Ricapitolare!

In other words . . . Recap!

I just love making slideshows of our photos and putting them to music.  

If you're interested, grab a cup of coffee or glass of wine - it's kinda lengthy so you may need both!

Then click the box in the bottom right to make it bigger, click the arrow to Play, and make sure you have the volume on because the music is courtesy of a free download from guitarist, Lance Allen.

Thanks for watching :)

Arrivederci!

Journey's End

After about an hour on a long, curving, mostly one-lane mountain road with no bathroom stops, we reached our hotel.

After a bathroom break :) we took a nice walk . . .

along this trail.

At the top, we got an excellent view of the countryside.

It was chilly, but sunny and beautiful.

This is the view from our room.

This cozy room.

Another wonderful find in the German countryside.

Langeck, Münstertal, Germany

When we travel, I send postcards to our own address.  I enjoy getting them in the mail after we get home and reading about how much fun we were having and how very lucky we are!

On the road again . . .

With no traffic jams and almost no traffic at all, we once again headed north.

The weather was wonderful . . . 

and the views stunning.

We detoured just a little to get a better view of this beautiful lake.

In no hurry, this is one of many coffee breaks :)

This is the view from that rest stop!  They should charge more for their coffee.

Somewhere between Switzerland and Germany.

Crystal clear lake, sailboats . . . like a postcard :)

Room at the Inn

We drove around this little town (it was dark at the time - after 10 pm).  Jim stopped and went in to see if this hotel had a room.  Turned out they did.

He came back to the car and said we had a place to stay and I would be able to see what a "shared bathroom" was like.

We often see this when we looking for a hotel in Europe:

Double Room with Shared Bathroom

and I always say "who does that?"

Now I know.

Us.  

The "shared bathroom".  It actually wasn't so bad.  That's the toilet on the left and the shower on the right.   Yes, it was quite a way down the hall from our room, but at least the doors locked!

Plus, the restaurant had excellent pizza and chianti :)

And this little town of Biasca, Switzerland . . .

was unbelievably picturesque.

We were so glad we got stopped here!

Many of the houses had vineyards in the backyard.

And they all used granite as support for the vines.

It almost seemed like time stood still here.

An unexpected surprise  . . .

in the Swiss Alps.

Traffico

So, after a wonderful few days, we started our journey back north.

This kind of traffic is somewhat normal for this area because there is literally only one highway that goes through the Alps.

And of course the views are fantastic.

 Like a postcard.

Then it all came to a halt.

We sat parked on this Swiss bridge for 2 and a half hours - never moving an inch - in "park".  I was grateful I'd only had one cup of coffee :)

We learned later that it was a snowfall from the night before that stopped everything in its tracks.

It's not like it doesn't snow here, but this one to two feet of snow all fell the night before and apparently caught everyone off guard.

Then . . . after sitting parked on the highway for 2 and a half hours, we crept along going less than 10 miles in the following 2 and a half hours!  Yes, that's 5 hours nearly at a standstill.  

Since we were now about to run out of gas, Jim had the foresight to realize that whether or not there was gas coming up, we weren't going to make it there.  He realized our only alternative was to inch along to the next exit (which, mercifully wasn't closed, as many were) and head back toward Italy to find some gas!  And we did.

It was after 10 pm by now so we drove through the first little town off the highway.  After 12 hours we'd traveled only 150 miles toward home.  That normally takes 2 and a half hours!  Jim went into this hotel and turns out there was room at the inn!  More on this gem in my next post :)

Ham and cheese

Our next stop was this quaint little hotel near Parma.

You would never know this is what the room looked like.  

Super modern.

See that router on the nightstand?  If you know me very well, you know I can work magic on computers. Sometimes just touching one is enough to shut it down. 

When we got on the internet in the room, my computer "told" me to set up a new network using that router.  Naturally, I did just that.  Suddenly the new hotel network was called "kareng".  We even heard a couple at dinner complaining to the desk clerk that their internet wasn't working.  I just hope it wasn't me :-\  

The next morning someone had apparently worked their own magic and "kareng" was no longer a network :)

Parma - as in home of Parmesan cheese and Parma ham.

This nice market had all the Parma ham and Parmesan cheese you could ever want.

Some items were a little too big to take home.

But we did take home a few souvenirs.  The cheese we chose is the best I have ever eaten.

One city

This is Siena (only one "n").

It IS a tourist destination and a city and not the countryside, but we made an exception!

It is typical and beautiful.

This is the Mangia Tower in the famous Piazza del Campo.

This is the back side of the Siena Cathedral.

We were not the only visitors that day! Or any day, I imagine. For the record, I did not see one Asian.  Inexplicable.

A better view of the Piazza del Campo.

Obviously I did not take this picture, but you may know Siena from this famous horse race, a 700 year old tradition - something to do with the Virgin Mary . . . naturally. Doesn't hailing Mary always conjure up images of horse racing?  Duh.  Anyway, it is apparently very dangerous and I can see why . . .  those are people in the center!

The front of the Siena Cathedral.

These next few pictures . . .

are some nice architectural shots

Jim took of the facade of the church.

By the way, that's all Carrara marble.

I couldn't help taking this picture. It reminded me of Barcelona - an escalator, outside, in the middle of all this history?!  Please don't do this in Venice.

A typical street - notice the green shutters again.

One of my favorite pictures.

Parking and driving in Italy is literally a "free for all".  Rules do not apply.

Park wherever you like.  Parallel park if you want . . . or not.  

Driving is no different. It soon became obvious to us that texting or at the very least, talking on your cell phone and tail-gating while going around steep mountain curves is a requirement.

Unbelievable.