Took the bus to Grasse, perfume capital of the earth, and strolled around a bit. Neat town, with an interesting old town. Most of the people here seem to be Algerian, but we opted for crepes instead of kebabs. For once on this trip, mine was better than Donnas! Back home in the late afternoon, and out to Chez Palmyre for dinner. We made a reservation in October as this is the number one restaraunt on TripAdvisor. It's a "family style" restaurant that does one menu for the week. You're elbow to elbow with the table next to you, which is something akward. The food is pretty straight forward country style french. The appetizers were great, Donna had pumpkin soup, and I had a duck confit potato salad which was excellent. Dinner for me was lentils with slow cooked pork, Donna had a beef stew (for lack of a better description) that was amazing. This must have been slow cooked with some salt pork and a lot of red wine! Served with perfectly cooked potatos........fabulous.
Planned on going to the Russian Orthodox chuch today, but it's only open on Saturday nights....the guidebook was wrong on this. It was beautiful from the outside, said to be the most beautiful outsdie of Moscow. While in that neighborhood we went to Brasserie L'occotatine for lunch. Donna's wanted a Salad Nicoise since we got here and that's what she had. Here's where it goes to hell. In the states, when you order Andouille sausage, you get a pork sausage with a bit of kick to it. So I ordered Andouillete sausage with hopes of getting something similar.
Here's Wikipedia's description:
"Andoulitte is a coarse grained tripe sausage made with pork, chitterlings, pepper, wine and onions. Their texture is somewhat rougher than sausages as the content is coarsely cut. their smell may offend people unaccustomed to the dish." A french politician "Politics is like an Andoulittte---it should smell like shit, but not too much of it."
Moving on, yessterday we went to the market at Beaulieu sur Mer, which wasn't anything. so we regrouped and headed to St. Paul de Vence. Neat little hilltop town with a town of art shops and beatiful views from the ramparts. Strolled around and got the bus back. Walked a bit more in town had a quick dinner----Donna had fabulous seafood soup, which is a specialty of the area and back home. Today we're just bumming around the town, doing some last minute shopping and looking forward to our last dinner out tonight. The car comes at 5:10 tomorrow morning for the trip home. Ended up going to the beach as the weather was in the high seventies. Our final dinner was at the same restaurant as last night, only we had the menu. Donna had bignets, and I had the octopus salad. Followed by Donna, mixed pan fried fish and I had rabbit in a reduction of tomaotes and cepes (Mushrooms). Everything was perfect for the fianl meal in France.
It's been a wonderful trip, some new, some old, some different, and who knows when we'll get back....................but we probably will!
Bonsoir and au revior!
Thanks for following us!
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Money Carlo
A couple of observations.......on the motorways there are these humongous rest areas with over the freeway three story rest stops, complete with restaurants, showers, bars, and convienence stores. These places use the IKEA model, where you walk in, and follow the arrows. To get out, you've got to go through the gamut of products they have and then pass the cashier, who looks at you like your the cheapest person in the world cause all you wanted to do is use the bathroom. When you exit the motorways, they have this maze of offramps that look more like a Nascar track than a motorway exit. there are the high fences that are tapered in at the top to make sure that you can't possibly crash and go over to impede the traffic below...............
Went to Antibes yesterday for a day trip. Great city, with a fabulous market. We took the bus for one euro---took about 50 minutes, came back on the train---took about 15 minutes. Had a great lunch----see Donna's facebook for pics of the meal. My crab lollipop was amazing.......Went to the Picasso museum after lunch, which wasn't great. lot's of photos, quite a bit of pottery, but there are many better exhibits that we've seen in other places. Home for dinner of mortadella and cheese sandwiches,
today we went to Monaco. So, you have your brand new Porsche Boxster and feel like a million bucks as you drive into Monte Carlo. then you realize that nobody is even looking, cause there are a few brand new Porsche turbos, A few Rolls Royces, quite a number of Bentleys and Ferraris, and somebody has just driven in front of the casino in a Porsche 917. Looking down in the harbor, you feel like you have nothing. The boats are all bigger than your house, and mostly empty. They're from everywhere in the world, London, Kingston, Saudi Arabia, and many other places. The Lady Moura is 344 feet long and empty as a cornfield in december. The crew is probably there but you can't see them. The security cameas are seeing you though. That's the biggest in the harbor, but there are many others that aren't far behind. Two hundred feet, one hundred fifty feet, hundred footers look small by comparison.
Went to the aquarium, which was the best either of us has seen. If you come to this area it is well worth the time and money to go there. Could have spent an entire day there but time constraints prevented that. Walked some of ther route of the Monaco Grand Prix, the course is tighter and hillier than you can imagine. Two hundred mph on these narrow tiny streets doesn't seem possible. The street between the Casino and the Hotel Paris isn't more that fifteen feet wide. Donna played the slots for a while and managed to break even, exactly.
Had dinner at le bienveune again tonight----prix fix for 16 euros. Donna had fish on a basil risotta, I had chicken topped with mozzerella and basil pesto------------with appetizers and desert. Fabulous. Tonight I'm watching the Seahawks game thanks to my buddy Niall in Seattle. it doesn't start till ten at night here, and ends around one, but i do enjoy it. Tomorrow a lazy day in Nice, I hope, but Donna has some plans in store, so we'll see! Dinner tomorrow at a place just up the street that we made reservations for while we were here in October. Hard to get a reservation, hope it's as good as we've heard!
Went to Antibes yesterday for a day trip. Great city, with a fabulous market. We took the bus for one euro---took about 50 minutes, came back on the train---took about 15 minutes. Had a great lunch----see Donna's facebook for pics of the meal. My crab lollipop was amazing.......Went to the Picasso museum after lunch, which wasn't great. lot's of photos, quite a bit of pottery, but there are many better exhibits that we've seen in other places. Home for dinner of mortadella and cheese sandwiches,
today we went to Monaco. So, you have your brand new Porsche Boxster and feel like a million bucks as you drive into Monte Carlo. then you realize that nobody is even looking, cause there are a few brand new Porsche turbos, A few Rolls Royces, quite a number of Bentleys and Ferraris, and somebody has just driven in front of the casino in a Porsche 917. Looking down in the harbor, you feel like you have nothing. The boats are all bigger than your house, and mostly empty. They're from everywhere in the world, London, Kingston, Saudi Arabia, and many other places. The Lady Moura is 344 feet long and empty as a cornfield in december. The crew is probably there but you can't see them. The security cameas are seeing you though. That's the biggest in the harbor, but there are many others that aren't far behind. Two hundred feet, one hundred fifty feet, hundred footers look small by comparison.
Went to the aquarium, which was the best either of us has seen. If you come to this area it is well worth the time and money to go there. Could have spent an entire day there but time constraints prevented that. Walked some of ther route of the Monaco Grand Prix, the course is tighter and hillier than you can imagine. Two hundred mph on these narrow tiny streets doesn't seem possible. The street between the Casino and the Hotel Paris isn't more that fifteen feet wide. Donna played the slots for a while and managed to break even, exactly.
Had dinner at le bienveune again tonight----prix fix for 16 euros. Donna had fish on a basil risotta, I had chicken topped with mozzerella and basil pesto------------with appetizers and desert. Fabulous. Tonight I'm watching the Seahawks game thanks to my buddy Niall in Seattle. it doesn't start till ten at night here, and ends around one, but i do enjoy it. Tomorrow a lazy day in Nice, I hope, but Donna has some plans in store, so we'll see! Dinner tomorrow at a place just up the street that we made reservations for while we were here in October. Hard to get a reservation, hope it's as good as we've heard!
Friday, November 18, 2011
Back to Nice
Left Emlio Romagna at 9:30, with the thought of blasting over the border and back to Flayosc in France in about the four hours that are estimated by the GPS. Left in sunshine and blue skies, and in about forty minutes of heading west we ran into a fog bank. Apparently this is normal around Milan and the valley surrounding it. In some spots the visibility was maybe two car lengths, but we did move in and out of it. Decided too stop at the Auchan Hipermart in Piacenza. The sign was there, but the instructions were to "lo". Now if you don't have any idea where Lo is or what it is, it's really hard to find. Which it was. By the time we got back to Piacenza, (cause we turned back onto the motorway and had to go back----fog related) it took us another half hour to find out that Lo is short for some other town in another direction and we headed that way. We exited the Highway and went to the Centro Commercial area, where the fog was so thick we couldn't see the store------and these stores are huge---think Costco on steroids---until we were within a hundred yards. Did our shopping and needless to say, we were late arriving to Flayosc.
Flayosc had a restaurant that we were at about ten years ago, which we had really good memories about. Got there and it was closed for vacation................not to worry, as there is another just across the street that has a good reputation. We make a res and lookk for a hotel. the only hotel in town is closed for the season, and the next closest is in a town called Draginoun. We take a room at this place with a really good panoramic view of the city and ask if the restaurant is open. Yes. Not what we had in mind menu wise but an acceptable substitue, or so we think..............
Donna orders fresh fish and I order rump steak. Donna gets enough food to feed the entire restaurant and I get the best looking hunk of gristle you've ever seen. Seriously, this piece of meat was rejected by the the grinder for ground beef cause it though it would jam the machine. The "chef" comes out asks how everything is. Donna says theres a lot of food on the plate----he says, don't eat the vegetables---just the fish. She hides a piece of fish on my plate, under my fries, and a piece on her plate under the rice. I filet my gristle so it shows beautifully and say we are finshed. For desert Donna has some chocolate thing that's pretty good, and I order "fromage blanc", which I think is going to be a plated of assorted white cheeses. Some roquefort, some camarbert, and some other wonderful french cheeses. I'm brought the largest bowl of what can only be described as white, thick, and sour.
We got out of there in a hurry and laughed the rest of the night......
Drove into Nice easily after driving into St. Tropez for the morning. New exactly where we were going as we had scoped it out when we arrived in early October. Met the greeter and got the keys. The place is one and a half stories up and is about three hundred fifty square feet. Perfect for the two of us. One bedroom, split bath, and comfortable furniture in the living room. Great artwork too. When we walk down the stairs in the morning, there are boulangeries to the right, left and straight ahead, none further than a hundred feet. The best butcher shop in Nice is just out the door to the left, and directly in front of us is the daily fish market. We don't have an oven in the unit, so everything has to be prepared on the stove top, which really isn't a problem. Dropped the car back a couple days early, we'd driven 8,208 kilometers, (5100 miles) since we got it. The night we got here we went to the restaurant in the square called, Le bienvenue www.restaurant-le-bienvenue.com and had some of the best food of the trip. We shared a terrine of fois gras, Donna had a chevre' salad, and I had steak tartare. Mine must have been a pound and it was excellent, but no way could I eat that much so we brought it home. Greeted by Cedric, who speaks excellent english and the food prepared by Fred, it was a fabulous dinner. Would reccomend this to anyone.
Next day we spent exploring Nice and just taking it easy. dinner was spaghetti with bolognase made from leftover steak tartare and excellent!
Flayosc had a restaurant that we were at about ten years ago, which we had really good memories about. Got there and it was closed for vacation................not to worry, as there is another just across the street that has a good reputation. We make a res and lookk for a hotel. the only hotel in town is closed for the season, and the next closest is in a town called Draginoun. We take a room at this place with a really good panoramic view of the city and ask if the restaurant is open. Yes. Not what we had in mind menu wise but an acceptable substitue, or so we think..............
Donna orders fresh fish and I order rump steak. Donna gets enough food to feed the entire restaurant and I get the best looking hunk of gristle you've ever seen. Seriously, this piece of meat was rejected by the the grinder for ground beef cause it though it would jam the machine. The "chef" comes out asks how everything is. Donna says theres a lot of food on the plate----he says, don't eat the vegetables---just the fish. She hides a piece of fish on my plate, under my fries, and a piece on her plate under the rice. I filet my gristle so it shows beautifully and say we are finshed. For desert Donna has some chocolate thing that's pretty good, and I order "fromage blanc", which I think is going to be a plated of assorted white cheeses. Some roquefort, some camarbert, and some other wonderful french cheeses. I'm brought the largest bowl of what can only be described as white, thick, and sour.
We got out of there in a hurry and laughed the rest of the night......
Drove into Nice easily after driving into St. Tropez for the morning. New exactly where we were going as we had scoped it out when we arrived in early October. Met the greeter and got the keys. The place is one and a half stories up and is about three hundred fifty square feet. Perfect for the two of us. One bedroom, split bath, and comfortable furniture in the living room. Great artwork too. When we walk down the stairs in the morning, there are boulangeries to the right, left and straight ahead, none further than a hundred feet. The best butcher shop in Nice is just out the door to the left, and directly in front of us is the daily fish market. We don't have an oven in the unit, so everything has to be prepared on the stove top, which really isn't a problem. Dropped the car back a couple days early, we'd driven 8,208 kilometers, (5100 miles) since we got it. The night we got here we went to the restaurant in the square called, Le bienvenue www.restaurant-le-bienvenue.com and had some of the best food of the trip. We shared a terrine of fois gras, Donna had a chevre' salad, and I had steak tartare. Mine must have been a pound and it was excellent, but no way could I eat that much so we brought it home. Greeted by Cedric, who speaks excellent english and the food prepared by Fred, it was a fabulous dinner. Would reccomend this to anyone.
Next day we spent exploring Nice and just taking it easy. dinner was spaghetti with bolognase made from leftover steak tartare and excellent!
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Dinner
So, we went back to the restaurant for dinner tonight, and were blown away again. the owner works the room and the place is full from the time we arrive (8:15) till the time we leave, 9:30. the food is better than lunch. I have cinghalie (wild boar) with pasta. when we ask where he gets it, he says, "I have some crazy friends who live in the hills. When they get one they calll me and tell me they have "something" for me." He tells us also that he only buys local. One kilometer he says. His hams are from pigs only raised in the area "not from belgium or germany---those are skinny and have no flavor." Donna has a prok shoulder that has been cooked till it melts, we share a salad, and an appetizer of gnochi, a bottle of wine, coffees and desert, and the total is 63 euros. Amazing. The best we've had since we've been here and a reccomendation to any one coming near here.
Emilio Romano and the Harvest Moon
Got to our apartment from Como about twelve thirty. Only one and a half flights of stairs to this place, a two bedroom place with a huge bathroom and large living room. It's located in a local neighborhood about a ten minute walk from the center of town, which we've done numerous times since we arrived. We walked in when we got there to grab a few groceries. While in the store, which was about to close for the afternoon break, we asked the woman checker if there was a good restaurant, tratorrio, or osteria nearby. "Just up the block is a place with "typico" food from the region". When we went into Trattoria "La Morina" in town, we were taken back by the place. Lots of black and white pictures on the walls. Here's a link to their websight, www.trattorialamorina.com . This area is the food capital of Italy. We're surrounded by Modena, Parma, and Bologna. So we walk into this place and have the best food of the entire trip for lunch. All the pasta is made in house with the same recipes from the owners grandmother. He says he's fifty seven, but doesn't look it. Donna orders tortallini, which is a larger version of what we call ravioli. Two different types come in the bowl. The first is spinach, combined with chard, parsley, parmesean, and riccotta. The second is pumpkin, combined with crushed amaretto cookies and cheeses. Almost like a dessert and will probably show up as that at our house.
I have an escargot ragu' that i'm keeping the recipe for secret. Takes a day to make and is one of the best ragu's I've ever tasted. The depth of the flavors is amazing to me.
Next morning we drive to Modena in search of a market with all kinds of vinegar. It doesn't exist any longer so we regroup and drive to Bologna. This city has to be the food capital of all of Europe. We wander a bit and go into the TI. We're looking for the food market section of town that Donna remembers from last time here. (All I remember from lst time here is going down a pedestrian road and running into a car blocking device that comes out of the ground and having to back out and almost knocking over a motorcycle and almost hitting some people sitting in a sidewalk cafe and being humiliated and thinking how much I want my mother........) But Donna's right and we're a block from a place called Tamburini, which is famous. Walking in we see why. They have a lunch buffet that has a line out the door, and around the corner. We go into the take away part and grab dinner for the night. Pastas, the BEST eggplant parmigano we've ever had, and some chicken salad unlike anything. I also stock up with a gorgeous hunk of mortadella for the rest of the trip, and a piece of something that looked really good for desert. And it was.
Today we headed into the hills above Bologna in seach of the Festival de Tartuffe. (Truffle Festival.)
Emily took us on some of the narrowest steepest roads i've ever been on, and when we finally got to where we were heading...............no festival. So we changed course and finally ended up in Viana at their truffle festival. Ordinarily, on sundays, there are no markets, unless there is a festival. We got lucky today and picked up some wonderful olive oil to bring home. The truffles they were selling sold from $20.00 a pound to $300.00 a pound. The pungent fragrance that surrounds the stands is amazing. There are pictures of the dogs that are used to sniff them out, and you can tell that these are members of the family. (Good thing they weren't there or we'd probably still be there.) Picked up some wonderful candied nuts and some incredible nougat, and headed to Parma. Parma ws pretty closed up on this day so we did a half hour walk and came back to the apartment. Tonight we're going back to "La Morina" for our last meal in Italy. We've had nothing but great weather since we got here. Sunny skies and clear nights. The sun is huge as it sets and the moon is bigger than any we've seen.
It'll be sad to leave this country as we really enjoy our time here, but tomorrow we head back to France. We're going to spend a night in Flayosc, where we went with Eric and Char and Siena years ago, to try and replicate another memorable meal. Ciao.
I have an escargot ragu' that i'm keeping the recipe for secret. Takes a day to make and is one of the best ragu's I've ever tasted. The depth of the flavors is amazing to me.
Next morning we drive to Modena in search of a market with all kinds of vinegar. It doesn't exist any longer so we regroup and drive to Bologna. This city has to be the food capital of all of Europe. We wander a bit and go into the TI. We're looking for the food market section of town that Donna remembers from last time here. (All I remember from lst time here is going down a pedestrian road and running into a car blocking device that comes out of the ground and having to back out and almost knocking over a motorcycle and almost hitting some people sitting in a sidewalk cafe and being humiliated and thinking how much I want my mother........) But Donna's right and we're a block from a place called Tamburini, which is famous. Walking in we see why. They have a lunch buffet that has a line out the door, and around the corner. We go into the take away part and grab dinner for the night. Pastas, the BEST eggplant parmigano we've ever had, and some chicken salad unlike anything. I also stock up with a gorgeous hunk of mortadella for the rest of the trip, and a piece of something that looked really good for desert. And it was.
Today we headed into the hills above Bologna in seach of the Festival de Tartuffe. (Truffle Festival.)
Emily took us on some of the narrowest steepest roads i've ever been on, and when we finally got to where we were heading...............no festival. So we changed course and finally ended up in Viana at their truffle festival. Ordinarily, on sundays, there are no markets, unless there is a festival. We got lucky today and picked up some wonderful olive oil to bring home. The truffles they were selling sold from $20.00 a pound to $300.00 a pound. The pungent fragrance that surrounds the stands is amazing. There are pictures of the dogs that are used to sniff them out, and you can tell that these are members of the family. (Good thing they weren't there or we'd probably still be there.) Picked up some wonderful candied nuts and some incredible nougat, and headed to Parma. Parma ws pretty closed up on this day so we did a half hour walk and came back to the apartment. Tonight we're going back to "La Morina" for our last meal in Italy. We've had nothing but great weather since we got here. Sunny skies and clear nights. The sun is huge as it sets and the moon is bigger than any we've seen.
It'll be sad to leave this country as we really enjoy our time here, but tomorrow we head back to France. We're going to spend a night in Flayosc, where we went with Eric and Char and Siena years ago, to try and replicate another memorable meal. Ciao.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Lago Como
So, we put up with a few days of rain earlier this week. But it turns out to be well worth it. Wednesday we woke up to blue skies and sunshine. Went to the gardens at Villa Carlotta, up the road from us about fifteen minutes. The autumn colors of the trees was breathtaking. They have every type of tree you can imagine, and many are 200 years old. The bamboo garden is also impressive. There are 150 varieties of rhododendrons and azaleas, which we only saw pictures of in bloom. It's hard to imagne what this place will look like in the spring with all of them in bloom.
Went to Mennagio afterwards to walk around. Most everything is buttoned up but there are still a number of shops open. Sat down at an outside table and ordered a couple of paninis. Donnas was toasted with buffalo mozzerella and tomatoes. Mine was not, and had one thin slice of proscuitto, with nothing else. (We brought mine home and modified it for dinner.)
The television in the house gets only english channels, and with the exception of CNN, they're all british. About a third are kids channels, and the rest are a mix of BBC and other locals channels from the Midlands. One of our guilty pleasures has been watching a show on BBC4 called Four in a Bed. You take four B&B owners, have them go to each others B&B's and critique them on cleanliness, breakfast, mattress comforts, etc. The winner wins a thousand pounds and it gets funnier the more they go on.
It's easy to see why this is sucha a popular place. you've got this beautiful gorge of a lake surrounded by towering hills, surrounded by the Alps to the north. Took the ferry to Varenna from Menagio. Not much happening there, couldn't find a place to eat! So, came back to Menagio and sat in the sunshine for a couple of hours. Must have been seventy degrees in the sun. Watched the old men fishing from the boardwalk, a young guy feeding the swans, had a gelato and headed home. Today we're heading for Emiglio Romana for a three night stay. Hitting Parma, Modena, and Bologna for some good food.
Thought they're called highways here, the roads around the lake are TIGHT. Often times you need to back up to let another through. Thankfully, there's no light industry or fast food places anywhere. It's all local and on a small scale. Driving through the towns you can see the chunks out of the corners of the buildings where drivers have miscalculated. The house are all stone or stucco, many perched on hillsides that make you wonder how they were built. We've yet to see a rambler..............
Went to Mennagio afterwards to walk around. Most everything is buttoned up but there are still a number of shops open. Sat down at an outside table and ordered a couple of paninis. Donnas was toasted with buffalo mozzerella and tomatoes. Mine was not, and had one thin slice of proscuitto, with nothing else. (We brought mine home and modified it for dinner.)
The television in the house gets only english channels, and with the exception of CNN, they're all british. About a third are kids channels, and the rest are a mix of BBC and other locals channels from the Midlands. One of our guilty pleasures has been watching a show on BBC4 called Four in a Bed. You take four B&B owners, have them go to each others B&B's and critique them on cleanliness, breakfast, mattress comforts, etc. The winner wins a thousand pounds and it gets funnier the more they go on.
It's easy to see why this is sucha a popular place. you've got this beautiful gorge of a lake surrounded by towering hills, surrounded by the Alps to the north. Took the ferry to Varenna from Menagio. Not much happening there, couldn't find a place to eat! So, came back to Menagio and sat in the sunshine for a couple of hours. Must have been seventy degrees in the sun. Watched the old men fishing from the boardwalk, a young guy feeding the swans, had a gelato and headed home. Today we're heading for Emiglio Romana for a three night stay. Hitting Parma, Modena, and Bologna for some good food.
Thought they're called highways here, the roads around the lake are TIGHT. Often times you need to back up to let another through. Thankfully, there's no light industry or fast food places anywhere. It's all local and on a small scale. Driving through the towns you can see the chunks out of the corners of the buildings where drivers have miscalculated. The house are all stone or stucco, many perched on hillsides that make you wonder how they were built. We've yet to see a rambler..............
Monday, November 7, 2011
Vacation Vacation
Friday we went into Venice by train. the train was fairly crowded and there seemed to be a lot of kids on it. Grabbed a vaporetto and headed towards Acadamia. Got past the Rialto where this particular trip ended, so we walked the rest of the way there. Venice is a great walking town. Tourists everywhere, all the time. All coutries of the world represented. Were planning on going to the Guggenheim Museum, but opted out. Had lunch, went to San Marco, where in the middle of the square was a huge crowd----with umbrellas listening to a man speaking. Turns out the this was a college graduation ceremony, hence the crowded train.
Tarzo was a relaxing stay. Really in the middle of nowhere, on a backroad, and the only sounds were the bells ringing in all of the surrounding villages. These must serve as some sort of official alarm clock as they all start ringing at seven in the morning, even if you don't want them to. Donna thinks the chickens that start at five thirty in the mornig are to wake up the guys that ring the bells.....Donna fell in love with the puppy, Ginger, and the owner said we couldn't take with us. Went back to the Cremeria where we stocked up on breadsticks, and some more cheese to bring home. Offered a sample of the cheescake, which we then proceeded to buy a decent quantity of. It had a "sweet pasta crust" and was made with Riccotta and chocolate. amazing......
Left Tarzo on Saturday morning heading to Lake Como. One good thing about driving here is that they have speed limits for dry and another limit for when it rains. Drove through some heavy showers and some hard rain, but no sunshine. On the outskirts of Milan, the traffic started getting pretty heavy. That happens at almost any decent size town where you have two motorway exits----usually one east and one west. The A-4 that crosses Italy east west is the major truck road from Eastern Europe, so, lots of trucks. Donna counted one convoy that was over twenty trucks, nose to tail. Fortunately, the traffic is much lighter on Saturday, and trucks don't run at all on Sunday. (Figure they're thanking God for surviving the previous week)
So, on the outskirts of Milan, the traffic is building, it's pouring, and there are always a couple of drivers that don't believe the sign about slowing down in the rain. Just passing on the outskits of Milan we see three different accidents, one big enough to close down a four lane divided highway. Now, at the end of that four lane divided highway is a traffic circle, that everybody uses on Saturday morning. Fortunately, they were all going the direction we were coming from..............they were backed up for miles as we went by!
The GPS tells us to take Exit 51 to Lake Como Nord. Great advice if they's put numbers on the signs. Just past exit 51 the backup begins. I assume that we're in the backup of another accident as we're stopped. We creep forward till we round a curve to the Swiss border. Waved through the italian side and immediately stop sticked by the Swiss. Pull over there. "You must purchase a sticker for 40 euros to drive in Switzerland". Donna leans accross me and says "WE DON'T WANT TO DRIVE IN SWITZERLAND!" "Where are you trying to go?" "LAKE COMO!" "You must go back that way----I will stop the traffic so you can go back." "OK!!!" Driving back across the Italian border I'm thinking of what I'm going to spend the 40 euros on.......
The house in Argegno is up about 400 feet above Lake Como with a panoramic view. The living room has a twelve foot sliding window that opens halfway with a wrap around balcony. though not sunny as we'd like, it's a great place to take a "vacation from our vacation." Went for a sunday drive to Bellagio, which is pretty much closed up for the season, had dinner last night with George Clooney, who lives next door and is surprising approachable.
Today we went to lunch down in Argegno at a restaurant called La Piazzetta. When Donna says it's the best pizza, that's saying somethng! She had a margheritta pizza with Bufalo mozzerella that they have delivered once a week from Naples, the sweetest cherry tomatoes ever, and huge fresh basil leaves that could be smelled accross the room. It actually beats my favorite place in Rome, not by a lot mind you, but it does win. Today we're being lazy. Donna's laying on the couch with her kindle, we've got dinner in the fridge, veal chops with a mushroom cream sauce, and some wonderful spaghetti. A bottle of Proseco and a movie for dessert.
Tarzo was a relaxing stay. Really in the middle of nowhere, on a backroad, and the only sounds were the bells ringing in all of the surrounding villages. These must serve as some sort of official alarm clock as they all start ringing at seven in the morning, even if you don't want them to. Donna thinks the chickens that start at five thirty in the mornig are to wake up the guys that ring the bells.....Donna fell in love with the puppy, Ginger, and the owner said we couldn't take with us. Went back to the Cremeria where we stocked up on breadsticks, and some more cheese to bring home. Offered a sample of the cheescake, which we then proceeded to buy a decent quantity of. It had a "sweet pasta crust" and was made with Riccotta and chocolate. amazing......
Left Tarzo on Saturday morning heading to Lake Como. One good thing about driving here is that they have speed limits for dry and another limit for when it rains. Drove through some heavy showers and some hard rain, but no sunshine. On the outskirts of Milan, the traffic started getting pretty heavy. That happens at almost any decent size town where you have two motorway exits----usually one east and one west. The A-4 that crosses Italy east west is the major truck road from Eastern Europe, so, lots of trucks. Donna counted one convoy that was over twenty trucks, nose to tail. Fortunately, the traffic is much lighter on Saturday, and trucks don't run at all on Sunday. (Figure they're thanking God for surviving the previous week)
So, on the outskirts of Milan, the traffic is building, it's pouring, and there are always a couple of drivers that don't believe the sign about slowing down in the rain. Just passing on the outskits of Milan we see three different accidents, one big enough to close down a four lane divided highway. Now, at the end of that four lane divided highway is a traffic circle, that everybody uses on Saturday morning. Fortunately, they were all going the direction we were coming from..............they were backed up for miles as we went by!
The GPS tells us to take Exit 51 to Lake Como Nord. Great advice if they's put numbers on the signs. Just past exit 51 the backup begins. I assume that we're in the backup of another accident as we're stopped. We creep forward till we round a curve to the Swiss border. Waved through the italian side and immediately stop sticked by the Swiss. Pull over there. "You must purchase a sticker for 40 euros to drive in Switzerland". Donna leans accross me and says "WE DON'T WANT TO DRIVE IN SWITZERLAND!" "Where are you trying to go?" "LAKE COMO!" "You must go back that way----I will stop the traffic so you can go back." "OK!!!" Driving back across the Italian border I'm thinking of what I'm going to spend the 40 euros on.......
The house in Argegno is up about 400 feet above Lake Como with a panoramic view. The living room has a twelve foot sliding window that opens halfway with a wrap around balcony. though not sunny as we'd like, it's a great place to take a "vacation from our vacation." Went for a sunday drive to Bellagio, which is pretty much closed up for the season, had dinner last night with George Clooney, who lives next door and is surprising approachable.
Today we went to lunch down in Argegno at a restaurant called La Piazzetta. When Donna says it's the best pizza, that's saying somethng! She had a margheritta pizza with Bufalo mozzerella that they have delivered once a week from Naples, the sweetest cherry tomatoes ever, and huge fresh basil leaves that could be smelled accross the room. It actually beats my favorite place in Rome, not by a lot mind you, but it does win. Today we're being lazy. Donna's laying on the couch with her kindle, we've got dinner in the fridge, veal chops with a mushroom cream sauce, and some wonderful spaghetti. A bottle of Proseco and a movie for dessert.
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