We are partially back on-line! For us, there was no internet available while in Sondrio for us to update you with the latest happenings. Right now, we are in Florence for out one night stay, and we purchased some internet time, so we can add to the blog. I will go back in time and tell you all about Sondrio and the wedding, but pictures might not be plentiful because they take a bit of time to upload, and we are limited with the amount of minutes we have. At least, I will try to give you some vivid picturesque writing to capture the moment. Later, I will split this up into sections for each day with pictures…and probably more commentary and information about each picture. You may have to reread parts to get the full effect. Sorry about the one long entry. Hopefully you will enjoy.
Flashing back to Thursday…
Thursday morning saw rushing to get our stuff together to catch the train to St. Moritz where we were going to meet up with my parents and take the Bernina Express through the Alps to northern Italy.
Here is a picture of the neat little restaurant on the ground floor of our hotel. It overlooks the En River.
After packing our bags, we bolted downstairs to grab the complimentary breakfast. The only notable occurrence was the restaurant playing Madonna, “Staying Alive,” and Billy Joel’s “In the Middle of the Night.” When “Staying Alive” came on, Bob remarked that he recognized the song. Megan and I both said it was “Stayin’ Alive.” He followed up by saying that he remembered the song being in a movie. We both retorted, “You mean ‘Saturday Night Fever’?” He said, “No, that is not it…it is a movie where someone dances like this…” At this point, he busts into his best John Travolta impression. All he was missing was the gold chain and the light up floor. We said, “Yes, ‘Saturday Night Fever.’” He said, “No, that is not it…” We cut our losses and dropped the subject.
After breakfast, we grabbed our stuff and walked to the train station. You would never believe the racket four rolling suitcases can make on narrowed cobbled streets early in the morning. We caught the train to St. Moritz where we met with my parents and waited for the Bernina Express. While waiting, I used some of our remaining francs to purchase a scratcher lottery ticket. I won 4 francs, and I was going to play Euro Millions, but I could not understand enough of the rules…I still might later.
This shows an example of the snow-covered Alpine scenery that we got to enjoy while traveling on the Bernina Express.
The Bernina Express is a special train with large windows that takes you through the Bernina Pass as it goes through the Alps. The distance from St. Moritz to Tirano, our destination, is only 22 km, but it takes 2.5 hours because of the elevation changes. From St. Moritz you ascend the mountain range until you get to about 2200+ m, and then you begin to descend to just below 450 m. In fact, the Bernina Express is known for the large panoramic windows and not needing cogwheels. My understanding is that cogwheels are used to grip the track when going up and down steep grades but are unusually noisy. The narrator of the journey explained that the Bernina Express pushes the limits of physics as it goes up and down 70% grades. We were happy that the Swiss built the trains because we were told that if the Italians made it—it would not only be 10 minutes late arriving at the station, but it would continually slide back down the track.
Here is the beginning of the famous circular bridge outside a small Italian town in southern Switzerland. In this area of Switzerland, people speak Italian not German.
The views were fantastic. As we progressed further into the Alps we saw fully snow-covered mountains and glacier topped peaks. In the winter, they outfit the train with a snowplow on the front, and they have to bust through the fallen snow. That would be quite the adventure. We eventually crossed the Alps and traveled through a few small valley towns in Italy. The train, instead of taking a cross-country route, drove right down the middle of the main road. Everywhere is green with verdant gardens and lush yards. The Italians towns definitely were not as well kept up as Switzerland.
We arrived in Tirano where Ron, Alessandra, and Alessandro (Alessandra’s brother—we think that is pretty funny) picked us up and drove us to their small town of Sondrio. It was a short 30-minute ride. Interestingly enough, we rode in a Dodge Magnum and a Megane (pronounced May-gone-ay).
Once we got there, we were taken to our apartment for a few minutes and immediately ushered us to Ron and Alessandra’s apartment where they placed a whole spread of Italian food in front of us…lasgana, salami, breads, cheese, and Frizzante water. Everything was great, and we found out that the lasagna was store-bought and microwaved. But, it would have easily passed for gourmet stuff in the states. We then walked down the street to grab some gelato at a local parlor. We sat at the street side tables and took in the feel of the Italian city. Narrow cobbled streets snaked their way through tallish buildings. In typical European fashion, people zoomed around on shrill sounding motor scooters and bikes. It is really what you would picture as a small Italian town.
The group enjoying happy hour at a street side cafe.
After gelato, we went back to the apartment relaxed, cleaned up, and left to join everyone at a street side café for Italian happy hour. Megan and I walked down to the café sat down and told the waitress that we did not want anything. Well, we tried to communicate that. Two minutes later, she placed a glass of white wine in front of me… Apparently. “No, thanks, I am fine” means “I would like to have a glass of white wine.” Anyways, the hospitality is amazing. They kept filling our table with excellent complimentary appetizers. These were not just potato chips and nuts, but they were culinary items that took some work to make. And, when you finished some, more came out…and more…and more… Not being used to this, I wondered who kept ordering the appetizers and how much they were going to cost, but I have found that this is simply typical of Italian restaurants. Apparently, the cure for every ill in Switzerland is more cowbell, but in Italy the cure is more food. Alessandro has a brand new baby (12 days old), and he is a fussy baby and cries a bunch. Alessandro’s mother keeps telling him, “He isa crying because-a hea isa hungry!” (She does not speak English, but this my best typed impression of her.)
We left from the happy hour to walk to a pizzeria at the top of the hill. The room we ate in was a part of an old castle. The walls were mortar and rock. The ambience was excellent. We found that Italian meals take multiple hours to eat. Dinner took from about 7:30 until about 11:30. Once again, food just kept getting served, and we just kept eating. We ordered pizza, drank red wine, ate appetizers, and sipped Frizzante. The food was great, but it was
difficult at first to adjust to the pace of life here. However, it is nice to move leisurely and enjoy the moment. After dinner, we walked home and turned in for the evening.
The first picture is a view of the streets we climbed to get to the pizzeria for the dinner.
The second picture gives a good impression of the room we ate in.
1 comment:
Cannot wait to see Bob on You Tube!
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