel. It was a great room at a great price for
the region, however, God Bless America. We had taco bar for dinner.
Yes, we did.
Day 4, 19th August- Bavaria
A
day in and around Garmish was all we wanted after all the driving. We
started out the morning going to the Partnachklamm Gorge for a cool hike
between dripping walls a silty azure stream. It was the first and
only time all trip that we needed longer sleeves. When we arrive to the
other side we were faced with the delema of turn around down the gorge
and find lunch, or trust in a sign saying there was an inn along this
mountain trail. Equipped with some water, raisens, and a banana we hiked
forth hoping that it was true that there would be food at the top.
Sure enough, we plod on to be rewarded with a the
Hotel Forsthaus
with a resturant overlooking the Alps. Schnitzel, Curry Worsts, and Weizen
was happily ordered and eaten. We weren't the only ones hiding from the
heat and and enjoying our beers. There was another family next to us as
well whom we then recognized later that evening...
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| Gorge |
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| Lunch Break during the Hike |
After
a deserved rest and splash about in the hotel pool, we went out to find the
local Festwoche. We walked into this huge striped tent, sat down at an
empty bench and wondered what next. The American family we saw earlier in the day
were decked out in their dirndl and lederhosen- Josh went over, said
hello, and then we had company and help to guide us through. A woman
came over took our order and returned with our giant mugs of beer.
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| Beer Lady |
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| Dinner at the Festival... we were there a bit early :) |
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| Alpen-glow |
Day 5, 20th August- Up the Zugspitz
Another
day in Bavaria was spent traveling up Germany's Highest peak, the
Zugspitze. We didn't hike it. Instead we took the train from Elbsee and
headed up the mountain to the Glacier. Although it was over 33C/91F when
we left, we were able to go sledding on the glacier!
To
get to the summit we boarded a cable car for the last bit of the
journey. It was a clear day and you could see 360 degrees around the
summit into the Alps and into the valleys below (that's the part Josh
didn't care for too much, look how happy he is)
Whilst
we were up there, we traveled back and forth from Germany to Austria
because we could. Once down off the mountain we had a snack of apple
strudel, weizen, and a pretzel before renting a paddle boat and taking a
swim in Lake Eibsee. It was lovely clear, cold glacier lake. Fantastic
to swim in. Frightening to watch Olive go off the boat's slide into
Josh's arms since she can't really swim. But we all made it out alive
and smiling.
Because we had to get a little more in
this day, we headed next to Oberammergau which is known for it's wood
carvers. Very Bavarian Kitch, but nice to walk around. Ended up getting a
few tree men to go along with our ever increasing collection German
wood art.
Day 6, 21st August- Garmish to the Hallein Salt Mine, to Salzburg, Austria
It
was finally time to leave Bavaria and get on to what O was waiting for -
The Sound of Music! However we took the more speedy route (aka ALL
tunnels) to get there. Just outside Salzburg is the
Hallein Salt Mine.
No longer operational, but once was the source of riches for Salzburgh.
The tour started out by getting kitted up in these special hooded
scrubs and then waiting outside with your cave worthy fuzzies on
underneath *Sweating.* To get into the cave itself was a train. Imagine
sitting one behind the other on a low balance beam. One got very cozy spooning
the person in front and behind you.
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| Umpa Lumpa |
Once
in our tour guide walked us through a series of sights in German, Italian, and English. Olive and Josh kept licking things to see if they
were salty. Did get to have a Willy-Wonka ride in a boat across a briny
underground lake. And, the best part, two old wooden slides which you'd
stradddle that zipped you down 42 feet at some 60 degree angle. The
first one was fun, but Josh and I were both fearful of running into the
kid who wouldn't get off the bottom- we would have bought the photo, but
to say Olive was grinning maddly, my face had that squished in ouch I'm
going to hit a wall look, and josh's just said *&^k. Couldn't part
$20 for that, so the memory will have to do.
We
emerged from the mine 2 hours later and made our way to our hotel in
Salzburgh- the Golden Ente. We wandered the town, walked past the
Fesenreitshule, Josh tried on and fell in love with some hand made goat
skin Leterhosen (a mere $680 steal!) traversed the
Getreidegasse - Salzburg′s busiest alley,
and lit a candle at Dom zu Salzburg. Dinner was spent under the large
leafy trees in the Augustiner Bräustübl. A liter of ale can be bought
direct from the cask. What you do is grab a large ceramic stein from the
shelf, pay for a ticket, *wash you mug in the fountain (Josh didn't
since he wasn't in the Rick Steve's know), and then hand your ticket
over for your mug to be filled. Food was bleh (think meat/starch for
drinking) but the beer was lovely.
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| Lighting a candle in Dom zu Salzburg |
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| A Liter of Beer at the Augustiner Braustuble |
Day 7, 22nd August- The Sound of Music Day
Epic
day of touring. If you haven't seen Roger and Hammerstein's creation,
you might not see the signifigance all these places, if you have, well,
we almost got them all!
Olive dressed in her special
Sound of Music costume that Oma made, and was determined to wear it all
day despite the oppressive heat. Trying to find the Do-Re-Mi stairs we started up
the hill along the Monchsberg Walk to
Hohensalzburg Fortress.
There
were lovely views of the city while we climbed, but we didn't find the
stairs. Instead we found ourselves at the back gate of the Castle and decided since we
were there, we might as well go in. Olive liked the canons and trying
out the marionettes in the museum. We were able to glimpse the house
used for the movie out one of the windows.
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| Canon at the Hohensalzburg Castle |
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| "Von Trapp" house from the Film |
We
took the funicular down the hill for lunch. We strolled through the St.
Peter's cemetery and through the west end of town. Going up hill again
we fount the Nunnery and visited the church attached.
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| St Peter's Cemetery with view of the Castle |
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| Nonnberg Abbey- Where's Maria? |
Mirabell
Garden's was our last stop before resting for the afternoon. There
Olive was sure to re-create all the things the Von Traps did in the
movie- skipping, running, hoping steps, seeing the gnomes, and plenty of
singing.
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| Skipping Around the Fountain - Do-Re-Mi |
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| Do-Re-Mi steps at Mirabell Gardens |
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| Mozart Balls |
Dinner was at St. Paul's Stube'n Beer Garden. A relaxed little artsy beer garden that served food in a cast iron skillet.
Day 8, 23rd August- Salzburg to Slovina to Treviso, Italy
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| Bakery at Kapitelplatz |
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| Bread- it's about 6 pounds! |
Woke
up and ready to drive, but first we had to go to the bakery at
Kapitelplatz. There were 2 choices early in the morning- medium or
large. We ended up with a large, heafty, hot stone of a loaf which could
have fed a small army. When people lived off bread and beer, this is the stuff
that did it.
After several tunnels, tolls, and a "why-not"
later we were lined up outside the Slovina border at a
tunnel. When we got to the other side, what beautiful mountain sites
there were.
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| Picnic lunch in Solvina |
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| Drying Hay |
More
Driving. More random stops and we arrived back in Treviso, Italy to
tour the town, get some pizza, and a some rest before heading out early
to Venice the next day.
Day 9, 24th August- Treviso to Venice, Italy
Said
goodbye to the bread and the car to board a bus into the
city. Once there, we took the water bus into our hotel. Now instead of
33 oC it was 35 oC. Near melting temperatures that wore on us while slogging our luggage and tired offspring an extra few
"blocks" (alley ways, staired bridges, and through tourist crowds) to
get to our newly re-done hotel the Dimora Marciana. Air conditioning for
the first time on the trip! Having a room hover 10oC cooler was
lovely.
Once rested, we went off to explore the city.
Rounding corners, over bridges, through allies we wandered finding
wondrous shops with masks, marzipan, and glass. After buying several
severely overpriced water bottles, we gave in and starting drinking from
the spigots in the squares. After exhaustively walking for hours in the heat, we happened into a nice neighborhood eatery for dinner. St. Mark's Square on the return to the hotel was lit up by cheep LED helicopters being hawked to the tourists, but it was lovely never the less.
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| Where we ate dinner |
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Day 10, 25th August- Venice, Italy
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| St. Marks Basilica |
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| Teal Pigeon in St. Marks Square |
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| St Mark's |
First thing in the morning we lined up in the Piazza San Marco with our covered knees and shoulders waiting for a turn to walk through the Basilica. The mosaic work over every surface was very impressive. Once out, we headed back to the hotel to get into more summery wear for the rest of the day.
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| Olive's Mask |
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| Olive's Olives |
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| Sign speaks for itself |
We saw many interesting sites while traversing Venice. One such one was The MOST Beautiful Book Shop in the World. Greeted by such a sign and obviously irritated cat, how could you NOT be a little curious. Inside was the proprietor- a man who looked like the comic book store dude from the Simpsons, but aged, and of course Italian. The shop was his own private hoarding piles of books, cards, art, boats, porn, cat beds, more books, and some very interesting kitsch. But the books that were used as stairs and decorative walls were a hit with Olive.
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| Stairs at the Most Beautiful Book Shop in the World, Venice |
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| Alley at the Bookshop |
That afternoon we made it over the Rialto bridge and back over the Accademia bridge and then walked all the way to St. Pietro's island. Lots of walking. Things we saw along the way included: walked past the building Indiana Jone's and the Last Crusade was filmed, the fish market, the produce market, and... We ended up having dinner in the center of the city where the wait staff were very kind to Olive and played games and joked with her. Josh chose to eat cuddle fish- doesn't it look yummy? Since it was the last night of our vacation we stayed out late and Olive got to dance to the bands playing in Piazza S. Marco.
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| Don't you just love the presentation of the Cuddle Fish? |
Day 11, 26th August- Venice to home
AND,
as a filler of the past few months of not writing: we had traveled to Provence,
France, seen the 2012 Olympic Games in London, Camped in the Lake
District, had a few novel experiences in and around Cambridge,
celebrated Olive's 5th birthday, welcomed and toured around with
guests, Castle visit with Knight's Tournament, and sent Olive off to her
SECOND year of school!
