Return to Andorra (+some stops)

No update for yesterday as we spent the day driving.  We went from zurich to roses, Spain.  I was sad that we didn't get to see more of Switzerland, but the weather wasn't cooperating with us so we decided to make it a long driving day...10 hours of it, but now we are very close to Barcelona which means our long drives are over!!

This morning we left Spain and came back to Andorra. This country is great!  So...much...shopping!!!  We stopped in a town on one side of a mountain pass that saw us reach an elevation of 2400 meters, and the temperature was 3!!  Mike was happy to be cruising around in his flannel shirt again.  We did some shopping then carried on to Andorra la vella.  This time the spa is open and we will be visiting it on Tuesday after we spend the next two nights in the wilderness, so we will appreciate it I am sure.

It's funny being back in this town because we went to a very nice mall this time that we never saw last time, and turns out it was just a minute down the road.  How I missed this, I will never know!   Tonight we stay with our hosts from last time, they are so lovely.  We even bumped into Susan in town before coming.  Gotta love small towns!!

So no updates for the next couple of days as we are going to be exploring the hut systems here!  They look pretty awesome and best thing is, they are all free!

Xoxox

Afternoon in Zurich

We left from Chamonix this morning with our destination zurich to visit my friend michele. Her and I worked together at the Banff Springs hotel and she moved back to Switzerland almost three years ago.  Our drive was beautiful.  Even though we had clouds and drizzle, we were still able to see the beauty in this country.

We arrived around lunch time and we headed into zurich.  It is a beautiful city that really doesn't feel like a big city.  It is situated on a lake with the alps in the background. I got to see where Lindt chocolate is made, but unfortunately today was a holiday here, so we couldn't go in.  We did stop for a quick second for a photo but looks like that's as close to it as I will get!  We had a delicious lunch at a cafe restaurant downtown before the weather turned on us.  Zurich really is full of banks...everywhere! And posters of roger Federer, which I didn't mind!!

We spent the rest of the day catching up, cooking dinner, watching hockey and just hanging out which was really nice way to spend a rainy evening.  michele also showed us a European tradition of the happy party table bomb where you light the bottom on fire and then little toys explode out of the top.  We had never seen anything like this before and had a good laugh.

Tomorrow we aren't sure where we will be headed.  There appears to be a dark cloud over Europe with many places calling for rain.  It is possible tomorrow is a big driving day, we will just have to see!!
We also really want to see so much more of Switzerland!

Xox

Chamonix part deux

What an amazing place this town is. As Mike put, if Banff and Chuck Norris procreated, it would be chamonix!  We awoke to beautiful blue skies and enjoyed our breakfast out in the patio.  Our hosts here had recommended a hike for us to do so we didn't waste any time and we headed out to the trailhead.

The hike was called Lac Blanc and I am sure it's a really lovely hike...In July. When we left the car,  there was snow at the valley bottom.  I was starting to wonder if this hike was going to be a bad idea.  I voiced my concerns but I think they went unheard.  :). We carried in a little bit, at this point we were hiking through a slide path!  The snow was starting to get soft and we were falling through.  Frustrations were building.  We took a different route up through some shrubs in hopes the trail would become obvious and miraculously snow free, but this was not the case.  We did manage to gain a few hundred metres before we decided to turn around.  We also realized it would probably easy to go down the very snowy route because at least when (not if) we fell,it would be soft.  We eventually made it down, completely soaked feet and cold cold hands and wet rear ends.  At least we managed some fun pictures!

In the afternoon our hosts recommended a different trail and this one was hikable.  There was still lots of snow on it but it was passable.  We got amazing views of months blanc and probably kept us busy for a few hours. We hiked up to a hut, similar to those in the Canadian rockies, but this one was locked!      The picture is of me outside the hut taking a little break.

Tomorrow it is off to Zurich to visit Michele!  Hope we can keep the weather streak alive, but it looks like it's coming to an end!

Chamonix

I think we have finally found a place that is more beautiful than Canmore.  Chamonix, france is just absolutely stunning.  It would almost be like if a town existed in the Columbia icefield.  Mont Blanc is the famous backdrop here and we got to see it in all its glory today!

We left Tuscany pretty early this morning as we had a 4.5 hours drive.  We probably went through 50 tunnels today.  It seemed like we spent more time in the dark of the tunnels than driving in the road!  Just before entering into France and chamonix area, we were met by the tunnel of all tunnels.  The Mont Blanc tunnel is about 12km and runs basically through the mountain connecting Italy to France.  We were also greeted by a 47€ toll to travel through the darn thing.  When you enter they give you an instruction sheet which we thought was overkill, but I just googled the tunnel and was reading about the disaster in there in 1999 so I can understand why they give it to you.

We spent the afternoon doing Laundry and perusing the beautiful town if chamonix.  We even found a Canadian owned brewpub with Toronto maple leaf jersey where we had some dinner.  Tomorrow we will be here as well and we are doing a hike called Lac Blanc.  This looks like a mecca for hiking, but it's not quite the season yet!  We will be gaining a bit of elevation but nothing crazy.  Hopefully the weather cooperates for us. Our accommodations are amazing, we have a full walkout suite in a beautiful chalet. Don't worry, we aren't suffering!!  This photo is taken from inside looking out but doesn't do it justice!!

Xox

Cinque Terre

Today we (kind of) hiked the famous Cinque Terre trailer in Italy.  I was pretty pumped for it but my excitement was shot pretty quickly upon our arrival when we were informed we could only hike 1 out of 4 trails on the real coastal trail. The area has been seeing lots of rain lately and there was a high risk of mud slides and some of the trail had washed away.  We weren't about to head back so we got our train pass as well because that was the other alternative between towns.

We were super happy to have had the day we had--sunny and 23 or so with a slight breeze.  The scenery really is beautiful.  We trained all the way to the southern point of the hike to start the “lovers stroll”... Supposed to be nice and flat...and closed!  So hopped on the train to the next town.  We figured out a way where we could take the secondary goat paths from the second to third towns. It was nice, it took us way up and up and then over to the next town.  We strolled through some vineyards which was nice and left the crowds behind.  The actual distance between the two was small but it took us almost two hours on the route we had to take.  The next leg was fully closed and nit accessible by foot on any trail, so back on the train we went!

The final leg I to monterusso was the only leg we could do on the true trail.  The views were fabulous and the hike very pleasant.  

All in all we are glad we did what we did.  We aren't sure we would have gone had we known in advance about all the closures.  The only really retchid thing was the washroom facilities, or lack there of them.  I am going to leave it at that...But for a trail that sees thousands or visitors daily, it is appaling. The other thing we noticed was all the cars and roads! Websites will tell you the towns are only accessible by foot, but each town had roads with big parking lots in them!  So wasn't quite as remote as we thought. But all in all a nice day.

Time for bed! We just booked chamonix tomorrow for 2 nights!!

Xox

Tuscany!

We left sunny Positano this morning and our final destination was capannori, a small town in the Tuscany region of Italy.  After a few white knuckle moments on the crazy amalfi coast road, we were cruising down the highway again!  Today was a longish day, we arrived in our town around 4.  Thus house is really neat, it's 150 years old!  Very rustic but beautiful and the couple makes their own olive oil, as seems to be the case in this part of Italy!  We are noticing each area has a unique specialty.

We decided to head into the town of Lucca which is a beautiful old town only 10 minutes away.  It has a bug wall around it and has the old charm, but without the chaos of traditional Italian cities.  We enjoyed a lovely dinner and a walk around.  There must have been a big soccer victory as we ended up in the middle of a big celebration.  I guess it's like when we celebrate hockey??

Tomorrow it's off to hike cinque Terre!  This is our last full week of the trip coming up, hard to believe!!

Capri

Today started with a bit of a hate for positano, but finished with a love. Let me explain!

We walked down from our bed and breakfast into town.  This was no easy task, as it was over 1600 steps and and over 600 meter drop in elevation. It also is a bit if an adventure just trying to figure out where to go, but we made it.  Our goal today was to rent a two person kayak and head out to the island of Capri.  This goal however, was just not possible. All if the rental agencies here on the beach would only rent singles or paddleboarding and they all said two person ones don't exist in the area.  We were pretty bummed, but decided to head over to Capri by boat and then hopefully find a kayak or canoe there!  We paid our ridiculous fee to take the ferry over, and as soon as we paid what rolled in, but a two person kayak. Of course by this point it was too late.

While heading out to Capri, we realized it wasn't the island we thought it was and was actually much further (if we had the kayaks we wouldn't of made it there).  And while arriving at Capri we were a but horrified to see the herds and swarms of people. We got off the boat and it was time for a plan.  Immediately we were approached and offered boat rentals with a guide.  We went for it after a bit of bartering and we're happy we did.  We got a 2 hour private guided trip around the whole island with stops in a green grotto time swim!  The water was so warm, and the color if the water was just awesome.  Mike stopped for a cliff jump, and our guide pointed out the sites and drove us right into some awesome caves.  There is some serious real estate there... Never have we seen houses like that before. Our guide told us about last year bill Gates visiting on his 130 meter yacht! Of course right?

We were really glad we did the trip, though we didn't get to do the blue grotto Kelly!!  (It's a cash cow and surely the back packers did it different...13€ each and transfer to a row boat to go in for one minute )

We headed back into positano and mike tried stand up paddle boarding!  He said it was harder than he thought but would definitely do it again!  We were feeling a bit lazy after lounging on boats since we thought we  should climb back up the steps!  It was actually a great walk up, aside from getting a bit lost.

Dinner tonight was absolute perfection.  It was all locally grown fruits and veggies, literally grown in the back yard, and can you ever taste the difference!  The meal was definitely one of the best meals either of us had in our lives.  The view is stunning down to the sea, the temperature was perfect, and the company fantastic! We even got to watch a lightning show which was neat!

Tomorrow its off to wine country and away from the very busy parts!