Switzerland and back

We left off with our arrival in Switzerland on Friday the 26th of October. We went from an intense downpour in Italy to bright sunshine on the other side of the tunnel. A quick note about the pictures: In some cases they match up with the text. In other places not. For the most part it should be obvious which are which.

Liz: First thing we noticed about Switzerland were the tall mountains. I mean, gorgeous, tall mountains. As we got to their village on a hillside, the sun was setting and a warm light cast on the mountainside and as we looked down from the deck, we saw cute herds of sheep. Here is a pic from their house.



And here are Franz and Lidia!



That first night was a big family dinner with fresh ravioli in a saffron sauce, salad, cheeses and breads. Everyone seemed to be eating something different and we weren’t sure what was okay to eat and what wasn’t so we just got drunk so we didn’t worry to much about what we should or shouldn’t do. Ok, just kidding, we didn’t get drunk but we did enjoy a nice Argentinian Malbec and some great food and a lively conversation of Italian, German, and English with the 10 people at the table.

We didn't grab a picture that night, but here's one from another meal.



Dan: Since today is actually November 6th, and I’m having a hard time remembering exactly which days we did certain things, I’m just going to highlight some memories from the last week with photos to help tell the story. So, in no particular order.



- We went to the town of Zermat to check out the Swiss Alps and Matterhorn. Franz and Lidia’s oldest son Samuel, or Sammy for short, and his girlfriend Barbara took us up there in Lidia’s Passat. A quick note about Swiss drivers: They’re crazy. Crazier than Italian drivers anyway, and I thought Italian drivers were pretty crazy. Don’t get me wrong, they’re good drivers. Riding with them is just intense. It doesn’t help that the roads are extremely narrow, windy and high up on cliffs with lots of hairpin turns.

I was actually kind of a nervous wreck when we reached Tajj (wrong spelling), the closest you’re able to drive a car to Zermat (Zermat is car-free). From there we took the train up and spent the afternoon hiking around. I think the pictures speak for themselves.





Samuel and Barbara















Switzerland is expensive. All this stuff was about $55.



- Liz and I also did a bit of hiking around Ausserberg, the village on the side of the mountain where Franz and Lidia’s family live. Liz took one hike up by herself, and then the next day we went up together on a longer hike. It’s really beautiful and refreshing up there. I believe the altitude is about 1,000 meters at Franz and Lidia’s house, and we must have gone up another 500 on our hike.











- We spent one day hanging around in Brig. We would have liked to visit Bern, as everyone told us it was fantastic, but it cost around 120 Swiss francs EACH to get there by train. You get about 1.2 francs to the dollar, but that was still too much for us; hence the afternoon in Brig.

It’s a nice town too, just not very big. We checked out an old-looking church, but there was a funeral going on and we didn’t want to disturb it. And then we spent a long time looking for a place to eat lunch (it was just as expensive as Italy) before settling on a café where the waitress LIED to us about speaking English!





Seriously, the first thing I said was, “sprecken zie English,” and she vigorously nodded her head yes. I didn’t hear a word in English the whole meal. And Liz out-ordered me, a disturbing trend that has been happening more often since we started traveling. She got the Chicken Cordon-Blue, while I ordered a mystery schnitzel. I figured mine would be more crisp and crunchy, and hers would be soggy. It was pretty much the exact opposite. I still enjoyed the meal but I was definitely envious of the Cordon-Blue. The excellent beer we had mitigated any regret about the entrees, however.



- We also spent one morning walking around Visp with Lidia as she did some shopping. Visp is closer to Ausserberg and feels like a pre-ski kind of town. In case you were wondering what the chocolate section looks like in a Swiss grocery store, this picture will give you an idea.



- We had plenty of good meals in Switzerland, and the cuisine was a nice change of pace from Italy. Lidia is a great cook and she really went out of her way to prepare a variety of Swiss specialties for us. We had the sort of things you might expect, like fondue, and things we had never heard of, like raclette, which is a sort of large cheese that is traditionally melted by a fire and then shaved off in bubbling, melting slices and mixed with potatoes, pickles, onions and a variety of other condiments. Here's a picture of Lidia's homemade bread.



Another great revelation in Switzerland: The family has a machine that carbonates regular tap water! You just fill a special bottle with water, put it in the machine, the machine makes a few loud noises, and presto: You have carbonated water! I immediately asked if the machine will carbonate any liquid, like milk or blood. Apparently milk is too thick, but it could theoretically carbonate juice and other thin fluids. You can add the carbonation machine to my 2008 Christmas wish list.



In addition to their regular home, Franz and Lidia have a little cabin way up in the alps. You have to hike a bit to get up there, along a super-treacherous path that's right next to a massive cliff. At one point you have to walk across a board and hold onto a rope. I didn't go past that point, but Liz had no problem.





- It was interesting to be in a country where I don’t speak a word of the language. Ok, I know a few words. I know “sprecken zie deutchse, baby” from the Beck song, and “mein leiben,” “gutentag,” “gott in himmel” and a few other select phrases from the Wolfenstein 3D video game. But at the dinner table, for example, I’m clueless. I couldn’t even hazard a guess as to what people are talking about most of the time, as opposed to in Italy, where I almost always at least get the gist, if not the exact, precise meaning of words and conversations. I don’t like it. It will be interesting to get to SE Asia and experience that all over again, because I’ve sort of gotten used to being able to rudimentarily communicate in the local language.



- On Sunday we went to mass with the family. We don’t go to church at home, but we went to see what mass would be like in Switzerland. It was about the same, but the kneeling benches don’t have pads. Your knees die for your sins.



We originally planned on leaving Tuesday morning and spending a couple nights in either Milan or Verona before heading up to Trento to meet up with a friend from 2p2, but Franz and Lidia said we should just go ahead and stay another night, and we gladly accepted.



So on Wednesday we said our goodbyes and headed back into Italy. We booked a room in Verona on the recommendation of my 2p2 friend, Adam, who is an Australian that has been living in Italy for 8 years. He also recommended a restaurant and enoteca (wine bar) that were out of the main tourist zone in the city.



All three of his recommendations were excellent. We ended up loving Verona, the restaurant and the wine bar. First, Verona. An underrated city. It’s a little more bustling than most towns along the sleepy Ligurian coast, but not as bustling as the Cinque Terre. There is an old coliseum, a lazy river with great romantic views and, sure, great shopping (not that we’re buying).









On to the restaurant… I believe it was called Trattoria alla Molinara. Adam said to mention his name. The last time we tried this, it was OK, but a little awkward. This time, the connection was clearer. Marco, the restaurant owner, knew exactly who we were talking about as he showed us to our table. And the food was tremendous. I had a filet of steak encrusted with three kinds of pepper, and Liz had pasta with mushrooms. The pictures didn’t turn out very well as the place was dark, and the flash always looks terrible, so you’ll just have to trust me. This steak was awesome.



Backing up a bit. We had checked out the menu at Molinara earlier, just to make sure it was within our price range. And we had decided that we would hold out until as late as possible and not go to dinner until … 7:30. Well, we almost made it. We headed over there and arrived at about 7:20. And wouldn’t you know it, the place hadn’t even opened for dinner yet. We still haven’t mastered the art of the late dinner. So we checked out the enoteca across the street that Adam recommended.



When we walked in, there were about two dozen wines listed on the wall, very few of which were familiar. And the prices seemed a little bit too good to be true… from 1.6 euro to 2 euro to 2.5 euro. Nevertheless, I braved ahead and ordered a random Valpolicella for myself and a pinot Grigio for Liz. My Valpolicella was shockingly good, and Liz’s pinot wasn’t bad either. A bottle of the stuff I tried was 10 euro, a bargain IMO. We only had one drink each as we planned to have wine with dinner, but this place became an instant favorite in our books.

And that's all for now. We're about to take a 14-hour train to Sicily from Florence, and I'm guessing I'll have plenty of free time in Sicily to catch up on the writing and photos, but no internet access, so you'll get another long post when we get back to Rome.

From Celle to Parma

10-22



We left off after a pretty sweet day in Camogli and Portofino. Monday we planned on seeing my grandfather’s older sister and my father’s cousin Gianni in Loano, but Gianni had the flu, so we ended up not going.

Instead, we headed to Savona on the scooter in search of the ipercoop, a store that Nicola said might have an internet card for my laptop. The ipercoop turned out to be a shopping mall. A Vodaphone store there did have the hardware I was looking for, but it cost 200 euro, or about $300. And of course that doesn’t include monthly service.

We decided to check one more place on the recommendation of a clerk in the ipercoop, a store called Digital Labs. Alas, no internet cards.

Back in Celle, Liz made dinner with a fresh vegetable that she thought was spinach (we had picked it up a few days prior in Varazze). It turned out to not be spinach, but whatever it was, it was delicious.

Here's what it looks like to be offered a glass of wine first thing in the morning. Yum. Liz went for a run, and Michele offered her wine right when she got back. She tried to say, "later," but she used the word "adesso" instead, which means "now."

So Michele got us a few glasses and we had a real nice eye-opener.



I was showing Liz how to use the macro function on our camera as we sat out with our morning wine and I took this picture. It happened to look awesome, so I'm posting it here.



10-23

Our last day in Celle. We made lunch plans with Antonietta, and dinner plans with Simone and Erika. For lunch we had pasta with ragu sauce, sautéed chicken breasts, cold pizza and a little prosciutto. And Enrico showed up with his laptop and a cellular internet card! So after lunch we took care of some internet business (srs bsness) on the laptop, then said our goodbyes to Enrico and Antonietta.

For dinner that night, we suggested farinata again (since apparently it isn’t common in other parts of Italy and this would be our last chance to enjoy it), but the place Simone recommended in Arenzano was closed. So we walked around a bit before finding a pizzeria right on the beach. Liz and I both ordered pizzas while Simone and Erika both had pastas. I ordered mine “al diavolo,” which was basically a pepperoni pizza. And you know what? It was the best pepperoni pizza I’ve ever had in Europe. The first time I came here (when I was 14), I remember being extremely frustrated at not being able to find a “proper” pepperoni pizza in Italy. So-called pepperoni were often weird sausage or types of prosciutto. Since then, I’ve come to appreciate and love Italian-style pizza, but I still consider it an entirely different food than American pizza. I have to classify it differently in my mind to enjoy it. It’s weird, I know.

Anyway, this pizza was pretty thin (like most Italian pizzas), but a little more substantial than usual. And the pepperoni was a lot like what you’d find in the states. It was outstanding. Liz had a pie with artichokes, mushrooms and prosciutto that looked pretty good. We also had a litre of white wine and we each ordered a dessert (a rarity for Liz and I). A terrific meal; unfortunately I have no pictures.

10-24

Wednesday, our last morning in Celle. We said goodbye to Michele and boarded the train for La Spezia. We had to take 3 trains to get to our eventual destination in Scipione, near Parma. The first train took us back past the Cinque Terre to the industrial-looking station in La Spezia. From there it was another hour or two to Parma, and then a quick 12-minute train to Fidenza, where Gail and Gianni picked us up. Here's a picture of Michele in the store he ran from his home.



Gail is a high school friend of Kitty’s (Liz’s mom), and the two have gotten back in touch in recent years through email. We had no idea what to expect, although Liz mentioned on the train that she was hoping for a cozy house with tea, a roaring fire and rugs.

She was 3 for 3. Gail and Gianni’s house is converted from a substructure that used to be part of a castle. In fact, their whole town (25 people) is based around the old castle. It’s a great house. We have a couple pictures but they really don’t do the place justice. Anyway, Gail and Gianni are simply tremendous hosts. We settled in, used their wireless internet a bit, and then sat down to one of the top 5 best meals of my life.

We started with some sparkling white wine and a tray filled with salame, parmigiano-reggiano (spelled wrong, I’m sure), olives and focaccia. The focaccia was a lot like Liz and I make at home… a little fluffier than most of the focaccia that we’ve had in Italy. The salame was simply the best salame that I’ve ever had. It had a soft, chewy texture and flavor that just blew my mind. I’m pretty sure it came from a local artisan so I’ll never be able to find it again, but I’m going to email Gail and ask for the name again just in case. And the parmigiano-reggiano was, well, parmigiano-reggiano.



On to the main course. While Gail worked on risotto al funghi in the kitchen, we had bread and prosciutto, and opened a bottle of Barbera that was made by their local vintner. Gail and Gianni buy this wine in bulk from him (several cases at a time, I believe), and it’s easy to see why. It was rich, spicy and smoky… probably the best I’ve had in Italy so far on this trip. Now, Liz always makes fun of me for describing wines I like as “smoky,” but it’s a taste that I really like in wine. Maybe “smoky” isn’t the best word to describe it, but I can’t think of a better one.

Out came the main dish. The risotto was also rich… we saw the amount of butter that went in. After the risotto, a place of cheese. All different flavors… from mild brie to powerful gorgonzola… and another soft cheese that was, well, smoky.

After the cheese (and pear), digestivi. We sampled several, including the first Grappa I’ve ever liked. By the end of the meal, I was wrecked. Tipsy from the wine and liquours, fully sated with a wide variety of gourmet foods, Liz and I drunkenly chatted with a few friends online and then passed out.

10-25

Okay, Liz says that perhaps “wrecked” isn’t the right word to use. I wasn’t wrecked as in ridiculously drunk, but wrecked as in I was useless… utterly and completely satisfied in an epicurean sense.

With that cleared up, on to Thursday. We headed out to check out another castle and have lunch. We walked into a restaurant that seemed deserted… we had to walk around calling out for the host for a few minutes before it became clear that anyone was there. But Gail and Gianni knew the chef and the host (a married couple) and we soon settled in for a great meal in a remarkable setting.



We had an appetizer of fresh mushroom and a parmigiano-like cheese. It was actually from the next town over, so technically it couldn't be called parmigiano-reggiano, it was called something like "grano." Gail drizzled some olive oil and ground pepper on her salad, so we did the same.



And then the main course, mushroom ravioli in butter and oil with sage. The mushrooms were in the peak of the season (which is why we were having mushroom dishes at every meal). This picture makes me hungry every time I see it.



We also sampled a few cheeses (Gail had ordered a plate with 8 or 10 small varieties) and had a cherry cordial for a digestivo.

After the meal, we walked around the castle and took quite a few photos. But the lighting wasn't great and very few of them really convey the setting.







That evening we went out to dinner again in a more rustic setting. This restaurant was close to Gail and Gianni's house and they knew the owners well. We would be having a dish very similar to focacetta, although they called it a different name.

Basically fried dough with big airpockets that you rip in half and stuff with salame, prosciutto and coppa. Obviously heaven for me. The coppa just melts in your mouth.



We had more wine with dinner, panna cotta for dessert, and, of course, a digestivo... I believe it was a walnut liquour... similar to the stuff I sampled at Antonietta's.

Friday the 26th. Gail apologized that she was so busy and that we could only stay two nights. But her and Gianni were such generous hosts that I felt bad even staying those two nights. I'm not sure if we'll ever be able to pay them back for their generosity, but if they do head to the Pacific Northwest sometime, we'll certainly try.

After saying our goodbyes, we boarded a train for Milano Centrale, and after that, a train for Brig, Switzerland. It was pouring rain in Italy just as we were about to reach the border. Then we went through a tunnel and came out in Switzerland, where it was bright and sunny!

Kitty's friend Lidia picked us up, and we drove through Brig, Visp and up into the mountains to a small village called Ausserberg, where we've been staying since then.

I'll get some more writing done on the train and hopefully post more pics soon. I finally found a cheap (well, relatively cheap) internet card at the Milan train station, so when I get back to Italy I will set it up and hopefully have access wherever I go. Until then....