Matterhorn

Monday November 19 2007
E and I went on his first train adventure to see the Matterhorn. It was spectacular. It took 2 regular trains to get to Zerrmatt, the ski village at the base, and a third cogwheel train to climb the adjacent mountain to see the view.

This track is the steep ascent of the cog wheel train.

The scenery on the ascent was spectacular – glaciers, mountain streams, half frozen waterfalls, tiny villages nestled into the mountain side.

The tiny cloud at the point of the Matterhorn seems to form at mid morning and then remain all day. There is some sort of atmospheric phenomenon at work that we are trying to research. Maybe I will send an email to “ask Tom” in Chicago, our favorite meteorologist.

We couldn't stay up too long, though, because of the altitude , but the view was just as lovely from the base.

Another interesting feature of our visit was the cemetery in the town center with graves of people who had died climbing the Matterhorn. All ages, nationalities, eras, some with their pick axes embedded into the headstones. Very sobering and way too many.

Wine tasting

Sunday, November 11
We went on a wine tasting which was held on a boat in Lausanne. They had wines from Switzerland, France, Italy, Spain, Australia and the USA. We started off carefully taking notes which, despite our efforts, degenerated to scrawl. First we had white regional wines from our area called “La Cote”, the coast of Lake Geneva. Very light and refreshing, with some effervescence. Then we moved on to the reds and decided to try the really expensive ones first to see if we could tell the difference when we went back to our price range. In hindsight, perhaps we did not approach this correctly, that is to say, our palates and ability to perceive differences had become, uh, blurry. But we continued tasting as we had taken the train and were not worried about our return home.

Right now, we are enjoying the Beaujolais Nouveau just out a few weeks ago and which only lasts a short time. E has discovered that placing a bottle on the window sill outside brings the wine to the perfect temperature. Our private wine cellar, three floors up.

Wild Switzerland by train

My friend Marilyne and I went on a train adventure. We bought day train passes good for unlimited travel through out Switzerland for the whole day.

The scenery was amazing, first like the Heidi area of Switzerland we all visualize.

We went through Spiez, Brig, Sion. Some of it was on special mountains trains.Then we entered the Swiss Alps, complete with castles.

When all of you come to see us, this is what we will do.

Fun in France

Elliott and I went to Dijon to see the 77th International Gastronomique Fair. It was fun, but not enough vendors for me. However, the bread sculpture contest was terrific.



And some interesting snack choices.

So we quit the fair and went to the old part of town and that was beautiful. E tried on berets in 2 shops but they did not have a hat big enough for him!

We also decided to drive through Beaune on the way back. We had been to Beaune 10 years ago and it has become an even trendier place. But we saw Hôtel-Dieu the original hospice and hospital for poor and rich alike built in the 15th century. Its funding has always and still comes from wine, now the Beaujolais Nouveau Auction, due in 2 weeks actually. We bought some wine.

Road trip part 4:Lake Como

We stayed at the lovely hotel Bellavista right on the lake and our view was spectacular.

It was a corner room so that there werewindows on 2 sides and the sun would come in all day through one of them and the other opened straight on to the lake.

These mountains are said to have inspired De Vinci and the colors and rock faces just might have.

The first day we went into the countryside, up the mountains to a hill top where we had a picnic after our lovely drive.

That night for dinner we had the most fantastic experience. The restaurant, Osteria Del Viaggiatore, was highly recommended but when we arrived no one spoke any English. We were fine with doing our best, so we asked to be seated. The wine came and the hostess asked us to please wait- she had clearly been practicing this phrase. After 10 minutes, we heard the big, wooden front door, footsteps on the stone stairs and there appeared a waitress, flipping her apron over her head, speaking perfect English, ready to explain the menu to us and take care of us for the evening. They had called her in on her night off! When Sterling tried to ask for a plate of spaghetti, she refused and promised him that she would bring him something good tonight and that he would like it. She did and he did. She was wonderful!

The next day, we saw the Orrido, “the horrible”, it is a gigantic waterfall

on our way to Varenna, a lovely little town with romantic walkways right on the lake.

But the 2 most memorable were George Clooney's Villa Oleandra in Laglio – he wasn’t home. It is a beautiful villa, barely visible from the road and we did not even get out of the car because everyone has a right to privacy, but just to drive by was fun.

The other was Villa Balbianello, where the wedding scene in Star Wars was shot. It was spectacularly beautiful and the landscaping was incredible. The sun and season brought out the colors. It was a nice hike to get there – no cars allowed.

One our way back to Switzerland, we saw a Ferrari were able to get behind it as the traffic was moving slowly. We were snapping pictures out the window. So when the Ferrari pulled into a petrol station, we did too. (We really did need to get fuel.) The driver was a very nice man who saw Sterling admiring his car and he let him sit in it! As you can see, Sterling enjoyed this very much.

Road trip part 3: Modena

Driving into Modena, home of Italian supercars, was fantastic because we saw a white, sleek and fast Murcielago on the road! It came and went too quickly for photos. But there was a black one which we were able to follow into a parking lot thanks to truck that had pulled out in front of it. It was a kichenwares truck – see how useful cuisine can be? We left just in front of it, and the driver was nice enough to put on a show for us. It only lasted a second as he passed us, but it was a full sensory array of sight and sound with a wind of emotion. Excellent.

Elliott and Sterling went to the Lamborghini factory tour the next morning. Cameras were confiscated for the tour, which was of the 12 station assembly plant in a huge, white, clean facility. But they did get their cameras back for the finished product. Below is a concept car.

I went to learn about Balsamic vinegar from Giorgio and Giovanna Barbieri in Modena. As is the tradition, real balsamic vinegar is made in private homes, is tightly controlled by regulations and specifications. When I entered the house, the aroma hit me in the face and permeated their whole house. The attic was spotless and contained rooms of barrels in sets of 5 or seven. Giovanna explained that each girl in the family has a set of precious barrels bought for her when she is born and this has traditionally been her dowry. Their daughter, Carlotta, is about to turn 21 and her first 25 year vinegar is about to mature soon.

The vinegar is started in the first barrel, and left to mature for a summer and winter with various degrees of change in temperature. It sits and then goes through several years of cycles of evaporation and maturation, topping off the barrels with the newer vinegar from the barrel before it until the finished product is left in the last one, after 25 years. I did get to taste, and buy!

Then I went in search of the Modena Synagogue which has a significant history. It was built between 1869 and 1873 and, like other synagogues of the period, was intended as a celebration of Jewish emancipation until the anti-Semitic laws imposed by the Fascist regime in 1938 brought a new round of persecution.

The Ghetto that occupied the square is now gone and I am sure that most of the people having a coffee in the Piazza Mazzini are unaware of where they sit.

We met back up for lunch at the Ferrari complex where we bummed around, following employees into the less obvious corners, listening for the pitch of an approaching super car, taking photos in the parking lots and getting as close to the main factory entrance, test track and other forbidden areas as possible.
Once, when we stopped to climb on the roof of our car to peak over a fence at the test track (below), a scary looking little old Italian lady with a rake in her hand started to leave her garden after us. It was time to go!

There were many illegally parked Ferraris in the neighborhood and museum parking lot. A good bet they won’t get a ticket.