The Hills Are Alive . . .

. . . in the town of Saltzburg (la la la la). Took in the city via horse-drawn carriage (driven by the crustiest, most incomprehensible Austrian man), walked by Mozart's haunts (birthplace, family home, favorite cafe), shopped for Isabella (who cannot live another day with her clothes), and then ascended the funicular to the medieval fortress. Everything looks familiar from The Movie--the convent, the cathedral, fountains, etc..., and strangely lots of people wear traditional Austrian garb. We kept thinking there was a parade or some sort of costume requirement for work, but no--some people really wear the dirndl and lederhosen. Okaaay. The city is addicted to caffeine--not only Viennese coffee but also Red Bull (whose inventor hails from Salzburg). The weather here has been a little crummy--something new for us. In the whole 7 weeks of travel, we haven't had a real rainout. Some isolated showers (in London and Florence) and maybe a day of drizzle (in Scotland), but nothing to keep us idle. Here, it's dreary and a bit cold. Must almost be time to go South again!

Schlossing in Bavaria

Took in King Ludwig's pads (top one, a 19th c rebuild on medieval ruins; the other a 19-c. attempt to out-do all other castles and inspire Walt Disney)--and his obsession with the Middle Ages and Wagnerian Opera. Autumn is in the air--the trees are changing but the flowers are still blooming. Ended the day in Salzburg, Austria where we hope to learn something about Mozart and sing "Do Re Mi". Passing the mountain of Hitler's Eagle's Nest raised the hairs on the back of my neck.

Four Countries, One Day

Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany. A record for us. Philip discovered the joys and terrors of the German Autobahn (minivans were passing him doing over 100 mph), and Emmett discovered the joys and terrors of playing with Swiss school children.

If you see a group of Swiss children coming at you, run the next direction. We took the cable car up Mount Pilatus so Clare and Isabella could do more of that Tarzan stuff they like (zip lines, tightrope walking, lumberjacking up a tree, negotiating suspended logs) at the midstation, but Emmett only had eyes for the playground where after bounding around yelling, "dude, that was awesome," he was rather viciously bullied by some Swiss boys. Was it anti-Americanism or just jack-booted thuggery? The kids were all under 10. Scary.

How incongruous for this to happen on a beautiful mountain populated by cows munching on emerald-green grass, softly ringing their cow bells in the mist. Well, it's a weird place--myth has it that a dragon rock fell from the sky forming the mountain, that giants once lived there, and that Pontius Pilate is buried there. So random. What was he doing there? And why did they name the mountain after him? At any rate, we ascended the obligatory Swiss Alp.

Once in the car and on that Autobahn, we zipped over to Bavaria to our hotel nestled between two of King Ludwig's castles--Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau--very pretty as you'll see in the next post.

Swiss Alps

Philip figures that we have eaten dinner in 43 different restaurants in Europe. But we're moving into Germanic territory, and we're a bit worried about the culinary shift.

For now, we're in Luzern, Switzerland near Zurich. It's about a 2 hour drive from Lake Como but we stopped near Lake Lugano for some outlet shopping (Emmett did very well--we're all so sick of our clothes at this point) and then to chase down the elusive Harry Potter tome. The drive was easy--the Swiss just tunnel through mountains to make roads, so only a few curves and no real up and down. One tunnel we drove through was 16 km. We arrived in Luzern by suppertime, staying right on the lake and looking out over snow-capped mountains. Yodel-ay-hee-hoo!

Easy Como, easy go..mo

A lovely relaxing day in Como. George (Clooney) was meant to have us down to his villa, but I guess he had some sort of scheduling conflict, which left us with a free day. Some R&R by the pool, catching up on reading, planning, plotting.

We had a quest...to find the 4th & 5th harry Potter books. Isabella had to have them, would die without reading these tomes. After striking out in Florence & Venice, we found a bookstore in a suburb of Lugano (Ch) that has the 4th, in English - go figure. So tomorrow we are off, on our quest, fingers crossed. Stay tuned (the kids just watched Monty Python & the Holy Grail, so everything now is about quests).

But back to Como. Later in the afternoon we mosied further up the lake to Mennagio & hired a small boat for a little cruise. The views from the water are stupendous - lovely villas, beautiful gardens, the palaces that have featured in various recent films (Oceans 12, a recent James Bond movie). Even if George (Clooney) could not meet us, we felt like we belonged. Kind of. Well, maybe not, but we could pretend. Seriously, this place is kind of magical & very relaxing after some hectic days in the cities. Much to the kids' relief, not a castle or church in sight. OK, there were some churches, but we only took photos from the outside. By unaminous consent, we would all come back here.

Lake Mario Cuomo

(view from our apartment in the Albergo Lenno)

Oh I know the real name--Lago di (Perry) Como--but for some reason I keep calling it Lake Cuomo. The travelling whirlwind is starting to get to me. But how nice now to relax in the peace and quiet of Lake Como--beautiful weather, no crowds, no souvenir stands, no city smells...it's very low key, but gorgeous (am I sounding like a broken record yet?).

We got a chance to watch 2 sets of the Men's US Open final (you go, Rafa), and Philip was able to nurse his swimmer's ear, which he contracted in Portovenere but is not going away. I finished the Steig Larsson books.

Of interest here--a villa used in a James Bond movie, Mussolini's last stand, lots of churches and bell towers, vestiges of Roman occupation, and the birthplace of Pliny (the elder and younger).

Venezia is Not Sinking

In 1973 we were told that Venice was sinking and would not survive another 20 years. Thankfully that turned out not to be true, but the city still hangs by a thread, only this time financially. The population here has dropped precipitously since 1950, so tax revenues are poor and the city is bankrupt. The mayor has made some controversial but necessary decisions including plastering billboards on tourist sights--an ad for Moet on San Marco Square and an ad for Bulgari on The Bridge of Sighs. He has to allow the enormous schweinsteiger cruise ships into the port (and they go right past San Marco) because of all those tourist dollars. Unfortunately, this means the buildings continue to be damaged by the pollution and boat wakes.

We try to focus on the positives--it is a Renaissance city and feels like it. There are very few hints of modernism here (apart from motorboats), and where else can you find that?

Since we have had the best weather (crystal clear September days), we stayed outside much of the time (although we did hit the Accademia museum to see those elusive Titians, but not very enthusiastically). Then Philip and I did the unthinkable--got a babysitter and went out to dinner at Da Fiore (recommended by Elizabeth and Lee Roesch--I forgot to mention that we SAW Lee in Florence; she arrived just as we were leaving). After a massive plate of fish, we took the Vaporetto (boat bus) to the Basilica, listened to our favorite foxy female quintet play some Strauss, then strolled back to the hotel. Our last night in Venice. Sniff.