Our last blog finished in Firenze from there we took an unremarkable drive to Venezia, unremarkable in that we went to an outlet called The Mall that has designer brands at half price. Bottega is still expensive when it is half price so we didn't buy much, a wallet for me and Alycia picked up a few things as well. Still we managed to spend way too much time there, like 4 hours.
Once we got to Mestre, the city near Venezia on the mainland, we found a car park that was not too expensive and jumped on a train to Venezia. Trying to get a ticket was a mission with heaps of "foreigners" trying to "help" us, I think we must have had tourist written on our foreheads. Once we got to the island Alycia fell in love with Venezia as much as I was in love with Grappa di Prosecco. I must admit the canals and old buildings lit by the sunset was pretty magical.
For the next three days we proceeded to get lost in the narrow alleys and have a grand old time. A Venetian island called Murano that is famous for its glass ornaments was a highlight, it was really pretty there. We were looking at a particular shop where there were some nice rings and other jewellery and the lady asked if we wanted to see something being made and she directed us to the back of the shop where her husband was making some blown glass birds. It was mesmerising watching him work with the glass and gold leaf, apparently he has been doing it since he was 8 years old (nothing like some good old fashioned child labour). When we returned to the main island we decided to spend some gift money we had on a drink in Piazza St Marco (as this was its intended purpose) and we got a couple of Aperol spritz for the cheap price of €28, at least there were free potato chips.
The highlight for me was finding a little wine bar where they had some bar snacks and wine all at bargain basement prices, complete with a photo of Bragelina exiting the shop on the wall. Better than that they also had the grappa that I was searching for. Prosecco is the Italian version of Champagne, and it is made in Veneto - the region where Venezia is. When we were back in Pescara my cousin gave us Grappa di Prosecco as a digestive and it is delicious. So I was searching around for it and finally found it in this wine bar (green awning in the photo).
In my search for Grappa we got given a pamphlet of Poli Grappa, one of the main commercial manufacturers of grappa. I had left it on the table when we were getting some dinner and the waiter proceeded to inform us about the brand and that they have a grappa museum in a nearby town called Bassano Del Grappa. Apparently there is a mountain called Grappa and at its base is Bassano, so that promptly replaced Verona on our itinerary.
The Grappa museum turned out to be more of a distillation museum and they had specifications and replicas of stills all the way back to the 1500's. We tried some delicious grappas and then proceeded to buy way too much, now we just need to figure out how to get them back to Aus. This comes very close to my favourite place we have been to. The people are very Austrian looking and the town was very quaint, not to mention that there is some great distilleries there making delicious grappa.
We returned to Lago di Como for a few days break from travelling and got a nice 2 bedroom apartment and cooked a few meals. We were on the opposite side of the lake to when we went there last time and the road was amazing. It is about 40 kms of tunnels and bridges. The lake was covered in fog for most of the time we were there but we still got to go to Lecco and have a coffee and a walk around. I think Italy knew that we were leaving, because as we were saying good bye to Lecco there was a parade of Ferraris old and new to see us off, thanks Italia!
Next day we travelled to Chamonix a beautiful village on the French side of Monte Bianco, our room had an amazing view that was shrouded in cloud until the last morning when it waved us good bye with all its beauty.
While we were there we went up to a lookout on one of the peaks in the photo (the sunlit one on the very right) to get a better view of Monte Bianco but it was shrouded in cloud and only revealed the mountain in glimpses. The rapid elevation from 1000m to 3842m and running up and down stairs at the lookout made us all feel a bit nauseous and dizzy. We were about to give up and got a coffee in the cafe then all of a sudden we had 30 minutes where the clouds parted and you could see Monte Bianco including the glaciers in all their glory. It doesn't matter how many cities or old ruins you see nothing can fill you with awe and make you feel quite so small as a big mountain.
On our way to visit Alycia's family in Grenoble we stopped in a nice little town called Annecy for lunch it had nice canals and a pretty lake from the shores of which you can see all the way down the valley a hundred kilometres to Monte Bianco.
It was nice to meet some of Alycia's extended family after spending so much time with mine. There are some striking resemblance's that are genetic and just plain strange, long legs short bodies. After Grenoble we went to more of Alycia's family near Strasbourg the region, Alsace is really pretty with all the vines and trees changing colour.
After eating way too much with the family and saying good bye to Allan and Annette we headed off to Baden Baden in Germany. It is a town in the Schwarzwald (Black Forrest) where there are thermal baths and bus loads of old people. The first day I had loads of fun driving the road that goes across the peaks of the mountains of the Schwarzwald called the Swarzwaldhochstraße, lots of winding roads and a 100km speed limit. Sure I got yelled at a few time but it was all worth it in the end.
So now we are off to meet Pat and Renee in Calais and do a few days in the Champagne region and then a day in Paris. It is only a week until we are home now so this will probably be the last blog, thanks for reading and until next time.