5 hours in Zurich –

Over lunch today, Camillo and I were talking about which cities we had had fun with stopovers; Paris for sure, Amsterdam for sure, and Zurich, which Camillo didn’t remember.  Sometimes, when you have lower fare airline tickets, you end up with many hours in airports waiting for a connection - make the most of it, plan to see a bit of local.

Sometimes, you end up stuck in an airport because of missed flights, or strikes or snowstorms, but I‘m not talking about those times. I am talking about stopovers that you can make plans and you can take advantage of, to see just a little bit of a city.  In Europe, there are great trains that run from the airport into the city’s center or passes by a famous church, or even a museum housing one painting you’ve always wanted to see.  If you put your carry-on luggage into a locker (with the increases in security, I hope there are still lockers you can use for a few hours) and then jump on the train you can have a walk-about and maybe have a great meal before making your way back to the airport.   Remember to take your camera.

In 2004, when on our way to Sicily, we had 5 free hours in the Zurich, Switzerland airport.  This probably means that there was seven or even 8 hours, accounting for time to re-check in, and we used five for our walk-about.  We had come from Rio / Sao Paulo on Swiss Air, and probably were switching to Air Italia for a flight to Rome, and then the next morning flying into Palermo, Sicily.  (see my post from last week about Cefalù.)  To tell the truth I probably would have never done this on my own but Camillo, Camillo is never intimidated by language or signs or by asking for help at the information center at the airports (or the train stations).  So when he see an opportunity he puts us out there - on an adventure.

I don’t remember if it was just luck, we do tend to be lucky, or if Camillo ask instructions in Zurich but we took a train into the main train station; walked out the front door, down the main street right in front of us, kept walking, looking, clicking photos, absorbing the look of Zurich.  We walked up (or down?) the Bahnhofstrasse, which when Googled will show to be the street (Strasse) with the most expensive commercial  /  retail real estate in Europe and 3rd in the world.  I didn’t check to see where one and two are. 

We walked, looking I am sure for a place to have brunch, and walked, and walked and ended up at the Ganymed Statue – a small plaza on the river.  As you all know I am bad at taking notes, but if memory serves me correctly this must have been a Sunday morning, the streets were clean, quiet, sunny and mostly devoid of people.  Perfect!

Along the way we did not get far off the main drag, just glanced in a window here and there; cut across a plaza, poked around up a side street and on the way back stopped in a sidewalk café for a lite meal.  Leaving enough time to jump back on the train, get to the airport, check-in and to be on our way to Rome. 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5 hours in Zurich VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Early Vacations - 2004 to Sicily

Last week’s FSO post about vacations took me down memory lane, forcing me to look at old photos and to straighten out numerous folders and photo albums with 35mm shots.  I found a post about Buenos Aires Argentine where I tell you all that I will write a second post about the new docks - Puerto Madero Waterfront – and then don’t.  I can’t imagine how many times that has happened.  How many times have I dropped a thought and said, “that a different story, will tell you later.” and then don’t.  Can you think of something I didn’t tell you and should have?

In the spirit of showing you things I have missed, I want to do a few posts about vacations that we took between 2002, when I got my first digital camera for Christmas, and early 2007 when I started to write and show photos on ‘Flowers and More’.  I might also go back to my 35mm photo albums and scan to show you anything else of real interest but for now I will hold that thought () until later. 

Because I showed you scanned photos of Taormina, Sicily on Friday, a trip we took in 2002, no specific dates found but if memory serves me correctly it was in late spring.  I thought that I would start this trip in nostalgia  with our second trip to Sicily in May of 2004.  This trip was from Rio; I think that Camillo got really good ticket prices because we went Rio, Sao Paulo, Zurich, Rome, Palermo - changing planes and with stopovers on each step of the flight.  In Zurich, we had a major stop, like 5 or 6 hours, so we took the local train to have lunch in old town Zurich.  After 2 days in Palermo, we took a train to Cefalù, then a boat tour out to Lapari and Vulcano, both islands north of Cefalù with live (not necessarily active) volcanoes.  Then after another day or so in Cefalù, another night train all the way back to Rome where we met Patty (my daughter) and Vivi (Camillo’s).  We spent several weeks showing them all around Rome and onward.  Yes, was a very nice trip indeed.   **I don’t know if it has improved but train schedules in Italy are hard to track down.  Travel agent do (did) not have the schedules you have to go to the train stations.  Like in this case they are not right in the city.  Our night train along the coast at sunset was great, then at the port at Messina the whole train was loaded into the bowels  of a ferry.  All of the doors snapped shut – locking us in – twenty minutes later the whole train came off the ferry and early the next morning we were in Rome.

      

For us, though, Cefalù was the highlight of the trip.  All of Sicily and the surrounding islands have a long and varied history.  Starting back several thousand years before Christ, the foundation of this city being Greek, and running until joining the Kingdom of Italy in 1861.  At one time or another the Island of Sicily was Greek, Etruscan, Roman, Norman, and Arab. The Cefalù Cathedral reflects this history. 

Started in 1131, the façade being finished in 1240 and the cathedral was consecrated in 1267.  Its architecture is varied, reflecting the conquering groups through the years it was built and expanded. 

   

Take away the great food, the natural scenery, the ancient architectural flavor – strip this city down and it is still worth visiting just to see the Cathedral.  For more photos see the slideshow below.

Cefalù, Sicily, Italy VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Vacation Spots -

Camillo and I live in the vacation wonderland of the world.  From the Christ to the Sugar Loaf, from the laying on the beach and playing in the surf to hiking in the forests that run through Rio and rock climbing,  From eating Churrasco to drinking caiprinhas in the open air, you can’t beat this city for a great vacation.   But within my definition of a great vacation are several elements missing in Rio.  Primarily a vacation needs to take you away from your routine and give you a long break from what you know and are familiar with.   That means that for me I need to go anyplace other than someplace in Brasil to really have a vacation. 

The winner is Taormina Sicily

Camillo and I talked several times this week about which vacation place, outside of Brasil, has been our best vacation.  This was a VERY hard choice.  We have been so many places, eaten to much great food, seen such beauty that to say ‘that’ is number one – for both of us – took some real negotiations.  Since 2007 when I started writing for ‘Flowers’ I have shown you our vacations virtually as they have happened.  Not only did I have to look through my digital archives looking at those I’ve already shown you,  trying to make the choice, but also the 14 albums from my 35 mm days.   I can tell you I really enjoyed reviewing all the photos.

Maybe the win for Taormina was because this city was a first visit for both of us; in 2002 – not so long ago – we flew from Houston to Rome to Sicily and spent a week or so in Taormina,  across a valley from Etna and flowing to the edge of the sea, this little city is beautiful.   Taormina has romance, adventure, Greek and Roman ruins, texture and color to make you and your camera happy; it is small enough that you can walk from one side to the other holding hands, and large enough to have a variety of hotels and restaurants to meet your budget.  We dubbed it the city of balconies. 

I got my first digital camera for Christmas of 2002, too late to give you digital photos of Taormina.  I spent the better part of yesterday scanning about 1/2 of my photos of the trip into the computer.  I don’t think this gives you really good photos but good enough for you to get the idea.  At the end of this post will be several slide shows if you want to see more. 

 

Piazza Armerina and Villa Romana VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

     Villa Romana, in the mid-central part of Sicily.  The tour takes you through hills full of lemon trees.  The villa was discovered by a farmer turning over a new field.  It was once a vacation home for a Roman General out of north Africa.  All the wall and floors were decorated with detailed mosaic …. During restoration each area was painstakingly cleaned, sorted and re-laid.  An art not lost

     Another tour took us up onto the sides of The Etna – still hot from the last eruption, we were

Landscapes of the Etna VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

instructed not to leave the designated trail…. to make his point the tour guide threw a piece of paper onto the lava stone and it caught on fire….. we were careful where we put our feet.   

Taormina, Sicily VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

The Road traveled -

Tomorrow will be our last day in Italy.  Today Paulo and Lenira will leave for the airport for an early morning flight on Saturday – we leave on Sunday mid-day, flying to Paris then to Rio.  We have seen so many little towns, and driven through many more.  We have eaten very good food and some not worth the calories – we have enjoyed many of the local wines eaten with the local flavors. 
I started out taking nearly 400 photos a day, then around 300, into the 200s and the last two days I’ve not taken any.  I haven’t even looked at them all – just pulling a few here and there to spotlight on my header or to insert into the few posts I have managed to write. 
At about 10 towns, they all seemed to look alike but I still managed to find one small thing of beauty in each.  One moment of happiness at seeing something exceptionally beautiful.  I thought today I would make a list of places and show you one photo from each place…. well maybe not each place but will try for the major stops...  A summery of the drive through Italy.

Verona, northern Italy
Lago Garda
Arezzo
Anghiari
Cortona
Lucca
San Gimignano
Volterra
Siena
Montalcino
Montepulcano
Assisi
Civita

For now this is as far as I can take you.  I got this far and realized I’ve not yet download my photos from Frascati and Rome Area.  There are not many because being here is like being at home – like I’ve seen everything before.  I will write some thoughts about Rome soon. After we’ve returned to Friburgo perhaps.

Good Morning from ASSISI

The hotel room is still dark and quiet, Camillo is just stirring and I am ready to go down for breakfast.  It is astonishing that I can even consider being hungry but I am and I really need my cup of coffee to get going in the right direction. 

The schedule that I posted on Sunday has been changed – modified – to meet the needs of our travel companions, Paulo and Lenira.  They want to see Pompeii – so we have given up Gubbio and will travel today into Roma and on Wednesday they will go to Pompeii.  We will stay in Rome with Camillo’s sister.  It is a good trade off. they get to see more and we get to rest and visit.

Here we are in our final week in Italy and I am going to backtrack again to Arezzo.  We have seen so much, so many small towns, each with something really special to talk about that I don’t want to go out of the Arezzo area until I have given you all a good overview of the area.   

For example, one afternoon while in Arezzo we  drove about 30km to see Anghiari – we had lunch, walked around for several hours, then drove back to Arezzo.  This town is definitely worth seeing – the view of the local countryside is spectacular and we (I) had a superior lunch.  I will give the details of the lunch and then just show you photos of the town and area.

     LUNCH in the Alighiero Ristorante: we ask for a mixed antipasto highlighting tastes from the area.   Silvia, the German owner since 1991, made us individual plates which included (in small portions thank goodness) Tomato / Bread soup, Radicchio / liver salad, Crostini (toasted bread) with liver pate, ham (etc.) selection, Ricotta with Tartuffi sauce.  I am so bad at taking notes so I don’t have down what everyone else ate but I chose an Orange Salad made with arugula/fennel/small orange wedges and parmesan cheese – and to top it off, no one else wanted to share a desert so Silvia made me a small portion of a dark chocolate mousse.  For me a perfect end to a perfect lunch. (no picture – I just ate the whole thing – Silvia assured me that it was not fattening. ;-))

           

(Just found a bootleg internet connection so I could post – written on Monday morning. Spent 2 days in Frascati, buying bread and roast pork, sweet olives, and fruit for a picnic at Tuscolo.  tonight one of Mirella’s famous dinner parties, and on Sunday we return to Rio.)