Switzerland

Towering Mountains, Beautiful Lakes

A Valley of Clouds

Waterfalls from on High

Some of the Best Scenery on Earth

Lest you think I am channeling Ansel Adams - no - I did not take those pix.  I was too busy navigating the hairpin bends on the Swiss roads through the Alps!

Leaving 5Terre, we headed to Germany, spending one night in Lugano, Switzerland. 

We thought it was going to be a quaint Swiss village on the lake (think Swiss Chalet!) but it was an ultra modern city with very expensive stores of interest to those very much more chic than us. Watches, jewelry, designer clothes, chocolates – everything Swiss. It was still beautiful though, wrapped around Lake Lugano with the mountains as a backdrop.

After the very reasonable prices in Italy, we were a bit taken aback by the menu at the restaurant that was recommended to us. About $7.50 for a coke, and the cheapest bottle of wine was about $80.00. Nevertheless, we had one of the best meals we have had on the trip, with Lorraine sticking to the mixed seafood risotto, but mine was most incredible lamb dish I have ever tasted. Chops cut from a rack of lamb, coated in a crushed pistachio and pepper crust, then seared on the outside but left perfectly pink and warm on the inside. Served with green peppercorns in a hunter sauce on a bed of garlic mashed potatoes with asparagus on the side. It was very expensive, but this restaurant (Tango – Lugano) was worth it.

Switzerland as a vista had disappointed up till then, but the next morning, after we both agreed that the scenery was less than spectacular, the countryside responded with a vengeance to put us right, and erupted into some of the most magnificent sights we have seen yet.

The Swiss Alps were stunning, high mountains, waterfalls cascading down the steep hillside, carving their way to teal blue streams and lakes. Mountains reached down and wreathed their shoulders with chains of cotton candy clouds. Dotting the slopes, some perched impossibly on the heights were little villages full of – well – Swiss chalets! All wooden beams, slate roofs, whitewashed walls with dark wood trim around the windows, window boxes overflowing with pink and red geraniums – they were postcard pictures.

Then we arrived in Augsburg, Germany, to take the train to Munich and OKTOBERFEST!