a trip here and there

At the end of January Roy and I flew up to Flatland so we could say hi to our friends who live there but also so Roy could go to a workshop with Mitch so they could learn about how forensic traces like DNA, fingerprints, images and sounds can be used to convict or acquit suspects in criminal trials. In other words, some cool CSI stuff. The flight up there is only just over an hour but with train travel and waiting times at the airport the total travel time is about the same as if we were to drive from our place to theirs (about 7 hours). I think we need to buy a car! We went up on a Friday night so we could spend the weekend hanging out and catching up with Mitch and Lu. We drove across the border to a place in Germany called Kranenburg where we had a cheap pub meal. After having lived in Switzerland for almost six months we now really appreciate a cheap meal out. It's also a nice novelty to just pop over to another country for lunch. It takes at least 3 hours to get to a different country from Brisbane by flight and the effort to go through the airport and customs is way too much effort for the sake of having a meal in a different country, not to mention the cost!

The next day we all piled into the car and went to Amsterdam for the day. We spent hours wandering around the city admiring the buildings and canals and the obligatory stop in at Kitsch Kitchen! I could spend hours and many, many Euros in that shop. We also couldn't spend the day wandering around the city without stopping in for some poffertjes at The Pancake Bakery where I loaded up on some Brazilian Poffertjes with walnut ice-cream, amaretto and whipped cream all washed down with an espresso.

Nom nom nom!

I was extremely full and satisfied after that! Ready for more walking to help the digestion of that mammoth plate of sweet, yumminess. We ate a lot that day! No visit to the Netherlands would be complete without a cone full of frites and mayo! mmmmmm..... We also went to Wagamama for dinner. Tasty ramen! Then we said goodbye to Roy and Mitch before they set off to Delft for their workshop and Lu and I caught the train back to Nijmegen for a week of housewifeyness (I think I just invented a word).

When the guys arrived back from their CSI-fest, they came back to a tasty, home cooked dinner of potato and leek soup. YUM! The next morning was pretty crazy! Mitch and Lu had to finish packing up their lives in the Netherlands so they could move to Switzerland for two months, have a baby ultrasound (yep they're expecting their first baby - affectionately named Stroopy), Roy had to navigate his way into town to get a haircut while we were somewhere that has cheap mens haircuts and everyone speaks english (you don't realise how important that is until you live somewhere that doesn't speak english) and Mitch had to ride to work (twice.. he left his wallet there) so he could dot the I's and cross the T's before they moved away for two months. Once all that was done the boys packed the car while the girls scoured the house to make sure nothing was left behind. We all piled into the car and set off on a small road trip! YAY!!

The little red car with the big roofbox hooned along the German highways and autobahns (although not driving to full potential since driving with the roofbox prevented us from going any faster than 120km/h) until we reached a windy drive through the Black Forest to a little town called Baiersbronn. We couldn't see much of the town since it was nighttime by the time we got there. We found our quiet B&B (it was off-season so we were the only patrons), unloaded our bags, asked the owner for some advice on the best place to go for dinner and drove down the windy road into town for a big German pub meal. It was a rather quiet town so we settled for the only place we could find (besides the local kebab shop). The lady at our B&B had told us about a couple of places, one of which she said was for older folks. I'm pretty sure the place we went for dinner was the one for the old folks because it was decorated with things you would see in a retirement village. The lady serving us didn't speak a word of english but we managed to get what we wanted with out very dodgy german, a bit of dutch and even some french! I wanted a drink of Bitter Lemon and I tried asking for it in a german accent and pointing at it on the menu and the woman replied with "Bitter Lemon" in a somewhat Australian sounded accent.

The next morning we woke to beautiful views of the snowy village and forest covered mountains. It was rather beautiful!

We walked downstairs to the dining room where we were greeted hospitably by our hosts who had prepared us a really nice breakfast. It was a pretty standard type spread but it was tasty and well prepared. It rekindled my love of boiled eggs! They were the tastiest boiled googs I had ever had! Cook me a tasty breakfast and I'm your friend for life (my favourite meal of the day!). We piled into the little red car again and drove through some lovely snowy villages. Mitch and Roy were rather chuffed at the thought of driving through places that feature in their beloved "Need for Speed".

Our next destination was Italy! But before we could get there we had to cut through Switzerland and it's many tunnels. I think we went through about 40-50kms worth of tunnels on that trip. One of which was 17kms long (we did that one twice). It was nice to see parts of Switzerland that we can't see from the train tracks. There are so many beautiful lakes in Switzerland so we couldn't resist stopping to take a quick snap of this one.

We arrived at the border of Switzerland and Italy and apart from the gates which told us we had passed over the boarder, there was a distinct difference between the Swiss roads and the Italian roads. Suddenly the rigid, orderly road system turned to chaotic, narrow roads full of impatient drivers. We came up behind a bus and felt a little at ease because driving behind something so big on those tiny roads made it a little less scary. If anything was going to come screaming around the corner then the bus will handle it before it gets to us.

A nice drive around Lake Como brought us to the little lakeside town of Griante where we had a huge villa booked for the four of us. Since it was off-season, the huge place was really cheap. The misty views and cold weather didn't scare us away from having a relaxing short break in the shores of Lago di Como.

The Jacuzzi that didn't bubble

We drove around the lake to the city of Como. We were all keen for some Italian treats! We stopped into a cafe for an espresso. On my first sip I was in dreamland. It was so much better than any other coffee I had ever tasted! It was then that I realised that Nespresso isn't the be-all and end-all of coffee. Lu had an Italian hot chocolate. She had been raving about these for a long time and I didn't realise just what she meant until I saw it with my own eyes. It was like pudding! Thick and gooey, chocolatey goodness!

The next stop was a gelato shop. I had tried gelato in Australia but nothing had prepared me for the taste of this. I ordered a cup of pistachio gelato, took my little spoon, dipped it into the pale green dessert and stuck it in my gob. Oh my! It was fantastic! Just like my experience with the espresso a little earlier in the day, this gelato was unlike anything I had ever tasted. It taunted and ran circles around the gelato I had tried in Australia. It was worth every second of eating a frozen dessert outside in the single digit degrees outside. I was surprised that I actually gave up the remains in the cup for Roy to have a taste.

Lu and I are in our happy place!

After we had our moment with out gelato, we continued our wander through the town to explore the little streets of boutique shops and cafes. There was a market on but it wasn't all that exciting. It was mainly a place for selling tacky socks and underwear. There were so many cool things to look at whilst wandering through the quiet town.

On our way back to Griante, we spied a certain villa in a town called Laglio. According to various sources on the internet, the villa was up for sale for 30million Euros and was rumoured to be of interest to the Beckhams. We were pretending that George Clooney still owned it since we weren't sure whether it had been sold or not. Lu had stars in her eyes as she gazed over the side of the cliff at Villa Oleandra dreaming of drinking Nespresso with her beloved George. She doesn't drink coffee but I reckon if given the chance to just touch George Clooney, she would drink a whole jug full.

A little Paparazzi shot!

Not a bad location if you ask me.

I had been dreaming of an Italian holiday since I was about seventeen and the tiny amount we had seen in those three days had made me fall in love with it. I really want to go back again for more! Our last night in Italy we went to a really nice restaurant for some good quality Italian food! The service was fantastic, the food was excellent and the tiramisu... well..... I hadn't really been much of a fan of the stuff but after seeing others around me eating it, I was dying to try it and what better place to try it than in Italy huh? Especially when the waiter says how dangerously addictive it is. He was right! It was really, really good! I want more!!