Day 40 & 41: Italy, Bellagio (Lake Como)

Buongiorno....Departed Chamonix- Mt Blanc via the Mont Blanc tunnel (E35 toll) and in 11.3kms entered Northern Italy. Headed straight for Bellagio on Lake Como. Had thought about Milan, but read a lot of reviews that said it is huge, chaotic (and the fashion capital) and that some love it and others hate it. We have loved getting into more of the countryside, and given we will head to the cities soon we gave it a miss. Our drive to Bellagio took us to Lecco, where the drive into Bellagio followed the lake (and was a little narrow and hairy at times). Bellagio is lovely. Believe that George Clooney has a villa here. Hoping to see him in the main square (it is quite small), thought he might ask us up to the villa for coffee ... then find out it was our 25th anniversary and be so impressed (because he will never get there) that he offered us his yacht to cruise the Greek Islands...well that was the plan. But unfortunately, no George Clooney...no private yacht to cruise the islands.
The streets here are just what I pictured when I thought of small Italian villages. They are cobblestoned, narrow and at times barely two people can fit down a side street – and they have shops (beautiful designer shops) down them. It is perfect, (thank you to a good friend Pauline for recommending this place). We walked around the town and wandered down to Punta Spartivento (a small jetty on the point where you can look across the lake to places like Varenna, Menaggio, Cadenabbia and Tremezzo. Purchaced a glass sculpture from the designer (bit of an extravagant treat). I walked passed and admired it a number of times. We tentatively went in the store. Everything was gorgeous. He had some beautiful vases and large bowls (about 4000 Euros each – my purchase was no where near this). Decided I would regret it if I did not buy it so we did. Am very, very excited.
Walking early evening yesterday we heard a whistle, then a cheer...a soccer game! Walked to the ground and found what looked to be a school match in progress. Watched for a little while. One team was very good, excellent team. The other...oh well, they tried.
Intend to have an Italian pizza tonight...am sure we will have many. Really struggle with the menu. Pastas are all entrees. Mains are meat, meat and meat. Last night we had a “special” 3 courses. Yes pasta for an entree – homemade gnocchi with cheese and cabbage (local dish). Nice, filling...but the cheese had so much fat. Grilled meat platter for a main and then ice cream with a liquer on top. So much liquer I was glad we were walking back to the hotel. Can’t eat like this too often...come back a whale.
Currently sitting on the bed, looking out over the balcony to the Lake. Big Rick on a trek to the next town. Has rained pretty much all day. Very grey, no breaks in the weather. Feeling very relaxed..ready to face the next stage. Tomorrow Verona. Have an apartment so we are looking forward to buying food to cook. We will see what happens.

Ciao for now...hope weather picks up. It’s been great thus far.

Day 37, 38,39: The Alps: Chamonix-Mont Blanc.

Four countries...one day (sounds a bit like a Barrocca ad). We began the day with breakfast in Germany, a morning drive in Austria, morning tea in Switerland and dinner in France (with no Barrocca). Who says we don’t get around? The last 45 minutes of the drive into Chamonix-Mont Blanc was very picturesque (and a little harrowing at times). We basically drove up and around the mountains, with no barriers at times on the side of the road and a sheer drop of ??? (houses and people looked like ants). But we made it and Chamonix-Mont Blanc is a beautiful town situated in a valley between Mt Blanc and another mountain range (Alps). Don’t want to harp on food, but must mention dinner last night. Ordered the roast beef fillet for two @ 25 Euro thinkng what great value it was. Shortly after ordering we were asked to move to a bigger table so that there was more space. This was a first hint that maybe it was 25Euro each and not for the total meal. The beef arrived. We pretty much knew by then that it would be 25 euro each and the end of the meal confirmed it...silly us. BUT, it was the most perfectly cooked, delicious, roast fillet of beef we had ever eaten...and it was huge. We are very tempted to go back again. AND IT WAS NOT PORK......................
(Oh, must mention that when I booked this hotel I mentioned we were celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary during our holiday. We were given a room with views straight out to Mont Blanc and an ice bucket with champagne and a card was delivered to our room...felt very special)
Day 2: Big Rick and I agree that we do not know how we could ever top today. We did 2 of the big attractions. First of all we caught the small, scenic ‘train’ to Montenvers Mer de Glace. This is a 20 minute train ride up and around the mountain to Le Montenevers. There is a small museum there and a couple of stone buildings, but its claim to fame is the views over the glacier Mer de Glace. I have never seen a glacier before and this was absolutely awesome. There were a number of places you could get an outstanding view of it from, and we took many, many photos. Unfortunately we could no longer get to the ice cave as it closed 2 weeks ago. There is also a chairlift running straight down to the glacier and ice cave – but closed. The views were phenomenal. The ice was so white and the sky so blue. The weather was perfect today...sunny and about 13 degrees (warming up again later this week). We stayed up at the glacier for about an hour or so and caught the train back down. Our next ‘attraction’ was the Auguille du Midi (described as the “world’s most spectacular cable car”). At the very top you have 360 degree views of Mont Blanc, the French, Swiss and Italian Alps. This was a little scary to contemplate...you know who Rick and I are with heights (and how we did not get to the top of the Eiffel Tower). Anyway, we piled into the cable car which was a reasonable size (took about 40 people at a time) and up we began. Baically it went straight up. Surprisingly it was not as scary as i thought it would be...maybe because I could not see out the windows clearly. We got to the end of this ride up and the views were fantastic. At this level there were paragliders jumping of the cliff. They looked quite beautiful with their colourful parachutes standing out against the white peaks. BUT...that was not the end. I looked up, and up, and up, and up and across the ravine was our final destination. More hestiantly we clamboured into the next cable car and we set off. Views spectacular and again, despite the height it wasn’t too bad. Then we got to the other side and the car slowed to a virtual stop as we were then pulled up vertically. That was somewhat freaky. The above photos show how high it was...in some you have to struggle to see the cable car (and again it held about 40 people so it wasn’t small). It was -8 degrees at the top and the views...can’t find the words...brilliant. Swiss, French, Italian Alps – 360 degree views. Crossed a little wooden bridge to another lookout – little freaky to see between the gaps in timber – long way down. Found an ice cave up there and we daringly caught the lift up to the very top of the look out. (very proud of ourselves – though the lift went up through rocks so you could not see out – much better). We were up 3842 metres. Must say, after about an hour up there we both began to feel light headed, dizzy and a little weird. (Rick said that it was mild altitude sickness...he had had it in The Himalayas). There were many climbers out on the peaks. Standing there looking out, it felt like you coud reach out and touch the peak of Mont Blanc (It’s height is 4809m). Headed back down the mountain. Cable car little more scary on the way down. Watched the paragliders for a while and then caught the final cable car down. Were right in front this time, looking down...not a great idea. Scared the crap out of me and I had not realised how scary it was until I could see out. Not happy when it was swinging in the wind a few times. But got back safely. WHAT A DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bit of a rest day the second full day in Chamonix-Mt Blanc. Walked around the shops and Rick went for a walk/hike for a few hours. He would have you believe he climbed an alp. He actually got up quite high so I was somewhat impressed. Found a little movie theatre and they had the new Julia Roberts film in English, (only have an English film every few days), so we sat in an watched it in a tiny theatre. (Rick felt quite conned that it was too much of a chick flick...think he is still channelling mountaineer, adventurer, extreme climber thoughts).
Through the tunnel and in to Noerther Itraly tomorrow. We will begin with a few days in Bellagio on Lake Como, then on to Verona and Venice.

Day 35, 36, 37 Germany: Fussen

Forgot to mention that the Black Forest is home to the cuckoo clock, and we saw haps of different designs. They were everywhere.
Woke up this morning, opened the curtains and .... SNOW was falling. Looked like a fairy tale. The trees were white and the rooftops looked like it had snowed all night. We are experiencing a cold snap this week, with temperatures significantly below average for this time of year. Just what we wanted...3 degrees in the middle of Oct. We are expecting/hoping that things warm up a little as we head further south; though we do have the Alps to deal with before that. We hope that there isn’t too much snow as that will complicate things a little. However, today we braved the snow, (it snowed all day...only just eased off at 8.00pm) and caught the bus to Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein castles. They are very famous in Germany and I can see why. Despite the snow (which meant poor visibility in terms of seeing the whole castle ...as you can see by the photos), they were beautiful. We had to walk 15 minutes up stairs in the snow to the first castle Hohenschwangau. Little slippery at times, but we made it. After this we walked for 35 minutes straight up the mountain,(with no rest spots) while it was snowing quite hard to Neuschwanstein castle. (Rick maintains it wasn’t too steep...that word “too” being the key). As you can see by those photos we could hardly see anything, visibility was so bad. But, inside they were gorgeous. This is the castle they say Walt Disney used for inspiration for Disneyland...you can certainly see the similarities. Good leather shoes, merino wool layers and a Gortex coat (thank god for all Rick’s hiking gear) and we were warm and dry all day. Despite the snow (though it lost some of its romance as the day wore on) it was a good day...just a shame we did not see more of the external elements of the castles...though it was a bonus we saw how it looks in winter...which is stunning. Hoping the snow stops tonight, supposed to be sunny and back to normal temperatures over the next few days.
Second day in Fussen and we woke to brilliant sunshine. Decided we would drive back to the castles and do the walk again to see what we missed yesterday. Inwardly groaned, but it wasn’t that bad...knew what to expect and the views were certainly worth it. The castle is truly magnificent, with the snow capped mountains behind it and sun shining down...it did have a glow about it. (You know how I mentioned dogs the other day...well most of the dogs managed to walk up with their owners. But, one precious dog was in a little carrying crate and his Japanese mum and dad carried him all the way to the top. That is precious). Another walk around town and Rick headed off to the lake for a good long walk. We depart Germany tomorrow. What 2 things apart from fantastic scenery do I note about this country? It is inexpensive and PORK (snitzel, breaded, roast, chops, filet, sausage). You can have 5 choices for a main meal and they all involve PORK.

Day 32,33,34 germany: The Black Forest; Heidelburg...Schiltach...Meersburg (Lake Constance)

Beautiful day yesterday, ice on the car this morning. Saw on the news a couple of nights ago that it had snowed in the Black Forest. Could be quite pretty if snow still around...very hopeful. Before that we visited the castle – even in ruins it is quite magnificent and the views over the river and city are fantastic. The city of Heidelburg is just like I pictured Germany. Traditional and beautiful. Lovely streets, marketplatz, bakkeries and cafe houses. The castle was excellent and overlooks the town. Began our drive through the Black Forest on our way to Schiltach (descibed by Lonely Planet as the “prettiest town in the Black forest”) where we will spent the night. Headed up in the direction of Freudenstadt which was up very high and yes....SNOW!!!! Stopped at a lodge for a look and the lake looked beautiful with snow right up to the edge of the water and in the trees. The views down into the valley were great. Drove on to Schiltach and yes it is gorgeous. Staying in another family owned hotel and have met Michael and Lisa the owners who are very proud of their hotel. It is very quaint and nice. Getting used to having a dog sit on my feet while we eat. In Europe everyone takes their dog everywhere – restaurants, shops,trains, tourist attractions etc – quite bizarre at times).

Left the lovely Schiltach and drove to Lake Constance (Meersburg). It is only about a hour from Schiltach but we took a while - stopping off here and there to take great photos of scenery etc. Lake Constance is lovely and borders Germany, Austria and Switerland. (We were on the German side). Had the most fantastic room with a balcony overlooking the water (we have scored really well with rooms and upgrades). Not to waste the opportunity we had take away pizza and beer whilst we sat out on the balcony. Very, very nice! Took a lovely morning walk through this little village - even has its own old castle ruins in the marketplatz (market square). Bought a few gifts here...including the cutest gift for Darcy... a name plate for for his room (the laundry), with a picture of a Cavallier King Charles Spaniel that looks just like him.(Even Rick thought it was cute...all the dogs here are getting to him). We haven’t had any significant driving issues so far though a couple of days ago we did have a semi-trailer fishtail in front of us at 90kph; we were driving through the Black Forest in Germany with snow lining the roads when the semi driver pulled onto the shoulder of the road to let us pass. Not a good idea and he nearly lost it as his trailer swung across to the left side of the road. Fortunately we hadn’t taken the opportunity to pass.
Really looking forward to the next 3 nights in Fussen. We have a great room, looking on to the small mall...where I saw a cute jewellery shop where I intend to purchase a bling watch (or two).

AND...Note the beanie Rick is wearing...he finally found some class...