Villa La Pistrice - Positano, Italy (9/29/16)

It's "Home Alone 2".  The Hinkley's are somewhere between Rome and Florence and Naples, the Dalpé's are someplace between London and Paris and Naples...all with expectations of sleeping here tonight.

Deb has had her fill of croissants...so we head to our little grocery store for eggs...they're not refrigerated, rhey're huge, and they have bright orange yolks, and they are delicious.  With a good breakfast behind us, we take the ferry to Almalfi, then the bus to Ravello, for a fairly short hike back to Amalfi.  Deb, uncertain of her next meal, insists on lunch...but Deb's had her fill of prosciutto.  We haven't actually been hungry during this entire trip.  The scales are in kilograms...we know how to convert to pounds, but we don't want to.  We split a turkey sandwich and I have a cardamom  espresso (actually .00038% cardamom)

The walk down to Almalfi was paved with streetlights, with villas along the way.

We had found a walking guide at the villa, it said that just to the left of the underground parking garage was the entrance to a tunnel through the mountain, under the Duomo d'Almalfi, right back to the ferry dock.  Without the guide, we would never have found it.

Back in Positano, we have a few drinks at the outdoor tables of Hotel Villa Gabrisa, and wait for the Dalpé's. we see them go by...but....the street is narrow and one-way.  They have to loop through the entire town again...apparently with a stop along the way, so the driver could discuss the dilemma with some locals.

With their arrival we went out to dinner, returned home for a welcome bottle of limoncello and waited for the arrival of the Hinkley clan.  By 1:00 in the morning, everyone was safely tucked in.

Villa La Pistrice - Positano, Italy (9/28/16)

So Bob and Michelle are off with the Hinkley clan in Rome, Nancy and Marie are in a Paris, we are here in a Positano bouncing around in a 4000 square ft villa, all by ourselves.  After a good hike yesterday, we did a nice easy beach day today...nothing strenuous.  Because we were on the beach, I decided to take only €80 with me, with no wallet.  So the beach chair and umbrella were €25...that leaves €55...we went to a beach restaurant €46... that leaves €9...Deb needs acetone for €8.60 that leaves €.40.

We have two bus tickets left over from a few days ago.  So we catch the bus, but it starts heading out of town....not to worry, we have €.40, no identification...we may have to hike back to town and we are both wearing beach shoes.  Fortunately, we were on the right bus.  After leaving town, it does a U-turn on a mountain road and heads back right to our hotel. Phew!

Dinner at a fabulous restaurant in a part of town we have not been to.  The waiter takes the time to help us with our Italian...and we buy some supplies for Nancy and Marie's arrival tomorrow

Villa La Pistrice - Positano, Italy (9/27/16)

Apparently Tom Brady is waiting out his Deflategate suspension here with us in Positano.  Hopefully, they will be able to convince him to leave when his suspension is up...

It was Michelle's birthday, so the whole Hinkley clan joined us for a hike on the Path of the Gods.  It started with a quick ferry ride to Almalfi, with a 1 1/2 hour wait for the bus.  The time was well spent touring the town of Amalfi.  The Hinkley's went the spiritual route to explore the Duomo d'Almalfi

while Deb and I took the culinary route and found some spectacular pastries.

We took the city bus to Bomerano, a small town in the mountains.  The road was narrow with dozens of switchbacks, only a little more scary than a wooden rollercoaster.  Once we got to Bomerano, we found the trail and hiked 4,miles to Nocelle, just above Positano.  The views were breathtaking and the trail was fairly easy, considering that it was hugging a sheer cliff face.  We reached Nocelle just as the bus arrived, and took another scary ride back to the villa.

We had a special dinner with the Hinkley's to celebrate Michelle's birthday...with a resounding refrain of Happy Birthday while she blew out the candle on her canoli.

Villa La Pistrice - Positano, Italy (9/26/16)

Bob wants to rent a boat, and explore the coast.  So it's down 400 steps to the harbor, with the Hinkleys...they seem to be all grousing about sore calves...Deb and I silently smile.  We rent an inflated rubber boat.

The wind is against us heading to Amalfi, and we get a lot of chop.  Several of us get drenched in the waves but the sun is out and we will eventually dry off.  There are grottos to explore, and views of towns... all in all pretty spectacular.  By the time we get back, we are all ready for gelatos.

 Deb wants to explore taking the bus back....but it takes too long and we walk back anyway..  We see an interesting restaurant only 200 steps from the villa...seems worth trying.

For dinner, we both opt fir the lasagna....never had lasagna in Italy.  We will have to another before casting oùr final opinion about Italian lasagna.

Villa La Pistrice - Positano, Italy (9/25/16)

Today is Sunday, and much is closed.  Deb and I head out for breakfast, it's to be a short little trip...just not a thing in Positano.  400 steps down to the harbor, a continental breakfast, then a stroll down the beach. Then a stroll up the beach. Then a stroll around the beach.  Then the realization that we are just getting more tired and we still have 400 steps back to the villa.

The Hotel Villa Gabrisa is just at the bottom of the stairs to the villa (only 57 steps), so we have "lunch" at 4:30 (more like a before dinner drink with appetizers), and dinner at 7:00 there.  For the shortest number of steps going out to eat.

Meanwhile the Hinkleys are running up and down to the beach a dozen or so times...really puts us to shame.

Villa La Patrice - Positano, Italy (9/24/16)

To get to Positano in time to meet the caretaker, we need to leave Milan at 6:15 which means that we have to up by 4:45...of course, the fear is that we don't get up in time....but all was well, and we got to the Frecciarossa Train, with enough time to get Cafe Americana, orange juice, and cressant from the cafe in the Train Station...there are no smiling Italians at 6:00 in the morning.  The train goes 250 mph,  so our journey was fairly short to Salerno where we caught the ferry to Positano.  We called the caretaker..."make sure you get a porter for your bags, and take a taxi."  I thought the villa was fairly close to the harbor. "No, it's 400 steps away."  We took a taxi, and the porter charge us €10 extra because of all the steps.

The villa is ridiculous...absolutely immense...with nothing where it should be.  The first room we enter is the pizza oven room, then the piano room, followed by the TV room, followed by the dining room.  Upstairs are four interconnecting bedrooms...there is a shared veranda, but inside the house, you have to go through all three bedrooms to get to the fourth.  The views are magnificent and Deb and I spend half an hour picking our favorite room, and working on our rational for taking it.  By the time the Hinkley clan arrives, we have most of the details resolved.

We went to the local grocery store to find Spaghetti and Tomato Sauce and a loaf of bread, to have a nice little family dinner with the Hinkley's...the first of several that evening for the Hinkley kids.

Hotel Berna - Milan, Italy (9/23/16)

We kinda slept in this morning, but found a full buffet breakfast in the hotel lobby.  After breakfast, we headed out for a day of Milan, which pretty much means visiting the Duomo di Milano.  Our first challenge was the Milan Metro, with a little homework, I had enough information to successfully get on and off at the right place.

The Duomo is huge and gothic.  Deb decided early on that we needed an audio guide to figure out what we are looking at.  Soon we came to a statue of St Bartholomew.  It was an interesting stàtue, but the audio guide told us that his skin is flayed and draped over his shoulder. Wow, kinda more information than we wanted.

Also at Duomo Di Milano, you can walk around on the roof.  From the roof you can see all the flying buttresses, statues, gargoyles, and all of Milan, including a nice looking place for lunch, on the roof of a seven floor designer fashion and home furnishing store.

The afternoon was frustrated by Milan's lack of a gridded road structure.  All the roads that started in the right direction turned.   After several hours of searching for a castle, which turned out to be fairly uninteresting, we found a gelato stand and a metro station.

Back to the hotel, cocktails, and a nice sidewalk dinner.

Hotel Berna - Milan, Italy (9/2216)

Up early to catch the train.  It's a little complicated...the cog railroad down the mountain...a Swiss train through the Simpson Tunnel which was the longest tunnel in the world from the time it was opened in 1905 until 1982 (12 miles long) into Italy and then a third train to Milan.

We had a hour and a half layover in Domodossola, Italy.  We had lunch in a sidewalk cafe where the waiter spoke very little English, much to Deb's delight.  She got order a ham and cheese sandwich, all in Italian...you go, girl!

Our Italian train arrived on time (about half an hour behind schedule).  The train went by Lake Maggiore, maybe a future stop for us.

Out for dinner at Platina, an excellent pasta place.  It didn't even open until 7:15, so we had to have a before dinner drink at a little side walk place.  Trip Advisor didn't let us down.

Hotel Firefly - Zermatt, Switzerland (9/21/16)

it's our last full day in Switzerland, with so many things left to do.  However, it is raining...not a heavy rain, but  everything here is outdoors.  With a few dry hours forecasted, we take the gondola up to Schwarzsee to hike down the Larch Trail.  Schwarzsee is the trailhead for the Matterhorn climb and we can see the base camp from where we get off.  Of course, there is a hotel right there..so we have coffee and hot chocolate.

We are both a little sore from yesterday's hike, but we head downhill anyway.  With the clouds wisping by, the tiny town of Zermatt a few thousand feet below, some local bread that we stole on our breakfast, we meander down dozens of switchbacks toward Füri a small village just above Zermatt.

About half way down, Deb starts favoring her right leg...then something went wrong in my left knee, and I could only walk with my knee locked.  We start to think maybe we're just too old.  Finally, back in Zermatt, we take in a late lunch...that's when we start to notice all the knee braces, ankle casts, crutches on people of all ages.

Dinner at Cafe Julen, lamb ragout and lamb sausage (a lamb restaurant..dah!)...a night cap at the bar and to bed..  we Leave for Milan, tomorrow.

Hotel Firefly - Zermatt, Switzerland (9/20/16)

There is no dining room in the hotel, so they serve breakfast at the dining table in your room...it comes when you ask for it, and it's really good (I'm trying to pretend that this is what I expect everywhere I go...not working, is it?)

Today is suppose to be the better of the next two days, so we are taking the cog railroad to Gornergrat, elevation 10,000 ft.  It snowed the last few days...only a few inches though.  The clouds are blocking much of the view, so we go inside for lunch...by the time we are ready to go, the sun is shining brightly and you can see everything.  It's one of those places that needs to be seen in person. On the way back, we get off the train a few stops early, in Riffelalp, and walk back to Zermatt.  It is all downhill, very downhill.  It's a gorgeous walk, but it's downhill, very downhill.

Finally back in Zermatt, but a little early for dinner, we have a drink at the hotel bar.  They have a hand cranked meat slicer that makes prosciutto, sliced tissue thin.  We got a small mountain of it to go with our beers.  Off to dinner at Whymper-Stube...Schweinsteak with Mozzerella...back to the bar, another mountain of prosciutto.

Hotel Firefly - Zermatt, Swizerland (9/19/16)

After some trial and error, we figure out that there is nothing on the thermostat that will name the room warmer, so we turn it off and the room starts to warm up.  Last night, we heard breakfast was $35 and not worth it, so we found a little cafe for a cressant and strong coffee.

Today is our travel day to Zermatt.  With Swiss punctuality we arrive at Visp on time and take the narrow gauge cog railroad up the mountain to Zermatt.  There are no cars allowed in Zermatt, so we have a shuttle to the hotel scheduled.  We are so efficient that we get an earlier train,  we have lunch at an outdoor cafe near the station.  It's called minestrone but it's really Swiss Chard Soup, good but not to filling.  The waiter takes his time with the check which leaves the shuttle driver waiting for us.  All the shuttles are little square electric cars, very cute, and they can hold up to six passengers. Our shuttle has four others waiting inside...oh those American tourists, they can be so impatient.

After settling into our suite, we are invited to a complementary drink at the bar.  With a cressant for breakfast and Swiss Chard in warm water for lunch, Deb is a little impatient for dinner.  After a lengthy restaurant selection, we head out, but at 6:00 in Zermatt, there is not a sole eating dinner.  Finally, at 7:00 we have a respectable dinner in a crowded dining room.  Deb has Wild Boar....really, and loves it.

Hotel Gotthard - Zurich, Switzerland (9/18/16)

So we decided that since it is a rainy day, we would make a change in our blog.  Why not include all our travels...not just RV!  So this is our inaugural entry.

With Drex at the Sandy Creek Spa for three weeks which he seemed truly excited about and our luggage discussion complete (how big, how many, how long, how cold, how hot, etc), we head for Dulles.  Of course, it's the day of the annual Airplane Pull which means most of long term parking is taken.  We persevere and find a tiny spot which with any luck we will find when we return.

What seemed like an innocent comment would come back to haunt us, "What's you final destination in Europe?" The correct answer is Zurich, the obvious choice Amsterdam is wrong, but it will be a full day before we find that out.

AerLingus is wonderful.  Deb has enough choices on her little TV screen to keep her happy for the whole flight,  which allows me to sleep, on and off, sort of.  A fairly short stop in Dublin, for coffee (Irish but not Irish), and we are off to Amsterdam, with a connection to Zurich...no, wait...our bags are only checked through to Amsterdam...so it's...go through customs, get our bags (20 minutes)...find the KLM check-in....it' a self-service kiosk (20 minutes)...go to self service Baggage Drop-off, a new feature where you put your bag in the machine, scan your boarding pass, attach the checked luggage tag, and window on the machine closes up and your bag disappears (20 minutes)...on to Security Check...again mostly automated (20 minutes) and then the walk to the gate (20 minutes).  Fortunately the flight was just starting to board as we arrived.  And we wondered what we would do in Amsterdam for one and a half hours.

Zurich Airporr is nowhere near as exciting.  A short train ride and we are in downtown Zurich.  I have the address of the hotel on my GPS....but since my phone has not been on since we left Washington, it is taking forever For the GPS to find our position.  Deb is tired, hungry and not up for a technology discussion.  As I slowly come to the realization that I am going to have to ask directions...my most dreaded nightmare...I realize that we are actually standing almost in front of the hotel. Phew!  With Swiss precision we were whisked to our room for a quick but well deserved nap.

By dinner time, we were awake, but it was Sunday, in the rain, and we ended up eating at the closest little restaurant we could find...Sam's...specializing in American Cuisine...we ordered wine and a "Classic Burger." Ja..the meat is sausage...interesting, but probably more Swiss than American.

Back to the Hotel for a night cap, and bed.