clevelandbrown

Rome, Naples, Lugano, Chur, Luzern, Boltigen, Geneva, all in a month.

Since I have plenty of time, it seemed to me more economical to make a one-month trip, than two two-week trips. You save a lot on air fare. I picked the end of April and into May because of weather, and because I was able to fit it into our schedule (in Cleveland, we have an annual Bach festival in April that is superb, and that I won’t miss).

I list prices for information only, so people who are planning a trip can have a good idea of what costs they can expect. We are not gourmets, and are not impressed by buying a high priced bottle of wine, so I would guess that our costs are average, and fortunately, neither of us enjoys shopping, so you won’t get much information regarding that.

Our original plan was a week in Rome, a week in Florence, and two weeks in Switzerland During the week in Rome, we intended a day trip to Naples, and many people have told me they enjoyed such a trip. But as I read more and more, it became apparent that a part day in Naples would not be sufficient for us, so we abandoned Florence (we have already been there, but still think it worth a revisit), and added some days in Naples and Switzerland.

We bought tickets on Continental to Rome and returning from Geneva. The price was quite good. I’ve apparently been restored to the flight security list, so could not check in on line, but when we got to the airport, the situation was apparently resolved, as I didn’t have to undergo the extraordinary screening.

Our flight from Cleveland to Newark was uneventful, and we enjoyed spending some time in the Presidents club at Newark, a perk of having an international business class ticket. Boarding was normal, but we had to sit at the gate about 40 minutes as there were technical troubles with the plane. Fortunately, continental has a staff of very qualified mechanics, so this was resolved in a reasonable time. Unfortunately, we were at Newark, and when we left the gate we got into a line behind every plane in the western world, and had to wait 3 hours to get to the front of the line. This, in my view, is a problem caused not by the airline, but by the inadequacies of the FAA in allowing such congestion to become the norm. This is worth, in my opinion, a serious letter to our congressional critters, and a corresponding vote if they don’t solve the problem.

We had rented an apartment in Rome (it is very nice, clean, well located, and not terribly expensive; I am writing this from there), and the agreement was that I would arrive at 1045 to make the payment and find out how to work the washing machine. I picked that time based on a scheduled arrival of 0745. with plenty of time to hit an ATM and buy some train tickets. Unfortunately, the FCC screwed up this plan, and with our late arrival we barely had time to hit an ATM and catch a taxi (a higher cost than the train) and even then we were late to the apartment. As we sat on the steps trying to figure out what to do, a lady approached us and apologized for being late as her dog had been ill. It was the owner, and all was forgiven and we settled in after visiting a local grocery store (we make our own breakfasts, which is the extent of our cooking in the apartment). We took a short nap, then went out for a neighborhood walk to find a light lunch and try to convince our bodies that it wasn’t bed time. We found our way to Piazza Navona, very scenic and crowded, but it was hard to find a restaurant that had a light lunch. We finally stumbled into a full service restaurant, whose name I didn’t get. I had an antipasto of Buffalo Mozzarella and prosciuto and a glass of house wine; my wife had a mixed salad and a bottle of water, and the bill was 21 euro (I don’t include what we tipped in my reports, as it can vary with the service, and some places even include it in the bill). No one looked down their nose at us because of our light order, so I guess they accept that some customers don’t want a full meal.

After another nap, we set out for Trastavere, a nice place to walk around in, but also a nice place to get lost. Our plan was to see some of the area, and end up at Alle Fratte, a Fodors recommendation. Unfortunately, directions were not clear, and we didn’t appreciate the distinction between Viale D. Trastavere, which runs across the Tiber, and Via delle Fratte di Trastavere, which crosses it about three blocks from the river. In all fairness, the tourist office was also a bit off, but eventually we found it. The owner welcomed us and, noticing the book in my hand, said that all the books recommended them. My feet wish all the books gave clearer directions. The service was very friendly and the food was good and reasonable. We had two servings of bruschetta and a good pizza, a liter of house wine, and two deserts, all for 29 euro.

We found our way back to our apartment and are going to bed. Since our bodies are still on US time, we will be up early tomorrow, when the Vatican museums will be open with no charge; I’m glad to run into this, since I anticipate we will want to spend two days there, and will appreciate the savings.

We contemplated that we would wake up early, as usual, and set off for the Vatican museum, this is free on the last Sunday of the month. We actually awakened about 11, so next time I’ll use an alarm clock. Our apartment, which is very nice, is on Giulia near the river. We walked to the end of our street and noted a bridge, not 200 meters from the bridge that had been recommended to us, so I, foolishly, decided to take a shortcut. Suffice to say that we ended up in the hills above Trastavere, far away from our objective, and while the scenery was very nice, it was hours until we worked our way back to St. Peter’s. We ended up lunching, late, at Carpe Diem Hosttaria,, via di S. Pancrazio 3/5. Don’t look it up; its embarrassing how far I can get lost with a little effort.. It was far enough from the tourist area that language was an adventure, but we ended up with a bottle of water, a half-liter of good house red. Two Bruschetta (this word is spelled and pronounced differently from back home), and two pasta dishes, both very good, but larger than we could eat, for 40 Euro (service charge included). Their advice on which way to go to get to Saint Peter’s was free, and after a very long walk, we arrived. It was too late (and we were too tired) to go around to the museums, so we walked back to our apartment, using the route that had been recommended, in about ten minutes. We napped for an hour, then it was time to find a spot for dinner.

We picked Brasia, listed in Fodors, as being easy to find., We walked down Giulia to the end and turned left to reach Guibbonari and left thereon heading toward Campo de Fiori, but when we came to a small piazza, we thought we had come too far, and that Vicollo Delle Grotte did not intersect Guibbonari, so we back tracked and approached from the other end. We found the restaurant, but they were not yet open, so we walked around and found that Vicollo Delle Grotte does in fact intersect Guibbonari, just before Campo de Fiori. At that hour, the purveyors of questionable goods were just packing up, and Campo de Fiori did not seem very attractive.

We returned to the restaurant just after seven and were the first customers. We had two bruchettes, two primos (due to my lack of fluency, they were pizzas instead of pastas, and two secondos, a grilled chicken, and a sausage with grilled vegetables, and a liter of good house red. Since we had been unable to finish the pizzas, they boxed them up for us. I wanted a desert, but we were both too full. The food was excellent, and the bill, with no service included, was 55 Euro. We were there about an our and a half, and only two other parties entered. Perhaps this was due to the early hour, or that it was a Sunday, but we were surprised that such good food and service didn’t attract more people.

When we left we went back through Campo de Fiori, and it had undergone a magical transformation. The flea marketeers were gone, and the restaurants were full. There were good street musicians performing, and a few people selling some kind of lit wheel that they launched into the air. We lingered a good hour, wishing we were younger and could break into dance, then left because we were tired. I think this is a venue that is best seen at night, with people you love.

Its strange that a day you started to think had been wasted can turn into one that is memorable.

Monday I had as my first item buying train tickets for the rest of our time in Italy. I had intended to do this upon arrival, but the FAA debacle at Newark took away the time. I try to buy tickets early, as often the price is lower than if you buy them on departure. The termini in Rome is quite a distance from our apartment, so I decided to get some bus tickets (I usually buy ten or twelve, and if I don’t use them, I leave them in the apartment for the cleaner or the next renter). Buying the tickets was not as easy as I thought, as many places do not carry them, but I finally found some and got free advice on where to catch the correct bus. We arrived at termini and got the tickets with no problem, then set out to visit some of the sites in that area. The first was S. Pietro in Vincula, which has Michelangelo’s statue of Moses, a prime objective of our visit, and one that many guidebooks fail to mention. The church is off the main road, but was not difficult to find. As long as you don’t interrupt a service, you can see and even photograph this superb work. The lighting was not good, but you could put .5 euro in a box and the lights would come on for a few minutes, allowing good photography. Alas, I had given all my coins to the street musicians the night before, but other people made the deposit and we got some good pictures. There was no crowd. There was no charge, either, although in such circumstances I leave something in the poor box, out of appreciation for their keeping the facility open.

clevelandbrown

We left the church, and were only a few blocks north (I think) of the Colosseum, which was very scenic, when approached from this angle. We walked around the outside, waited in the W.C. line for an hour (the line for women is long; there is no line for men; I suggested to the attendant that they send a few women into the men’s room, which was empty, and which I have seen them do in France, but she didn’t appreciate my idea. We then got into the ticket line, which was about a half-hour long, got our tickets, and saw the inside, and a museum exhibit, too. In all honesty, the facility was impressive from the outside, and a bit disappointing from the inside. Were I to go again, I would just walk around the outside, free, and forego the inside tour. Incidentally, while there were faux gladiators there, they never approached us (perhaps I have a frugal demeanor), and we didn’t see them being aggressive toward other visitors.

From the Colosseum it was only a few blocks to Circus Maximus, and we walked the length of that, admiring the palatial ruins overlooking it, and I was very tempted to pick up a stone as a souvenir, especially as some looked like old broken tiles, but I didn’t, thinking that if all of us tourists did that, they would have a big hole in the ground.

At this time, we were ready for lunch, but there are almost nothing except carnival wagons in that area, so we pressed on until we found a small café. A tart, a piece of tiramisu, a very small glass of white wine and a bottled cold tea were 20 Euro, probably a bit high because of the area, but it really hit the spot.

Then it was only a few blocks (and a million stairs) to the Roman Forum. We passed through the piazza designed by Michelangelo without realizing it, although in retrospect it was very pleasant, and came to an overlook of the Forum. By then we were too tired to descend into the Forum, but did get good views of it.

We started to wend out way home, and came upon a cat sanctuary, where they are excavating a ruin, and allow cats to live there, protected from predators (and sterilized, if I read the sign correctly).

We finally got home and it was only 1430, which surprised us as we were exhausted. We rested a bit, then visited the neighborhood grocer for more orange juice and eggs, stopped in a café for coffee (and a couple of tarts for next morning’s breakfast), and stopped in another bakery for a few cookies. Right after we got home it started to rain heavily, and we waited awhile to see if it would abate and we could go to a restaurant, but it didn’t, so we had the leftover pizza and cookies for dinner, with a bottle of wine the landlord had left us. It would have been a perfect evening to go to a neighborhood bar and supplement out dinner, but the weather convinced us that a little dieting was not a bad idea.

In all, we saw more today than I had anticipated, and I think the secret was taking the bus to a far point, then seeing the sites there and working back toward home.

It rained all night, but it was hard to tell in our apartment, as it is a very old building with thick walls. When I got up it was still raining, but by the time we had breakfasted and dressed, the rain had abated, so I elected to venture out without a raincoat. My wife was smarter. We are not Catholic, but my wife has a friend who is, and who had asked that we light a candle at St. Peter’s for her. We got in a very long line to get in, and made a couple of misreadings that led us to other than the main section, but finally got into the main chamber, along with about a million people, Photography is permitted, but because of the scale of the chamber and the low lighting, it is difficult to get a good picture of anything. Viewing the Pieta was an exercise in intolerance, as everyone tried to elbow their way to the front to get a picture. We asked an official about lighting a candle, and he replied that it was not permitted. It is an impressive place, not only for the size, but for the statuary, but I’m not convinced it is a good use of one’s time, as the lines are long and the crowds make any contemplation difficult.

As we left, the clouds opened, and the crowd jammed the doors, refusing to leave. We finally edged our way out, and I got a little wet, but not enough to dampen our spirits.

Our next objective was the Vatican Museum. My map did not show the route clearly, but I had read that one just follows the Vatican boundary wall, and that advice was good. Since I have become diabetic, I have to be careful of what and when I eat, so I wanted to eat before entering the museum. There are many eateries along that route, many of the carnival type, and some more traditional. We stopped at House of Blues, which seemed like all the others, and had two Panini, a bottled water, and glass of white wine, and a piece of chocolate cake that was older than one would hope, for 20 euro. It was rather pedestrian food, but enough to keep us going through the afternoon.

The line for the museum was extremely long, but we were cooled by the rain. The museum itself is very efficient, but they guide you through many areas before you get to the Raphael rooms and the Sistine Chapel. It was so crowded that it was difficult to view any one work, as the crowd washed you along. The Sistine Chapel does have seats along the side, and you can sit there for a while and enjoy the art. If you can’t get a seat, it is hard to see, because of the crowds. We hadn’t brought any vision assistance, yet were able to see the art clearly when we weren’t dodging the crowds. My overall impression is that it is a huge museum, but you should plan in advance what you want to see, and try to find a time when the crowds have thinned. We equated this with visiting the Ufizzi in Florence; the art is there, but it is difficult to see because of the crowds.

All of this did nothing for our soles, and it was late in the afternoon, so we walked back to our neighborhood, stopped for coffee, and caught a quick nap.

For dinner, we walked to the Evangelista, recommended in Fodors’s book. We arrived at 1900, but they said they didn’t open until 1930, so we wandered the neighborhood for awhile. Note; they have added another door on Lungo D. Vallati, right on the riverfront, that makes them much easier to find. When we returned at 1930, the door was still locked, and as we stood there some Roman’s approached. We talked and they spoke highly of the food; they wanted to call and see what the problem was but didn’t have the number; I had my Fodors, so they got the number there and negotiated an opening. This is a lovely, well-presented restaurant, with excellent service. The menu was all in Italian, but the waiter explained it all. We had two antipasto (my wife had the famed artichoke and I stole part of it), two excellent pasta primos, and the cod secondo, and a fish of the day secondo, with a bottle of water and a red wine recommended by the waiter. Everything was excellent. This was among the very best dinners we have ever had. We were too full for desert and coffee. The bill was 151 Euro (service included) and I think it was worth much more.

We walked home through Campo Di Fiori, but it was pretty inactive because of the rain.

Wednesday was dawning, and we had done well in covering our relatively short list of must-sees, but I began to worry about the Borghese Gallery. I have switched to AT&T service, and was supposedly signed up for an international traveler package that gives lower rates. Alas, when I tried to call for a reservation, my phone said no network was available. Similarly, my laptop found no wireless networks (which I didn’t expect as that is not provided by the apartment owner. I fussed and fumed, and put a curse or two on AT&T, then I started thinking that it was really abnormal that my laptop found no networks (it usually finds some, but they are secure so I cannot use them). I stepped outside our apartment and, voila, the cell phone worked. Our apartment is in an ancient building, with thick walls and iron grilles on the window, which apparently precludes any wireless communication. I subsequently took my laptop out side, and was able to find networks, but none were unsecure. Anyway, I called the Borghese gallery and made our reservations, and they were kind enough to tell me how to get there on public transportation (bus to Termini, then bus 910, which will drop us a few blocks from the gallery.

With that settled, we set out for an interesting day. We started by going to Campo De Fiori, which was filled with vendors of fruits and vegetables. Apparently they are there early in the day, then give way to vendors of questionable merchandise, who leave at sunset when the musicians take over. It was interesting to see all the produce.

We then walked up to Piazza Navona, intending to get advice at the tourist office, but it wasn’t there. The Piazza was crowded, with a lot of artists showing their wares. From there, it was an easy walk to the Trevi Fountain, which was also crowded, but with a little patience we were able to get some good pictures. Thereafter, it was another easy walk to the Spanish Stairs, again crowded, but we were able to get some good pictures and sit in the sun for awhile.

All this was done in the morning, and we started looking for a place for lunch. Many of the places we saw offered full meals, which was more than we wanted. We finally settled on Caffetteria in Lucina SRL on Piazza S. Lorenzo in Lucina 33, which had nice outside tables and was pretty busy. We had two sandwiches (one tuna, one salmon), a half-liter of water, a glass of white wine, and a cappuccino and an espresso, all for 22 Euro. We spent a lot of time there, in part because they were so busy they didn’t get around to bringing the check, but mostly because we wanted a rest. Afterward, we went inside and picked up some pastries for our next breakfast. Usually, I get a little upset when it is hard to get the check, but on this day, sitting in the sun, I was happy as a clam.

clevelandbrown

We then wound our way home for a nap. That evening, we decided to go to Filetti di Baccula, again recommended in Fodors. The road this is on is on no map I have seen, nor is the church it sits in front of. We wandered around and around, and in fact gave up on finding it, when we approached Campo De Fiori on Via di Gubboneri and passed a parking lot that I had, days before, mistaken for Campo De Fiori. My wife spotted the church of Santa Barbera at the back of the lot, and we finally found the restaurant. It is small, and more like a neighborhood spot than a tourist restaurant, there were few tourists inside, and the menu was limited. The food lacks the ruffles and flourished of chef-prepared food. But the cod was excellent, as was my wife’s salad and my antipasto of assorted mushrooms. Bread was ordered separately. We had a liter of bottled water and a liter of house wine (red, and palatable, but not exceptional), all for about 23 euro. The cod reminded me a bit of fish and chips, but the other parts of the meal elevated the experience.

We wandered back home through Campo De Fiori and there were not as many musicians or revelers as in prior nights, but I still enjoyed walking through it.

Our Borghese gallery appointment is Friday, so tomorrow we have a free day, and haven’t yet decided how to spend it. There is still a lot we haven’t seen, but it is also quite pleasant to just wander about, so we will see what develops.

We slept in, then rechecked our plan, and deleted the baths of Caracalla as they were quite a distance, and, in all honesty, I had seen plenty of ruins. We substituted San Luigi dei Francesi to see the famed Caravaggio works, and light the candle they wouldn’t let us light at St. Peter’s. It is two blocks East of Piazza Navona, with a little jog between the blocks, but was hard to find as the church is under restoration and covered up. Look for the name of the street, which has the name of the church. Inside, it is a lovely building, and of course the paintings are outstanding. Crowds were not bad, and there is no charge.

After seeing that, and buying a couple of paintings at Piazza Navona, we returned to Campo de Fiori, intending to get a lunch at Il Forno, but they had no tables and we were a bit tired so we picked another place, Accanto Al Farnese. The food was mixed. Bruschetta pomodoro was quite good, lasagna was bland, a sandwich was good, and a bottle of water and a glass of white wine were very good. Total was 22.5 euro, and we appreciated the chance to sit for awhile. I have a hard time picking places for lunch, as we usually want just a sandwich and something to drink, while most places post a menu more appropriate for a dinner.

Anyway, refreshed, we checked out the vendors (and there were quite a few). It was interesting to see what all was available, compared to home, where we shop at a similar market. We didn’t buy any food since I don’t ask my wife to cook on vacation (other than boiling a bunch of eggs for breakfast), but the selection and quality was impressive, although a lot of items cost more than at home (a softball sized melon was 6.5 euro, while we buy much larger melons at home for 2 or 3 dollars. Still, a lot of the oils, spices, and meats there are hard to find at home, and more expensive.

We returned home to nap, then went to Da Sergio for dinner (I picked it because it was reported to be old school Roman, and we knew where it was from having dined at Brasia, on the same street, earlier. Fodors said get there early or wait in line. We got there early and they sent us away as they weren’t open. I wandered the neighborhood looking for an ATM and never found one; I’m surprised that there apparently is none by Campo Di Fiori, which is an area that deals almost exclusively in cash. We returned to the restaurant early enough to get a table. This is not at all a fancy restaurant, and judging from the languages we heard, there did not appear to be a lot of tourists there. Their English was better than my Italian, but barely, so ordering was an adventure. We shared an antipasto of vegetables, meats, and cheese, and it was excellent. My wife had gnocchi and said it was the best she has had (but she hasn’t had much), I had a pasta with mushroom which was good. For a second course, my wife had a good mixed salad, and I had charred pork, but it was late because of my inept ordering. In retrospect, I would have had something else, but it was not unpalatable. A bottle of water and a bottle of red wine (Pinot) completed our order, and we were too stuffed for desert or coffee. The bill was, I think (damned wine) 55 euro, and it was interesting eating there among the families who were crowding it.

Today will be our last day here. We set the alarm so we wouldn’t be late to the Borghese gallery. In all honesty, it is not so far from where we are staying as to be unwalkable, But I had bought some bus tickets and resolved to use a few. Here are the directions to the gallery from anywhere: take a bus to Termini; at Termini, switch to bus 910. Get close enough to a window to see out, as the bus doesn’t display the stops, nor does the driver announce them. About the fourth stop (there are two on Via Pinciana; you want the first) there is a gate and sign for the Borghese gallery. Get off the bus, and you are no more than 200 meters from the gallery. Warning, signage is abundant but not clear. We passed the gallery, thinking it was something else, and had to backtrack (but with a lot of nice pictures of the gardens). The front of the gallery has two staircases, unmarked, but you need your tickets before using them. At the very center of the building is a low arched door, again not marked. I needed a bathroom and seeing all the people going into and out of this door, guessed it was a bathroom. It is the ticket office, bag check, and bathroom, so I killed many birds with my stone. After buying my tickets (6 euro for two; it is a holiday; how lucky am I?) I checked my bag (they give you a small plastic bag to carry your true valuables in, but everything else, including cameras, must be checked) and noted a pleasant looking cafeteria. We went back outside, tickets in hand, to await our appointed hour (you are limited to two hours from your named starting time) and enjoyed sitting in the sun on a lovely Roman day. At our hour, a crowd had assembled on the stairs and we joined them. You enter with a large group, and they seem to follow whoever is in front; my suggestion would be to calculate your own route and avoid the crowd. There are two floors filled with art, most paintings are on the second floor; most sculptures on the first. The rooms and ceilings are also something to be seen, and I had more difficulty seeing the ceilings here than at the Sistine Chapel.

After seeing the art, we returned to the basement for lunch at the cafeteria. They have a section with tables that says reserved, but what that apparently means is that if you take a table, a waiter will serve you; if you buy at the counter, don’t expect a table. We took a table. A half-liter of water, two vegetable pizzas (I know they were pre-prepared, but they were still good) and a nice glass of white wine was 15 euro, without service charge. It was a most pleasant lunch.

After lunch, we walked south through the Borghese estate, which is now a park, getting a little lost, but eventually coming to the west boundary, which has an excellent view over Rome, and is actually fairly close to the Spanish Stairs. We walked back toward our apartment, stopping for gelato and coffee, and were home in time for a nice nap. Now we have to find a restaurant that is open on this holiday. I had toyed with the idea of stopping in a wine bar near us, to see if they had enough food for a light dinner, but I noticed as we walked home that they are closed.

In wandering our temporary neighborhood, we had noted a restaurant that appeared to be closed, but then one evening we saw they were open, so we decided to go there for our last night. Alas, they told us they don’t open until 2015. We wandered further, visiting Campo di Fiori for the last time, and looking at Ditirambo, which looked good, but we decided to return to our neighborhood restaurant Boccon Divino at 28 Via del Pavone (Via Sugarelli on my map and some street signs; del Pavone on other street signs, including the intersection with Victor Emmanuel) a small but attractive place. We had two vegetable coperti which were quite good, two primo pasta courses with a few shrimp and a superb sauce, a secondo of beef, and mine of fish lasagna, two delicious deserts, a large bottle of water and a half liter of good house red wine, all for 51 euro, service charge not included. The food was excellent, and well worth waiting for the late opening hour. The restaurant filled up quickly, and I would guess we and another couple were the only tourists.

We are packing now. Our train to Naples is tomorrow at 1130, so we will get a bite at a café, then catch a cab to Termini.

We saw a lot in Rome, but there is a lot more to see, and it is a pleasant place in the Spring, so we may return.

Saturday we awakened early, already prepacked, and checked the apartment for things we might have forgotten. We then sat around a bit as the café near us doesn’t open until seven. When it did, we had two cappuccino and two nice pastries for, I think, 6 euro. As we were leaving we noticed they had an orange juice squeezer behind the counter, and we hadn’t noticed orange juice posted as available, but I think it was and some fresh juice would have been nice. Next time, ask.

Our train was at 1130 and the waiter had given me a number for a cab. Since we were set to go by 8, I was torn between leaving now and risking hours at the train station, where we were sure the pickpockets would descend on us, or waiting and risking that there would be a long delay after we called the cab, and we would miss the train. We opted to risk the time at the station, and called the cab; he was there in 3 minutes. The ride to Termini was quick. The bin for our train was not yet posted, so I asked an official if he knew what it would be; he suggested he could switch us to an earlier train, and we thanked him. Apparently this train had not been scheduled, but was called out because they had a lot of passengers. It was older equipment, but serviceable. Our compartment for six was full, but even though we had some extra luggage, we all managed to fit in and enjoy a two hour ride to Naples. We never did see a pickpocket in Rome Termini and all the people we talked to were very helpful.

clevelandbrown

I had picked a hotel in Naples, the Luna Rossa, because it was near both train stations we planned to be using and (I thought) the waterfront where we would be catching a ferry to Capri, and because it is allied with an organization (Minotel) which has consistently shown us to relatively small but clean hotels. This is no exception; the rooms are plain but comfortable, the breakfast room is small, and the staff is very friendly. The neighborhood is noisy because of construction, however, and our first day impression is that Naples is very crowded and noisy (our walk through a fish market, obviously would give this impression; but when we were walking around later trying to find a specific restaurant, it was difficult to navigate as the wide sidewalks had been taken over by hundreds of street merchants selling, aggressively, purses, belts, jewelry, and fishing equipment. I enjoy visits to markets, but in Naples it is out of control. Also, it is a larger city than I had realized, and many of the restaurants I had prepicked are quite a distance away, so we have been eating in local restaurants. Also, the harbor front is very industrialized, so anyone planning to take a ferry would be well advised to take a taxi to the dock, and back.

We started the rest of this first day walking around orienting ourselves and seeing the local sites. I needed to visit an ATM and, as usual when you need them, they are hard to find or broken. Two we found apparently handled only cards from their own bank network, not mine, but we finally found a working ATM and replenished our supply. The ATMs we have found so far will give you 250 euro, but if you need more, you can just reinsert your card and do another withdrawal, assuming, of course, that you have had your card issuer set a high enough daily limit.

We ate at a small restaurant amid the fish vendors, and their menu was, of course, quite fishy. At Trattoria da Giovanni at via soprammuro a nolano, water, 350 ml of white wine and two pasto completo with varied fish was 24 Euro. The food was good, but you have to get used to removing heads, feelers, etc. from the very fresh fish. An interesting experience.

We returned to our nearby hotel to nap, then set out to get dinner. As we have found throughout Italy, so far, unless you eat in a restaurant that caters to tourists (there is a MacDonald’s here) it is better to plan to dine at 1900, or even later, as many restaurants are not open for dinner earlier. As it had started raining, we rushed into a nearby restaurant, La Brace on via Silvio Spaventa, 14/16. They had the traditional pizza oven, which tempted us, but we opted for water, a bottle of house red, one zuppa, one pasta prima, and two fish secondo. The food was good and the price, service included, was 33.5 euro. We went to bed early as we had to be up at 0430 to catch a ferry. Most of the patrons appeared to be workers from the neighborhood.

Sunday we went to Capri, hoping everyone else would be in Church; it didn’t work. However, we took the 0540 ferry and there were no crowds. We had coffee at the seaport, for 6.90 euro, then were first in the funicular, when it finally opened at 0700, and Capri town was uncrowded, but also mostly closed until later. We had a nice breakfast at an outdoor table at Da Alberto on the piazza at the top of the funicular; part way through, they ushered us inside as a funeral procession was coming past. Cappuccino and nice pastries were 26 euro. We then altered our plan and made our walk to Augustus Gardens (lovely, but, probably because it was Sunday, the gate was locked) and via Krupp, which I had believed had been closed, but was now reopened and in good condition. It is a beautiful combination of art and engineering, with great views. We were able to see the Faraglioni at a distance from partway down the road, but didn’t go all the way down because what goes down must walk back up. We then returned along via Mattioli intending to get closer to the Faraglioni , but as is often the case here, the streets are twisty and not well marked, and we got a bit lost. Since time was a consideration, we returned to the piazza to set off to villa Jovis. As a tour guidebook I won’t name reported you could get their by taxi, I approached the tourist office and asked if a bus went there (I had day passes); she replied no, we had to walk. I asked if a taxi went their; she said no, we had to walk, but did give me a very nice map of the island which I would suggest everyone pick up on arrival. We set off; it was quite a trek, all uphill, with intersections not always well marked, but enough small signs pointing the way that we finally made it. The paving was rarely smooth, so you had to be looking where you were stepping when I would rather have been looking at the view, which was wonderful. The Villa itself is in ruins and while there are some magnificent views, I am not certain it was worth the rather long trip, unless you are fond of hiking. We descended by a different road and stopped at Bar Jovis, which is near the villa and has a very attractive outdoor area where you can sit and get some refreshment and enjoy the view. Two glasses of orange juice was 10 euro, but it was freshly squeezed and perhaps the best orange juice I have had. As we returned to Capri Town, it was already lunch time and we stopped at Ristorino Longano da Tarantino, which I think may be part of a hotel. Two good pizzas, a bottle of water and a half bottle of nice Pinot Grigio was 33 euro, service included.. We then used our pass to catch a bus to AnaCapri (no line at that time) and rode the chair lift to Monte Solaro (16 euro and the bus pass doesn’t help). It was cold and windy up there, but the views were beautiful. There was a bar, but no one was eating there; in fact it was surprisingly uncrowded.. We returned to town and visited Chiesa San Michelle, which was also uncrowded, although the town itself was crowded. The weather that day was alternatively sunny and slightly rainy, and the seas were a bit choppy, so we had crossed the Blue Grotto off our list. The water color was very nice, but I think it would have been more spectacular on a really sunny day.

We set off to visit Villa San Michelle, but took a few wrong roads before finally finding it. It is well worth looking for, with a lot of interesting exhibits and a garden that is without peer.

We were tired by now, so set off to go home. The line for a bus was quite long; the line at the funicular quite long, and the line to buy a ferry ticket was also long and confusing. The company that had provided our outbound ferry apparently doesn’t run on Sunday afternoon, and their agent kept trying to sell me a ticket for Monday morning. I finally wised up and put myself in one line marked Naples, and my wife in another. She won and got tickets. The tickets to Capri were 29.80 euro; those back were 32 euro (both for two), and we were soon back at the Naples waterfront, but at a different area, and caught a taxi to our hotel.

I should present this problem for future visitors. While we have not been victims, apparently crime is not uncommon in this area, and this is the only place I have had a waiter suggest that I put my camera in my bag, rather than keeping it on the table. The other side of the coin is that a surprising number of places don’t take credit cards (including ferries, trains, and the small restaurants we like), so you end up carrying a lot of cash. Again, we have not had a problem, but I don’t like carrying a lot of cash.

That evening we dined at La Cantina dei Mille at Piazza Garibaldi 126. Because of language problems (certainly most of it is my lack of fluency), we ended up ordering, I think, an antipasto, three primo’s, and two secondos. This caused confusion on when to bring what, and who to give it to. My wife enjoyed her zuppa; I enjoyed her insalata. Our waiter left for an asylum. Anyway, for an antipasto caprese, a cocktail di gamberi, linguine alta bella donna, minestra, filletto al burro e cognac, scalloppina al limone, a small bottle of water and a small bottle (.375 L) of house red, the bill was 41.84 euro, service included, but they did take a credit card. Dinner took a long time, but we both enjoyed the food, even though we spent a lot of time watching the other eat.

With two days left, I had four objectives, Sorrento, Herculaneum, Pompeii, and Teatro San Carlo.

Since three of these are on the same rail line, I decided to do two of them together. We had breakfast at the hotel, then walked a couple of blocks to the train station. I wanted an all day ticket so I could visit two sites. The first agent spoke Italian only, and I think she told me to buy the tickets on the train. This made no sense, so I got in the second line; he told me they couldn’t sell the all day ticket until, I think, 1000. We waited around and finally someone opened the information window and seemed to confirm that the all day ticket couldn’t be sold until a few minutes before 1000. Finally, at about 0950, the second agent beckoned me over and sold me the ticket, with the next appropriate train to leave at 1009. We rode all the way to Sorrento, noting the appropriate stops for Herculaneum and Pompeii as we passed. We arrived with about an hour before lunch time and walked around what is a lovely city, far bigger than the seaside village I had anticipated. We ate outside at Bar Kontatto, just down from the train station. My wife had something like an egg and cheese burger and a coke; I had Bruschetta and a tomato/cheese salad, and a half liter of white wine. The Bruschetta was good, but huge, and alone would have filled me. The salad was good and also large. My wife enjoyed her sandwich, but it was too big to finish. The bill was 27 euro, service included, I think. I was a bit surprised because I expected prices to be higher in such a glamorous town.

We then caught a train back to see Herculaneum. It is straight down the road when you exit the station, but there was road construction, which misled us into a museum along the way, where they redirected us. I bought the multi-site pass for 20 euro each. Even though we will visit only two sites, we will still save 2 euro. Herculaneum is not as large as Pompeii, but has a lot of well preserved sites, and far fewer crowds.

clevelandbrown

We returned to Naples and ate at a restaurant around the corner from our hotel. It was more formal than a café, but definitely a homey place. The bill was handwritten, for instance, and the house wine came in a wine bottle without label (just like home, where I make my own). This is the neighborhood of the fish vendors, and the menu is heavy on fish (I think; it is all in Italian).
We had antipastos of assorted vegetables, primes were salmon pasta and vegetable soup, and seconds were chicken steak and swordfish. We had also a 1.5 liter of water, and a bottle of house white. Most of this food was new to us, so we cannot speak as to quality, but it tasted good and we left feeling well fed. I think the bill was in the range of 30 euro, but in a mom and pop operation like this they don’t take credit cards, and I didn’t get a receipt.

Today, our last day in Naples, we went to the station and got tickets to and from Pompeii, hopped on a train and started our visit early, lugging a large bottle of water, although we noted there were a number of ancient fountains in the ruins that had signs saying the water was drinkable. Pompeii is larger and much more crowded than Herculaneum, and has a lot of preserved decoration, much of which is under plastic protection and almost difficult to see. There were many guides available, and many groups were with guides. The areas where the frescoes are preserved are almost all crowded, but we found a few that were not and where you could enter the chamber and get a good look. One site we passed had erotic art, and the crowds there were so heavy we just passed by. As we left, we noted what looked like a pleasant glade where they sold lunches, but didn’t stop as prices in such tourist meccas are usually out of sight. We caught a train back to Naples and had lunch at Caffetteria Iris, right on Piazza Garibaldi. Two very good pizzas and a bottle of good white wine was 27.67 euro, service included, and the atmosphere was quite pleasant.

We were refreshed, but not that much, so we took a taxi to Teatro San Carlo, admired that, and did a little window shopping and coffee drinking in Galleria Umberto, a lovely venue directly across the street.

For our last evening we returned to La Brace on via Silvio Spaventa to test their pizza oven. We had two excellent pizzas (here, when you order a pizza with multiple items they are put on the pizza in separate places, rather than intermixed, as in the US), a small bottle of water and a bottle of good red wine, all for 22.5 euro, service included! When we entered the restaurant we were the only apparent tourists, although later a few more showed up. There were plenty of natives enjoying the food.

Now we are back in our hotel, draining my emergency bottle of Lacryma Christi del Vesuvio, and figuring out how early we will have to get up to catch our train.

During our last few days, we have been taking more taxis and walking less. The taxis are relatively inexpensive, and the ride is a real adventure. I sure wouldn’t want to drive myself here.

My wife has an observation for visitors. There are more toilets than toilet paper or toilet seats (a clever way, it seems to me, to solve the seat up/seat down conflict), so the well prepared traveler will probably want to carry some of her own.

In reflection, I’m glad we didn’t limit ourselves to a day trip to Naples, as there is quite a lot to see and experience here.

We arrived at the train station early. They don’t have a big electronic board the displays all trains, but we found a printed schedule that listed our train and directed us to the right bin. As it was early, the bin was empty, so we waited. A man wearing what looked like an old Trenitalia uniform approached us and signaled that he wanted to see our ticket; when I hesitated, another man dressed similarly approached and spoke to me in English. He read my ticket and confirmed we were at the right bin, then said the ticket had to be date-stamped. They took us to a semi-hidden machine and stamped it. They then said our car would be far back on the train, grabbed our luggage and took us well down the platform and said this would be where our car would be.

My wife suggested tipping them and I gave one three coins totaling 4 euro, but they demanded 5 each. I drew my wallet and held out my hand for the coins I had given them; only two came back. I kept my hand out and finally the third coin was found and returned. I gave them the ten euro and they went away. I’m not sure if these were porters or not, but the service they provided was not worth their fee, so I would warn others of falling into their clutches. We were left a long way from a cup of coffee or a toilet, and I started wondering if we were on the right platform (we were). I went in search of a toilet, but couldn’t find one. When I returned to the base of the platform, I saw a TV screen listing departures that included our train, but listed no bin (it was still well before departure). I took over luggage guard from my wife, who went in search of a toilet. She did find one by a sign saying Metropolitan and down some stairs. When she returned the bin was still not posted, but soon a crowd was gathering and one of them confirmed that this was the train to Milano.

This is an all second class eurostar train, with very nice accommodations. There is a small luggage rack outside the compartment door at one end. It will hold only about a dozen bags and fills up quickly. I was a bit concerned about security, but our seats are close enough to keep an eye on things at the stops. There are also overhead racks on both sides. Seating is in pods of four seats facing each other, on each side of the aisle, with a nice table in the pod, and there is a Space for additional storage between the pods, large enough for all but the largest of bags. We did a little multi language seat swapping so couples could sit together.

We were a little worn from the train ride, so on arrival I hit an ATM, picked up my reserved tickets for the Bernina express, found the toilets (this took the longest), then got a taxi to our hotel. While is was not far to the hotel, there is no direct route, and there was a lot of traffic, so that ride took a while. After checking in, we decided to eat early (1900 is early in this place) and walked around trying to find a restaurant; it was not easy as most were still in aperitif mode and were not ready to serve dinner. We finally found Bar Restaurant Odean, a very small place I would be lucky to find again. A bottle of water, a bottle of nice red wine, and two good pasta dishes were 67 cf. The food was good. We then found our way back to our hotel, passing a dry cleaner on the way (more on this later).

Lugano is exceptionally pleasant. The scenery is superb; the people are pleasant, and at least during our visit, it was not really crowded. It is a major banking center, so it is not an idyllic tourist center, yet your are always treated well. It is very clean; not only do they have multiple treatment facilities to keep the lake waters pristine, they come around in the morning and sieve, or sweep, the water along the shoreline to pick up all the natural detritus. We are staying at the Hotel Zurigo, which is excellently located in the very center of the city; we have been able to walk to everything we wanted to see (I found the maps of Lugano a bit misleading as they gave me the impression it was very spread out. When I went into the tourist office to ask how to work my half fare pass on the bus we intended to take to Chiesa di Santa Maria degli Angioli, she asked why I would take a bus, as it was only about 500 meters down the promenade; she also gave me a very handy map. The hotel is in what I think is an older building, but has been completely refurbished and everything looks new. It is a curious mixture of elegant appearance and the service you expect in a smaller hotel. When we got off the elevator at our floor, I thought I had pushed the wrong button, as the lobby and hallway on the third floor are quite large. Our room is well sized with two beds, a lot of desk space, a lot of storage space, free wi fi, and individual air conditioning, and a small refrigerator. The bathroom is good sized, but is a molded plastic room such as one sees in Holiday Inns; I like it because of the size, and the plastic molding prevents problems such as missing or soiled grout. There is plenty of hot water, and it is quiet during the evenings, during the days too, if that matters. The included breakfast is very good and typically Swiss; the breakfast room is uncommonly large. They don’t have laundry service.

We were up early and had a good breakfast, then set out with a listing of about six things to do in two days. Note: almost nothing here opens before 1000. Our first task was to get tickets for a scenic boat ride; we had picked one that included lunch. Departure time was 1145, so we didn’t think we had time to visit a museum before the boat left. No problem; this is a vacation and we were happy to lounge along the waterfront for a couple of hours. They have many benches, and great scenery, and there weren’t a lot of tourists out that early.

We have half-fare cards, so our prices reflect a 50% discount on the transportation. The cost of the lunch cruise (2 hours of unbelievable scenery and a good meal) was 69.80 cf. The meal included (from a limited menu; I suspect it is catered by a restaurant) a very good pasta dish with a seafood sauce, bread, and a nice desert of frozen chocolate filling on a white cake base, and a bottle of water. I also ordered a half liter bottle of white wine, and two coffees. We then left our table to take an outside seat. The waitress tracked me down and told me the wine and coffees were extra, 25 CHF. If I understood Italian I’m sure I would have realized that, and if I hadn’t been on a boat, I could have gotten away with it. Still, I think this boat trip will be one of the high points of our trip; it was perfect in every way.

Incidentally, they have an underpass to get to the promenade without dodging traffic, or finding a distant crosswalk. There are public toilets in the underpass. They are not well marked, but they are certainly convenient.

clevelandbrown

After returning to the dock, we set off to visit Chiessa di Santa Maria degli Angioli and the Museum of Modern art. The lady at the tourist office had told us the museum of modern art was closed until next week, when an exhibition would open. I knew, however, that the museum had a permanent collection, which was what we really wanted to see, and thought that the permanent collection would certainly not be closed. Fool.

We found the church, but it did not appear to be open; as we prepared to depart for the museum, two people who looked like tourists came out on of the doors, so we went in. It was in fact open (it is more a practicing church than a tourist attraction, so we were able to spend some quiet time reflecting on the art. We then went a few hundred meters down the promenade and found the museum of modern art, closed, as we had been warned. The walk down the promenade was pleasant, as they have installed a lot of outdoor art,

Now we had spare time, and decided to visit one of our remaining objectives, either the Museo Cantonale d’Arte, or the Museo Civico di Belle Arti, wanting to see the permanent collections of both. Luck was not with me. Both off these also have the policy of opening only for exhibits, and one was closed, and the other had exhibits that didn’t attract us, and that didn’t include their permanent collections.

So we were unlucky in our quest to see some great art, and I wonder about the policy of keeping your permanent collection under wraps. Lugano is the first place we have run into this. Why invest in a permanent collection if you are not going to show it constantly?

We stopped for a couple of cappuccino and contemplated our situation. A couple of cappuccino here typically costs 8 or 9 cf, and is not as good, in my opinion, as that we had in Italy.

Our wardrobes are almost entirely wash and wear, and we don’t carry enough to get through a long trip like this without doing some washing. When I pick an apartment, it always has a washing machine. However, our hotel in Naples didn’t have a laundry service, and this in Lugano doesn’t. Saturday we ride the Bernina express with an overnight in Chur, so its unlikely we could do laundry there, so we were looking at Luzern, a few days hence, and that was cutting it close. Recall that earlier we had seen a cleaning service in Lugano. We went back to the hotel and asked where it was, and they gave us directions. We found it easily, but it was actually a dry cleaner, and the clerk said she had to send washing out and could not get it back before Monday. Too late. As we wandered back to our hotel, we found another cleaner, with the same problem. So we returned to our hotel and set up a washing team in our bathroom, and now we sit in a room full of drying clothes, but at least they are clean in time. On reflection, I don’t recall seeing in our travels the kind of laundromat we have at home with washers and dryers, where you can do your own laundry with a pocket of quarters, other than in Lauterbrunnen. After our efforts of today, I think we may have to start washing clothes in our room more frequently,

For dinner tonight, we went to La Tinera, listed in Fodors. Convenient to our hotel, but still hard to find, and worth it.. It was, at least when we were there, not as crowded as we expected, but also there was little English, and I’m not really sure what I ate, but it was good. We had a small bottle of water (you can recognize the older tourists; we always have a bottle of water to take our pills) and a half liter of house merlot, with the famed ceramic bowls. We liked drinking from the bowls, because you can get the last drop without hitting your nose with the glass. We each had minestrone soup, which was very good, with more vegetables and less juice than you usually see. My wife had a green salad, and I had what I think was rabbit, with what might have been polenta, with the consistency of mashed potatoes. Whatever it was, it was good, and would have been even better on a cold winter evening, as it filled me up. My wife tried some limoncello, which she had not previously had, and I finally had macedonia (a bowl of mixed fruit; I have asked for this at many restaurants, but they have always been out of it), which was very good. The price was 72.60 CHF, service included, and we both thought it was an excellent meal.

Friday, our last day in Lugano, began a little overcast, but the sun was soon with us. I had gone over out list of objectives and discovered the one I thought we hadn’t seen, the Belvedere gardens, we had in fact seen when we were walking to the museum of modern art, and passed right through the gardens.

We have been traveling a few years now, always to see something rather than just to vacation. I make a list of primary and secondary objectives, and try to allow a bit of free time for those things that crop up, or that we want to spend more time on. This is the very first time we actually ran out of objectives and had a whole day free as vacationers. Lugano isn’t a bad place to have that problem. We started by shopping for a few food and drink items we had come across in restaurants and wanted to take home. My wife likes apricot preserves, and they make an apricot jam here that she says is even better, and that we have never seen at home. So that was one thing we found in a grocery store. We also had to replenish our supply of laundry liquid soap, as the old tube we had had developed a leak, and we had used most of it in our great laundry episode. I think we found a replacement, but it involved a lot of guessing as to what the label said. We found a nice bottle of limoncello in a wine store, and the bottle itself will be a nice memento even when it is empty.

After our shopping, we took a walk through the municipal park and gardens on the waterfront. It was very pretty, and had a lot of benches, so we sat and looked a lot at the birds, including swans, and fishes. A bit after noon we went to Tea Room Munger Lugano of via Luvini 4; we had passed it often and noted they had a lot of pastries and some sandwiches, and tables. We had two strawberry tortes (it looked like cheesecake until you cut into it and found it was white cake with frosting, drowned in strawberries), but was very good anyway. My wife had a cappuccino and I had a small glass of white wine; the total cost was about 15 CHF. We returned to our hotel for a nap and some packing (we leave early tomorrow), then went out for coffee. Total was 7 CHF and I noted that cappuccino costs a lot more than espresso or even wine, but of course, as my wife points out, there is more of it.. As we returned to our hotel we passed the restaurant we will be going to dinner at and checked their menu. Interestingly, this restaurant posted its hours (1900 to 2200 or 2400 for dinner), which I have rarely seen at other places. We arrived at Orologio, listed in Fodors’s and just across the street from our hotel, about ten minutes after opening and were the first customers. It is a rather elegant place, with very good service, although we struggled a bit with language. It is asparagus season now, and many of the items featured that. We started with two plates of asparagus, one with goat cheese and one parmesan. Both were superb. We then had sole sauteed in butter and my wife had lamb cutlets, also very well prepared and served. Portions were not huge, but also not small, and my wife couldn’t face desert, but I managed to have a delicious fantasy of mixed sherbets. We had splurged on a good bottle of local red wine. The waiter was exceptionally helpful in recommending which preparations (the sole came two ways) and wine, and in the final preparation of the food at table. We both rated this as an excellent experience. The check was 205 CHF.

I’ll raise a question here. We usually rent apartments, but for stays of less than a week will find a hotel, and I usually try to find a small hotel that will reflect the local ambiance, rather than someplace that will make me feel like I’m still in the USA. I know some people leave an envelope for the maid; some don’t. I do, particularly as in the small hotels we favor you usually have the same maid for your stay, rather than a crew, as in Vegas.

My question, however, is whether to leave an envelope in the breakfast room. When we stayed in Florence, one lady ran the lunchroom, and provided a lot of help to those of us who didn’t know how to work the coffee machine. I left an envelope, and as we checked out she approached us very thankfully, as though this never had happened before. On the other hand, the breakfast room here has a crew of about six, who vary, and the personal service is limited to asking if we want coffee and bringing it, and breads, to our table, and checking our room number. I’m inclining to leave no envelope here because it would be hard to divide it among the whole crew, and the personal service seems much less than what you get from a waiter, or waitress. On the other hand, the service seems comparable to ordering coffee at a café, and I usually leave a small tip there, but its easy because they are collecting your money and making change.

So what are the feelings about tipping in this situation?

I wanted to buy more tickets and check through a bag at the rail station, and the bus next morning left at 1000, so we were up early, breakfasted, and in a cab by 0800 (cabs always arrive on time if you anticipate they may be delayed and leave extra time). Buying the tickets went smoothly although when I asked what the departure time would be the next day in Chur, the agent said the same time I had on my computer printout from 4 months earlier, and checking a bag to Luzern was easy. It was 10 CHF, and they said it would be there in 36 hours, as it wasn’t going on our train (in fact, it was there when we arrived, which was about 27 hours) and it was nice to do this on and off trains and busses part of our trip without this large bag. The agent gave good instructions on where to catch our bus (it is at the far end of the parking lot to the left as you leave the station) and then we realized there was also good signage showing the way. We thus had a long wait, but as we sat there an elderly gentleman approached to talk; I think he wanted to pass some time and practice his English, and we enjoyed it.

The bus picked us up and delivered us to the Bernina express terminal in Tirino on time. It was a large bus, and the roads were small, twisty, and often on the very edge of a cliff. It was an exciting ride, but I wouldn’t want that driver’s job. The passengers applauded him when we arrived safely. We had an hour and a half in Tirino, so we walked around a bit, and picked a café for lunch (there were many, especially around the terminal). My wife had a salad and an apple strudel with ice cream; I had a Macedonia (that’s probably the wrong word, but it is mixed fruit on gelato) with a half liter of water and a of white wine. Portions were very large and we left stuffed and 17.20 euro thinner.

clevelandbrown

The Bernina express was a wonderful ride, so good we kept forgetting to take pictures (no one in our car realized that you can lower the window to take pictures and chill your fellow passengers) but I use a polarizing lens which helps. The trickiest part was getting on the proper side of the car for the instant shot, and getting the picture before the train goes behind some trees or around a curve. There was snow falling at the higher elevations, and the light failed, at least to the point of preventing high speed pictures, for about the last hour of the trip, partly as the day was ending, and partly as we were often in the shade of mountains. My inclination would be to take the train south from Chur one day, spend a day in Tirino, and take an earlier train back to Chur, when you are not limited by the bus ride to the last train. Yes, I think the ride is worth repeating, especially with a half-fare card.

We were tired when we arrived in Chur, and finding the Stern hotel was not as easy as they make it sound, but we finally checked in at 1930, and they volunteered to make us a dinner reservation at 2000. Naturally we appreciated that. It is still asparagus season, and this hotel apparently owns an asparagus field, as their whole menu featured it. The dining room is very nice, and the service was excellent. Portions were just right, and reflected quality rather than quantity. They have a gourmet menu where you can select 4 or 5 items. We started with scallops and ham on risotto (the only non-asparagus dish we saw) and it was excellent. My wife had asparagus soup, followed by lobster on asparagus ravioli. I had a lime ice (it had a French name) and the waitress kept warning me it was very small., but I can handle small, and it was very refreshing. I followed this with a pork cutlet on asparagus, that was excellent. We followed with delicate deserts of raspberries, chocolate, and a creamy pudding-like concoction, again excellent. We also had a half-liter of water, and a very good bottle of local Pinot Noir. The check was 213 CHF.

Two consecutive superb dinners; I could learn to live like this.

Breakfast at the hotel Stern was also excellent, although I selected an egg thinking it was hard boiled when it was soft boiled; I should have known from the egg cups beside the heater. It’s not easy to peel a soft boiled egg, but I did it, and now there are about 20 English people who were sharing the breakfast room that think I’m right and they’re wrong, or who think I’m a savage.

We checked out early (I had looked at my ticket and realized they didn’t have the time on them, and the railroad information office had already closed when we arrived the night before, and the desk agent at the hotel checked on the computer but couldn’t confirm a time) so I could find our departure time. The railroad information office checked and apparently this is a route that can be ridden about every hour, so we were able to leave an hour earlier than I had anticipated.

My original plan had been to take the Bernina express to Chur, then continue on to Luzern, all in one day. I would like to thank the posters who advised against this, as it would have been a very long day, with a lot of scenery missed to darkness, and we would have missed the great meal in Chur. I took the suggested revision of Chur to Andermatt and on to Luzern. An excellent ride, part of this goes over the route of the glacier express (without the premium price) and the part from Andermatt through Goschenen was as scenic as any ride we have had.

Our arrival in Luzern was timely, of course, and we picked up our shipped bag and went outside to get a taxi to the Hotel des Alpes, which is on the riverfront. When we approached the driver and named our destination, he said why take a taxi, just cross that bridge and turn left; he was right, the hotel was actually in sight and a very short walk. We checked in and left to get a late lunch, but had a hard time finding a place that offered other than drinks and deserts. We settled on Da Ernesto Ristorante, Rathausquai 11, with a pleasant table overlooking the river. A Bruschetta, a pizza Margarita, a lager and a class of white wine was 35.60 CHF. The food was not bad, but I think going to an Italian restaurant immediately after spending time in Italy probably makes for an unfair comparison.

We walked around the river front a bit; again I found that the maps I had studied made things seem farther than they actually are. We returned to our room to unpack and rest a bit; we have a balcony over the riverfront with this room, so we sat in the sun and rested. Since we had lunched late, I was in full European mode to dine late. We left for dinner and the nearby restaurant we had picked declined to seat us, as it was 2000 and they closed (one hopes only on Sundays) at 2100. We walked down the river and found that many restaurants had closed for the evening, or were offering only drinks and deserts. We settled on Pfistern Zunfthausrestaurant, Kornmarkt 4, with a nice riverfront table. A bottle of water, eglichnosperli (lake perch, I think) for my wife and farmer’s sausage for me, two nice deserts (a frappe and a limoncello over sorbet, and a nice bottle of locally produced red wine (my experience is that you never see Swiss wines outside of Switzerland, but that they are of very good quality) was 136.40 CHF. The bugs that kept dropping out of the tree overhead were free. At this point, Dynamic Currency Conversion raised its head. I had read about it, but had never experienced it, so I will have to be more alert. For those evaluating it, the particulars applied here were that the 136.40 CHF was converted to 125.91 USD (they say the exchange rate was 1 CHF to .9231 USD on 10 May 2009; I’m away from the internet currently so I cannot compare that to the market rate) and from subsequent information that rate includes the 1% charge from MasterCard. (It is a couple of days later and the final charge showed at my bank was $127.17, which includes the foreign transaction charge of 1%.) My bank does not charge its own fee, but I know many do, so everyone who is interested should check their own situation. My main objection is that the exchange rate applied for the merchant could be high or low, and waiters probably do not know what it is, so there is a possibility that such a transaction could really be expensive; I think its worth demanding that DCC not be used, despite the merchant’s protests, unless you get some sort of comfort from dealing in USD, no matter the cost. By way of comparison, another transaction processed the same day for 393 CHF was billed at 357.98 USD (including the 1 percent fee) for an effective exchange rate of .910 USD for one CHF; with dynamic currency conversion the effective exchange rate was .923 USD for one CHF.

I like this hotel, but I think the whole city has more church bells than they really need. This hotel offers next day laundry service on weekdays; faster if you pay a premium, so we will be taking advantage of that since our next stay will be in a very small place that does not offer the service. However, the price is not low: a pair of pants is 13 CHF; a shirt is 8 CHF; a t-shirt is 7 CHF.

The breakfast here was very good, and the breakfast room is airy and has a fairly large balcony overlooking the river. They offer wifi, but there is a fee; I got the 5 hours for 10 CHF package, which seemed the best deal unless you never leave the internet. Luzern has a free wifi service from certain hot spots; my PC tells me it can find that network, but cannot connect.

Since the art museum is closed Monday, we decided to see some other sites we could walk to, with a very nice city guide given by the hotel, which includes a map. We had already seen the Chapel bridge since it is right in front of our hotel, but we started again, gathering pictures. Then we went to the Jesuitenkirche, which is very well maintained and attractive. We then walked down the river to the Spreuernrucke, an ancient wood bridge that is also well preserved. They are doing a lot of construction near this on a water control system, as the current is quite powerful at this point; it seems more sedate near the chapel bridge as the river is wider. After crossing this, we wound our way uphill until we were outside the ancient city walls, which still look formidable, and along the outside until we reached a gate past the Zytturm, where we reentered the wall. We had run into a construction area along the wall, but it was not marked closed so we proceeded until our only option was to join some workers on high scaffolding repairing the wall; we retreated and found another path. The clock on the tower faces into the city so we found our way back along the wall, but we had to get some distance from the wall and into a residential neighborhood before we found a good opportunity to get a view and picture of the clock. It still keeps good time.

We then wound our way downhill to locate the Weinmart, but there was construction on some of the older buildings that made it temporarily less attractive. At this time it was only 1030, so we window shopped. We stopped in a pastry shop and decided we would later buy something there for our lunch, but they don’t have seats. We crossed the river to explore the other side and came up with the idea of buying pastries and eating on the balcony at our apartment. We wandered around and found a small shop that sold meats, and water and wine (I’ve not seen many carry out wine stores here), so we bought a big bottle of water and a half liter of local white wine, and headed back toward the bakery; we came upon another one first that also offered prepared salads and sandwiches, so we shopped there and headed home. We were back to our hotel before 1200; Luzern is very walkable and I think we are becoming better walkers.

Two salads (they gave us plastic forks), two nice pastries, the water and wine (much of which we still have in our refrigerator) were about 23 CHF, and as we sat on our balcony enjoying a nice lunch, with no crowd and no bugs from overhead trees, and looked over the river and lake Luzern, we thought it doesn’t get any better than this; then it started to rain, but lightly and only for a short while.

clevelandbrown

After lunch we decided to visit the Am Rhyn-haus and the Sammlung Rosengart museum; they have related collections, primarily Picasso, and Fodors reported you could get a combined ticket and save a bit. They are only a few hundred meters apart, but on different sides of the river. We found the Am Rhyn-haus near our apartment, but they had a small sign posted that said they had recently consolidated collections and closed this building; they had posted a map to the location of the Rosengart museum, so we went there. There were very few people in the museum. The fee was 20 CHF, but 16 if you are 65 or older. The entire first floor contained works of Picasso, with a lot more on the second floor, including a lot of photographs of the artist working, and interacting with the people who set up the museum. These collections were made by a father and daughter, both of whom apparently were close to the artist; there are photographs of the daughter sitting for portraits, as well as the portraits themselves. There were also a lot of nice impressionist works on the second floor. The basement was full of Paul Klee, and my wife has made me promise not to say anything about that... It was a very nice museum to visit, and the lack of crowds made it easy to spend as long as you wanted looking at any work. We spent quite a while there, then stopped for coffee a couple of blocks from the river, where it would be less crowded. There is a lot of smoking here, so I try to find a place upwind of the smokers. A cappuccino and a black coffee, both larger than what we had grown used to in Italy, were 9.10 CHF. My wife is trying no nap while I write this; it is 1705 local time, and some deranged bell ringer has been clanging constantly since 1700; fortunately, none of his comrades-in-harms has joined in. I anticipate that at 1800 they will have a full fledged battle of the bangs.

We ate dinner at the restaurant associated with the hotel. While the outside tables were crowded, the inside was almost empty, so we ate inside. My wife had a schnitzel plate, while I had cordon Fribourg, both including vegetables and filling the plate. A half liter of bottled water and a half liter of local red wine, and two deserts you wouldn’t want to tell your doctor about, came to 106.1 CHF. I would describe the preparation as home-style, and we certainly felt the food was good.

Today (Tuesday) was excursion day. The restaurant tables along the riverfront had disappeared to be replaced by a farmers’ market; we spent a few minutes viewing the produce and trying to learn the names of some of the things we have enjoyed eating.

Because of my Swiss heritage, I really wanted to see the Rutli meadow, the site where the leaders of 3 cantons met to form the confederation of Switzerland (other cantons joined later), arguably the first western democracy, in 1291. I wish I had known that when my high school teachers insisted the US was the first democracy. We went on one of the old side-wheel steamers and the cruise was about 2 hours each way (these lake steamers are like busses, stopping at many small towns. While is was not a typically clear day, the scenery was superb, and the walk up the hill was no more demanding than our initial walk up to the wall around Luzern. We had the advantage of a class of schoolkids joining the boat a few stops before the meadow, so we were confident that we were on the right path as we climbed the hill. Leaving, we took another path and didn’t get lost. It is a rather small meadow and the paths are well signed. My half fare card made the cost 55 CHF for two, and my calculation is that the cards have now saved us more than they cost. We bought second class tickets, which put us on the deck level rather than the upper level, and among, in my experience, a more friendly crowd. This particular route is served by ancient boats that are in superb condition, and include two dining rooms. We spent most of our time in outside areas taking pictures, but when it drizzled or we got too cold, we went inside. In the center of the inside deck is a large opening that lets you look at the crankshaft end of the engine; an impressive display of cleanliness that reminded me of the engines at auto shows, except these engines were actually working. There was also an access door to each paddlewheel that had a window allowing you to see the wheel working. It was interesting that there was usually a group of male passengers watching the engine work; rarely did a female join. I had been unable to read the schedule, so we walked to the dock after breakfast, intending to catch a later boat, but there was one leaving in 15 minutes, so we grabbed it. On this day, there was a boat running each way hourly, so when we arrived at the meadow we had an hour and a half to look around, then caught a return boat. We went into the second class lunchroom and I had a great tasting sandwich and a glass of white wine, while my wife had a nut filled pastry (and wouldn’t share it) and a beer. The charge was 21.20 CHF, and considering the very good quality
of the food, and the superb view from our table, I think that is a top value.

Incidentally, after eating, I stood watching the engine, while my wife took pictures, and I noted that the servers from the first class lunchroom were making frequent deliveries to the second class lunch room, which makes me think the food for the two classes is the same.

I think that not all the lake steamers have food service, but they share the superb scenery, and I would suggest that every visitor to Luzern make time to take a lake cruise. There are many routes and lengths of cruises, and even if you pick a boat that doesn’t offer food, it appeared to us that every stop (except Rutli) had a restaurant near the dock.

Since we had caught an early cruise, we were back in time to visit the Kunstmuseum, which is in an impressive new building next to the dock. The museum is on the fourth floor, and admission is 12 CHF (10 if you are retired). They had a curious juxtaposition of very old art, much from local churches and buildings, and some panels from the Spreuer Bridge which were apparently removed when the bridge was shortened, and some very modern art. I haven’t developed an appreciation for either of these genres, but the works were well presented and the museum was not crowded. The building, which contains other facilities, is very interesting, but for the art, if I had to choose, I would prefer the Rosengart museum. We did have coffee in the café on the ground floor of the building, which had an impressive display of treats. Two large espressos was 8.40 CHF, and it was a very pleasant place to linger until the drizzle ended.

For dinner we went to La Bonne Cave, Rathausquai 1, because it was nearby and it had started to rain a bit. It is a small restaurant that has a lot of Sri Lankan dishes, as well as more traditional. I have no experience with this cuisine, so we stuck to the traditional dishes. After an appetizer of Oliventapenade with breads, we each had a small portion (many of their dishes were offered in full or small size; the small was sufficient) of prawns on pasta with hot peppers; it was spicy but not dangerously so, and was very enjoyable. We also had two portions of apple cake with cream; the cake was almost like apple pie, and was quite good. With a half liter of bottled water and a bottle of white Swiss wine, the check was 98.80 CHF. It was a good meal.

Wednesday looked clearer, at least in Luzern, so we had a good breakfast and set out for Mt. Titlis. Despite all the pictures of people frolicking in the snow in shorts and shirtsleeves, we took our medium weight winter coats. On reflection, it was a pain carrying them around all day and we didn’t really need them atop the mountain. You can buy tickets for this excursion at the tourist information office in the railway station, where they apparently route you all the way by train, or at the boat dock, where they apparently route you part way by boat and the rest of the way by train. We took the train and it was a nice scenic ride; part of it requires the cogwheel apparatus because of steepness. Trains run hourly from Luzern and return hourly from Engelberg and the ride is about an hour each way. I don’t know about the boat schedule. They describe it as a half-day experience, but it took us a bit over five hours, as it was crowded, even though we didn’t participate in any of the extra activities they list, such as a glacier walk, or playing in the snow. The walk from the train station to the start of the uphill venture (the cogwheel railway was out of service; but they had nice cable cars in lieu of it) is about 700 meters, according to the man at the tourist office who rescued us after we got lost. They have good signage along the route, but someone had left a trash can in front of the very first sign, and we had guessed wrong. The Rotair attraction is not the only cable car in town, so if you see a cable car line and head for it, you may be going the wrong way. The cost of the train and cable cars, with my trusty half fare card, was 116.80 CHF for two of us. We found a lot of haze and cloudiness at the top, so it was hard to get good pictures of the other mountains. Upon descending, we were late for lunch because of the crowds, but found Café Desire, just across a piazza from the train station, open. A bottle of water, a glass of white wine, and two pieces of apple strudel with whipped cream (absolutely fresh and delicious) was 22.20 CHF. Alas, as we got back to Luzern, rain was threatening again.

At just before six, the rain had stopped and we headed out to see the Lion Monument and eat dinner. It was a short walk, although the street veered left just before the monument and we had to make an adjustment. The Lion Monument is in a small park and was very peaceful, yet memorable. As we were there late in the day, the sun was lowering and gave an excellent opportunity to take some good pictures. We then walked back down the street to the Old Swiss House restaurant, which has a very traditional appearance. It was not overcrowded and we were promptly seated. They had some very tempting dishes on the menu, but they are famed for their weinershnitzel, so we ordered that, a bottle of water, and a nice bottle of Swiss Pinot noir. Service was very capable and friendly. The weinershnitzel is prepared at your table, with a narrative of what is being done. At home, we visit a farmer’s market weekly and the amount of butter we get for a week was used in the preparation of our two dishes. The result was excellent, My wife couldn’t finish hers and declined desert, but when I ordered kirschtorte, which she had read about in books, she relented. Fortunately, the waiter had brought two forks, so I was able to get some myself, The check was 182 CHF, and it was a meal to remember. I have had good weinershnitzel before, but this was a cut above, and the ambiance just added to the experience.

I downloaded the pictured from the mountain trip, and they were better than expected. I have a UV filter on the camera and I think that helped..

clevelandbrown

This morning was not clear, but it is our last day in Luzern and the only thing we have left undone are a couple of mountain cruises. We selected the Mt. Pilatus cruise on recommendation of the desk clerk. This involves a boat ride of about 90 minutes, followed by a cogwheel railroad ascension, followed by whatever interests you at the top, with a lengthy descent by cable cars, followed by a 15 minute municipal bus ride back to Luzern. Cost for two, with the half fare cards, was 91.80 CHF. The boat was more modern than the side-wheeler we had previously ridden, and they leave every hour. Since we had time after buying our tickets, I went into the train station to have my departure tickets fixed. I had forgotten to present our half-fare cards when I bought the tickets, but they resolved that immediately. On departure, the boat was fairly full, but we all found seats and enjoyed the cruise. The connection to the cogwheel train was flawless (they had a nice display of track showing how the cogwheel works) and we soon arrived on top. I had not brought my jacket and it was cool, but pleasant. As always when I ascend a mountain, there was some cloud cover, and portions of the view were intermittently obscured, but sometimes cleared. They had an alpine musician playing his horn and doing some yodeling, and an interesting tunnel with windows around the peak that gave some interesting views. There were a number of restaurants there, but not all were open, and someone on the train remarked that the peak had only been open a week, because of snow. Since we didn’t take time to eat, we were ahead of the crowd on the descent, and had cable cars to ourselves. At the base, you have to walk about 5 minutes to the bus stop, and there are signs pointing the way, but I assumed they were for traffic and stood around awhile before asking the lady at tourist information where to go: she told me, pleasantly.

I preferred this to the Titlis excursion because of the varieties of transportation, and the maintenance of the equipment. The windows were clear on the equipment at Pilatus, while at Titlis they were dirty and scratched. The rotating cable car was not impressive, in large part because it was packed.

On arrival back at Luzern at about 2 (we had left at 0945) we went into the lower level of the railroad station and bought ingredients for our lunch on our balcony. Grocery stores in Luzern seem hard to find, being in basements or whatever, but there are a number of them in the basement of the railroad station; we resolved that for our trip tomorrow, we will buy the ingredients for lunch there and eat on the train.

It rained this afternoon and we napped, then did some shopping. For dinner we returned to Pfistern at Kornmarkt 4 and ate inside. I had a starter of superb asparagus with hollandaise sauce, then a filet of fish in Mediterranean style, while my wife had the Lozerner Fritschi-pastete. With a half bottle of water and a bottle of local red wine, the total tab was 152.30 CHF and this time over their protests I had it charged in CHF rather than USD. The food was excellent and more than plentiful, but it was very hard to get the check after we finished.

As we shared my large asparagus starter, I couldn’t help think how lucky we have been to be in Europe in May, when the asparagus is plentiful, We’re preparing to leave Luzern now, but it has been a wonderful five days and I would recommend it to anyone.

On Friday our train to Boltigen was to leave at 10:55, but we usually are up early and this was no exception. We had another very nice breakfast, then went out for a last walk around the Old Town. We were passing a nice bakery and decided to get ingredients for our lunch on the train there. Two very nice pastries were 8 CHF; I later bought two half-liters of water at a grocery in the train station, so it would still be cold at lunch time; it was 1.20 CHF and I made change like a native. Actually buying the water was something of an adventure. I try to buy goods of the country in which we are, so I ended up looking at labels in German. In restaurants they always ask you with or without gas, but there are actually three grades; with a lot of gas, with less gas, and without gas. I found bottles of the first two but couldn’t tell which was without gas, so I asked a clerk which of them had gas, and she said both. I was at a loss until she explained the third grade, which I then found further down the counter.

We left our hotel early, as a convenience to the maid, and as I always worry about being late. The walk to the train station was short, since we now knew our way around, and we sat on a waterfront bench outside the Art Museum (next to the train station) and enjoyed our last views of Luzern on a lovely sunny morning. My wife tried to talk to some ducks preening there, but they didn’t respond, apparently only speaking German. The train was uncrowded and scrupulously clean, and left precisely on time. We met a nice couple from New Zealand and traded stories. A second class carriage is best, I think, if you want to meet people. They had been on tour for six weeks already, and weren’t done. Of course, their flight to Europe had been 30 hours, including connections. Australia and New Zealand are on our list of places we want to see, so we got some good tips.

They stopped at Interlaken, and we changed to a golden express train to Boltigen. It had started to rain before we got there, but it is a very small place and only a short walk to the hotel. We got the same room we had six years ago, and it was the best hotel room we have had on this trip, very large, with a balcony, and a large bathroom with a tub and towel heater (handy for drying any light laundry you want to do yourself). They also have a nice restaurant, but the cuisine is more continental than Swiss. At dinner, my wife had sauteed trout with vegetables and a nice desert; I had the asparagus meal of the day, a starter of marinated asparagus, some asparagus soup, a main course of veal with asparagus with hollandaise sauce and fried potatoes, and a nice desert. We had a liter of water (a carafe, which was not listed on the menu) and a nice bottle of Pinot noir from Vevey (a half liter bottle). The charge was 96.50. The portions were pleasantly sized and the quality and preparation was excellent.

We went to bed early and were at the breakfast room before they opened at 0730. The breakfast was good, and what I think of as typically Swiss: some cereals; orange juice, a platter of sliced meats, usually ham and a couple of types of wursts; a platter of chunks of excellent cheese that you can cut what you want from; a loaf of fresh bread, and, at your request, a pot of very good coffee with some of the best heated milk you could want (I suspect, this being a farming town, they use whole milk). We then decided to take a bus trip to Gruyeres, so we walked down to the train station to buy tickets (and advice). Alas, the station office in Boltigen, which had been so useful on our prior visit, has been closed and replaced by a machine. I could get the machine to speak English, but it’s routing seemed to be limited to trains. Since I wanted to ride what promised to be the more scenic postal bus, I went across the parking area to the post office and got in line. There was apparently a complicated problem involving the lady in front of us and as our planned departure time neared, I asked the man behind us if he spoke English; he didn’t but the lady in front of us did and told us to go back to the machine we had visited, and if that didn’t work, we could ask the driver. It didn’t and the bus didn’t arrive when I had anticipated. I had looked up the information at the SSB site on the internet (I then print out the routes and the ticket agents seem to find this helpful), but I had done so in January, and at the bottom of those pages they warn that schedules are subject to change, and they are. Apparently, they change a lot in Boltigen as it is a visited area in the winter and summer, but not in between. I subsequently was told that you can pay the fare when you board (but I didn’t verify this), so the only problem is finding out when the bus will be there, on a schedule in German that reflects what days and seasons the particular bus runs. It was now too late to start a full day excursion, so we fell back to walking around the area, taking a ton of pictures, doing a little shopping (we found a general store open), and counting cows and listening to cowbells. As we walked toward the church to visit the graveyard and see if I could find more relatives, we noticed many well dressed people walking in front of us. They were having a wedding, so we listened to the bells, and took a lot of pictures of flowers, but decided going through the cemetery while a marriage was being conducted seemed inappropriate, so we will do that another time.

There is one cafe/bar in town that was open (part of the hotel, actually, so we went there for lunch. I think no one spoke English, but we managed to get two nice assorted meat sandwiches and a beer (a big beer, with two glasses) for 18 CHF. It was actually a pleasant lunch, as the sandwiches are fresh, not prepared ahead as at so many cafes, and Swiss beer is excellent.

The rest of the day we walked around a bit more, then just sat in the sun; we had planned to have a less hectic time in Boltigen than we had had so far in our trip, and it is an excellent place to unwind.

For dinner, we resisted the asparagus menu, as we had partaken of that last night. We had soup (asparagus for my wife, and soup of the day, a broth with noodles, for me). Both were excellent. My wife had shrimp in a garlic sauce with noodles, while I had veal cutlets with a Calvados sauce and noodles. Both were superb. I was wiping the sauce from my plate with some bread, intending to then lick the plate, when the server returned and served us the remaining portions of our orders. I hadn’t realized that the initial serving was only a portion, but that is common in this restaurant. This was food of the highest quality, sophistication, and preparation, a bit surprising in a rural setting when more native food is expected, but our experience at this restaurant has always been excellent. We had water and a bottle of Swiss Pinot noir of excellent quality. The check was just over 113 CHF. We had been ready for desert after our initial portions, but the second portion sated us and we thanked the server and left. When we stay here, they always offer us the pension or half-pension option, and I decline because I like to be free to wander and perhaps not be here for a meal, but the food is so good we always make it back for dinner. Some day I’ll learn to take their offer.

We were up a bit late today; it is Sunday and we still have the habit of sleeping in. After a leisurely breakfast we walked down to the train station to buy tickets from the machine. While it offers an English option, you have to really know the local geography to get the ticket you want. After I picked it, the machine wanted money so I put in my credit card and it demanded a PIN, which I think is common with European credit cards but rare with American cards. The machine would apparently take cash, but limited the change it would give to 20 CHF, and I cleverly had spent my small bills, so the cash option was out. In any event, I didn’t have a PIN so I made one up, but the machine wasn’t happy. I resolved to buy my tickets on the train, which I have done before, but on this train there was no conductor, or at least none that came around before we reached Erlenbach and got off. I resolved to go to the ticket office in Erlenbach, a larger village, fess up and buy my tickets, and also to clarify a problem I am having with the bus schedule for tomorrow. Alas, the closing of ticket offices is apparently wide spread and Erlenbach had none either. Nor does either town have a tourist information office; when we visited before, even the small towns had at least a part-time tourist information office.

clevelandbrown

We walked around town for a bit (I have a family connection to this village also, but know noone there today), then headed up-valley to the Stockhornbahn, a cable car to the top of the Stockhorn that offers a nice view of parts of the Thunersee and the Simmental valley and, for the first time in my heretofore jinxed experience, had clear weather at the top. There were mountains all around us, as far as you could see. There are some mountain lakes, including one that was still frozen, and hiking trails all over the mountain. There is a change of cable cars half-way up, where there is a restaurant by the thawed mountain lake, and another at the top. It was impressive to see the number of hikers on the mountain, many quite elderly. We didn’t do any hiking; anytime I can look down and see mountain goats frolicking, I know I’m out of my hiking league. The cable car fee was 48 CHF (24 with the half fare card) and on Sundays they offer a brunch special for about 20 CHF more, but the timing did not fit us so we didn’t get the brunch. It seemed very popular, especially with families, and from listening to people talk, my impression is that there were very few tourists among the crowd.

We spent more time than planned at the top, and when we got to the bottom, it was lunch time. There are more cafe’s in Erlenbach than in Boltigen, so we window shopped a bit (I wanted to get cowbells for our grandchildren, and they had them, but the store was closed on Sunday) and picked Restaurant Stockli, a ways from the cable station, for lunch. Two delicious ham sandwiches and two beers was 18 CHF; I’m guessing they would have been a bit more closer to the cable station. I was careful to get enough cash in change to deal with the ticket machine, but then I started thinking that my ATM card is actually a debit card, and has a PIN, so I used that card when we got to the machine and it worked flawlessly.

Dinner at the hotel again. They had the asparagus special still, and while it is superb, we wanted to try something new, so we ordered one of the three specials: soup of the day, a salad, a sirloin with vegetables including fried potatoes, and a nice desert. The soup was a broth with what looked like sliced crepes; the salad was a good green mixture with what I think they call French dressing, but reminds me more of a creamy Italian. The sirloin was smaller than American portions, but was trimmed of fat and bone, and had a dollop of herbed butter on it that was similar to what my wife puts on tenderloin. The vegetables were green beans, carrots, cauliflower, and a squash like zucchini, with the fried potatoes (just like MacDonalds, without the salt) were on a separate plate. The vegetables were all excellent, and the sirloin was superb. I finished mine, except for the potatoes, but my wife was full without eating everything. Two nice deserts finished the meal, which included a flagon of water and a half-liter bottle of nice red wine from Vevey. The check was 98 CHF, and I have paid far more for a less excellent meal.

Tomorrow we will try to find our way to Gruyeres, and Wednesday we will have to try to find our way to Geneva. Tuesday we will probably visit a peak above Lauterbrunnen, I really miss the ticket agents who would plan your route and give you a card showing which train you took at each change. You can do that on the internet, but in a lot of these small towns internet access is limited or non-existent, and I think the Swiss Rail System has dropped the ball by eliminating these positions and not offering much instead. Each station does have a box you can use to contact information, but I tried that and it doesn’t work as well as a person on site, with local knowledge, who can work with you and look at what you have written, rather than guessing what you are trying to say.

We had planned on arising early and rushing through breakfast to catch an 0813 postal bus to Gruyeres, but my reading of the bus schedules has been confused, and when we called the information desk at the train station, he seemed to say the earliest bus was 11:55. I had the clever idea of going to Lauterbrunnen instead, and stopping in Spiez, where I thought there would be a live ticket agent (there was) so we lingered over breakfast and kept an eye on the road out of the train station to see who had been right about the 0813 bus. At 0815 a white bus pulled out, but since it was two minutes late and not yellow, I concluded that it was not the postal bus. I was wrong; the agent at Spiez said some of the postal busses in this area are white, and the place I was watching was a bit down the road from the stop. Anyway, I left Spiez with fareplan cards showing the various connections to and from Gruyeres, tickets, and a card showing our routing to Geneva, and tickets. The balance of the trip to Lauterbrunnen went smoothly, but the weather was overcast and drizzly. When we arrived the closed circuit TV at the ticket office showed almost no visibility at either Jaunfrajoch or Schilthorn. We decided on a short walk through town to look at the waterfalls, then lunch, then a return to the ticket station to see if things had improved at the tops. The waterfalls were wonderful, in fact even more picturesque, I think, as there were so many clouds, and some waterfalls actually appeared to be coming from a cloud. The town itself has become more developed and touristy, and I’m not certain I would recommend it as highly as I used to, but its location relative to various excursions remains prime. By this time, it was noon, and we looked for lunch. Unfortunately, the entire town appears to close completely between 1200 and 1400, and we found no food. A quick visit to the ticket office showed continued obscurity, so we left. At Interlaken Ost we found a grocery open, and bought sandwiches, a beer, and a 1/4 liter of wine (11.65 CHF) and ate on the train. The food was edible, but not what we have grown used to in Switzerland.. We detrained at Erlenbach to visit an antique shop we had seen on Sunday, but which had been closed, and bought genuine Swiss cowbells for our grandchildren; I bet they will be thrilled; so will their parents. Then we caught a subsequent train and returned to Boltigen. We stopped in the local store and bought some pastries and a box of orange juice to have breakfast tomorrow while we wait for the postal bus to Gruyeres.

Dinner at the hotel was again excellent. I had a special consisting of soup, salad, a trout poached in wine, and a nice desert, while my wife had a pork cutlet with vegetables, and a nice desert. With water and a half liter of a very interesting red wine from the Valais, said to be made from a very old strain of fruit (Carnalin, I think), the tab was 89.50 CHF.

I’m still hostile about them eliminating the ticket agents at the smaller stations. I’ve mastered the ticket machine now, but unless you already know your routing and geography, travel between two points is not at all convenient. You have to take the first train to wherever your first connection is (as if you know), then figure out what your second leg is, and continue this for your entire journey. The ticket agents have the various routings spit out of a computer onto cards, and can show you your options; there is no reason the SSB couldn’t have a machine next to the ticket machine that would do the same thing. I cant think of a way they can have you ship luggage from the smaller stations, and that is one attractive feature of Swiss rail travel, especially if you are on a long trip and carrying more than one bag each.

This morning was perfectly clear in contrast to the overcast that shortened our venture at Lauterbrunnen. We ate our pastries in our room, and left for the train station; the hotel breakfast room was just opening as we left. The postal bus was white and impeccably clean. It arrived about five minutes early, then sat there until the scheduled departure time, when it left. The route planned by the ticket agent’s computer had us leaving Boltigen, climbing a narrow winding road to a ski area at Jaun, then going all the way to Bulle, and catching a train to Gruyeres. Part way, we had to change busses, which was not on the fairplan printed out for us. The next driver looked at my fairplan and said it was not good. He got out his detailed map and showed us that we would be close to Gruyeres when we passed through Epagny, and that then we would be going further away only to return. He said it was a short walk from Epagny to Gruyeres, and offered to tell us when to get off, and to point out the path. I agreed and his plan worked, saving us quite a bit of time. However, when the Swiss talk about a walk, I think they don’t worry about elevation, and this walk was uphill all the way, but we made it and entered town by a side gate in the city wall. We used the same routing returning, except they had hired a local taxi service for the last leg.

We really enjoyed riding the post bus, primarily because it shows you a lot of scenic country, up close. During this ride, we were held up by trucks, by cars coming the other way, by a tractor hauling a wagon of manure, by a pack of bicyclists, and by a herd of cows being moved between pastures. However, everyone was cooperative about sharing the road, and we arrived on time. I know the view of Boltigen coming down the valley on a train is nice, but the view of Boltigen from the mountains above it is far more memorable, and without the post bus, we would not have had that.

As for Gruyeres, it is lovely as you approach it, and very scenic once you are inside the walls. They have done a good job of maintaining ancient buildings, and the newer buildings fit in well. We were there pretty early, and at about 1030 it began to get more crowded, but not to the point of being packed. Prices were high, as you would expect in a tourist center, and we noted that a lot of the merchandise was identical to that we had seen in other tourist centers, such as Lauterbrunnen. We had some of the famed high-butterfat cream on strawberries at a table overlooking the main plaza, and while the view and weather were wonderful, we didn’t think the cream was. Perhaps it is that we are used to more liquid cream, or even to ice cream, but this cream had the consistency of spackling, if you get your spackling mixed just right, and the taste was rich, but bland, as it rushed toward your arteries. For two dishes of strawberries and two dishes of cream, and a small cup of good coffee, the check was 34.80 CHF. Cheese was also highly priced, so I didn’t get any. Many of their attractions, such as the castle and a couple of small museums, had entrance fees; I have a lot of pictures of the outside of the castle. Toilet facilities are hard to find, I think largely because in a confined area they don’t have space for a new building, but the café where we ate had facilities, and we subsequently noticed some almost hidden on the main plaza. If the crowds get to you, the area surrounding the church had some nice benches, and a lot of serenity and good views.

I think Gruyeres is certainly well worth a visit, but if I had it to do over, I would just walk around and look, and then stop in one of the surrounding villages to eat and buy cheese and souvenirs. Incidentally, old cow bells are big in the shops here, and pricey. I started wondering if the farmers are worried about cowbell rustlers?

clevelandbrown

Our last dinner in Boltigen was as good as the first. My wife had soup, a mixed salad, and a shrimp cocktail as her main course. I had soup and sliced veal (in a delicious sauce) with roesti (the best roesti I have ever had, sorry Mom). We had a bottle of Humagne Rouge, a delicious red wine, and a carafe of mountain water (tap water here is as good as water gets), and were too full for deserts. The check was 104 CHF.

The next day we enjoyed a late breakfast, and were still able to catch the train an hour earlier than planned. We were routed up past Gstaad and down to Montreux, then to Geneva. Connections were flawless and we met some interesting people along the way.

We stayed at the Hotel International et Terminus, primarily because it is close to the train station and our flight out is early. The street in front of the train station is not clearly identified, and it took a while to get oriented and find our hotel, even though it is only a block away. They allowed us to check in early, and we dropped our bags in our room and went in search of lunch. The hotel gives you a pass for free use of local public transportation and the train to the airport, but we found Geneva to be fairly compact and never used the public transportation.

Les Brasseurs at 20 place Cornavin had some nice tables outside and was within sight of the hotel. My wife had a pizza, and I had a mixed salad. She had a beer and I had a glass of white wine (1 deciliter, hardly enough to taste). The tab was 38 CHF and the quality of food was in marked contrast to what we had experienced in Boltigen. The mixed salad here was very pedestrian in contrast to the work of art they produced in Boltigen, but the beer was good. We walked around town a bit, then took a nap. We had dinner at the hotel restaurant. I had gaspaccho and spaghetti with fruits of the sea, my wife had a large italienne salad. We had deserts of a creme brulee for my wife and a scoop of apple ice cream with calvados for me. With a liter of bottled water and a bottle of Bourgogne, the tab was 115.40. The food was good, but suffered by comparison with what we had been having in Boltigen. We took a walk around the local area, then went to bed early, or at least started to. It is fairly noisy around this hotel (more so if you just came from a tranquil rural setting) and my wife started to say this was like Naples, but louder. We have a nice corner room with a balcony off the bedroom, and one off the bathroom. They have drapes in the bedroom, but only curtains in the bathroom, so it fell to me to lower the metal shutter that rolls down to cover the window, but didn’t. It was jammed. I tried pulling it down with a coat hanger, but that didn’t work. I tried putting a chair in the bathroom, but wasn’t able to reach the part that was jammed; I would have to put the chair on the balcony to do that, and one side of the window was also jammed, and couldn’t be opened. It took a while, but I finally figured a way to get the chair through the open door without breaking anything, and got the shutter down, and the chair back into the room. Since there is no air conditioning here, we had to leave the window open, since it was warm, and that didn’t help with the noise problem, but we finally got some sleep. I think it will take a few days to get used to the city noise again, and by then we will be leaving.

We were up early and it was much quieter. The hotel breakfast was good, and we were out exploring and trying to get information from the tourist information office, but they don’t open until 10 (apparently nothing does) so we managed to walk down to the diplomatic area and back, and over the river and around the old town. We stopped to eat at a self-service café at the intersection of Mont-blanc and Chantepoulet that we had seen earlier; they had a nice selection of pre-prepared sandwiches and pastries, so we each had a sandwich (so-so) and a pastry (very good) and shared a liter of bottled water, for 22.1 CHF. It was a nice rest sitting at their table in the shade, and the self-service aspect was nice as we didn’t have to wait until a waiter deigned to bring our check. We then walked around the right bank (Rue du Rhone) and the old town a bit more, then crossed the bridge at Pont des Bergues, stopping to sit for a while at a bird sanctuary they have at Ile Rousseau. We then found our way to Manor, the city’s largest department store (it wasn’t easy as some streets the maps show as continuous aren’t), but when we got there they were closed. My childlike understanding of French read their signs as saying they were open, so I don’t know what the problem is, nor did a number of French speakers who tried to get in while I was laboring over the signs. In any event, we were tired by then and went back to our hotel to nap.

I planned to eat at Bistrot du Bueuf Rouge, so when we went out for afternoon coffee we walked over that way to see if we could find it. Alas, we discovered the Rue de Berne, only a couple of blocks from out hotel, had a lot of different nationality restaurants, but also has a number of people who appear to be prostitutes; we’ll have to find a different route. We returned to the restaurant that evening at 1900, but it was closed, with no sign of life. We went to the restaurant at the hotel. We had starters of one green salad, and a serving of six escargot (quite good) and main courses of spaghetti Napoli and filets of perch. With a bottle of water and a decent bottle of wine, the tab was 89.90 CHF. The food was good.

We went to bed early, but sleep was difficult due to the street noise. As with many European hotels, there is no air conditioning, so when the weather is warm, as it was when we were there, you leave the windows open and try to ignore the noise. We later found that much of the noise was due to a rather loud individual who appeared to be selling drugs. The people at the hotel said the police have a hard time dealing with this as when they arrest them, they are deported and just sneak back across the border to resume their trade.

The next day we exercised our half-fare cards by taking the train to Lausanne, then catching a boat that visited all the small towns to Montreux, and went on to Chillon. The boat was clean, but not as impressively pristine as the boats in Luzern, but it was still a nice ride with pleasant scenery. We didn’t get off at any of the stops, as I had some difficulty reading the schedule, and we weren’t sure there would be a subsequent boat to catch. I think part of the problem is that the schedules apparently change in early June, so we were too early for the full summer service. Even the people who ran the advice kiosks misread some of the schedules. This boat was plainer than the others we had ridden. After getting to Chillon and starting back, we decided to get lunch in the second class restaurant, which consisted of some bare tables, with a table where a crewmember was selling supermarket-type sandwiches and a few pastries and chips, and drinks. All the drinks were bottled, so my favored glass of white wine became a half-liter. Food in Switzerland is not inexpensive, but is almost always very good. This was abnormally expensive and not very good. The tab was 38 CHF. I suggest anyone who takes this tour bring a picnic lunch.

When we got back to Geneva, Manors, the department store, was open, so we looked for gifts for our kids and ourselves. The evening before we had been disappointed when Bistrot du Bueuf Rouge had not been open, especially after we had read their menu, and I knew they were closed on weekends, so I called and got a reservation for 1930. I asked why they had not been open the night before, and he explained that they had, but not until 1930; when we arrived for dinner they had put up a handwritten sign showing their current hours. It is a small restaurant, and the entire staff was very attentive and friendly. We had two bowls of delicious French onion soup, two of their specials (fish), one desert (but they brought an extra fork), a bottle of water, and a very nice bottle of wine. The tab was 167 CHF and all of the meal was superb. I’d have gone back again if they had been open on weekends.

All that remained on our list to do was visit the Jardin Botanique and we were there right after breakfast the next day. I wanted to set my watch, and they fire up the Jet d’eau at ten each morning, so we sat on a bench and watched that, then walked through the gardens and down to an ice cream vendor near the Jet. My wife had some and thought it was good but not great, but the ambience adds to the experience. That have a refurbished sailing cargo vessel there, the last of its kind, and it was interesting to see. We then returned to our bench, which was near where a sidewheel steamer was getting ready for the day, and decided to take another boat ride. They were preparing for the daily gourmet cruise. The two-hour cruise was 28 CHF for two (with the half-fare card), but that does not include the gourmet meal. We celebrated our last day by foregoing our normal light lunch and going into the restaurant for the gourmet lunch. I don’t know if there is a non-gourmet food service on this voyage, but they sell only one class of ticket, so if you want to ride a nice boat and sit in first class, this might be a good deal.

Service and ambience in the restaurant was excellent. The menu is limited to a few specials. My wife had salmon on rice with vegetables; I had a melange of mushrooms, chicken, and a third item I’ve forgotten on risotto, and we shared a bottle of water and of blanc blanc, a very nice white wine. The meal was excellent, and a window table with a lovely view made it even better. The restaurant tab was 115 CHF. After eating, we went out onto the upper foredeck and enjoyed the view, including a sailboat race we passed through as we returned to port. This was some of the most pleasant time we spent in Geneva.

clevelandbrown

We intended to dine at La Perle du Lac, but when I called for a reservation they apologized for having none, as there was apparently a large celebration there that night. Instead, we went to Les Armures, which was not easy to find as my maps were unclear, but we circled Cathedral St. Pierre, in the heart of the old town without a straight road in sight, and a lot of hill climbing, and finally found it. We ate outside in a very pleasant area, and the service was quite good. I had a delicious bowl of French onion soup; my wife had no starter. She had some excellent lake perch, while I had Swiss farmers sausage with roesti; the sausage was good, but the roesti resembled a thick pancake. For desert my wife had two boule de glace, while I had a small assorted fruit bowl. With a half-liter of water and a half-liter of nice red wine, the tab was 119.30 CHF. Other than the roesti, the food was excellent, and the ambience and service exceptional. I would return here, if I could find it again, but I would order something else.

The next morning we checked out before breakfast as we had an early flight. Again sleep had been difficult because of the noise.

As for the hotel, it is in a convenient location, as we could walk everywhere easily, particularly if you need to catch an early train to the airport. Service was good, as were the facilities. The breakfast and restaurant were good. But the city noise detracted from the experience. Perhaps if we had not just come from idyllic Boltigen (I think they don’t even have chickens there to crow) we would not have been as jarred as we were with the city noise, and even dirt) of Geneva, but I think our next visit will be spent in a less hectic area, like Vevey.

On arrival at the airport, we wanted a small breakfast, but didn’t find the type of facilities there that we have grown used to finding in the train stations. We finally settled for two mediocre pastries and two coffees, for 12.10 CHF.

This was a long trip, but enjoyable. Rome was cleaner than we expected, and vibrant, but didn’t seem as hectic and crowded as Naples. Naples was noisy, crowded, and not as clean. Lugano was lovely and quiet, and remarkably clean. We weren’t in Chur long enough to form an opinion. Luzern was a little louder than Lugano (mostly tourist noise), but clean and with a lot to do and see. Boltigen was almost like visiting a farm, with no tourists but perhaps the consistently best food of our trip. Geneva suffered by comparison, with a lot of noise and a surprising lack of cleanliness, but there was still a lot to see there and I would not want to have missed it.

On a technical note, I carried a laptop with me on this trip, and there are advantages and disadvantages. On the airplane, I could listen to my own selection of music, or play a DVD of my choice, without having to rely on what the airline is showing. Each evening I could download the pictures we had taken that day, and label them while we still remembered what they were. I was also able to work on this report almost every day, and not have to rely so much on memory. When I had internet access, I could check weather and my bank balance and, on a long trip like this, arrange payment of some bills that had been issued after we left home. Incidentally, one of my banks could not be reached on the internet from Europe and I feared the worst. When I got home, I checked with them and found they have another url that they say will work with inquiries from overseas, so it might be prudent to check with the technical people at your bank to see if you need a special address to bank from overseas.

Disadvantages are that it, and its complement of peripherals and cables, is a bit awkward to carry, and I didn’t want to risk leaving it in our hotel room (it doesn’t fit in most room safes). Also, internet access is not universal. I had fallen into the habit of keeping most of my information, such as restaurants, etc., as web bookmarks, so they were not available if I was away from the internet. Actually a support group for my browser had given me good information on how to keep copies of web pages on my computer without using up all my storage space, but I had gotten this only days before we left and didn’t have time to save much. So this problem will be solved before our next trip.

Samsaf

Wow -- what an amazing trip report. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. Thanks so much for posting it!

swandav2000

clevelandbrown -- terrific report! Thank you so much for providing such wonderful and evocative details! I enjoyed reading it a lot, too! You visited some of my faaaavorite places!

s

Treesa

Clevelandbrown, thanks for a fabulous report and astute observations. Very enjoyable read.

Ingo

An absolutely fantastic report. Didn't read the Italy chapters too closely ;-) but read the Switzerland part twice. LOL

You had that trip very well planned, if I may say so. You hit the perfect spots (ok, a little more of Graubünden instead of Geneva would have been my choice) and apparently had wonderful meals. Great to read, made me hungry ;-)

Thanks again for posting!

Ingo