On the Road to Reims

Monday October 21
Today, we drove to Reims, France.  The leaves are beginning to turn, it's fall.

We left beautiful Chamonix early this morning and got to Reims about 2pm.

Reims was founded by the Gauls around 80 BC. After Gaul was conquered by Julius Ceasar in 58-51 BC,  it became a major city during the period of the Roman Empire.  On May 7, 1945 General Eisenhower and the Allies received the unconditional surrender from the Germans in Reims.
We saw the Mars Gate, which was one of 4 Roman gates to the city walls built in the third or fourth century.

We toured the Cathedral Notre Dame of Reims.  The  cathedral is compared to Westminster Abbey in London because it's where all the kings of France were crowned.  Like most European churches, it is a magnificent structure.

The alter and stain glass windows were breathtaking.

It was a nice afternoon to walk around the square, but we had an appointment at Mumm's to tour the champagne facility.

The tour was though the man made caves where it's temperature controlled.

We saw where the champagne is stored and how the bottles are turned and pampered for anywhere from 6 months to seven years.

Julie, our guide was very knowledgeable  and gave us lots of information about champagne and answered all our questions.

Then to the tasting room.  We tried several, from the most basic to the most expensive.

Guess which we liked best?

Caio to Italy

We hate to leave the beautiful Lake Como area.  We had the most incredible apartment and awesome view.  The lake and mountains couldn't be beat.

Time for one last dinner by Matteo at the Ca Mia.  Friday night was fish night and we had great variety, including cuttle fish with black ink.  The main dish was corvina, Tom thought it was sea bass--delicious.  But all good things must come to an end and Italy is no exception.  We packed up and took our hairpin turns down the mountain one last time. That road was always a challenge, you never knew who or what you might meet.  Tom was a champ! Chamonix  here we come.  We went through lots of tunnels on this trip including the seven mile long Mont Blanc tunnel where the toll was 50€.

We entered the tunnel in Italy and came out in France.  Chamonix is a mountain village that sits in the valley in the shadow of Mont Blanc (15,772 ft high).   It was the home of the first Winter Olympics in 1924.  It's a ski resort town, but it's the low season, so it's not over crowded, which is nice.  The snow covered mountains are majestic.  We could see Mont Blanc from the balcony of our hotel room.

It was Tom's birthday, so we celebrated with fondue.

The weather was perfect, so we could sit outside and enjoy our lunch.

We had a nice time watching the hang gliders as we ate.

In the afternoon, we walked around the village checking out what Chamonix had to offer.

We thought we might try out the casino, but they wanted to see our passports and we had left them in the hotel.  That kept us from losing anything.

Sunday morning we woke up to rain.  The hotel had given us train passes to Vallorcine, a small village about 20 minutes north of Chamonix.  We missed the first train, so that gave us an opportunity for a cappachino.  A perfect treat for a cold, rainy day.  That also gave us time for a little shopping and a nice lunch.  French onion soup hit the spot.  Back to the train and on to Vallorcine.

The train only went to the little town of Argentiere and from there we got on a bus to Vallorcine.

It was a cute little village, but totally closed down, because it's a ski town and it's between the summer hiking season and the winter sports season.  We walked around a bit and waited for the bus to come back and pick us up.

Back on the bus, back on the train, back to Chamonix. We will have fond memories of this beautiful village.

Lost in Milano

The weather could not be more beautiful, a perfect fall day, 70 degrees, and not a cloud in the sky.
Our last day to explore the Northern Italy area, so we're off to Milan.  The GPS got us right to city center, we parked the car and we're on our own.  Now which way was that castle we saw as we were coming in?  We decided we should get a city map.  Today we couldn't even find the hop on/hop off bus, yikes!  Well, we can do this.  We set out to find the castle (the wrong way, oops!).  Finally we turned around, stopped for a cappuccino refreshment and took off in the right direction.
We found the beautiful old Basilica Santa Maria delle Grazie where Leonardo da Vinci's "Last Supper" is housed.

Unfortunately, you have to have reservations two weeks in advance to see it.  However, we did get to see many of da Vinci's original drawings.

He also painted the ceiling in the chapel where the drawings were displayed.

We did see a copy of the "Last Supper" posted outside the church.

Inspired, we set out to find the largest cathedral in the world, the Duomo of Milano.  And with a little help, we found it!  Wow!  Very impressive.

This is truly the most ornate church we've seen.  We toured the inside.

It's magnificent, from the tile floor, the stain-glass windows, to the alter.

Next we paid to take the elevator, not the 250 stairs, to the rooftop.  They are restoring parts of the spires and other areas of the church.

This was the closest view of the gold Madonna gracing the tallest spire.

Making our way back down, time for lunch.  We found a nice bistro for a sandwich and they had gelato.

Now, we are going to find that castle!  There were lots of people out enjoying the perfect blue  sky day.  Eureka!  The castle.  It's the Castello Sforzesco.

This magnificent structure was started in 1368 and then added onto and enlarged by each next resident.

We were intrigued by the interesting sculpture of the "needle and thread" by the train station as we walked back to the car.

We had a wonderful day in Milan, but we need to beat the afternoon traffic out of town, so we make our way back to Perledo and the apartment.

Casa Olea and the Lake Como Area

What a great couple of days we've had.  Our apartment is fabulous!  It overlooks Lake Como and has an interesting history.  It is part of a remodeled old stone farmhouse.  Our landlady took the broken down old farmhouse and turned it into four modern (Ikea furnished) apartments while keeping as much of the original stone as possible.

Of course, the view of the lake and mountains are the most spectacular part.  We can lay in bed and look out at that panorama.

The apartment is nesseled in a area bounded by a beautiful church, lovely old houses and narrow passage ways.  Since it's not the high season, we are the only ones here now.  We even have our own private swimming pool, but it's way too cold to make use of it.

Yesterday, we took a road trip to Como and Bellagio.  We drove through Como looking for a place to have lunch.  Like every thing in Italy, Como is charming with picture postcard vistas at every turn.  We found a parking place (always a challenge) and a very nice place right on the lake to have lunch.

Refreshed and full, we headed north for Bellagio.  On the way, we stopped to try to find George Clooney's Italian home.  We were across the lake from his place and we weren't exactly sure where it was, but we were sure we saw it!  Anyway, we took lots of pictures, so it must be there somewhere.

Bellagio was bustling with tourists and locals.  This was the most people we've come in contact with.  We shopped the little shops up the alleys and in the passages.

We took the ferry back over to Varenna and back to the apartment.  Such a nice day!
Today we went to the Castello di Vezio, the castle we can see from our apartment.  The castle was built by Toedolinda queen of the Longbards during the Roman age.

The position of the castle allowed control of the lake and walls were built around the hillside to protect the village of Varenna.

We walked the wooden stairs up to the top for the most spectacular views.

The castle also serves as a falconry.  We saw several birds of prey, but no show.

There are also "ghosts" around the castle.  They are made of white chalk.  Every summer, tourists offer to be put in position and covered with gauze and then white chalk for 20 minutes until the chalk dries.  Count me out on that opportunity.