The Hills Were Alive

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

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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...
 

Gorge

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.

Beer Lady

Dinner at the Festival... we were there a bit early :)

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.

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.

Lighting a candle in  Dom zu Salzburg

I've got Confidence in Confidence Alone- Residenzbrunnen Fountain on Residenzplatz Square

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.

Canon at the Hohensalzburg Castle

"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.

St Peter's Cemetery with view of the Castle

 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.

Skipping Around the Fountain - Do-Re-Mi

Do-Re-Mi steps at Mirabell Gardens

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

Bakery at Kapitelplatz

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. 

Picnic lunch in Solvina

 

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.

Where we ate dinner

Day 10, 25th August-  Venice, Italy

St. Marks Basilica

Teal Pigeon in St. Marks Square

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.

Olive's Mask

Olive's Olives

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. 

Stairs at the Most Beautiful Book Shop in the World, Venice

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.

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!

What happened while I was away.

So again, I apologize for not being the most dedicated writer of our stories to the 7 most faithful followers (family) but here it is, BACK, and ready for tiny morsels of our latest adventures into the world.

In April we headed back to the states to visit the family in Indiana. Olive had a lovely time with her new sisters, Abbey & Bella. She is no longer afraid of dogs and asks (with frequency) about when Abbey can move to England to live with her.

 We also had fun playing with Nana's wig collection. Here's a photo of the girls stylin'. 

Olive finally got to play with Cricket (Sophie) this visit. Here's them enjoying Aunt Debbie & Uncle Denis' gifts... of course the plastic bubble bag was a greater toy as fashionable hats than what was wrapped inside.

 Later on in the month we took a Saturday to head up to the Birmingham area. We had a lovely time viewing a Land Rover at a cider farm (Josh says he'll write this story, only he can capture the essence of his quest and the morning spent in an unusual way) Afterwards we headed to Cadbury World. See Olive posing with the large Olympic themed egg. Not at all creepy.

 

Here's Olive disliking the Dairy Milk chocolate sample she was given. Brought up on dark chocolate, she hadn't kind things to say about it. She must have been the only kid saying "Yuck" and NOT scarfing down all the chocolate she was given.

 Olive's highlight of the day was visiting our friends Maria & Ron. Seen here with one of her many BFFs. 

 Keeping on the theme of staying local, we had a weekend at Legoland, Windsor (A belated birthday gift for Josh) We stayed in the Pirate wing of the resort hotel, Argh!, and took in the sites & rides. Unfortunately power went out for the hotel & entire park the second day of our visit. Below is a picture of the pirates in the dark hallway making the best of our early departure. 

And then she arrived...

 Josh finally got his Land Rover- 1988 110 Defender. No name given yet. Suggestions?

 Soon afterwards we had house guests! We had a lovely time showing Ian and Katie the sites of the area. Here's O with another BFF, Aunt Katie. 

Walking the countryside in with Uncle Ian and Papa.

A Walk at the Abbey

Cambridge Science Festival

This past Saturday we spent exploring Cambridge Science Festival hosted by the University. There we took part in a lecture on Electricity, dissected an Owl pellet, looked at Os cheek cells, collected pets of Daphnia, did a skull comparison, and view fruit flies under the scope in the Biology Department. In the Chemistry building we tackled glow stick science, dressed in lab safety equipment to make goo, elephant toothpaste, polish pennies, and make a cup disappear. Also we were treated to liquid nitrogen ice cream.

I finally created a mini-me ;)

Amsterdam

Amsterdam in 4 Days, that was our latest venture. It was spurred on by our good friend, Kris, who was flying through Amsterdam on her way to Dar, Tanzania. She is going to help improve nursing practices in a major hospital. Unable to miss our friend whilst she traveled toward more important business, we took O out of school and hopped on over for a visit, museums, and eats.
The first day was spent walking about the city and enjoying just the novelty of company and canals in the rain. We popped into a small cafe where Olive entertained herself with a bowl of pea soup and a colorful calico kitten until we dried & warmed up enough to head back outside. We walked the Bloemenmarkt and stopped for some cheese tasting. Olive was so charming that the Eastern European woman (dressed in a Dutch costume) gave her a entire package of chocolates for being good in the shop. Makes you wonder how other kids then act. We also spent time taking in the local flavor visiting a hammock shop, walking by coffee houses, looking at cows attached to the ceiling in the official Iamsterdam shop, and buying boxes of hagelslag.

That afternoon, after one of us napped (any guess who?) and some games in the hotel, we searched for the "best frite" in the city, but I mistakenly mislabeled the map before the trip. But we did get to see much of the Jordaan section of town. We also walked by Ann Frank's home opting out of that subject with Olive. The Nazis in the Sound of Music scare her enough... some of life's ills can better be explained when older.We tried to go to a Brown Cafe, Int Aepjen, for dinner, but alas they did not serve it. We vowed to return again later to take in the place properly. We ended up dining at the Restaurant De Haven van Textel. Josh got his much needed mini croquet and the rest of us had various meats in brown sauce. Jet lagged and tired, 3 of the 4 of us retired by 6:30pm that evening (or 5:30pm UK time)


Friday we woke at 6am (5am UK time) with 3 of the 4 of us up and ready to go. Alas, most things do not open until 10. We hung about our hotel, Hotel De Gerstekorrel, as long as we could and braved our way into the cold morning streets. We were treated with the sun rise over the city on our way to the National Maritime Museum.

The Het Scheepvaartmuseum has all sorts of Dutch East India Company kit in an old beautiful building. Josh got his naval fix. Olive liked the maps and running the path through the navigational equipment. However, by the time we made it to the tall ship, her blood sugar was running low and she flipped out thinking the cannons were going to fire upon her. A good imagination she has. Lunch was in another small cafe & consisted of beer and sandwiches. Then we were off to the Van Gogh museum. There we saw a the famous "Sunflowers" among others. Over 800 oil paintings + sketches, watercolours, and other pieces in around 20 years. Amazing how much work he did before doing himself in.

After the museum Josh found the frite shop we were searching for earlier, Vleminckx Sausmessters, and had ourselves a cone of fries with curry catchup or mayonnaise. An old pipe organ was playing down the neighboring street singing tunes from Aladdin while we ate. Ironically, the day before while searching for this very frite stand, Olive payed them for a song... we were so close and didn't even know it.



Since we were on a lucky streak we chose to look for the upstairs pancake house as well. Sure enough, 15 min later we are there. Pannekoekenuis was a tiny 14 seat eatery at the top of a very steep and narrow staircase. Once upstairs you are entertained and served by the large owner/operator. He has amassed a large tea pot collection which he displays on his ceiling. Savory and sweet pancakes alike are to be drenched in strop.

After our early dinner we headed in the Red Light district. At 7pm things were surprisingly very busy. Most shades were already drawn with customers inside, but there were a few women still in the windows. Olive didn't ask why they were in their underwear or swimsuits... she just commented on the quality of the red lights. She liked the ones which were more magenta better.

The monkey cafe we attempted for the second time for an aperitif, but alas, a Friday night created a hopping crowd. Thwarted again, we settled on a cafe by Dam Square to do a little people watching and have a drink before bed. Kris kindly took Olive back to the hotel so Josh and I could go out for another as adults. We ended up in a small cafe where a band of older men were celebrating one's 60th birthday with a round of gin and beer. We were back and in bed by 9!

Saturday was packed with things to do. After another early wake up via Olive's impressive internal clock. We were up and out for the day. After a quick shop & a flan drunk, we first stopped at Open Bare Bibliotheek. The public library is amazing! Fantastic views of the city, modern architecture, fun children's section. A must see for anyone traveling through.
Next was NEMO, the hands on science museum. There we all played. Josh and Olive did a hydro electric experiment and the girls did a bit of dancing about with the light screen. We got to watch a giant chain reaction/ Goldberg machine, play with bubbles, and be part of a factory. A very informative place, especially when you reach the 3rd floor and learn ALL about sex. Forget the adult museums or shops in the red light district. For the price of our universal museum pass we saw much to inform. We joked at the model that showed french kissing where each person stuck their arm into a big tongue puppet (Kris has this on her camera, so I am unable to share) . Then you turn the corner and BAM in your face photos, videos, models... nothing held back. Olive kept touching the buttons on a model, before we could whisk her away from it... it was to help demonstrate erogenous zones on the female anatomy. Luckily no further questions have arisen. I'm okay with her knowing the basics of babies, but a few things there were new for me to see.

We had a lovely pick-nick lunch on the terrace roof garden and headed into town for our last stop with Kris in tow. We did finally get a seat at the Brown Monkey Cafe, Int Aepjen. The reason we wanted to go there due to it being, "One of the oldest bars in Amsterdam, housed in the only remaining 15th-century home. 'Aepjen' means monkey, which refers to the time this was a sailors lodging house. A guest couldn't pay his bill, and he supposedly bartered with a pet monkey. " Olive took plenty of photos of the interior for us since we had been talking this place up for 3 days. We said our goodbyes to Kris after walking her back to the train station & headed in search of dinner. We settled on a micro brewery, Bier van de Maand, for supper. Once full, we were done for the day and were back to the hotel just as the town started waking up for the night.

Sunday was our last day to see the sights before we flew back home. That morning after our final breakfast from the neighboring bakery, we wandered desolate streets for an hour and a half on to the Rijks Museum. While on the long walk, we saw the cordoned off scene of a tram/bicyclist collision. I guess they're quite common, because a fabric silhouette was laid down on top of the bike. We saw the highlights of Rembrandt's "The Night Watch" & Vermeer's "The Kitchen Maid". Our picnic lunch was short due to it getting extremely cold out and we sought comfort in another cone of frite from our favorite shop.We even stumbled out of the cold into the Amsterdam Museum. There was a neat interactive exhibit where Olive got to be an orphan in a poor house & the story was told by a mouse (but in Dutch...) Unfortunately by then we were all worn out and done with museums- I well could have visited it again if we had another day. On our way back to the hotel Josh treated me to a new satchel (of which I've been searching endlessly for) By then it was time to get our luggage & pack our way to the train station & airport.

Thank you Kris for helping make this one to remember- Wishing you the best in your efforts. To all others, enjoy the friends around you. You don't realize how important they really are until they are too far away to share your everyday life with. Here's to seeing a few of you this summer! -A