Snow in August?

Alo and I took the train from Venice to Milan and then picked up our rental car and were on our way to Switzerland! I had heard from many people how beautiful the country is, especially my Aunt who had traveled there years ago, but it wasn't until we were there that I could truely understand how stunning it is.  The views of the Alps and the countryside are just absolutely jaw dropping.  I've never in my life seen anything like these mountains. It makes all the other mountains I've seen look like hills :)

Our first stop in Switzerland was Zermatt, the small town located at the foot of the famous Matterhorn.  The Matterhorn's summit is 14,690 ft high, making it one of the highest peaks in the Alps.  We stayed at Alpen Lodge up on the hill and just LOVED it! The lodge had a perfect view of the entire town and the Matterhorn.  At night it got so cold because we were at such a high altitude and we were visiting in late August. I can't even imagine what winters there feel like! The quaint town is so charming and cozy. No cars are allowed so when you visit you must use the train and leave your car at the Tash station about 20 minutes away.

A must DO if you go to Zermatt is to take cable car up to Glacier Paradise. The views on the way up are just amazing and getting to experience the snow capped Alps while being so close to the top of the Matterhorn is a once in a lifetime thing (unless you plan to hike up there yourself and are an experienced hiker!).  They also offer year round skiing due to the high altitudes which is pretty cool if you are a ski enthusiast.  Alo and I hiked down for about 3 hours after we went to the top of the mountain and then took the cable car the rest of the way down. Being so close to the Matterhorn peak and seeing it's incredibly steep rocky northern face makes it so hard to believe hikers actually attempt such a dangerous summit.  In the town of Zermatt at a small church there are graves surrounding it of those who have died attempting to summit the Matterhorn and their stories etched into their gravestones. 

The whole experience for us was just so great.  We have SO many gorgeous pictures that trying to pick some to share in the blog was quite challenging. We have traveled to many different places and this one is at the top of our list for sure!

In the cable car heading up the mountain...

 

 

Hiking down the mountain - some of the views...also the big peak in all these pictures is the Matterhorn in case you didn't already know!

<3

If you look closely you can see the town of Zermatt at the foot of the mountains...

Sunrise at the Matterhorn

 

 

The glaciers were massive!

 

I found Santa's sleigh in August!

 

Fondue for dinner...Switzerland = perfect excuse for cheese at every meal!

Can you read the restaurant's name? Cafe Du Pont - who knew DC opened one up in Zermatt?

 

The photo below was at the Brown Cow Pub - highly recommend - HUGE cheeseburgers and great atmosphere and affordable prices compared to alot of the fine dining. Can you tell how happy we were to have a great burger?! (they don't really exist in Tunisia)

 

Until next time...farewell Zermatt - can't wait to see you again someday!

 

Next stop - Luzern!

Venice

  

The second stop on our trip in August was to Venice. We took the train from Milan to Venice and it was so easy and definitely the right way to go. It's about 2 hours and ta-da you are there right in the center of Venice. We stayed at a little boutique hotel, Locanda Ca La' Vele which I would highly recommend.  We were able to just walk from the train station but will admit pulling my suitcase up the steps/bridges over the water wasn't the easiest but well worth the money saving! 

 

 

Venice is such a unique gorgeous little city. The streets are tiny and of course there are no cars just the power boats and gondolas. Gondolas are the traditional flat bottomed Venetian rowing boats with the cute little men in black and white stripped shirts rowing them (pic below). Unfortunately the gondolas are SO expensive - like over 100 dollars for a 45 min ride around - we just couldn't bring ourselves to waste that moola so we just watched from the steps instead :)

We visited the St. Mark's Basilica and the bell tower located in the Piazza San Marco square. The most memorable part of this afternoon was when I finally found the first canoli in Italy here - yipeeee! It did NOT disappoint! yum - Love them!

Some sights around town...

On Rialto bridge at night before dinner!

Chianti in Italy - this is for your Ash! ; )

More gondolas - they are everywhere!

Venice is known for it's glass making which is predominately done on the island of Murano.  Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to get over there but we did still get to see shop vendors blowing glass where we were. They sell glass all over Venice in forms of lamps, glasses, jewelry, pretty much anything you could imagine.

Masks have always been the main feature of Venetian carnivals. They sell venetian masks all over town and the ones on the street aren't nearly as intricate and made in China - so basically not authentic at all. But they also have many small shops inside the tiny streets who make each mask by hand - obviously these are the real Venetian ones you'd want to purchase. Due to the nice salesman and his passion for mask making and his patience as I tried on all of them for fun - I decided to purchase one. You never know when you might need one right?? When in Rome! ops i mean Venice :)

 Ciao Ciao! Next stop Zermatt, Switzerland!

Ciao Bella!

So my first impression of Italy was just wonderful! We started our trip in Milan mainly because it's actually the cheapest flight from Tunisia to Europe at the moment.  Just walking the streets and hearing Italian and seeing all the incredibly fashionable/trendy Italians just gives you a giddy feeling. Italian is a lot like French so occasionally Alo and I could understand a couple words - but not much. Most everyone speaks English so it's very easy to get around - and they were so nice and helpful!

So we visited Milan in August and I had read some reviews about how many Italians take vacation in August and shut down shop. I thought - well no problem for us - we aren't planning on doing much shopping and I'm sure there will still be plenty of things open. I wasn't aware quite how shut down it would really be! It was no big deal and we enjoyed our time there but our neighborhood for example was a ghost town. The beauty of it was that things were so quiet and relaxing - and not to mention even the tourist attractions weren't hounded by millions of tour groups with neon hats and fanny packs!

The Duomo is one of Milan's main attractions and there is no doubt why. Many of Milan's main shopping streets all surrounding the Duomo (two pictured below) and the cathedral itself is just beautiful.  The gothic style cathedral took over four centuries to build and it is the fourth largest cathedral in the world.  Alo and I toured the cathedral and also went up to the top where you can walk around on the exterior of the cathedral.

There is a Cardinal of Milan buried beneath the church in the basement since 1584.  For cardinals, they put their bodies in these glass caskets so you can see them.  They have a metal covering on their face but their hands were real. Creepy!

Who knew Alo had a famous designer store in Milan?? He is quite fashionable in his daily white and black t-shirts! ha

We saw Leonardo da Vinci's painting, The Last Supper, located in the Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan.  This is the only tour we booked before and we were very glad we did because it's always sold out.  They only allow groups of approx 15 people at a time in the large room to see the painting to try to preserve it as much as possible.  The painting takes up an entire wall of the dining room - it's very large. And the reason you can't see Jesus' feet in the painting is because some genius years ago decided to put a large door there so he could access the kitchen easier - obviously these Italians are serious about their grub! They don't allow any photos of The Last Supper inside the dining room but this one was a replica near the exit.

 

We also took a tour of the Le Scala, a world renowned opera house in Milan.  

 

The Simplon Gate,  "Arch of Peace" is located at the center of a wide round square known as "Piazza Sempione" (Simplon Square). It is adjacent to the Simplon Park, the main city park of Milan.

 

We walked around the park for awhile to take a break and grab a beverage and we saw these cute old men!

Moretti - their local brewski - pretty good!

And the most important part of Italy - the FOOD! Well Milan's certainly didn't disappoint!  I will say I looked everywhere for Cannoli's and they were no where to be found. I later learned that they are from Sicily and different regions of Italy specialize in certain dishes/pastries so that was the reason they were no where to be found.  Lots of ham/cheese, pizza, and pasta! We tried it all of course ; ) And can't forget the Gelato! It's on every corner and is pretty good!

Small tip for anyone wanting to travel cheap - we used Airbnb on this trip to Italy and Switzerland and definitely recommend it. Our place in Milan was the best out of the two we tried on the trip. The funny part was that it was an "attic" type apartment in an old building and as you know Alo and I are both very tall people so that part was funny!

 

Next stop - Venice!