Last Sunday, after spending the night in Vicenza, we headed to Zurich. With the “fall back” time change (a week earlier here than in the U.S.) it was easy to get an early start. Well, early for us, i.e. about 8:30 am.
Our GPS unit told us the drive would take approximately 5.5 hours. However, we know that Bridget, as we have christened the unit, is conservative in her estimates. We can usually better her time over a substantial distance. When we first used the GPS we did not care for the sound of the American voice that was the default setting. However, you can change the voice and we had good fun testing all the options one day. We decided we liked the female Irish accent the best. Possibly the voice option was labeled Bridget but in any case Bridget “she” has been every since. Having the GPS has made us a bit cavalier about traveling without maps. We actually headed to Zurich having only the address of our hotel, a very broad general map of Europe and Bridget.
It was a sparkling sunny day as we drove westward across the Veneto and Lombardia before heading north into Switzerland. Just outside of Vicenza the landscape was dominated by vineyards. We passed a sign for the town of Soave, also the name of a white grape varietal, and on our right the land rose gently towards the foothills of the Dolomite Mountains. It seemed like every square meter, that did not have a building or road, had vines planted on it. Obviously the market for Soave must be very good. Dom commented that very little sunlight actually hit the ground in that area as the vines grew on trellises actually connect each row of plants. The trellises are high enough so that one can walk beneath them. In midsummer it must make the vineyards cooler places to work.
The vines soon gave way to the more industrial towns of Brescia, Bergamo and Milan. Luckily, it was Sunday when most trucks are banned from the roads in Italy. Even around the latter city the traffic was never very heavy. Each Autostrada rest stop we passed was packed full of big rigs. We skirted Milan to the north and then headed for Como and the lake country. We were surprised to find that Switzerland dips quite far into Italy just north of Como and it was only about 15 minutes after we passed by it when we crossed the border.
The Swiss/Italian lakes are tucked right up against the Alps and the mountains quickly rose around us. The slopes were quite rocky as we headed towards the San Gottardo tunnel and the trees were sporting their autumn colors. The day continued sunny and warm and we were soon at the tunnel.
The San Gottardo tunnel is one of two major routes that cut directly through the Swiss mountains. The other route, the San Bernardo tunnel, heads more towards Eastern Switzerland and Austria. The tunnel we took is 17 kilometers long (about 10.5 miles). There are actually two side-by-side tunnels with two lanes in each direction. However, both times we have been through the tunnel one set has been closed. So, our journey was actually one lane in each direction in a single tunnel. As you approach the tunnel opening the mountains seem to rise straight overhead and you can see the surface route (now closed for the winter) zigzagging up to the sky.
Going through the tunnel also takes one from the Italian part of Switzerland to the German part. All the road signs changed and we went from the land of Uscita (exit in Italian) to the land of Ausfahrt (exit in German).
By this time we had been on the road for about four hours so we stopped at a rest stop for lunch. The biggest problem we had was figuring out the food. Neither Dom nor I speak German and the rest stop cafeteria had signs only in that language. After some comparison between the food available and the signs we figured out what we wanted. The people who waited on us were quite patient and we do know to say bitte and danke.
Back on the road we traveled deeper into the classic Swiss landscape. There were tidy Swiss chalets, well groomed fields with picturesque taupe colored cows and lovely valley and mountain vistas. To me it looks remarkably like it is illegal there to have an overgrown garden or a field with tall grass. Heaven forbid there should be litter any place particularly on the roadside. Actually, being a neat freak I quite like it except that it looks so unreal.
Our route took us past more alpine lakes and then, as we drew close to Zurich, through a narrow valley. A creek rippled through it and it was bordered by paved paths on both sides. Periodically there would be a railroad station and a restaurant. Being Sunday and no doubt because of the good weather, there were quite a few walkers and bikers using the paths. Obviously, the people of Zurich could take the train out of town and walk or bike back towards the city. In fact, my brother told me him and his wife often did just that. Except, they would take the train to where they had stopped walking the last time and keep going exploring new territory each time.
Bridget did an excellent job of getting us to Zurich. However, once inside the city she had a hard time keeping satellite contact and was often a block or two behind us. Still, after following quite a circuitous route, we found our hotel with little trouble. Our journey took us about what Bridget has predicted and we arrived between 3 and 3:30 pm.
We checked in and made contact with my father. Later we met up with my brother and the four of us had a great dinner at a wonderful Italian restaurant in downtown Zurich. My sister-in-law was in Dublin looking for a flat because my brother is being transferred there.
The next day we had the opportunity to do a bit of local exploration. More on that tomorrow.
Here is Partigliano it was another really dismal day. It rained so hard from early this morning to mid-afternoon that we have just hibernated all day. This has allowed me to catch up on laundry and email but we really need to get out tomorrow and DO something. We will see if the weather cooperates.
Happy Halloween!
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