We woke to find that the village we were in was was a charming fishing village full of vibrant colours and even had their own fortifications. We had breakfast where we had dinner last night and the girls decided that it has became our local.
It was raining a bit so we did some washing and later on a freak storm blew though with a lot of water and wind. It cleared out pretty quick though so we took our chances with the weather and headed for Monterosso al Mare.
One of the charms of this region is that the five villages are linked by a walking trail so our aim was to walk between all of them. The trail varies in difficulty. This leg was probably the most demanding as it wound it's way around the land and through olive orchids and vineyards.
After returning from Monterosso we made our own antipasto (with pasta haha) for dinner and later we went in search of gelati. I ducked away for some photography and got talking to a coupla yanks. When I returned to the room that we were staying in for the next two nights, we were heading out for a drink. It was a fun night.
Monday, October 3, 2005
Sunday, October 2, 2005
Day 22 - IT
Today was our last day in Switzerland as we left for Italy but there was something big seperating the two countries: The Alps. At first we tried driving over them but as we drove higher and higher, it had started snowing and the road was getting whiter and whiter. The mountain roads had short bits of tunnel and it was nice emerging from these holes into a light snowfall was amazing (wish I had a photo). But we got to a point where we figured it would be smart to turn around so we did.
The signage in this areas wasn't the greatest so we ended up finding some tourist place somewhere and headed for a tunnel. I think we went through the Gotthard Tunnel which is one of the longest tunnels in the world. At the other end was Italy where we had lunch and then found ourselves on the Autostrade to get to the Cinque Terre near La Spezia. The road leading into the Cinque Terre was quite windy and the girls were looking a little green around the gills.
It was evening by the time we made it to Vernazza (one of the five main towns). You have to park outside the town and walk down. It wasn't too long a walk so we soon found out next challenge: to find a room. There was a couple of hotels but many locals rent out camarra's (rooms) so we door knocked a little and found two places for one night and we'd worry about the next two nights tomorrow.
For dinner we had pizza at a place called, The Blue Marlin, where the girls were quite taken by the two guys that worked there. One's appearance was quite elvish and wouldn't look out of place in Lord of the Rings.
The signage in this areas wasn't the greatest so we ended up finding some tourist place somewhere and headed for a tunnel. I think we went through the Gotthard Tunnel which is one of the longest tunnels in the world. At the other end was Italy where we had lunch and then found ourselves on the Autostrade to get to the Cinque Terre near La Spezia. The road leading into the Cinque Terre was quite windy and the girls were looking a little green around the gills.
It was evening by the time we made it to Vernazza (one of the five main towns). You have to park outside the town and walk down. It wasn't too long a walk so we soon found out next challenge: to find a room. There was a couple of hotels but many locals rent out camarra's (rooms) so we door knocked a little and found two places for one night and we'd worry about the next two nights tomorrow.
For dinner we had pizza at a place called, The Blue Marlin, where the girls were quite taken by the two guys that worked there. One's appearance was quite elvish and wouldn't look out of place in Lord of the Rings.
Saturday, October 1, 2005
Day 21 - CH
Mim tried her hand at driving today. Bit of a bumpy start but she got the hang of it (sounds weird talking about driving because we have been doing it for years but you have to remember we're on the wrong side of the road now). It was a short trip from Luzern to Interlarken so we continued to the Lauterbrunnen where we headed up to the Jungfrau*. It turned out to be the most expensive thing I think I have ever done. It was pretty, pretty cloudy, pretty high and pretty cold. Worth it though.
Once we arrived in Interlarken we checked in where we discovered Mim had left her passport behind where we had lunch. The passport was still there (typical of the neutral do-gooder moto that all Swiss seem to uphold) and when we returned and picked up Vickey from the train station. We went out for dinner where I had a deer steak and we shared a chocolate fondue for dessert. Even if my wallet couldn't get used to the place, my tastebuds could!
* useless trivia from the future: Gran Turismo 5 Prologue contains a track called Eiger Norwand. It is set on the north face and is visually a carbon copy. Ironically, motor racing is illegal in Switzerland.
Dead set, you could drop your camera
and still get a good photo in this country
Yup, we made it to the top and ended up on their webcam
Sarah and Fi were shivering from the cold and the height
Once we arrived in Interlarken we checked in where we discovered Mim had left her passport behind where we had lunch. The passport was still there (typical of the neutral do-gooder moto that all Swiss seem to uphold) and when we returned and picked up Vickey from the train station. We went out for dinner where I had a deer steak and we shared a chocolate fondue for dessert. Even if my wallet couldn't get used to the place, my tastebuds could!
* useless trivia from the future: Gran Turismo 5 Prologue contains a track called Eiger Norwand. It is set on the north face and is visually a carbon copy. Ironically, motor racing is illegal in Switzerland.
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