. August 2017 .
Buon giorno!
Yep, this month's efforts are solely based around our summer holiday to Italy and Switzerland. We covered some miles and had a lot of fun...and a couple of frustrations too, but all up, we had an amazing trip. Be warned, we do have a few photos included this month, which will make up for July's minimal effort! There could be more but you'll just have to visit Dave's facebook page to see those.
We hope you enjoy our summary of the trip.
Roma
We we up at about 4:30 am on the monday of our departure from Cayman. Amazingly enough, all three of our flights went by without a hitch and about twenty something hours later (via Miami & Philadelphia) we were sweating away in the heart of Rome.
Our apartment wasn't quite ready so we went for a bit of a wander about and check out some of the nearby sights.
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| The Mayor was on hand to welcome us, which was a nice touch. |
It was incredibly hot in Rome. Apparently there was a heatwave... We were used to some heat, but usually scuttle away inside to the A/C. It wasn't so simple in Rome! Needless to say - a lot of water was consumed (during the day, anyway)! Shame that they had people guarding the fountains - a swim would be good!
We had about four full days in Rome. We had pre-booked a couple of tours (Colloseum & the Vatican) but the rest of it was a pre-planned self-guided walking tour arranged by Michelle. On the Tuesday we walked 12km. Wedesday was 14km, and on thursday we clocked 15km! The legs were getting weary I tell ya!
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| We had booked a tour of this place later in the week. |
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First time in church in a while for these two heathens... they were kicked out about 30 seconds later.
Jake for wearing a hat, and Sam for wearing very little.
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First beer in Rome...after a long day!
(In fact, this could be the second, as the first never stood a chance.)
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| The Trevi Fountain looked inviting! |
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| One of Italy's finest... |
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| Enjoying some rest and some shade on the Spanish steps |
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| Just before he was arrested... |
We pre-booked a guided tour of the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. This tour avoided the queues and also took us below (and above) the areas that the general entry doesn't include.
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| Underneath the arena |
The tour was quite interesting with explanations of the structure, the trapdoors and how things happened with the Gladiators, Lions and things.
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| View from the top level - this would be where the corporate boxes where back in the day. |
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| Tourists |
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| Part of the Roman Forum |
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| Add your own caption... |
The Vatican was on our agenda, and after another early start, we were in on our guided tour.
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| Inside the Vatican Museum |
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| There's a lot of artwork in this place. Pictures don't really do it justice. |
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| "And there is to be no photography inside the Sistine Chapel..." |
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| The Pope didn't seem to mind, although he did try and make his pet Parrot crap on Jake's shoulder |
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| The Swiss Guards looking good as ever |
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| Outside St Peter's Basilica |
The Vatican tour was pretty good and covered plenty.
Afterwards, we had some lunch and then headed off to wander the streets some more.
We came across a castle so checked that out.
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| View from a Castle down the road |
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| The excessive walking is taking it's toll |
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| When in... Italy? |
Firenze
Since we had covered most of Rome by Thursday, we decided to catch the early morning train to Florence on the Friday. After a bit of guesswork we found a train headed in that direction and hopped on. About an hour and a bit later we were in Florence.
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| Another official welcome for us. These Italians are all right I reckon. |
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| I guess they didn't have runners or backpacks back in the day |
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| Ponte Vecchio |
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| Someone in Florence has a sense of humour... here's a few of the street signs we spotted |
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| Even the statues are friendly! |
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Sam had to wear this fethcing jacket thingy inside this church.
Note that Jake has removed his hat...
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| Shopping time! Yay.... |
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J: "Since the women are shopping, shall we?"
D: "Good call, mate."
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| What country are we in? |
Shopping done, and day trip to Florence about done, we hopped back on the train and headed back to Rome. Just in time to pack the bags, enjoy a night-cap and set the alarm!
Another early start so we could catch our flight to Geneva.
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Flying over Swiss Alps from Rome. At he time we didn't realise that we would be
getting amongst them over the next few days
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Switzerland/France (or thereabouts...)
We arrived in Geneva, collected our rental car (and some $30 bottles of Moet) and hit the road...
We are just not quite sure which road we hit, or where it was going!
Anyway, we popped across to France for some lunch and then set the car's GPS for Champoussin (or so we thought...)
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| So many choices! |
So, we happily followed the directions of our friendly GPS lady. We seemed to be heading in the right direction up hills, over hills and around winding roads. After about two hours we were almost there, which was good because the road was getting a little narrow.
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| Hmmm... the road seems to be getting narrower (is that a word, Bee Gee?) |
"$5 for the parking fee." she says.
"Errr....we aren't parking. We are just carrying on through." we reply knowingly.
Blank look...
"This is the end of the road." states the young Lady.
"We are heading to Champoussin, which is just up here" we reply with slightly less confidence.
Blank stare accompanied by dropped jaw.
As our feeling of confidence quickly turns to dread, we can almost see the little thought balloon coming out of her head "Dumbass tourists..." But she retains her composure and politely suggests that we might be a little out of our way.
The Dumbass Tourists thank her for her guidance bid her adieu or Ciao (since we were no longer sure which country we were in) and turn around before stopping a little further down the road to consult with GPS lady and give her a good telling off. She is lucky she was installed into the car as she was close to becoming part of the countryside. As luck would have it, we had brought our own GPS which we promptly turned on and set for Champoussin. From there on, we had two nagging voices advising which turn to take and warning us about each one three times in advance... But at least they seemed to agree about our new course, which was a mild improvement. We still weren't conviced that we were on the right track!
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| They like their cows in these parts |
So, after lots and lots of turns, twists, corners, hills and more tight corners, we seemed to be making progress. The GPS chicks weren't arguing either.
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| Another town |
We are getting close. This is confimed by a couple of road signs that seem to state our desired destination.
And after about for and a half hours, we finally complete our one and a half hour journey and arrive at Champoussin, which is about 5,000 feet above sea level - which explains the ski-lifts dotted about.
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| Finally... after several attempts, we find our little village of Champoussin in the hills. |
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| Our home for the next week. Not all of the building, just the right-hand side...middle level. |
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| The view from our chalet |
So, we checked in, finally made it inside and settled into the new digs. Another long day!
Although a very small village (in the middle of what looks like a ski slope, it had a few options for dining. The restaurant at the top was our first choice, which turned out to be very nice and looked to be a popular spot during the ski season, with the big open fire and solid wood tables etc.
Anyway, here we were. Way up high. No city lights or sounds...apart from the goats and cows, all of which had bells around their necks.
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| One of the roving alarm clocks |
We awoke the following morning to the sound of clanging metal and not much else.
During our week, we pretty much headed off in one direction or another to discover or explore what was on offer. Sometimes close, sometimes a few hours drive away, so we had some long days.
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| Found a pub down the hill a bit |
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| The Fromagerie that was just up the hill a bit |
We decided to go for a drive 'up' the hill. We were already level with snow capped peaks across the valley, but we thought we'd give it a crack anyway. It wasn't our car! We eventually wound our way to the very top, where the chair lifts ended.
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| Cool spot in the summer at least! |
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Our previous experience with driveways in the BVI put us in good stead for these parts...
although 6000+ feet is a little higher than 400 feet, and we couldn't see the sea from there!
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| This is a local picnic area. A very cool set up! |
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| During a 'hike' in the hills |
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| Rest stop to enjoy the view |
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| It's a bit of a trek to the bottom! |
Today we headed for Gruyere. Yes, famous for its Cheese, but there was also a Castle and a Chcolate factory in the area.
We checked out the Castle and environs. Interesting spot!
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Not sure what to make of this. This was in one of the dining rooms...
Someone had a gas issue maybe!
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| Fancy garden |
At the Castle we came across a lady promoting Parapenting off of one of the surrounding hilltops. The kids were keen so we signed them up.
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| Good luck! They are headed up to the hill behind Jake's right shoulder |
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Liftoff!
Somewhere way above the earth, Jake circles
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| Great view! |
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| Sam is close to orbiting the earth... |
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| We'd love to know how high this is... |
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| Meanwhile, Michelle and Dave sample some of the local produce in the shade, next to the landing spot |
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| "Landing Spot" |
The kids were way up high and had a great view of Planet earth and were up there for over an hour.
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| Here they come! |
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| Back on land |
A pretty awesome experience.
Next stop was the Cailler Chocolate factory.....
We popped around the road from Gruyere to the Cailler chocolate factory where we did the tour of the place and saw the various stages of production as well as the history. Then, at the end of the tour there was an all-you-can-eat area where they had about 10 different types of chocolates laid out on trays (from Milk through to Dark).
Yes, we tried them all...and then went back to our favourites...several times... Chocolate frenzy!
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| Yup...that was me... |
Heading back to home base we passed through Montreux where we checked out the Castle on the lake and then found a place on the lake's edge for a nice sunset dinner.
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| Sunset on the lake |
The next day we headed of in the other direction, over the mountains and into France - Chamonix. We planned on checking out Mont Blanc, which looked pretty cool from the research we'd done.
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| Cross-country skiing in the summer! |
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| Chamonix - a busy little town |
Chamonix is clearly a ski town. There were gondolas everywhere. It seems pretty popular in the summer as well!
Our main goal was to check out Mont Blanc and the cablecar that goes all the way to the top.
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| That's a long way up! |
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This is where we are headed! The Cable car arrives at the big dark building on the left.
You then take an elevator up to that pointy bit
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If you've ever seen any of the Johnny English Movies (Rowan Atkinson), this place was used in the second movie as the evil lair of the bad guy. Although it was winter when that was filmed.
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| -1 degrees Celsius |
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| This is higher than Mt Cook (NZ's highest) |
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| Starting to feel cold! |
But we weren't finished yet. Next up while we were there was to 'Step into the Void"....
This is basically a glass box attached to the side of the mountain. The drop beneath is 1000m....straight down.
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Unfortunately a huge cloud rolled in while we were getting our photo taken so it doesn't look quite so scary!
The slippers are compulsory to protect the glass.
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| This is looking straight down... 1000m before you'd hit something solid |
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This is the view from the cable car on the way back down from the top.
You can just make out the town way below.
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| "We was right about there!" |
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| Waaaayyy up there! |
Time to head home. Back over the winding hills with tight corners and huge drops off the side.
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| A pretty pink Church in the middle of nowhere! |
It was getting late so we looked for somewhere to stop for dinner. Unlike Italy, the restaurants around here seemed to close around 8:30/9pm... We saw a place that looked open and went on in. They were just closing (at about 9pm) but if we all ordered the same thing, they would stay open for us. There was no-one else there, apart froma guy at the bar who finished his beer and left. We got fed, and watered and then finished our journey back up the hill for some sleep after another long day.
We'd planned to go white water rafting the next day, but found that it wasnt where we thought it was. We booked it for the following day and had a look around the village we were in. Found a high ropes course at the top of a gondola.
That night we were back in Champoussin early so decided to see if we could get some pizzas from a local restaurant for dinner. We were about to go in but found the doors locked... Then a car pulled up and a guy got out asking what we were after. "Just some pizzas if you are open."
"We're not, but you are in luck as I was going to make some pizzas for my friends."
So we went in and had a few beers and a chat while he made the pizzas. Turned out he was a Kiwi from Lincoln (ChCh) who now lives in Holland - but runs a couple of restaurants in Champoussin as well. Small world! Gourmet Pizza's were good too!
We tried out his other restaurant a couple of nights later. That was very nice as well. The kids' first experience with Fondue!
Next morning we were off to find the White Water rafting place. We nearly missed it, but got there in time.
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| Getting suited up! |
Our guide was a bit of a nutcase (Mad Frenchman), but we a lot of fun.
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| We did some rock jumping as well along the way |
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Michelle's leap of faith.
The water was fairly fresh...funnily enough!
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After that we headed to an underground cave for a quick tour.
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| These guys are in the middle of a roundabout |
Montreux was our destination on our final day. Michelle had spotted some shopping opportunities as we drove through a few days previously. In the meantime, Jake and Dave did some wandering.
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| Freddie Mercury holds a spot on the waterfront |
Montreux used to be 'the place' where a lot of music legends used to hang out. Queen used to record their music in Montreaux. The annual Jazz/Music Festival has been going since the sixties and bands like Deep Purple, Status Quo, BB King, Queen and a bunch of others have played there. There are still people walking around with Led Zep etc t-shirts.
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| We checked out the Queen recording studio at the Casino. |
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| The interactive mixing board was pretty cool |
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| Outside, plenty of people have left messages on the wall |
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| Suddenly a violent storm came crashing in - time to gap it! |
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| The latest in bathroon design... |
The storm moved across the countryside and seemed to be heading in the same direction as we were.
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| Back up in the hills - above the clouds! |
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| View from our chalet on our last morning... we are in the clouds after all! |
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| Some people say that the Swiss flag looks angry. But to us, it was just a little cross... |
Our journy from Champoussin to Geneva was not going to take 4 - 5 hours (as it did a week ago). We made sure the GPS was heading in the right direction and away we went, arriving in good time to drop the car off and then head to our hotel in Geneva for a couple of days.
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| Checking out the sights |
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| Letting off steam...? |
We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering about the waterfront and then the old town checking out the sights.
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| Jake an Dave went up on the ferris wheel to view the city from above |
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| Hmmm...not sure they've quite captured it here. |
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| Take a close look at the shiny steel rod in the centre |
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| Chilling on the Sunday afternoon in Geneva by the lake |
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We had some wine to finish...
down by the lake in the setting sun was a nice way to do that
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| A pretty cool trip... |
The following day was another early start. Flight to Madrid and then a longer one to Miami, before arriving home around 9 pm local time... all very tired!
Amazingly, all of our flights went OK. Our bags arrived on the same flights as we did as well. Always a good thing!
It was great to be able to take the kids to Rome & Florence and then explore parts of Switzerland (and France - although sometimes we weren't quite sure what country we were in).
Back to work... Back to school.
September
I'm not sure we can top this trip for a while. September's efforts might be a bit lame in comparison. But we'll see!
Ciao for now!
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