Michael has been to Switzerland twice before, first hiking the famous Tour de Mount Blanc and then again, hiking the Haute Route that goes from Chamonix to Zermatt. His memories of the little town and how beautiful and quaint it is motivated him to suggest we add it into our itinerary so he could revisit it with me. I think it was also The Brown Cow burger place where he and his brother had ‘the best burger ever’ when they got off the trail. The burger was okay, the sweet potato fries delicious!

We happened to be in Switzerland on the day before National Day which seems to translate into our fourth of July. When we queried the locals about what exactly this day represented they said it was a day of celebration and eating, drinking beer and seeing fireworks. There were no fireworks this year because it has been a very dry season and too much chance for fire — sound familiar? When we walked through the town center in the evening there was much merriment and to our pleasure, trios of clothes-matching musicians consisting of accordions, harmonicas and fiddles playing traditional Swiss music.

We are now traveling on the train (that we barely caught) from Switzerland to Italy going through the Swiss-Italian alps via of Milan where the scenery is absolutely gorgeous. We enjoyed our time in Switzerland despite the little hiccups. Our discomforts and health issues were make up for by the wonderful inn where we stayed. The owner/hosts and their staff were delightful and went above and beyond to make our stay comfortable. Not only were they charming and gracious, the inn was beautifully decorated with thoughtful furnishings that were tasteful with a dash of art flourishes — and let me not forget to mention the amazing view of the Matterhorn!!! I rarely make recommendations (but maybe I should) but I would highly recommend Hotel Coeur des Alpes (the inn with a heart) in Zermatt.

As Michael mentioned in the last post, we are looking forward to our next leg on the journey — Italy where we have rented an apartment in Dolo (halfway in between Padua and Venice) for five weeks to use as a base for exploring Northern Italy. I’ve already made my shopping list and am ready to go to the butcher, the baker (we don’t need a candlestick maker — it’s 93° here — and remember I bought that puffy in Norway???) and farmer’s market for fresh vegetables and making home-cooked meals that are lighter and more healthy.

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