Easter weekend is a big event in Europe, everyone has a 4 day weekend for the holiday and there is a mass migration across country borders in search of the perfect weekend getaway. We decided to drive to Cinque Terre for the weekend, it is only a 5 hour drive away from Geneva and we had never been to this part of Italy before.
We arrived in Monterosso late Friday night after driving in the dark and fog through some of the scariest roads I think I've ever driven on. Unfortunately it poured all day Saturday, which was actually a bit scary after hearing so many stories about the devastation that a severe storm brought to this area on October 25, 2011. On this date in 2011, the towns of Monterosso and Vernazza were devastated by mudslides and flash flooding. The towns were buried in mud, a dozen people died, and it took the village over a year to dig out and restore all of the buildings (in fact, Summer 2013 is the first tourist season that the locals feel that the towns are fully restored and ready to welcome visitors again). Thankfully nothing serious happened after the storm we experienced and we looked forward to exploring on Sunday. We woke up to sunny skies and beautiful temperatures the next day so we decided to take a late morning hike from Monterosso to Vernazza. The tourism office told us it would only be a 2.5 relatively easy hike. It turned out to be a 5 hour, very difficult hike UP an entire mountain, across, and then DOWN an entire mountain. The bright side: amazingly, beautiful views that Cinque Terre is known for and a delicious Italian lunch next to the sea as our reward for finishing. What a gorgeous region. The town of Vernazza was our favorite, we decided it was one of the top 5 picturesque towns we have visited, with rocky vistas, crashing seas, tiny alleys, pastel colored buildings, and wine terraces that cling to the mountains. All said and done, it was a relaxing weekend in a gorgeous destination with delicious Italian food :) Here are some pictures (and a video in which I quickly compiled some video clips) from the weekend.
Stormy beginnings on Saturday
Rainbow after the storm
Sunny skies and an Italian flag flying on Sunday morning looking down the coastline, each valley contains one of the Cinque Terre villages
At the top of the mountain on our hike, overlooking Monterroso (the town where our hike started!)
Overlooking the idyllic town of Vernazza
View from the top of a restaurant in Vernazza
A beautiful Easter reminder
Cinque Terre local specialties, pesto gnocchi and mussels
The village of Vernazza and the surrounding wine terraces
Having a glass of wine in the village square to soak in the sunshine
My recommendations for Cinque Terre:
EAT: Ristorante Miky, slightly fancier than other restaurants, delicious seafood, fantastic service and wait staff. You must try Ristorante Via Venti and the pear/gorgonzola pasta there, it was HEAVENLY!
STAY: Hotel Villa Adriana, it was basic, clean and well located in Monterosso del Mare
PLAY: Hike trail #8 from Monterosso to Vernazza, but beware that this is a long and sweaty hike. If trail #2 is opened again, this one is preferable and much easier.
Last week I needed to be in Toronto for work on a Friday and NYC for work on a Monday with no plans for my birthday weekend in between and no way I was hopping a plane back to Switzerland for such a short time in between. What's a girl to do? Well, it just so happened that my entire family was going to be at my parents' house in the Florida Keys for that same weekend. So after much last minute research on flights, I found myself flying to Florida for less than 48 hours to spend some QT (translation: quality time) with my fam. Even though the trip was short it was the PERFECT way to spend my birthday weekend. I was able to spend time with my family, play in the ocean/sun, check out my parents' new house, visit out our wedding reception location that we had booked without ever seeing before (!), eat some delicious US food, enjoy some birthday cupcakes, and just relax. Although I took 4 flights within 4 days, I couldn't have been happier to spend my birthday weekend with my family - minus Ryan unfortunately :(
Jumping off the boat into the pretty blue ocean :)
The palm pavilion at Post Card Inn is the location of our wedding reception!
I have been receiving some requests lately to post a video of the apartment now that we are all moved in. After one of Ryan's recent cleaning streaks, the apartment was looking particularly snazzy so I shot this video of our digs. While we had the majority of the "stuff" in the apartment shipped over (pictures, bedding, books, kitchen supplies, clothes, carpets, etc.), all of the furniture except for the bed and the clothes racks were purchased at Ikea (i.e., the world's most amazing yet exhausting store). I think we spent an entire 2 weeks putting furniture together when we first moved here, but at least it feels like "home" now :)
I'll venture outside this spring and take some videos of the neighborhood, etc. so that you can see the area that we live in!
Magical. Beautiful. Fascinating. Nature at its best. Fun. Modern. Historical. Delicious. Unique. There are so many words to describe Zermatt, Switzerland, but truly none of them would do it justice. We spent 3 days here recently and as we were sitting out on a restaurant patio with a glass of wine and overlooking the Matterhorn with bluebird skies, I decided to define Zermatt as one of my "happy places". This means that it is one of only a handful of places in the world where I can go there and be instantly happy just because I'm there. Side note: my happy places also happen to be defined by the places that I teleport myself to in my imagination whenever I am having some sort of miserable dental procedure.
Where to start.... Zermatt is one of the world's premier ski resorts and for good reason. It has 225 MILES of ski trails, more than 100 modern lifts/gondolas, word class restaurants and apres ski bars, unparalleled views of the Matterhorn, the cutest streets and old chalets, no cars allowed, and lots of activities for non-skiiers. Since words can't do it justice, here are some pictures to help...
There are no cars allowed in Zermatt, so we parked in the nearby town of Taesch and took a local train into the town. In typical Swiss style, the train was immaculate
You can still see many old chalets and barns that have been around for hundreds of years.
The town of Zermatt doesn't allow cars because they don't want to pollute the area. The hotels and taxis are allowed to have cars, but only electric ones like these little go-cart looking vehicles.
The main street of Zermatt is hopping with people, shopping, and this fuzzy looking sheep/ram mascot.
Checking out the "pistes" from the gondola.
Half of the skiable terrain is actually within Italy
The second day in Zermatt we went skiing. This is us en-route to the top of one of the mountain peaks, called "Glacier paradise", where you can ski 365 days of the year due to the permanent glacier and altitude.
Hut, Ryan, and I went skiing for the day and met Ryan's mom and aunt mid-mountain for lunch and then for drinks outside at the "ice bar". Oh and hello random man that would not get out of the way for our picture.
View from one of the chairlifts. We rented skiis for the day, Stockli is a Swiss brand of skis.
Yum. that is all.
Heli-skiing is very popular
Filling up on fondue after a "hard" day on the slopes
On the third day we decided to take it easy. We took one of the metro lines that goes through the mountain up to one of the mountain peaks and had lunch on a terrace overlooking the Matterhorn.
"my happy place"
Being artistic with my wine glass and the Matterhorn's reflection
The panorama function on the camera ALMOST does the view justice, almost...
Excuse my blog-silence, Ryan's parents and aunt came to visit for 10 days and we were busy checking out some really fabulous places in Switzerland while they were here. It was fabulous to share our lovely country with family and create special memories with them in some fantastic places! We love when family and friends come to visit and it becomes even more fun as we begin to know the area/country better and can show everyone our favorite spots.
The first destination we checked out was the Lavaux region. For those who missed the background in previous blog posts, the short version of the long story is that Lavaux is one of Switzerland's wine regions and also a UNESCO heritage site because of the terraced vineyards that have been formed by the winemakers over thousands of years. The terraced shapes of the vineyards allows the vines to get more sun than they normally would on flat ground and this creates wine that is unique to the region. Although it is still winter and the vines haven't woken up from their winter slumber yet, the drive through this area overlooking the cliffs and the little winery towns is unparalleled. I can't wait to come back in the summer when the tasting rooms of each of the little wineries are open and the vines are green!
Ryan's aunt at one of the look out points
In the town of Dezaley in the Lavaux region
Stopping to take in the views
The Lavaux Vinorama is a tasting center for the region where you can also watch a film on a "year in the life of a wine grower"
Inside the Lavaux Vinorama for a few wine tastings
Not related to wine at all, just a cute picture pre-Lavaux adventures :) (excuse the mess of clothes in the background... Europeans don't believe in building closets in homes)
The other night I realized that I have neglected to share some of the amazing food experiences that we have had thus far in our European adventures. Below is a culinary summary of the last few months:
Local ingredients: The Swiss eating culture (and economy) is very much based on local ingredients. I'm convinced this is for two purposes: (1) Swiss people really do care about eating good quality, natural food. Europeans frequently make fun of the "fake" and chemical-y food that are produced by the American food industry. I can appreciate this part of it, who doesn't want to eat natural, good food and know where it is coming from? (2) the Swiss government realizes how darn expensive their country is, so they put controls on their food so that it is sourced from within the country. For example, if you go grocery shopping across the border in MUCH cheaper France, you can buy very inexpensive meat. But, the Swiss quickly figured out that way too many residents were doing this on a weekly basis, so to control their local "meat" economy, the customs/border control agents put a limit on the amount of meat that you can bring from France into Switzerland. This often results in many unknowing expats being stopped at the French/Swiss border with their groceries out on the street while the border control agents literally count how many grams of meat you have purchased and then impose a fine on you if you go over the limit. I kid you not. It happened to us. The result is that many people in Geneva are forced to buy products locally in Switzerland.
When we first moved into our temporary accommodation, there was a mozzarella shop downstairs that specialized in making home made mozzarella from local cow's milk. Our first meal in town consisted of this tasty caprese salad creation.
Eating out in Geneva is really expensive (and to be honest, the restaurants in the city aren't all that great!), so we have grown fond of making lots meals at home. This delicious-ness is a home made quiche with local ingredients that we made.
Mountain meals: We have a running debate as to why meals in the mountains are just SO much better than the meals in the cities. One theory is that you are just so darn hungry from the skiing or hiking that your standards are lower. But my theory is that the food really is that much better. Maybe its the fresh ingredients or the presentation, but there is just something about mountain meals that outshine all others. An interesting difference to note between US and European skiing culture is that lunch time is the focal point of the ski day. It is common that at least 1-2 hours are set aside for a formal, sit down lunch in one of the mountain restaurants, and making a reservation is required. I have yet to see a "cafeteria" which is the norm in US ski resorts... I don't think they even exist here? But with my love of food, I'm not complaining ;)
Our first weekend in town, we hiked up to a little mountain restaurant in the middle of nowhere and found this gem. The fall season brings the restaurant season of "la chasse", which means all kinds of game meats are served for meals.
The Swiss love their cold meats. This beauty was served to us while sitting outside at one of the ski resort restaurants.
Did I mention the portions are enormous??
Another amazing mountain top meal
French cuisine: This past Friday night we had a private chef come to our apartment to teach us how to cook French cuisine. Geneva is surrounded on all land sides by France, so there is a lot of French influence in the cuisine. I found a coupon for the session on the local Groupon-type site here. He came over with all of the ingredients and showed us how to make a traditional 'coq au vin', which is essentially a delicious chicken stew. One interesting fact that I learned: the base for most French cuisine comes from the combination of celery, carrots, and onions, which in combination, actually has an official name in French ("mier pois").
Our chef, Ernie!
The delicious end product right before we consumed it.
The Swiss favorites: You know where this is going, CHEESE and CHOCOLATE. I've blogged a few times about our experiences with these foods, so I won't go overboard; but, yes they are of course amazing. I actually wasn't the hugest fan of chocolate until I came here and now I love it, there is just something about a rich, Swiss dark chocolate that is unlikely any other chocolate I have had before. There are many types of Swiss cheese, but the most popular ways to eat it are as a fondue or as raclette. Fondue is pretty self explanatory; but, raclette often needs a bit of an explanation. Let me start by saying I have a true addiction to raclette. Its totally unhealthy. It is a specific kind of cheese that you melt and pour over cooked little potatoes. It is served with little pickles and onions and dried meat that is unique to Switzerland. Some also put a raclette "spice" (which is essentially paprika) or mushrooms on the cheesy goodness and our German friends like to add a little mustard to the mix. Having raclette is a fun, simple, and inexpensive way to invite friends over for dinner.
The raclette oven in action - you put your cheesy shovel under the hot coils and cook away. This is the "at home" version, when served in the mountains its typically still in the form of a big wheel of cheese that is then melted bit by bit and scraped onto your plate.
The full spread - its a fun Swiss dish to introduce to family and friends when they first arrive!
After much debating over whether a car would be a good option here in Switzerland and searching for a car that wouldn't break our Swiss piggy bank, we finally purchased a car over here! Here she is, by Facebook survey and popular demand her name is either Heidi or the snowmobile (interchangeable depending on whether you ask Ryan or me). She is a 2004 Audi A4 with all wheel drive so that she can attack the snowy mountain roads with her prowess.
A couple of interesting things we discovered about purchasing and owning a car in Switzerland:
Swiss people take VERY good care of their things, whether it is an apartment or a car, everything is meticulously maintained. The car we bought is a 2004 and you can barely tell its even been used even once. Even though the Swiss' finicky rules can get annoying sometimes and prices are certainly higher than anywhere else in the world, its times like this where you realize how this translates into everything here being top quality, you will always get quality for your money in this country (which is one of the reasons that Switzerland is always one of the front runners on the quality of life index by country each year).
You can lease used cars in Switzerland. We ended up not going this route and purchasing; but, this is often a really attractive idea for expats in the area because it can be very affordable if you don't want to shovel out the purchase price up front and don't mind the financing costs.
Due to the price of fuel in Europe, it will still probably be cheaper for us to take trains pretty much anywhere within Switzerland with our half fare card (a special card that lets us get half price on all Swiss train tickets). But for trips to nearby France or Italy which aren't on the Swiss train system, or when guests come to visit, the car is the better option financially. To give an example, a round trip train ticket to the nearby town of Lausanne which is 45 minutes away by train costs a visitor without a half fare card almost 80 dollars. Multiply that by 2 or 3 people taking the train together and you can easily spend hundreds of dollars in train tickets just going a couple of hours away within this country. So the car becomes a very attractive alternative.
There are a surprising number of people in Europe who don't know how to drive! Because most people take trains throughout Europe due to the convenience and the price, we actually know a couple of people that either don't know how to drive at all or have just started to learn recently.
The last part is not necessarily specific to Switzerland; but, it was pretty neat so I'll tell the story anyways ;) We bought our car through a company called Autociel, which essentially is a Swiss car agency that buys and sells cars on behalf of expats in the area. We negotiated the 'keys in hand' package into our car price and as part of this package, Autociel completes every administrative task related to the purchase of the car for you. So after we saw the car online and agreed to a price, they drafted the contract, brought the car to its rigorous Swiss inspection, registered it, brought it to a garage after finding there was a recall on one of its parts, helped us coordinate with the car insurance agency, put the license plates on, got the annual Swiss highway road sticker for us, and then drove the car to the front door of my office and handed me the keys (and flowers! how funny to receive flowers with your car). Given the months and months of administrative tasks that come along with having to move countries, it was SO nice to just have someone entirely manage yet another "administrative" process for us and then just show up and hand us the keys and flowers to our new car!
With the purchase of Heidi/the snowmobile, we are officially done with all of our moving and settling in tasks! Although I've come to terms with the fact that our "to do list" will never go away, at least now its filled with more things like "plan Easter vacation" and "plan wedding" instead of boring administrative moving tasks. So after just passing the one year mark of when we started to plan this whole crazy adventure, we can say that we are officially "settled in". HOORAY!
