Goodbye Switzerland!

Day 10 – 3/18/18

Like all good things, our time in Switzerland had to come to an end. We woke up this morning to trees frosted in a fresh layer of snow, and best of all, clear views of the Matterhorn!

After our third ridiculously amazing breakfast at our hotel, we went for one last walk through town. The views were spectacular!

I absolutely loved our time in Switzerland. Someday I’d like to visit this area in the summer. We all noticed that things move at a completely different pace here in Switzerland! The minute I stepped onto Swiss soil, I stopped worrying about pickpocketers. In fact, the key system at our hotel was set up so that when you leave the hotel for the day, you hang your key on a hook so it’s there waiting for you when you return.

This may be weird but another thing we loved was the hotel shower. If there were a website for shower reviews, I’d leave a review with 5/5 stars! Perfect pressure, volume and heat!

There are far fewer snowboarders on the slopes here. However, I did have an encounter with one snowboarding jerk (not an American) who cut me off, causing me to fall. He knew he did it and kept going; it was rude and super annoying. I took care of it though. I caught up to him where he was stopped and as I skied by, I whacked him in the shin with my pole. Don’t mess with mama! 😉 Retribution is so sweet.

The skiing here is so different too. Like I mentioned before, the lack of trees gives it a completely different feel. There are tons of long, groomed cruisers which I know my skiing friends Stacie, Meg and John would really enjoy! In my advancing age (and bodily creakiness), I was loving those runs. For our sunny day, I coined the term “sightskiing”. The views, combined with the awesome conditions, made our first day of skiing one of my top 3 ever. I’ve skied a lot, so trust me, that statistic means something. My family found the powder steeps they were craving too, so Zermatt definitely offers something for everyone.

We left Zermatt on the 11:13 am train. We had 2 hours to kill in the beautiful town of Brig, Switzerland. We walked all over the beautiful town, seeing the sights and looking for a place to eat lunch. It’s been over a week since I last consumed Asian food so when we stumbled upon a Thai restaurant in the middle of Switzerland, I was so excited! It wasn’t even close to my favorite Sam Thai food but it still tasted so good!

We arrived back in Florence at about 7:30 pm and checked into our hotel, The Grand Hotel Adriatico. It’s the weirdest hotel room I’ve ever stayed in! It’s L shaped and has a king bed in one room and two twin beds in the other room! Brady brought us a bunch of stuff he needed for us to bring home and then we headed to dinner.

We ate at Ristorante Le Fonticine and it was the best meal we had in Florence! We started with beef carpaccio and the Medici salad. Divine! Brady and Ike got amazing tortelloni with spinach and ricotta in a truffle cream sauce. FYI, I got the biggest compliment ever from Ike: “Mom, it tastes so much like your cream sauce” (thanks to my Italian friend Maria who gave me the recipe!). Tommy and I got the BEST gnocchi. It was in a cream sauce with walnuts and arugula. It was so pillowy and tender! Absolutely delicious! Troy had lamb chops with Swiss chard, which was also delicious!

After dinner we took one last walk past the Duomo before saying our teary goodbyes to Brady.

It’s been a wonderful trip full of adventures of all sorts. We’re all sad to leave.

For now,

Arrivederci

Climb Every Mountain (if you’re Ike)

Day 9 – 3/17/18

Bluebird ski days are less common than you might think.  We knew yesterday’s weather was so lucky, and trust me, we appreciated it!  Today was a completely different story.  When we woke up it was snowing….and it didn’t stop.  Actually, it’s STILL snowing!

We knew we had two days to ski, no matter what the weather was like so we got up early again and were on the 8:00 am train to the Gornegat.  If you’re a skier, you know that those gray and snowy days can be great, but the conditions can make it difficult to see.  That’s what we were dealing with today.  The visibility was very low.  We were grateful we had skied it yesterday so we had a little bit of a clue where we were going.  I’d post a picture but it looks like a piece of printer paper so just use your imagination.

On our first run, we momentarily got split up.  In that short time, Ike skied outside of the boundary into an area which had a sign that stated that those who skied beyond that point would lose their ski pass and face the police.  AHHH!  I was freaking out.  However, that wasn’t even the big problem.  Ike was in a bad spot.  He had skied himself to the edge of a cliff.  We were above him and could see that there was no safe way out.  He thought he could make it and we were sure he would die.  Three mountain goats ran past him at one point.  Ok, I’ll admit it, I was crying.  We were finally able to convince him that the only way out of the situation was to climb out.  He started climbing (and Troy, Brady and Tommy took a couple runs) and close to an hour later, he was out.  Here’s a picture I took when I thought he might be safe.

The rest of the morning went really well.  If the light wasn’t so flat, it would have been great!  It’s so odd to be skiing along and suddenly the earth drops out from under you or conversely, your knees are suddenly in your stomach.  Visibility matters with skiing.  When we were finally ready to find a spot for lunch, we went back to the scene of yesterday’s crime.  It was delicious!  Troy and I had quiche and soup, Brady and Ike had a Swiss dish which is basically hashbrowns topped with cheese, bacon and an egg.  Tommy had roasted chicken and fries.  We didn’t have to hide while we ate!  BONUS!

Our afternoon went by in the blink of an eye and before we knew it, our time for skiing was done.  We decided that we’d have sandwiches in our hotel room instead of going out for dinner so we took a walk to the grocery store to get supplies.

After dinner we went for a long walk through Zermatt.  Since it’s St. Patrick’s Day, the bars were very lively!  We made one final stop at Stephanie’s Crepes for a sweet treat.  That crepe may have been the most delicious thing we’ve eaten!  We chose to have a chocolate and strawberry filled crepe.

We leave Zermatt tomorrow morning and arrive back in Florence tomorrow evening.  It’ll be our last night with Brady; we fly home early Monday morning.

Until tomorrow,

Auf Wiedersehen

The Clampitts hit Zermatt

Day 8 – 3/16/18

If you know our family at all, you know that we love to ski! From the time all three of our boys were about 2 or 3 years old, we had them on skis. It was partly selfish since we knew that skiing with them is a family activity that we can always do together.  Now they’re older and today we had a wonderful day skiing together in Switzerland!

When we woke up, I was beyond excited to see blue skies!  I had been so afraid of clouds obscuring the Matterhorn during our visit.  We had a delicious breakfast at our hotel before heading to the train station to take the Gornergat.  In my life I’ve taken a lot of chair lifts, oodles of gondolas, and trams several times but I’ve never been transported to a ski run by a train.  It was super cool!  It was also where I saw my first sight of the Matterhorn.

We dropped right in and started enjoying the skiing!  Almost all of the skiing I’ve done in my life has been in Colorado and Montana.  The Swiss Alps are so unique!  Most of the skiing here is above the treeline which gives you an odd feeling of being dropped on the moon!  The lack of trees also means the runs aren’t very clearly defined, even if they were well marked (which they aren’t).  However, it’s not hard to find your way around since you can see so far!

I loved the wide, beautifully groomed trails.  The weather was absolutely perfect; sunny and warm but not too warm (ie not melty).  We spent our entire morning exploring different parts of the mountains, hitting as many fresh groomers as we could. The sheer size of the ski area is unfathomable.  We barely made a dent.  Here are some photos that don’t begin to show the real beauty of the Swiss Alps.

When we ski in Colorado or Montana, we’ve always packed a lunch to bring to the mountain with us.  Chalet food is SUPER expensive and a pb&j, Pringles and clementines taste absolutely divine after a morning of skiing.  So when we decided to ski in Zermatt, we didn’t think twice, of course we’d pack a lunch.  When we set off this morning, we  had baguettes, cheese (SWISS cheese), meats, oranges, Pringles and a few sweet treats for our lunch.  When we started getting hungry and were looking around for somewhere to eat, we realized that there aren’t any chalets here that are owned by the mountain resort.  There are lots of restaurants on the mountain but they’re all privately owned!  We realized that eating our own food at one of them might be a problem.  We debated about what to do and finally decided to use the “beg for forgiveness instead of ask for permission” philosophy.  We managed to find ourselves a prime spot on a patio.  We were all afraid to take out our food.  Finally Tommy had enough and pulled out the Pringles.  It was like the jukebox went off.  Seriously, people at the tables around us stopped talking and were glaring at us.  We didn’t know what to do so we shoveled our food in as fast as we could, while dying laughing.  About 10 minutes later, a young couple sat down at a table next to us and I spotted the guy making himself a sandwich!  We were overjoyed that we weren’t the only losers!  He saw that Ike was wearing a North Stars t-shirt and asked if we were from Minnesota and when we said yes, he replied that he was from Duluth!  We chatted with them for about 15 minutes and found out that sneaking your own lunch into a restaurant (when I say it that way it sounds so bad) is frowned upon so tomorrow we’ll dine and dash.  Kidding, tomorrow we’ll PAY FOR LUNCH!  🙂  It was a funny Anderson adventure. The only picture I took at lunch was the Toblerone pic that everyone who visits the Matterhorn takes!

After lunch we used some tips from our Duluth friend to find some steep powder runs.  We all had some Jerry of the Day moments including two double releases by mama, one in an area that looked like it would avalanche if I sneezed.  Again, the scenery is simply beyond description.  It’s a beauty like nothing I’ve ever seen before.

At the end of our ski day we headed back to our hotel to relax (in robes) on our deck.  It was fantastic!

Tonight was the night we had decided to have our special Swiss dinner.  We chose to have the dinner at the restaurant in our hotel, Theodors Stuba.  We tried two Swiss specialties, raclette and fondue, two styles: cheese and meat.  It was delicious and so fun to try the local specialties!

Tomorrow is another ski day and our last full day in Switzerland!

Until then,

Auf Wiedersehen!

Switzerland!

Day 7 – 3/15/18

Italian trains are notorious for randomly striking and/or running late, so I was nervous about making all 3 of our train connections for our trip to Zermatt Switzerland. Guess what? WE MADE IT!

Our train started in Florence, made an 1.5 hour long stop in Milan, and a super short “run for it” stop in Brig, Switzerland. The ride through the Italian countryside wasn’t as charming as I had anticipated. Since my eyeballs are used to the beauty of the Tuscan countryside so I’m not sure why I had such high hopes. However, once we hit the lake region of Italy, it was a different story!! We rolled past beautiful lakes surrounded by jagged mountains. It was another misty and rainy day which only enhanced the mystic beauty…..and made me happy we were viewing it from the cozy comfort of inside a train! Here are some pictures from our “commute” from Florence to Zermatt.

When we arrived, we walked about 3 minutes to our hotel, The Hotel Walliserhoff Zermatt. I know that Europe is notorious for having small hotel rooms but we’ve REALLY lucked out on this trip! Our room is actually a suite of 3 rooms! Tommy has his own room, Ike and Brady share a room, and Troy and I have the master. The best part is the deck that runs the length of Brady, Ike and our room and overlooks the main street below. Here’s a photo of me on our deck! The whole deck above the signs is ours!

After we got settled into our room we all wanted to walk around and get something to eat.  You might be surprised to learn that Zermatt has THE MOST EXPENSIVE FOOD IN THE WORLD.  Ok, maybe that’s an exaggeration but we checked in at McDonald’s and the price of a Big Mac is $13.  I knew this in advance and had come up with a few “reasonable” options for us.  We decided to have dinner at Brown Cow, a burger joint/pub close to us.  Burgers were in the $20 range but they came with a salad and fries. Best of all, they were great!

After fueling up, we were ready for a walk.  Every time we go skiing, we try to get out and walk around the mountain in an attempt to get acclimated to the altitude.  Walking around the village and up into the clusters of traditional Swiss chalets was so cool!!!  It was still cloudy here when it got dark so we hope we’ll have a little bit of sunshine in the next couple days so we can get a glimpse of the Matterhorn!

We’re hitting the slopes tomorrow!

Until then,

Auf Wiedersehen!

Exploring Florence

Day 6 – 3/14/18

For our last day in Florence, we knew we wanted to see the insides of some of the more historic sights we had walked past a few days ago.  Unfortunately, my excellent planning fell just short of the research required to actually procure tickets to said sights.  Fortunately, we had Anderson luck and it turned out that we were able to see just about everything we wanted to see!  It always works out (usually with a lot of yelling)!

Our dream agenda for the day was fairly simple: Duomo and Accademia to see David.  When we woke up, we were so excited because the skies above Florence were blue!  When we went to get tickets to the Duomo, shock of all shocks, all the time slots to climb to the top of the Duomo were sold out.  We went ahead and got the tickets anyway since they allowed us access to 4 other parts of the Piazza del Duomo.  It turned out perfect!  We started by climbing up Giotto’s Campanile, the tall bell tower right next to the Duomo.  The 414 step climb is narrow and serves both up and down traffic so we were literally brushing shoulders with others the whole time!  The views around each corner became more and more beautiful the higher we climbed!  Pardon all my photos but it was just breathtaking!

Our second stop was the Galleria dell’Accademia to see Michelangelo’s David.  We were able to walk right in!  I was absolutely awestruck (remember my obsession with Michelangelo?)!!!!

We toured other parts of the Accademia and finally decided to leave after Brady got yelled at twice and I got yelled at once.  Apparently we’re not very good at following their rules.

The final thing we wanted to check off our list was a visit inside the Duomo.  The line was short and we were all absolutely awestruck at the cavernous, gravity-defying beauty of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore and Brunelleschi’s Dome.

We had a quick lunch at Brady’s favorite pizza place, Gusta Pizza, before heading back to our apartment for a brief siesta.

After our nap, we were ready for a good walk!  We decided to go back to the Piazza Michelangelo (we were there back on day 1) to watch the sun set.  It was a brilliant choice!

We’re leaving Florence tomorrow to head to Switzerland.  Since we won’t be needing all our luggage, we “recombobulated” our bags and left our extra stuff at Brady’s apartment.  After that, we were ready for another delicious dinner!  Instead of going with a restaurant for which we had a recommendation, we decided to fly by the seats of our collective pants and pick one for ourselves.  We found Ristorante La Spada Firenze just a couple blocks from our apartment and it was a winner!  Troy had tortellini with peas and ham, Brady and I had fresh pasta with pecorino cheese, Ike had penne alla sorrentina, and Tommy had roasted rabbit!  We all loved our meals!  We finished our night with one last sorbet fix!

We have an early (and long) day of travel adventures tomorrow!  I’ll be adding another country to my list!

Until then,

Ciao

Under the Tuscan Sun (And clouds. Mostly clouds)

Day 5 – 3/13/18

When we were in Tuscany 8 years ago, I took a cooking class while Troy, my brother and the boys rented a car and explored the Tuscan countryside.  While the cooking class was one of my all-time favorite cooking activities, I was always sad that I had missed the day driving around Tuscany.  When it came time to book this trip, we decided that we’d take a day to rent a car and get out and see some Tuscan sites.

First of all, Italian drivers are crazy!  I’ve almost gotten hit multiple times; although, it’s been mostly my own fault for wandering out into the middle of the street like a dumb tourist, which I actually am.  I was scared for Troy to drive here in the city of Florence.  The traffic is insane, there are weird and random laws, and the local drivers can sniff out the weak in a split second.  I’m here to tell you: WE MADE IT (ask me in 30 days if we got any tickets in the mail)!!!  Troy did a great job!

Our route (click here) took us west of Florence to the town of San Gimignano.  It’s a 13th century walled city that is famous for its 14 (there were 72 originally) towers. It was incredibly fun to just walk the streets and narrow alleyways.  I’ll admit, my favorite part was finding the most delicious chocolate croissant and cappuccino for a mid-morning snack.

After leaving San Gimignano, we headed south and west to the town of Volterra.  Volterra was far less touristy and much more interesting than San Gimignano!  It’s amazing to think that over 2,000 years ago, 20,000 people were living in that fortified city.  The arch, Porta all’Arco, leads into the town and is believed to be the first place that a keystone was used.  During World War II, the Nazi forces occupying Volterra were planning to bomb the Porta all’Arco in an effort to block the Allied troops.  However, the residents of Volterra pulled the pavers off the street and used them to block the gate, thus securing the Nazis’ occupation, and the gate.

Ok, enough with the history lesson.  We found lunch at a wonderful little kabob place in Volterra.  The cous cous, doner and ice cold Coke were just what we needed!

After our day in the countryside, we wanted to have a famous Florentine treat for dinner: Steak Florentine.  Il Latini, a restaurant close to our apartment, came with several positive recommendations.  We got a reservation for 7:30, the time that they open.  When we arrived, there were at least 50 people waiting in a line to get in.  We immediately dropped our Minnesota nice and worked our way to the front of the line, assuring that we’d get in on time…and we did!

Our meal was spectacular, to say the least.  Troy always loves lamb so he went against the grain and ordered a lamb dish.  The rest of us had Steak Florentine, cooked medium rare and served with rock salt.  It was melt-in-your-mouth deliciousness.  We all shared roasted potatoes, roasted vegetables and fried zucchini blossoms.  When our meal was complete, we were served sweet wine and biscotti, which we were told to dip in the wine.  It was truly a meal to remember!

After dinner, we walked for a bit, as usual. It was beautiful out!

Tomorrow, Brady plans to play hooky and do a little sightseeing with us.  I need to see Michelangelo’s David and we all want to tour the Duomo.

Wednesday adventures await!

Ciao

Tuscany Wine Tour

Day 4 – 3/12/18

Our day dawned bright and clear.  Take a good look at the photo below because that’s just about the only blue sky we saw all day!

I was so excited to get up and make breakfast for Brady!  It’s one of my favorite things to do…especially with the novelty of doing it in a different country.  After Brady went to school, we got ready to head to our afternoon wine tour.  Our tour left at 1:15 and took us to the Chianti Classico region of Tuscany.  Our first stop was at the Palagio winery where we sampled 4 wines, lots of cheeses, oils, jams and of course, olive oil.  It was delizioso!  Here are some photos from our time at Palagio.

Our next stop was in Greve in Chianti, a cute little tourist town where Tommy and I found the most amazing fruit tarts.  They were well worth the price, considering we got to use the bathroom too.  Our blue sky had clouded over as soon as the tour started but we were lucky to have rain-free weather in Greve in Chianti and we used the opportunity to walk up some hills in town.  The views were spectacular!

Our final stop was at the Poggio Amorelli winery.   We were introduced to a Vermentino Spumante, which is a proseco-type cuvee-ish white wine.  We also tried 3 differently aged Chianti Classico wines, and we even had an opportunity to sample their grappa (which was ewww).  The wines were served with all sorts of goodies: breads, cheeses, salami, balsamic vinegars, olive oils and my favorite, truffle oil.

Mondays are Brady’s long days for school so he was waiting for us just as we were returning to our apartment at around 8pm.  We were all starving so we decided to head right to dinner.  I had a perfect dinner spot picked out, thanks to my stellar eavesdropping skills.  Our tour guide was giving restaurant tips to other people on the bus and I made a note of her recommendation for Trattoria Za Za.  Little did I know how cozy the atmosphere would be!  Sheepskin on the chairs?  Heat lamps above our table? Blankets to snuggle with in case of a chill?  YES!

Our dinner was the best of the trip so far.  We started out with Beef Tartare with Truffles and Artichokes with Truffles and Parmesan.  The kids were very interested to eat raw beef (“interested” might be a polite way to say “scared”) but they LOVED it.  Ike and I got pappardelle with wild boar.  Troy had a tortellini dish, Brady had gnocchi with gorgonzola truffle sauce (such soft and pillowy gnocchi!), and Tommy had beef escalope with rosemary potatoes.  We were all so happy with our meals!

We’ve all been craving gelato, and we finally got it!  It was the perfect way to top off a perfect night!

We have more adventures planned for tomorrow! Until then….

Ciao!

We made it!

Day 3 – 3/11/18

Our first day in Florence started exactly at midnight when we finally arrived at our apartment! To see where we’re staying, click here. Maria Teresa, the owner, was there to greet us and show us around. It’s a beautifully spacious apartment in a great location! After our long day (and night?) of travel, we were exhausted. We were all happy to be able to go to bed without setting an alarm. Brady was in Sicily for school until Sunday night so we knew we could play Sunday by ear.

We woke up Sunday morning to a gray and rainy day. Since vacations don’t wait for sunshine, we went ahead with my “master plan” of exploring Florence. We didn’t get going until close to noon so one of our first stops was for lunch. Or breakfast. Or whatever you call gnocchi when it’s the first meal of the day.

After carbo loading we walked. And walked. And walked! We really lucked out. The weather, while gray and sometimes rainy, was mild. I really loved it. My plan was to do the speed dating version of sightseeing, sort of a drive by (or walk by, in our case) philosophy. We were able to see close to 20 different “don’t miss” Florence tourist sights! Don’t worry, we’ll delve deeper into some of them in the coming days. But for now, we just got a quickie taste of all Florence has to offer. Here are a few photographic highlights of our day:

I know that Florence is absolutely beautiful on a sunny day but there was just something about the fog and mist that enchanted me. Maybe my skin and hair were craving humidity but I loved this weather! I won’t name names but not everyone was so much of a fan.

My current obsession with Michelangelo and his life and body of works is being fuel by the book The Agony and the Ecstasy (A Biographical Novel of Michelangelo), which I’m in the process of reading. Today was HUGE for me in in the Michelangelo fan-girl department. I got to see the house he was raised in, walk the streets he walked, and best of all, see the Crucifix he sculpted for the Basilica di Santo Spirito. More than anything, I wanted to disobey the rules and take a photo, but I did not. So instead, here are some other photos from our day.

And of course, one of my boyfriend (I broke no rules by taking this photo).

After our long wall through Florence, we headed back home to have some snacks and wait for Brady to get into town so we could go to dinner.

It was so fun to see Brady when he finally arrived! It’s been 3 months and I missed my boy! We had a wonderful dinner and walked around the city. Brady is staying with us for a few days (free food and laundry, shocking that he’s staying here, huh?) and it makes me so happy to have my family under one roof!

Tomorrow will bring new adventures!

Until then~

Ciao

Something’s in the air…

Day 2 – 3/10/18

Hello Amsterdam!

The 10 hour layover in Amsterdam was an incredibly good idea! We were able to put our luggage in storage, hop on a train, and made it to the Anne Frank house with enough spare time to make a pit stop by a French fry stand (with mayo, per Lily Anderson’s recommendation). DELICIOUS!

The Anne Frank house was far better than I could have imagined! Yes, I cried all the way through. I remember reading her diary when I was young and I’m so happy that I was finally able to visit the home where Anne Frank lived. It really was a dream come true!

After we left the Anne Frank tour we found a restaurant to eat at. Our body clocks were a bit messed up so we’re not exactly sure what meal we needed to eat but we were hungry. Ike thought it was fun to order a beer there since he’s legal in Holland.

After our meal (we’re still undecided about exactly WHAT meal it was), we made our way toward the Heineken Experience, which is a tour of the original Heineken brewery. All things considered, it was fun but I definitely wouldn’t put it at the top of my Amsterdam must-do list. On our way back to the train station, we took the kids through the red light district because why not?

My reflections from the day: I loved Amsterdam!!! I felt like I was in a Cheech and Chong movie with the constant scent of pot in the air but hey, it’s Amsterdam. Visiting the Anne Frank house was so moving! Save your money on the Heineken Experience and instead, go to a cool restaurant and get yourself a Heineken there.

Next up, Florence!

Ciao

We’re off!

Day 1 – 3/9/18

We’re all set for the first leg of our spring break adventure!!! Tonight we fly to Amsterdam where we’ll enjoy our 10 hour layover by visiting the Anne Frank house and then doing the Heineken Experience at the Heineken brewery.

Ever since I read The Diary of Anne Frank when I was 11 years old, I’ve dreamed of touring the house where it took place! I’m beyond excited!

Our flight to Florence leaves at 9:00 pm (21:00, for those of you who are more sophisticated than me) and arrives at 11:00 pm. We have an Airbnb booked and if it turns out half as nice as the pictures on the website, I’ll be ecstatic! If jet lag doesn’t take me down, I’ll update tomorrow!

Ciao!