Strasbourg Once Again

Saturday March 7th-Sunday March 8th:

We arrived back in Strasbourg about 5 pm, went back to my house, packed up and then headed for a walk around the city. It was a clear night, and beautifully lit up. Although we had walked around the first day he was here, he was quite jetlagged and hadn’t really taken in the city in which I call home for the semester. We explored Petite France, la Centre Ville, and Gallia (near the SU center). We first enjoyed a glass of wine on a bar that was literally a bat on the water. This was another romantic spot with a beautiful view of the city lit up at night. After a glass of Alsatian Gewurztraminer, we headed back to “Les Fleurs des Champs” to enjoy a relaxing meal. It was again cozy and fun, uniquely Strasbourgian. After dinner, we took the tram back to my house, to get some sleep before his early morning departure.

The next morning we arose early, made eggs and coffee and walked to the train station where he would take the Lufthansa airport bus back to Frankfurt. It was very hard to see him go, and it felt as if my chest had been kicked by a horse, cut open and then been filled with very spicy Mexican jumping beans. Sundays can be hard in general, since nothing is open and my family is always gone to the mountains. So I tried to fill it with distracting myself with mundane tasks and reading. I knew that this would be the worst day, and although I was sad, I still looked forward to more European experiences to come. Although the short-term visits are very difficult, especially when you are thousands of miles apart, I nonetheless greatly enjoyed our adventures. They are fond memories that will last a lifetime!

Lausanne

Thursday March 5^th 2009:

After a morning visit to Monterossa Al Mare, we boarded a train to Lausanne. The train, including all of the stops was about 6 hours, but quite beautiful. We road through the Italian hills by the sea, and north through Switzerland and the Alps. Kevin finally experienced his beautiful European train ride! I had planned to end our trip in Lausanne, where we would stay and spend some time with Nathalie and Nicolas Dengler-Stolz, and there five year old girl named “Ella’ and their five month old “Luce”. Nathalie was my former au-pair (nanny) who spent a year with us when I was five years old. I had seen her once since, when traveling with the Wisconsin Ambassadors of Music in High school, but it had been awhile and I was anxious to reconnect. She was absolutely wonderful and patient with us, and I have nothing but vivid and gentle memories of her. She was also my main inspiration to learn French and I was excited for Kevin to meet a piece of my childhood.

We arrived about 7 pm, and Nathalie met us at the train station. We headed to her apartment and had a lovely relaxing evening. She made us a “Lausanne specialty” of a sort of sausage and roasted vegetables, however she burned the vegetables (since she got distracted feeding Luce) but it was tasty anyway. Although her apartment is quite small (we literally slept in the living room) it was realty comforting to end our journey at a home. They are so kind and welcoming, and it was a uniquely rejuvenating experience.

The next morning we woke early (Ella is an early riser), showered and ate a French breakfast of toast and coffee. After breakfast we headed into Lausanne with Ella, Nathalie and Luce to see the city. We walked
through the old part of town; saw the Cathedral and the old staircase. It was almost shocking how different Switzerland was to Italy, everything was one time, very clean and everyone was very helpful. Kevin and I continued on to walk by the lake and have coffee. It had started to snow pretty heavily, a wet spring type, so unfortunately the mountains weren’t very visible. We picked up a few groceries on the way back. Back at Nathalie’s we enjoyed a delicious lunch of polenta with ham topped off with fresh tomato chutney and a salad. After that, Nathalie bravely drove us through the snow to a little Swiss village called “Gruyere” (famous for its cheese). The village was cute and quaint, and just utterly “Swiss”. The most

exciting part however, was seeing Kevin walk through the castle. When we entered, his eyes became wide, and he sort of jumped around a bit, giddily saying, “this is my first castle!” The castle included many rooms, old furniture, large stoves, and a mummified hand. (Ella was a bit unsure about that one…) It was beautiful, old and interesting to see the differences between this castles, the castles in England and the Alsatian one we saw at the beginning of the semester. After the castle, we stopped by to get some tea so Nathalie could feed Luce, then pushed the stroller through about a foot of snow and headed back to Lausanne.

When we returned, it was almost time to feed Luce again and she was starting to get hungry. Nathalie wanted to start dinner before having to stop and feed her, but Luce’s stomach didn’t agree with that plan. Nathalie and Kevin were frantically chopping, sautéing, and preparing while Ella and I were trying to distract Luce from her hunger. It was really quite a humorous scene-Ella and I walking Luce around the room, talking and playing with her. The song “Do you know the muffin man?” kept spontaneously playing from a little plastic baby toy, to distract Luce.

After feeding and a little tranquility, Nathalie’s mother Margaret arrived in time for dinner. We ate spring rolls, filling them with a mixture of chicken, fresh soy sprouts, lettuce, shrimp and peanuts. Dinner was again lovely and relaxing. Margaret is a very sweet woman, who in some ways reminded me of an Austrian; perhaps more mellow form of Kevin’s Grandmother Dede. She doesn’t speak English very well, but was trying very hard to follow the conversation and participate, and doing remarkably well. When hearing about our bad weather luck and the snow today, she said to Kevin in an almost prophetic manner “I looked at the TV and I saw sun!” as she was making a square with her hands.

It was quite late by the time we finished dinner, but we nonetheless headed back out. We stopped off first at one of Nathalie and Nicolas’s friends place and chatted for a while. After that, we headed back out to try to find a place to get a drink. We stumbled into a wine place and enjoyed some drinks, finishing just in time for closing at 2 am.

The next morning was indeed clear-Margaret had been correct! The snow had stuck a little, so after breakfast we headed out to a small hill so that Ella could sled. It was absolutely beautiful and sunny, complete with the Swiss Alps in the background. It was fun to sled with Ella; she kept shyly requesting that I go down the hill with her. I made a new friend!

After sledding we stopped by a café and had a quick juice before heading to the train station. We road the beautiful scenic train ride back to Strasbourg, with warm memories of Switzerland.

From Florence to Cinque Terre

Wednesday March 3^rd 2009:

We awoke early in hopes of catching an 8:00 train, one of the first out in the morning to Cinque Terre. We woke up on time, packed up, and headed out into the street. We were a little ahead of schedule so we decided to have an Italian espresso (they are the best, I don’t know how they do it). We were still on time after the espresso, but in an attempt to take a “short cut” to the train station we got lost. European streets are tricky, since they are not parallel and in fact quite twisty, tiny and turney. Plus they were around before “city planning” existed. We ran into the station and ran onto the platform as our train pulled away. Merde.

Slightly forlorn we waited another hour and a half for the next train (and caught it) to La Spezia, to get to Cinque Terre. Cinque Terre is a region of five little fishing villages (Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso al Mare) and Cinque Terre literally means “five villages”. They are all connected by a regional train and hiking trails along the sea. It is one of the most beautiful regions I the world, and I loved it despite the rain. (Although I really would like to go back when the weather is more ideal.) We stayed in Corniglia, and walked literally 467 steps up a mountain to get to our hotel, since Kevin had booked the one with the best view. However when we got there, the owner told us that he had fumigated our corner room we had booked and gave us a key to a room with a somewhat substandard view. This more than annoyed Kevin (and me frankly) and after fighting with the owner for a while, he found us a different room with a little better view. He said, “I didn’t think you would want this one because it has a smaller bathroom.”

After the small fiasco, we decided to explore the villages. We first explored our little village, which is mostly picturesque, with rolling mountainous cliffs, (covered in grapevines and lemons) which crash into the sea. We decided to head all the way south and work our way north. All were equally beautiful, but each little village had its own unique character. Some were right on the water, while others were set further back on the mountain, but with an equally breathtaking view. It was fun to walk some of the paths that were open (some were closed due to rain) and explore the little villages. It was far from prime tourist season, so it was fun to just see the locals and feel as if we had the entire five villages to ourselves (and a few others.)

We stopped for coffee in a cute local place in Rio Maggiore. We ate a seafood salad, of mostly squid, with soy latte’s. The owners were very nice and welcoming, they even went next door to buy lettuce for us when they didn’t have any. We enjoyed watching the congregation of locals (fishermen I think) talk and play with a little kid running around while enjoying our salad and soy latte’s. We finished with a little bit of lemoncello (made right in Cinque Terre!) and then headed back to our hotel to put on dry clothes. We climbed up and down the stairs again, and then headed back into Rio Maggiore where to check out a good seafood restaurant we had found earlier. The restaurant was very warm and cozy, and we enjoyed fresh tuna, and a sort of white fish with fresh tomatoes, capers and olive oil. This was my favorite, so full of flavor and even cut up and presented right before our eyes. We enjoyed a lovely dinner complete with a Sacchetra, the famous desert wine of the area (made with almost raisons.) It was sweet but full of flavor and very satisfying. After dinner we hung out at a local “backpackers stop” and enjoyed a glass of wine while watching some of the young Italian workers excitedly watch a soccer game.

The next morning we packed up, and headed back into Manarola for breakfast, where we enjoyed scrambled eggs, coffee and fruit at a little breakfast place. Our server was quite comical and teasing the other guy behind the counter, it was a good way to start off the day. We explored “Monterosso al Mare” the furthest town north on our way out. This town was the beach town, with large beaches and little ice cream shops right along the road. Although our stay in Cinque Terre was quick and rainy, it was nonetheless magical. It uniquely combined the old and funky fishing village style with beautiful rolling mountains filled with lemons and grape wines, with beautiful beaches and rocky cliffs. Besides the rain and injured foot, it was a majestic day and a half, and I would highly recommend it to anyone wanting to experience some true Italian beauty!

Florence

Tuesday March 3^rd 2009:

For our second full day in Florence, we decided to hit the museums. We rose early, ate breakfast from the groceries we had purchased, and headed out into the somewhat rainy, but beautiful city of Florence. We first went to the Duomo, at entered just as it opened. The outside is made up of beautiful black, white and pink marble. I had never seen a cathedral that was so ornate from the outside. Right near the cathedral were the famous golden doors, which Michelangelo carved.

We wandered through the next museum slowly, taking in the mostly medieval paintings and sculptures. It was interesting how similar they all were, the figures weren’t really “life-like”, and one can see how rigid the religious society must have been. My impression of medieval art is that it lacked much emotion and inspiration that perhaps spawned from later “artistic enlightenment” periods. However, much of Florence’s secular art was burned in a great fire, so I guess it’s not fair to judge too harshly.

In contrast, the gallery, which houses Michelangelo’s famous “David” was much more inspiring. The sculptures all seemed to be more emotional, and even human. However they were all overshadowed by David. This incredibly tall, and very life-like sculpture made me understand why he is so famous. His figure was just so life-like, the muscles, face, (and he even had eyes!) and his stance, made me feel as if he would just hop off of his pedestal and start-fighting goliath. It was incredibly, and we literally sat and stared at it in awe for about 20 minutes. It was difficult to fathom. Michelangelo carved “David” out of a block of marble that was rendered “useless”. The hands are slightly large, but that was because it was carved to be on a 9-foot block.

After the Gallery, we decided to climb the Duomo. Our place in line was just behind a school group tour. We waited nervously, hoping the rain wouldn't start before we got a chance to climb. On the ascent, Kevin was rather impatiently commenting on how slow the group of teenagers were as they climbed the endless amount of stairs to the top. We did however, eventually reach the top and the view was breathtaking. We could see all of Florence and it hadn't started to rain yet! On the way down, we walked a bit more leasurly and enjoyed the lovely painted cieling.

We then wandered the streets a bit more and walked to the old part of the city. We walked through the famous “bridge”, which is the oldest one in Florence, and the only one not destroyed by WWII. It consists of mostly gold and jewelry venders, thanks to the Medici family who threw out all the others. After some pictures on the bridge, we wandered into a little restaurant for a glass of wine and appetizers. The wine was fantastic and we ordered a vegetable soup, just the perfect hot substance after a somewhat rainy day. We were seated in one of the “Frank Sinatra” seats, right next to the window over looking the river and the old bridge. We deemed it the most romantic spot in Florence. After appetizers we headed back to our hotel to change, and decided to try and visit our “friend with bread”. However, after a long (and somewhat painful) walk across town, it was closed. I guess even “friends with bread” need a day off. Slightly disappointed we tried to think of a plan “B”. We walked back to the restaurant which we enjoyed appetizers, remembering how accommodating they were and that they had gluten free pasta on hand.

We arrived for the second time around 9:30 (perfect time for and Italian meal), and were again seated next to the window. It was almost more beautiful lit up at night, and we had the most wonderful reserve wine, with savory gluten free spaghetti. Prego!