SUNDAY, JULY 26, 2015
On Sunday morning, Jason and I got to sleep in a little before we headed back to the train station in Zürich. I’ve realized that I love each of the cities I’ve been to the most when I see them on quiet Sunday mornings. There was barely anyone out in Zürich as we were walking, and we had plenty of time to just stroll along the river. We had a couple of transfers in small towns in Switzerland before we got onto the Matterhorn Mountain line in Visp towards Zermatt. We didn’t realize when we got on the train that we needed extra tickets besides our railways passes for this train, but thankfully it’s no big deal to just buy your tickets on the train in Europe. The ride from Visp to Zermatt was absolutely breathtaking. We got to watch the Alps growing nearer, then we weaved through a valley running through the bases of the mountains. The train tracks ran along the river, so we got to see lots of waterfalls, rapids, and of course, the mountains themselves.
It was about an hour and a half ride before we reached Zermatt, which sits in a valley at the southern border of Switzerland, right at the base of Matterhorn Mountain. It’s a very small but very tourist-centered town. Our hotel was on the opposite side of town from the train station, but it was only about a 10 minute walk there. I absolutely loved Zermatt from the moment we got off the train. It’s a very old mountaineering town, which is why it’s so touristy now. People come from all over the world to hike these trails, so the “tourists” are mostly super outdoorsy mountain climbers. Although I was wearing a sweater, jeans, and sandals, I felt wildly overdressed. We got in at about 4pm, when everyone was starting to come in from their hikes for the evening, and I saw very few people who weren’t carrying a backpack or walking with hiking poles through the town. Everyone just seemed so happy and laid-back, a welcome respite from fast-paced cities that we’ve been seeing.
We got checked into our hotel, which had an amazing terrace off our room with a view of the mountains, went to get some groceries for the next couple of days, and then set out to find a restaurant. Let me tell you, Switzerland is expensive. We ate at the cheapest restaurant that we could find, and our small meal was $60. Even McDonald’s meals were around $12.
The place we ate at, Café Du Pont, was well worth the money, though. I got rösti, a traditional Swiss dish of shredded potatoes with cheese and ham, Jason got some sausage with a side dish of rösti with cheese, and we splurged on a piece of apple strudel with vanilla rum sauce for dessert. The food was absolutely amazing, but the owner was our favorite part of the restaurant. I grew up seeing the old sailors in Massachusetts, and this guy was definitely cut from the same cloth, but in the mountains instead of on the sea. He didn’t speak English, but was happy to communicate with us using hand signals to make sure we were enjoying our meal. He then took our extra bread and whistled for the birds as he broke it up and scattered it for them. A few minutes later, a boy ran his flock of goats through the town! I love goats, so that was so fun to see in itself, but it was made even better when the restaurant owner ran after them, throwing bread at the goats for them to eat. We had a good laugh about it as we finished dessert and then headed out for a little walk through the town. It was supposed to rain, though, so we didn’t stray too far onto the trails before we headed back to our hotel to rest up for the morning!
MONDAY, JULY 27, 2015
Although we had intended to get up and hit the trails early, Jason and I didn’t end up heading down for breakfast until about 9:30. The breakfast spread was amazing and of the traditional German sort. There was a buffet table filled with fresh-baked breads, cheeses, and meats that we loaded up on, as well as fresh fruits, cereals, and lots more! We stuffed ourselves until we were bursting so that we wouldn’t have to bring lots of food on our hike, then got ready to head out. Jason had picked out the trails he wanted to see the night before, so he led the way as we began our day!
We headed towards the 5-Seenweg (5-Lakes trail) that sort of went in a horseshoe around the sides of 2 conjoining mountainsides. We later realized that we took the wrong route to reach this trail, but we were glad that we did because there was almost no one on our path, and there were lots of waterfalls and beautiful scenery to stop and look at. Even once we reached the 5-Lakes trail, we went off in a different direction for a little bit and ended up seeing the most amazing waterfall coming down the side of one of the mountains and into the river. There was absolutely no one there even though we climbed around for nearly an hour. We then made our way to the first of the 5 lakes to each the sandwiches and snacks that I had packed up for lunch. It wasn’t quite warm enough for swimming, but there were kids trying to catch minnows in the lake, and I put my feet in to cool off at least. The lake had a breathtaking view of the peak of Matterhorn, so we just sat and enjoyed the sun for quite a while before setting off again. All the scenery was so beautiful that it looked fake. It looked like a grand CGI screen that just made it seem like I was actually looking at the Matterhorn. I don’t think I ever managed to convince my brain that it was all real, but it was absolutely beautiful to see, regardless. After we finished lunch, we weaved our way up the side of the mountain to get to the highest of the lakes, Lake Stellisee. It was starting to reach evening time by then, so we started to take a more direct route down to see the remaining lakes and back to Zermatt. In all, we hiked for almost 9 hours and reached an altitude of around 2600 meters, about one kilometer up from our starting altitude in Zermatt. I wish I knew how many miles we walked, but since we’re not entirely sure of which trail we took up, we can’t know for sure. By the time we got back to Zermatt, we were absolutely beat, but we made it back to town to look at our train ticket options for the next day before crashing into bed for the night.
TUESDAY, JULY 28, 2015
On Tuesday morning, we got up and ate breakfast before checking out of our hotel and just spending some time window shopping in Zermatt. We intended to take the noon train back to Brig, Switzerland to catch our reservations on a high-speed train to Milan, but when we went to buy our tickets, we were told that the train was cancelled. No big deal, we had allotted plenty of time for these mishaps and had time to wait for the 1:00 train. We waited and waited and waited as they kept making announcements that the 1:00 was delayed further and further and the crowd of people waiting to get on the train grew significantly. We started to get a little nervous, but everything worked out as the train arrived soon after and we elbowed our way onto it to make sure we made our connection on time. Soon, we were on our way to Milan, where we made a quick connection to Venice! We finally arrived in Venice at about 8 pm, and we set off to find our hotel. Panic quickly followed when we reached the little red dot on my Google Maps where the hotel was supposed to be, but the street number for the hotel didn’t exist. The pessimist in me decided that we must have been ripped off and that Al Campaniel Bed and Breakfast was just a big scam, albeit with excellent reviews on TripAdvisor. Jason calmly told me that everything would be fine and reminded me that we hadn’t even paid for this hotel yet, so no, we weren’t out $150.
We decided to stop at a restaurant and buy some pizza to use their wifi. First off, the pizza was fantastic even though it was far from authentic Italian, and even better, we discovered that there are multiple Campaniel Streets in Venice, and Google Maps had just sent us to the wrong one. We finished up our pizza and headed to our hotel (which did, to my delight, actually exist) for a relaxed night after traversing around the San Polo neighborhood for hours.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 29, 2015
The mornings after travel days are always the hardest to wake up for, but the sounds of breakfast being served just outside our room got us going at a decent hour. We were served by a sweet old French lady who was very excited to hear that we had been in her home country so recently. After we ate, we spent some time deciding what we wanted to go see and do in Venice.
We started off by walking out towards the Grand Canal, and we crossed it over the Ponte de Rialto, one of the oldest bridges in the city (which is impressive, considering how may bridges are needed in Venice). We then continued on to the Piazza de San Marco, which is main square of the city and the main tourist hub. We stopped to take some pictures of the plaza, and then we took a walk though the basilica there just long enough to see the beautiful mosaics and say a quick prayer. The plaza then led us to the water, where boats were entering and exiting the Grand Canal. Being an Albro, I had to stop and watch the boats come and go for just a few minutes. I haven’t felt homesick very much on this trip, but watching boats is something that my family has always done in Massachusetts at the Cape Cod Canal and is very closely tied to my memories of my Grandpa Don, so my heart definitely hurt a little that I couldn’t share that moment with them.
We continued to walk along the water to some gardens in the furthest east part of the island, then went to look at sailboats in the harbor in that part of the city. We really enjoyed that part of the day because we were so far from the city center, and there were very few people out in the streets. We also stopped for some gelato on our walk back towards the city, which was absolutely delicious and refreshing on the hot, humid day. It’s surprising how long it takes to get around in Venice because although the city is geographically small and confined to the island, the streets are like a giant rat maze. It’s impossible to get where you want to go without getting turned around a few times and hitting numerous dead ends in the form of streets that just stop or, even more common, a canal without a bridge to cross it.
We finally made it back to the hotel to rest and cool off for a bit before we went to find some dinner. We found a little pasta joint just around the corner called Bigoi. The pasta itself was homemade, and the sauces were absolutely delicious. I had pesto, and Jason had a tomato and pork sauce on his. We were happy to finally get to eat the copious amounts of carbs that has always been told of in Italy. We absolutely were not disappointed, and we strolled the streets for just a little longer to peek in all the artisan shops and markets in the city before we went back to the hotel for some sleep.
THURSDAY, JULY 30, 2015
On Thursday morning, Jason and I got up and packed up our things to head to Florence! We took a high-speed train, so the trip only took about two hours, and for once, we didn’t have any problems getting there or finding our hotel. We just relaxed for quite a while in the hotel before we decided that we were hungry enough to go find something to eat. I looked up some good pizzerias, which led us to O’Vesuvius Pizzeria, which ended up being absolutely amazing. I got their specialty pizza that had mozzarella, prosciutto, and artichokes, and Jason had one with all kinds of sausages on it. We each finished our entire pizzas (no shame) and had almost enough room to sample their Nutella pizza, but not quite. We headed back to the hotel feeling stuffed and satisfied.
We did, however, have plenty of room for some gelato! One of my very good friends growing up, Meredith, was in Florence with her study abroad program, so we got to meet up and chat over some yummy gelato. It was so great to see her and talk again, and it’s crazy that it took us both being abroad to finally get to meet up! Seeing a familiar face always leaves me feeling sort of refreshed and reconnected with home, if only for a little bit!
FRIDAY, AUGUST 1, 2015
On Friday morning, Jason and I headed out to see the sights of Florence! We started at the Basilica of Saint Mary of the Flower since it was just around the corner from our hotel. It has a massive and famous dome over the sanctuary, which makes it the tallest building in the city. We took a quick walk through the basilica, which had amazing marble floors and a mural in the ceiling of the dome. We then walked over to the Central Market, where there were thousands of leather goods and other gifts being sold. I personally am not a person who enjoys bartering at all, so I was quite disappointed at how high the written prices were marked up since the sellers assumed you would try to haggle the price down. I much prefer just being given a price and deciding whether I want to spend my money without having some guy yelling about how much I need this bag. The items were quite beautiful, though, and Jason seemed to enjoy joking with the stall owners!
Afterwards, we went to see another church, this one the Church of Santa Croce, which has an amazing bell tower. We decided not to go inside that church and instead headed over to the river to see the Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge). The bridge has many jewelry stores lining the street, and there’s TONS of people walking, chatting, and of course, window shopping. We stopped and snapped some pictures before finding a grocery store to get some sandwich fixings for dinner back at the hotel.
Once sunset started to approach, we walked back across the river to the Piazza de Michelangelo, which is up in the hills and offers an amazing view of the city as well as Tuscany stretching out beyond. While we were up there, we also went to see the basilica, San Miniato al Monte, which lies in the hills and offers even more spectacular views of the setting sun.
Once we returned to the hotel, we realized the church across the street from us was having an organ concert! We were able to sit in and listen and ended up staying for almost 2 hours that night. The music and the church were absolutely breathtaking and set us up for a very restful night’s sleep!
SATURDAY, JULY 31, 2015
Our train wasn’t scheduled to leave Florence until Saturday evening, after breakfast, Jason and I checked out of our hotel and headed around the corner to see Dante Alighieri’s house. Dante is most famous for writing the Divine Comedy (split into 3 parts: “Inferno,” “Purgatorio,” and “Paradisio”), and he lived in Florence in the 13th century. The city has restored his house to what it most likely looked like when he lived there. It was a pretty interesting museum, but nothing to shout about from the rooftops. The one really cool thing that they did have was one of the very early handwritten editions of his Divine Comedy, which was really neat to see in person. We walked around a little longer before we went to find a laundromat to get some clean clothes, and then we were off to the train station to head to Rome!
We were there pretty early, so we played a few games of cribbage before our train arrived, and we ended up sitting even longer because the train was a bit delayed. It was storming outside, so we inured it had something to do with the weather. We finally got going, but we didn’t even make it out of the city before we stopped again. They made an announcement in Italian, so I couldn’t understand the cause of the delay, but I did catch that it would be a 90 minute wait. A bit of a setback, but not a massive ordeal compared to our earlier travels. However, we ended up sitting at a station in the outskirts of Florence until about 1 am. People ended up calling and ordering pizzas to be delivered to the station because we were there so long. They ended up making another announcement, again in Italian. I understood enough to know that we were moving to the normal rails instead of the high-speed rails, meaning that our journey would take 4 more hours instead of 90 minutes and turning our quick trip into an overnight sojourn. Alas, another terrible night’s sleep was in my future, but at least we were moving!
I think this last week has been my favorite of this trip, although I could say that about every week! Switzerland, although expensive, was absolutely gorgeous. I won’t ever forget it, but then again, Italy is living up to every expectation I’ve had of Europe. With only one week left of our trip, I’m looking forward to a million more memories and fun in Rome and England!
hey, i'm rae! 