This blog was started some months ago, long before we began our actual flight trek southward, to Atlanta, and then northeastward to St. John's, Newfoundland and finally turning eastward to arrive at our final initial destination of Zurich, or Zuerich as the locals put it to paper.

From Zuerich HB we traveled by train, in extreme first class comfort I should say, making stops in Como/Menaggio, Firenze via Milano, and Venice, Italy. Completing the tourist thing Laurrie and I boarded the Zuerich HB bound rail, again via Milano while Becky and Phil hooked up with their local relations. The entire journey was a rich and rewarding travel adventure, spent with some most excellent traveling companions.

One might expect this writer to rail on (pun was intended) about any and everything that went wrong or didn't meet expectations. Not so, reader, for I have found that even in the best of times something will always go a bit amiss. More importantly, over time the good memories will overtake those that are not so good, thus making the not-so-good trivial or even a small humorous episode (not even a chapter) in the journal titled "Swiss-It2010".

But I would like to share some of my endearing impressions of our journey's.

First the train stations. I loved them all. It was like traveling back in time and being a part of a 1930's melodrama. The crowds all in a hurry to get somewhere. The buildings high arches extending up to transoms that allowed the steam to rise and vent - unfortunately steam engines have long since vanished, but one can still allow the mind to wander - the conductors whistle, the slow movement of the goliath pulling away from the station. The romance of travel in another era all in black and white, transcending itself to the here and now.

Zuerich - I liked the city, as it was a great place to people watch. Everyone seemed to have a purpose, a focus of mind, showing something that needed to be accomplished purposely. It was the structure, and structures that intrigued me. The city was not particularity beautiful (I can not define beauty as a city goes, but I know it when I see it - sorry Justice Stewart didn't mean to plagiarize) but it did have an essence about it, something that drew one in and welcomed their visit.

Fribourg - it was as I remembered it, but then it wasn't the place I visited. Confused? Well so was I went first got out of the rail station. So little looked like what my mind had stored away, yet there was familiarity about it. A welcoming feeling of deja vu soon enveloped me as the streets became avenues to the past.

Geneva - I never really got a feel for this city as our stay was intentionally kept to one day. Someday I would like to schedule a revisit. So much to see, so much to do.

Menaggio - just simply magnificent, as the amount of pictures taken would indicate. Words will never do it justice. A lengthened stay should be on our traveling agenda.

Firenze - the Duomo will forever be in my minds eye, as well as the hordes as they descended down on the Boboli Gardens and the Ponte Vecchio. Alas, however, there were those quiet walks away from the maddening crowds where one could gather an appreciation for the city that gave us the statue of David.

Venice - blown away by the Guggenheim Collection and the Doges' palace where the shutter on my camera was smoking. The long walk back, rather than taking the local "tram" system, was well worth the adventure. I wish we could have done back alley exploring, but neither Laurrie nor I was in any kind of shape to do so.

The scenery - from the lake that abuts Zuerich, to the Alps, both Swiss and Italian, to the vineyards around Geneva, to the low lands around Firenze and Venice there was so much beauty to take in. One regret is that I didn't and couldn't take pictures while traveling by train. There are, however, images burned within my memories, of tiny towns and farms, that I will forever be able to call up and remember. A camera would never have done them justice anyway.

So there ends my ramblings. BFS Vacations did it again. They brought down the house with one terrific journey!

Pictures Pictures

Jim took over 600 photos of outdoor scenes, buildings and sights.  The gorgeous interiors of cathedrals and the beautiful displays in museums were off limits to any cameras, though, and those were incredible

Here are his outside photos, slightly edited down to about 200 shots!  Click on this link to see the album:
Switzerland and Italy in 2010

And for some reason he compiled a collection of doors.  Just doors.  Interesting and attention getting old European doors.  Click here to see them:
The Doors of Europe

Enjoy!

Impressions

Now that we are back, I've put together some random impressions about the trip.  Phil says we can't call it a vacation, since we are retired and not taking a vacation from anything.  So we'll refer to our wondrous European odyssey as a "trip".

Random impressions: Switzerland


The Chagall windows in the Fraumuenster cathedral: contemplative, deep.  Coolest stained glass I've ever seen.  The view from the Grossmuenster, the larger cathedral that Charlemaine built, was more impressive (we climbed the tower to see a birdseye view of all of the old city), but the smaller former women's convent, the Fraumuenster, was lovelier.


Other random thoughts:

Uetliberg was a scene out of an Audrey Hepburn movie: wine, brats and rosti potatoes on an open air terrace looking out at the shimmering luminescence of the near Alps.  Classy, serene, alpine.  And we got there by trusty tram, followed by an easy hike up hill.

Fondue: who knew it could be so good?  The scrapings at the bottom, where the cheese burned, were scrumptious.  Chris was wonderful to treat us, and later in the week we had another traditional Swiss meal at Chris and Antje's house.  Nice!


Geneva: big and imposing with blocky important looking stone buildings.  Even to the casual tourist it looked officious.  The lake was beautiful, the fountain impressive, the ride in on the train was beautiful as we passed vineyards on precipitous hillsides spilling down to the lake's edge. 

French speaking.  We got confused coming out of the train station, trying to find the old city.  Tres embrouillant. But it was a gorgeous day and wine by the lake at the end of our tour was good in any language.

Fribourg: ancient and steep.  An old city hidden below river banks and cliffs, a newer city atop the cliffs, connected by a funicular, all of it very old. 

It was a Saturday and a festival and farmer's market was in full happy swing.  Food stalls everywhere, selling the kinds of goods Julia Child fell head over heels for.  French everywhere.  Tres heureux.

Random impressions: Menaggio

Our room had a balcony overlooking the little square below and the lake's edge.  Alps in the distance, the village of Bellagio across the lake.  All from our window where the gauze curtains billowed in the lake breeze.  How could you not fall in love with such a place? 

I would ride an hour on a rattly bus that was way too big for the narrow streets and threatened calamity at every turn to get to a place like this.  Oh, wait, I did.

Random impressions: Italy

Florence: The Duomo.  We wandered among tall buildings, turned a corner, and there it was waiting for us.  An awesome first impression.

Michelangelo's David.  You must see it. 

The crowds.  Oy.

The Boboli gardens at the Pitti Palace.  We wandered them on a cool morning, up and up and up until we saw the dome below us in the near distance.  Jim saying "but where are the flower gardens?" 

We are both conditioned to expect English mixed borders at public gardens.  The Villa Carlotta at Lake Como and the gardens at the Palace in Florence showed us that gardens in medieval Europe were green spaces, shrub mazes, walled gardens and structured walks, but no flowers, except on the occasional rosebush or in the medicinal herb gardens.

Venice: there are no roads, only canals.  Even the FedEx delivery vehicle is a boat. (enlarge the photo... it says FedEx on the gunwale, which is Italian for FedEx).

The Peggy Guggenheim museum -- what a treasure.  Famous works of art, Picassos, Max Ernsts, Chagalls, Calder sculptures, all crammed in the tiny rooms of her villa where she lived in the 1950s and 60s right on the edge of the Grand Canal.  She's buried in her small garden there which was a little creepy.

The Ospedale. 
My good friends with me the whole way, navigating the vaporetto to the hospital stop, wandering the corridors with me murmuring "anyone?  help?  hello?  which way to the visita ocula?" 
 (if you enlarge the photo you will see the most welcome vaporetto sign of all: "Ospedale".  The right place, and the most welcome sight in Venice my first night.)

The view of red rooftops from the top of the campanile at St. Mark's --- seeing all of Venice below, tiny, watery, compact, alive with water traffic, afloat in its lagoon, sinking a little bit each year. Already, in late September, the winter acqua alta (high tide floodwaters) had invaded the square when we descended from the belltower.  Big pools of standing water were in parts of the square around the foot of the Doge's Palace.  What will happen to Venice in 20 or 30 years? 

There was so much more ... the art, the awe inspiring church interiors, the Alpine villages, the palace rooms, the gilt and gold and grandiosity, the convents and cultural upheaval.  Becky's big warm extended family, and her friend Georgene from the US.

The history, the museums, the gelato and spritzes and Chianti.  The sculptures (medieval Italians never saw an empty spot that couldn't be enhanced with a statue). The boat rides and vaporettos and efficient Swiss trams and gondolas and trains.  The tiramisu, and Schwartzwaldentorte on the boat on the Zurichsee.

It was a great trip.

But why is the rum gone?

It's Over, But More to Come

The Sostmani's are home, the Francisco party is getting ready to leave Summago, but don't abandon the blog, loyal readers!  There is more posting to come.  Now that Jim & Laurrie are back in Bloomfield we are going to sort pictures, post some (you don't want to see all 566), and tell you about our experiences. 

Becky put some great posts up from Florence and Venice, but Laurrie abandoned the effort when the wi fi was not free, and the right eye closed semi permanently (not really, it's healing after a trip to the oupatient clinic at the Ospedale and drugs from the Farmacia in Venice).

So there is more to come!

For now, the Sostmans are home.  We left the Australians in Venice, traveled over the Alps, flew thousands of miles and slept in our own beds last night.  Today I go to another train station.... this time the one in Hartford to pick up Tom for a day visit home while he's in NYC this weekend.  (sigh, just got a text from Tom, Amtrak is delayed over an hour getting to Hartford.... this is just not like the European trains at all.  Not at all.)

Arrivederci Venice

It's blue skies as we part ways with laurrie & jim, affectionately known as the Sostmani's. They are off to Zurich while we head to Summago.

Both Sick Sostmani's are recovering but oh so ready for home & bed. Laurrie's still trying to imagine how I could ever think of living here. Not that it will ever happen but I've always felt drawn to Venice.

Yesterday they explored St Mark's square, visited the Rialto Bridge area & then took in the modern art at the Peggy Guggenheim museum. We met up with them about 5:00 and ambled through the Ghetto area, near our Dump.

I should pause briefly and explain ambling - I consider it an interesting slow walk with no particular destination in mind. Philip considers "ambling" a cross country hike into the wilderness without a map, food or water. Still somehow we've "ambled" thru many countries & foreign cities together - always ready to see the next one.

We ate at a restaurant near a canal where the vaparetto's, taxi's, deliveries past by continuously; people strolled by with children, travelers arriving & departing crossing the bridge, church bells ringing at odd times - a typical Veneto scene.

And in our typical fashion - not necessarily american, perhaps Sosfre fashion - we asked for separate checks, then proceeded to order almost identical meals & splitting a bottle of white wine among the 3 of us but not with the 4th, who was drinking red wine. In the end, we told our puzzled waiter to give us one bill.

It's been fun, lots of laughs, creating memories together. Laurrie & Jim got a glimpse of what I've explored for 20+ years - philip for 10 and why we keep coming back...the wonderful public transportation, the ever changing scenery, and most of all the people - who take pride in their country & want visitors to have a good time.

Ciao!
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Venice Sparkles

It is a beautiful day; the sun is sparkling. Philip has the day planned – more walking, but at a leisurely pace and no getting lost. We'll go get our train tickets to Portuguaro & let Mikki know which train to meet. Then we're heading to Murano for some shopping, coffees and good food. Returning, we'll stop to get train reservations from Portuguaro to Zurich; return to the room, rest and then decide what to do with the rest of the late afternoon/evening. Sounds like a plan to me.

Meeting Laurrie & jim for breakfast, such as it is, they're heading to St Marks.

Murano is lovely & uncrowded, pefect. We make a couple of stops for coffee & spritzs before settling on lunch at a place where I remembered locals frequented. I had cod and polenta – which may not sound so good – but it was.

I'm looking forward to the time when Laurrie and Jim have full access to this blog as they are the writers & wordsmiths of this group. Not me. After all the months of planning our journey is at an end. Tomorrow, they head back to Zurich & home. We go to Summago/Portuguaro to visit my cousin for a few days before returning to Zurich and home.

Venice, Here We Are

After having our coffee & roll; Jim's still Down For the Count; Phil, Laurrie and I head to St Marks. We have a few lingering clouds from yesterday's storm but the day looks like it will be lovely. The predictable crowds of tourist are soon encountered but hey, we're part of that group. After a quick look around we head into the Doge's Palace - my 5^th visit and still I find it interesting. It's remarkable a city could develop the government Venice did without a charter to follow.

Wherever we walk we notice platforms staging piled in the middle of walks and squares. Philip said it's for Aqua Alta – high water. And we could understand as the standing water at St Mark's increased significantly from the time we arrived and left the Doge's Palace. High tide would be at 2:00PM and it was obvious, we'd need to walk on the platforms to avoid getting wet.

Our next stop was the campanile – magnificent views of Venice and the out islands. Strangely enough, not one of the hundreds of canals were visible. They're hidden between the canyons of buildings.

My friend, Georgene from Phoenix, is also visiting Venice. Laurrie and I meet her at 2:00 to take a taxi to Murano and a tour of the glass factory. Philip headed back to the train station to meet Mikki, Morgan and Kilian.

Riding in the Taxi was fun but the tour – not so much. Not much history and most everything overpriced. Laurrie headed back to the mainland to check on Jim while George and I settled down with a nice glass of red wine and waited for Philip and Mikki. Once everyone was gathered we strolled along the canal, gawking at the glass shops before stopping to have a pizza before heading back to the rail station to bid farewell to Mikki and family (Phil & I will see them again in a few days).

Near our hotel, we stop for a glass of wine and run into Laurrie and Jim – who's looking better and is at least up right. I have to say the Sostman's are terrific people to travel with – no matter how bad they felt & nothing worse than being sick when on vacation & a foreign country definitely complicates life – they soldier on; no complaints.

After giving Georgene a quick peek in the Ghetto area (home to large % of the remaining Venetians) we headed for the Rialto and some supper. Then we began the adventure of getting George back to our hotel and us back to the Valporetti, without getting lost. We got Georgene back to the hotel but not without getting lost – both going and coming back. Barely speaking, we staggered back to our dismal little hotel about 10:30, vowing not to leave again – ever!!!