Meghan

Mini travel day, this time only a 2 hour jaunt from Lake Garda to Lido di Jesolo, just outside of Venice. The benefit of having an uncomfortable bed meant that we were up and ready to go by 9 am – can I just say that I was showered packed and we had eaten breakfast in the dining room by this time. I know, this vacation has changed me a little.

We were in Jesolo by noon and I was sprawled out on our hotel’s private beach front looking on to the Mediterranean Sea. The breeze was perfect. The view was amazing. The sun was crisp without a cloud in the sky to obstruct its rays. Heavenly. Ron joined me after his jog and we both basked in the sun until it was time to make our way out to dinner. Another phenomenal meal topped off with a walk and some gelato. Like Paris, Italy has spoiled me for everyday life. I’m already contemplating when I can make it back for more 

Ron

Jeselo is the “vacation” destination for the Italians. This time around it is MUCH cheaper. I know the recession wasn’t a good thing however my bank account has benefited from the cheaper accommodations and restaurant bills.

We are staying a beautiful hotel just a hop, skip and a jump from the sea.
The beach front stretches on for about 5 kilometers and is littered with swank hotels.
Each hotel has a private lounge area on the beach and we took full advantage. I tanned the nicest red yet.

I always eat at the same restaurant when in Jeselo. As you will see from the pictures below, the food is tremendously well prepared. Eating good food has not been a problem on this trip.

For all pictures, click here.

Meghan

The bed was not comfortable, but the views more than made up for that fact. Barely awake, I stumbled out onto our balcony to breathe in the fresh air and look up into the mountains as the morning mist was still rising.

The plan for the morning was to drive around during the morning and early afternoon to visit the surrounding little villages. I was supremely pumped. Ron, on the other hand, looked like a lost boy. See, when we came in for the night after a long drive, Ron was setting up his laptop only then to notice that he had forgotten the power cord at the Frohmader residence. Since that realization, withdrawal had set in hard. The plan was to check out one of the locale towns which he knew to have an internet café to see if he could find some way to charge his laptop and/or get his pc fix in. Luckily as we wandered around checking out shop after shop (and by we I mean me; Ron had his backpack with laptop gear trudging along downtrodden) when we came across the local office supply store which also had pc equipment, including a universal laptop power adapter. This was to be Ron’s souvenir from Lake Garda.

Spirits lifted and we headed back to the villa to cool down (walking around in +28 degrees makes one crave being pool/lake side). We took in some sun, a nice swim for Ron (after being thrown in, I also enjoyed the pool) and some gelato down by the lake which happened to be directly across the street from our hotel. Hours faded quickly as we read and napped under the hot Italian sun. We found our way to Mecesine for a fantastic meal of four cheese gnocchi and pizza, topped off with more gelato and a complimentary limoncello. The service was exceptional and the owner lived up to my expectations/visions.

Once we haggled a bit with the parking lot meter (silly tourists!), made our way back to our uncomfortable bed.

Ron

I love Lake Garda. Many a good night I had with my Granfather as this is where I usually let the belt loose and drank the nights away.

The hotel, call “hotel Isabella” is located directly on the lake in a town called Benton. Directly next door is a pizzeria called “Di Pipo’s Pizza” which has the best pizza I have ever eaten. This is saying a lot since I love to eat pizza.

Meghan and I headed over there after our walk and swim and………. New owners!!!! Ok, not to worry its still called a pizzeria. Oh what, you just haven’t changed the signage, you don’t serve pizza. Crap, well, I just had the soup. Still god though.

Dinner was great in the evening and relaxing by the pool was much needed. Tomorrow we have a quick 2 hour drive to Lido Jeselo which is just outside of Venice.

To see all of our photos, click here.

Ron

ANOTHER TRAVEL DAY.

12 hours!!!!!! To top it off we left late from Watwill so we arrived at our destination just before midnight.

The day was filled with highway however we did divert to take the back, back, back roads of the Swiss Alps and went over (and up 8000 ft).
We arrived in Lake Garda at the Hotel Issabella and fell into a deep sleep on an uncomfortable bed!!!

Meghan

This was definitely a long day. The view throughout this trip was largely dull, due to the highway nature of our route. Oddly, this led me to observe the complete lack of advertising billboards all along the roads as is the norm in North America making for a rather pleasant trip through the Swiss country side.

We spent some time on the Swiss-Italian border town of Montreau, taking in one last view of Lake Geneva and sipping on some delicious Starbucks. That’s right, I said it. Starbucks. In this city, it was the cheapest game in town.

Next on our route was the Great St. Bernard passage over the Alps. This climb was definitely tough on our little VW Polo but Ron whipped him up into the mountains, usually having to resort to driving strickly in 1st gear. These were some steep roads. Not only were they steep, but they were narrow and hugged the cliff sides that lacked any form of barrier. I may have sworn a couple times as we ripped around some of the sharp bends in the mountain. The views on the way up were as gorgeous as they were on the way back down into the Italian side of the Alps.

Standing on top of the Alps at the highest point accessible by public roads was not something I ever thought I would be able to do. Not because of any limitations or fears but due to what I thought was limited accessibility. I didn’t even know one could simply (well, not easy) drive up and see the tops of the mountains, having the peaks within an arms reach (kind of). I scooped up some of the snow covering one of the peaks to keep as a souvenir. Ron laughed, but I thought it was a great souvenir for myself. I called my Dad from this spot and told him all about the views and updated him on the progress we were making on our adventure.

Next stop was Lake Garda. As soon as we got down to what can be considered the base of the Alps in Italy, we hit the highway hard for 4 hours…would have been a brutally long trip if the average driving speed wasn’t 140 km/hr.

To see all of the pics, click here.

Meghan

The previous nights romp with the locals at the pub gave way to a solid morning of sleeping in. When we did eventually manage to crawl out of bed, we were invited to the downstairs neighbor’s (Ueli) patio for coffee, orange juice and butter croissants. Further evidence that Wattwil is filled with very friendly and welcoming people and friends of the Frohmader clan are treated with special care.

Our conversation with Ueli, Ursula (Ueli’s wife) and Paul covered many broad topics. The main takeaway is that the Swiss are very organized, have no qualms about letting their government ensure the citizens are well cared for and that taxes apply to nearly every aspect of life. But this is not looked down on, rather it is somewhat appreciated as it allows the Swiss to live nearly worriless lives. Or at least, that is the impression Paul left us. In describing our lack of taxation for the many things he is familiar with, he seems to think we do not know what we speak of. Very interesting conversation.

After a few minutes to freshen up and get a load of laundry going, we were rounded up for a luncheon at Paul’s house. His wife had just returned from their summer home in Luganno and his children, Pascale and Natalie, were home for the weekend. This luncheon ended up being quite the feast: chicken (quarters and breasts), famous St. Gallen bratwurst, tomato and cheese salad, fresh bread and fondue, salad and wine. Needless to say, I was not hungry for dinner today.

Paul took the rest of the afternoon to show us around Wattwil and the surrouding towns. The very winding roads climbing to various altitudes got to me by days end and so Ron and I ended our day on a relaxing note, watching a movie.

Ron

The impression I am left with after a few days in Wattwil is that the Swiss are very personable. The moment we arrived at the apartment we were greeted by a man named Paul Sibold.

Paul, a self made man came across humble and hospitable. We later learned that he owns pretty much half the land all the buildings were situated on around us so when the bartender kept joking that Paul was “the real boss” it turns out he wasn’t lying.

Paul spoke good enough English and spent the night entertaining all of my questions about Switzerland as I had many. The Swiss are an interesting nation. Firstly, all men must serve in the military deep into their adult lives, every year. Every man owns an automatic riffle given to them by the government.
The Swiss are very familiar with “black” and “white” money as I am sure you know what that implies by the Swiss banking practices. The more Paul explained it to me the more I was like “yes, I am totally for this black and white money” and then realized that a lot of my income falls into this “black and white” world.

Paul has a solar farm in his back yard and sells his electricity back to the government. I was AMAZED to hear about this practice and have already been researching how to get solar panels installed in my home. This will be my summer project most definitely. (Meghan: “I think Ron has a Swiss crush”)

Paul explained how the transportation system works all over Switzerland and I must say it’s impressive. Everyone has a “pass” that allows for bus and train travel. Most people don’t have cars and get around quicker via rail. Both his kids come regularly to house to visit from other cities and easily make it to the house via rail and bus.

Anyway enough about my new found crushes on the Swiss, I have to go read up on Solar Panels now.