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Chamber of Commerce picture-postcard-perfect day in Zermatt

25 Sep
The last time I was in Zermatt was 43 years ago. A college girlfriend and I made the Grand Tour of Europe in the summer of 1972 following Frommer’s Europe on $5.00 a Day. Zermatt was a splurge because we had to pay $5.35 EACH just for our room and breakfast, way over budget. I think we lived on bread and cheap wine for the duration of our stay. I never forgot how beautiful it was. It still is. It’s still expensive, too.
Postcard view. The Matterhorn remained cloud free all day.
Postcard view. The Matterhorn remained cloud free all day.
We arrived the other day to cold — almost winter-cold — weather. Having worn my jeans for 3 days, they could practically stand up by themselves. I needed to wash them and had only unlined hiking pants to wear for Thursday’s planned expedition to a high elevation. If it was cold in Zermatt, 10,000+ feet was not going to be any better. I set off to see if I could find any tights to wear as insulation. At one of the many shops selling high-priced outdoor fashion, I stated my need. “We didn’t expect it to be so cold,” I told the clerk. “Neither did we,” he said. If the Swiss think it’s cold, it IS cold. Luckily they had a lovely pair of purple and black merino wool long johns for me. I guess today we do not say “long johns” nor even “long underwear;” it is a “base layer.” How elegant. And they were just the ticket.
From the Rothorn. There are other mountains, but it is hard to not focus on the Matterhorn.
From the Rothorn. There are other mountains, but it is hard to not focus on the Matterhorn.
Thursday morning we layered up with everything we could and headed out to ride the underground funicular and two gondola lifts to the Rothorn, where one get the classic postcard view of the Matterhorn. The day could not have been more perfect!  A light dusting of snow from the night before added to the beauty.
Not wishing to hike from quite that high, we headed down to the Blauherd station and set off to hike The Marmot Trail. We wanted an easy-ish hike the first day so as not to repeat our July 6 experience. I picked The Marmot Trail as it was rated for those as young as 4-years-old. I figured a couple of anziani could manage. The 4-year-olds the writer had in mind must have been mountain goats! The first third of the downhill-bound trail was marked by rocky portions waiting to twist your ankle and slippery, gooey, clay-based, green-tinged mud that made footing even on flat portions dicey.
Black & white goats, unique to the Valais, resting in a high mountain pasture.
Black & white goats, unique to the Valais, resting in a high mountain pasture.
The only sign of marmots we saw was scat.
At Sunnegga, a lift station and restaurant, we decided to take a restorative espresso while lounging on the delightful deck in full view of the Matterhorn. Switzerland is expensive, but I was shocked when our two double-espressos came to 12.40 CHF! And I had to prepare them myself from a self-service machine. I said to Ric, “And people complain about Starbucks prices.” He quipped back, “But Starbucks doesn’t have a view of the Matterhorn.” Amen.
This little guy and his friends were hanging out trailside on our path-to-lunch.
This little guy and his friends were hanging out trailside on our path-to-lunch.
There’s a trail from Sunnegga to Zermatt called the Gourmetweg. Along this trail one encounters not only several restaurants, but several  exceptional restaurants. We are used to having good meals when we hike: freshly prepared food, ceramic plates and real glasses, good wines, and so on. (No hotdogs, burgers, nor nachos with gummy cheese for the European hiker!)
More trailside companions. But no marmots.
More trailside companions. But no marmots.
Chez Vrony takes outdoor dining while hiking or skiing to a new level. It is Michelin Guide rated and outstanding in every way. The salad ingredients (forgot to take a picture!) came from Vrony’s garden. Hard to believe it is located between two ski runs. The Matterhorn looks down on the deck, and under stunningly blue and cloudless skies, we had a hard time resisting a second glass of wine knowing we had an hour-plus hike still ahead of us. For the record, we took the short Gourmetweg. There is a cut-off that practically dropped us at our front door, near the Furi lift at the south end of Zermatt. Here are a few choice shots from our lunch. Click on any photo for a larger view and slide show.
Front view of Chez Vrony.
Ric’s choice: local sausage with creamed leeks and roesti.
My choice: a baby meatloaf wrapped in pancetta served with molten-hot cheesy polenta and vegetables.
View from lunch at Chez Vrony. It was about 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
Another view from Chez Vrony.
Leaving Chez Vrony.
My pedometer claims the day’s walking burned over 800 calories. Yippee! But today my quads are telling me that cannot happen every day.

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Field trip: Eataly

19 Sep
Eataly is not on the itinerary of many who visit Roma. If you only have a few days in the city, trekking out to this distant-from-the-center-grocery-store-on-steroids is probably not how you want to spend a precious vacation day. We, however, are always on the prowl for a good field trip. (No permission slips required.) So one day this week, remembering a nice lunch we had there sometime ago, we made our fourth trip there in 3 years. No, we don’t go there often.
My lunch, Piadina "La Saporita" from La Piadina. True to its name, it was flavorful.
My lunch, Piadina “La Saporita” from La Piadina. True to its name, it was flavorful.
Eataly, to me, is not a place to do the regular shopping (for one thing it is a long way from home), although around lunch time, it gets busy with Italians who are snapping up the fresh produce and other delectables. To me, it is entertainment. Meters and meters of pastas, in shapes I have never seen accompanied by colorful produce, prime meats, abundant fish, hanging prosciutto and salumi of every kind, endless cookbooks, kitchen implements for which the use is obscure, row-upon-row of wine, a rainbow of preserved vegetables, a chocolate selection to make the Swiss jealous, and several interesting eateries. It is four floors of decadence. It is expensive. Everything sold there is Made in Italy. Bravo!
The produce area is almost unreal in its beauty and bounty. All Italian in season, of course.
The produce area is almost unreal in its beauty and bounty. All Italian in season, of course.
Tucked behind Stazione Ostiense, it can be difficult to find when arriving by Metro. The first few times we thought we should leave a breadcrumb trail as we traipsed through tunnel-after-tunnel. This time we noticed prominent signage that guided us. It was excellent, we thought. Perfect help for tourists: giant signs and arrows everywhere…until the last couple of turns where clearly the direction givers assumed “You can’t miss it.”  (This happens a lot in Italy: assumptions on way-finding.) The final leg has you traverse the entire under-track corridor at Stazione Ostiense on the hope that at the end one might emerge near the entrance to Eataly. If you decide to go, persevere.
Conservanti included these gorgeous peppers.
Conservanti included these gorgeous peppers.
There’s a new Eataly in Piazza della Repubblica.  (They took over an old MacDonald’s. Quite the change.) We have not visited yet, but certainly it is more central for most visitors. We’ll make that a future field trip.
This trip, we had a nice look around, and a fine lunch, but we did not buy much: an olive-pitter and some pretty orangey-yellow Moleskin notebooks, which I love for note-taking on trips.
Vino sfuso at a very good price. They even sell bottles in case you forgot yours.
Vino sfuso at a very good price. They even sell empty bottles in case you forgot yours.
The food outlets are called "Ristorantini" or little restaurants. They are semi-self-serve but food is made-to-order. This one empty at noon, because lunch here really does not start until 13:00.
The food outlets are called “Ristorantini” or little restaurants. They are semi-self-serve but food is made-to-order. This one, empty at noon, because lunch here really does not start until 13:00.
Long long shelves of almost everytning. Here, preserved vegetables. Not your Green Giant corn....
Long, long shelves of almost everything. Here, preserved vegetables. Not your Green Giant corn….
Riding the moving ramp down. This is a huge place, built in what was an abandoned air terminal.
Riding the moving ramp down. This is a huge place, built in what was an abandoned air terminal.
Prosciutti hang from the ceiling at the top of a moving ramp leading to the salumi department.
Prosciutti hang from the ceiling at the top of a moving ramp leading to the salumi department.

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Long weekend

22 Feb
The Presidents’ Day long weekend gave us an opportunity to celebrate: my birthday and Valentine’s Day, not the presidents. In Oregon we almost always went to the coast for a few days this time of year. Last year we spent 5 days celebrating in Rome as tourists. This year we had a weekend at an agriturismo in mind, and the opportunity to stock up on wine from a favorite cantina we visited last July. How lucky are we to be able to say “We’re going to Toscana for the weekend”?
Toscana in winter is not for the faint of heart. It is chilly: 32-34 degrees Fahrenheit overnight and maybe high 40s at the highest during the day. (OK, I know the U.S. is in a deep freezer right now and 40 sounds pretty balmy, but that is considered cold here. And we are considerably less acclimated to cold than our Minnesota and North Dakota roots would indicate.) There are no sunflowers, and vineyards are bare, but also there are no crowds, driving is easy, and wineries and restaurants are welcoming.
Last April we bought a stay at Agriturismo Poggio Etrusco at an auction. As readers of this blog are aware, we are on-the-go a lot as I try to burn up all of my paid vacation time before I retire. So it was winter before we found time in the schedule for this trip. 

 

Our Agriturismo house. About 400 years old.
A small portion of the yard and garden at Poggio Etrusco.
Beautiful sunset from our agristurismo.
Barnyard friends.
Beautiful antique furniture in an enormous bedroom at Poggio Etrusco.
Part of the main room in our Tuscan apartment.
Just enough rooms for preparing small meals and snacks.
One of the downsides of a trip to Toscana is that we have to rent a car and I have to drive. Ric is the navigator and manages the GPS, a bitch voice named Bonnie. She drives me mad with her repetitious, annoying flat mechanical voice. And she’s not always right, so we have to have maps as well to double-check her directions. For example, I have no idea how we ended up on a dirt road coming home from one day trip when our outbound portion was all paved. I think Bonnie found a “short cut” to entertain herself. HOWEVER, without Bonnie we would have much more trouble navigating and we have learned to always take her along. We have also learned when to turn her off so we don’t end up in a ZTL.
The upside to renting a car is we have a method to transport massive quantities of wine and olive oil. Our Fiat 500L was luckily big enough to handle the purchases. If we had bought anymore we’d have needed a van. We whiled away the weekend at wineries, visited an abbey we have planned on seeing since our first trip here in 2010, ate too much, and got to know the Montepulciano area better.
The Abbazia di Monte Oliveto Maggiore is a magnificent and off-the-beaten-track place to visit, at least in winter.  It was begun in 1320, which in itself is hard to grasp, and also houses priceless frescoes from the 15th and 16th centuries. One wanders down a forest path to visit this very peaceful place. It was fun to be the only visitors wandering around on our own. The monks make wine, olive oil, herbal remedies, honey, and soaps. An affable young man named Luca was manning the cantina and entertained us with stories and history. An enjoyable aspect to off-season visits is the availability of people like Luca who have time to chat when visitors are not lined up 6 deep. 

 

The Abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore
The cloisters contain priceless frescoes by Luca Signorelli and Antonio Bazzi depicting the life of Saint Benedict. We were the only admirers here this day.
Rather violent details in a fresco, showing some of the feats of St. Benedict.
This is the magnificent choir in the abbey church. Inlaid wood.
The monks dining hall.
We met Luca, who runs the cantina for the monks. He has a lot of great info and stories to share. And plenty of time on a winter Sunday to chat.
Part of the historic wine operation at the abbey.
The wine used to be aged underground and hauled up this ramp in small casks carried by the monks.
One does have to plan meals around restaurant openings especially in the off season. On Friday we arrived at our destination, Poggio Etrusco, a farm that produces olive oil and wine, after 2:00 PM and were directed to try to find something to eat in the town of Montepulciano as there was nothing open in the little hamlet near the farm. On the way to Montepulciano at almost 3:00 PM, we saw a place that in retrospect I can only describe as a Tuscan Tourist Roadside Attraction. Almost like Camp 18 in Oregon. The quality of the food was fine, but sale of products was clearly uppermost in the minds of the staff and owner. You are caused to walk through their retail space on the way to the cavernous dining room; there’s a push toward the €20-€30 bottles of wine (not at lunch, thank you); and walking back through the retail area to pay, there are all kinds of inviting products practically throwing themselves off the shelves at you. That said, it was the only game in – or out – of town and there were Italians eating there too. If we had waited until we got up into Montepulciano we’d have ended up eating cheese, sausage, and oranges standing on a street corner in the cold.
Cavernous Ristorante Pulcino - not my picture but from their website. I wish I had photographed the outside for you!
Cavernous Ristorante Pulcino – not my picture but from their website. I wish I had photographed the outside for you!
We ate some meals at some old favorite places (Grappolo Blu in Montalcino) and also discovered some new ones like Tre Stelle in Sant’Albino. We also enjoyed the luxury of hanging about the farm, entertained by cats, dogs, and chickens, nibbling on pecorino from Pienza, sipping wine provided by our host, eating the aforementioned oranges, in front of a lovely fire in a massive fireplace.  I will say for those who seek a non-touristy experience, winter in Toscana will provide that. As long as you aren’t forced into Ristorante Pulcino. And bring your flannel pajamas.
Artful display on pecorino in a Pienza window. Brought home a few kilos….
Lovely path in Pienza. The sun helped chase away the chill, a little.
Part of our wine purchase. The trunk was fuller when we finished shopping: leather, honeys, olive oil and more wine.
This little guy was begging for attention.

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Goodbye 2014, Hello 2015!

6 Jan
The last two weeks have been busy what with four – count ’em – four holidays in Italy! December 25 and 26 (Santo Stefano) we spent in Ortisei (see prior posts), then returning from vacation we had two more holidays to enjoy: New Year’s Day and Epifania.  Life is good!
New Year’s Eve we traveled to our favorite trattoria in Roma, Antica Taverna. The owner Paolo and our favorite waiter, Giovanni, took good care of us and we enjoyed a protracted dinner with too many dishes to name them all and a steady supply of good red wine. The dessert was the only item I managed to photograph, a delightful tortino al cioccolato.  It tasted 10 times better then it looks. It was THAT GOOD.  We slipped out before 23:00 in hopes of finding a cab before the whole city descended into chaos. The buses stop running at 21:00 on NYE because they can’t make it through the streets effectively. Can you imagine? Shutting down the buses because there are too many people in the streets? The Metro runs but unfortunately nowhere near our home. We can walk from Antica Taverna to home in 75-90 minutes, but it was really cold (for Roma) and walking did not seem like much fun. What luck! We found a cab at an obscure cabstand near the restaurant! Got home in time to endure 45 minutes of neighborhood revelry.  Some year we need to be brave and go down to the party in via Fori Imperiali and see the fireworks over the Colosseo. Some year.
This weekend was the start of the winter saldi (sales). We had a couple of purchases in mind and headed out into a bright if chilly Sunday along with THOUSANDS of people making their way to our destination, a major shopping street near the Vatican. We made our way by bus to transfer to the Metro at Termini. The Metro was packed like the Japanese subway on a business day. I wanted to take a picture of how crowded it was, but I couldn’t maneuver to do so packed in as I was with my arms pinned! We wondered at so many people heading out to shop! We might have bailed in the Metro station but by that time we were like cows going through chutes and there was no turning back. Moo. When we got to our stop, the hoards headed down the street toward the Vatican. It was then that we realized they were headed to Piazza San Pietro for the Pope’s angelis. Shopping was busy too, but not quite the cattle drive.
Today is Epifania, the official end to the Christmas season, also called Befana, when the witch La Befana visits the children leaving candy for the good ones and coal for the not-so-good children. Having no young children around and having spent Christmas out of Roma, we decided to have a small group of friends for a decidedly non-traditional lunch. Is Italian-Swedish a fusion cuisine? Our new friends and soon-to-be-landlords had voiced an interest in Swedish meatballs, and she wanted to make a special Neopolitan pastiera for dessert. Combined with a purè di patate casserole, Swedish pickled herring, Swedish cheese, a beet salad, and Italian salumi, it was cross-cultural event. Unfortunately as we got into entertaining we forgot to take more pictures!
So now we have to go a week-and-a-half until the next holiday, Martin Luther King’s birthday. Hope I can make it!

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Venice in winter

14 Dec
So many people plan their trips to Italy in spring, summer or fall, but we have found off-season travel to be a real benefit to living in Rome. This was our sixth trip to La Serenissima – our third in a December — and it certainly will not be our last.
Clouds in the canal.

Clouds in the canal.

There are experiences to repeat each time (we always go to Murano) and seemingly endless new ones to add, whether a museum, a neighborhood, or a restaurant.
This time we went to the Correr Museum for the first time largely because they had a special mostre “The Poetry of Light: Venetian drawings from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. “  The Correr is a terrific, complex and comprehensive museum. Set in a 19th century Napoleonic-era palazzo, with a wing that dates to the 16th century and the Republic of Venezia, the buildings dominate Piazza San Marco and this time of year are seldom-frequented by tourists who are busy in the Piazza and queuing for the Basilica and Doges Palace. Surely those two edifices are worthy of attention and we have visited them multiple times, but what fun to see the Piazza from this new perspective as well. The Correr has  an amazing view over the Piazza from the south and we enjoyed watching people splashing about in the acqua alta that occurred this day.
Completing what we came to call our Museum Day, we made a repeat visit to the Guggenheim, which we had last visited in 2012. This was one of the busier places on a Sunday, mostly Italians, many educating their young children, providing a view into modern art with careful observations.  Picasso, Max Ernst, Calder and Pollock keep company with Miró, Dali and Magritte among others.  The location right on the Grand Canal could not be better. Imagine Peggy hosting a dinner party here!
Not yet Carnivale, but this little cutey has her mask.

Not yet Carnivale, but this little cutey has her mask.

Day two was our Urban Hike Day in which we wove together three walks out of my favorite Venice guide, “24 Great Walks of Venice.” This sunny and mild day we wandered in temperatures approaching 60 F (16 C), snapping photos and enjoying the almost deserted calli, bridges and canals.  You’d think in 4 hours of walking we would have covered the entire island, but we found ourselves saying “Gee, we haven’t been to Sant’Elena or out to San Giorgio Maggiore, or the Guideca.” In fact, we have not even entered the Basilica of San Marco in two years, despite 3 return visits in that time.

 

Day three dawned brilliantly sunny if chilly to start, but it made for a terrific day to visit Murano and do some shopping. I have a favorite glass artist there, Giorgio Bruno. He is a maestro and creates lovely jewelry, glassware, and decorative items. By now I have a nice collection of items as we have been there 5 times.  Giorgio and Michela invited us in for coffee and a visit before I got down to shopping. As always Cindy the dog was a love. She really took to Ric in a special way. Too bad I didn’t take a picture.
We also went in search of new restaurant experiences.  I have heard over and over that Venice is expensive and has bad food. That is not our experience at all! From a random bar near the Frari Church we had fat and tasty sandwiches. At a rustic little taverna in a sottoportego we once again had our favorite pizza in Venice.  Traipsing halfway across the city one night (which is not as far as it sounds)  we feasted on delectable baked turbot, expertly boned and served in a place bursting at the seams with locals but few tourists. As we have some go-to places after all of these visits, this trip we challenged each other to find new experiences and scored new two repeatable spots, Ai Artisti in Dorsoduro and Alla Palanca on the Guideca. Ric found a list of Venetian restaurants from the London Telegraph and our only disappointment was that some of them were closed on nights we had available. BTW, Alla Palanca is best for lunch. The chef goes home at 14:00 and there is no hot food at night. 
We have spent 24 nights in Venice since our first visit in 2010. Will we go back? You bet! We still have not climbed the Campinile in San Marco, there are several promising restaurants still on our list, and no doubt Giorgio will have some new bauble for me. Plus he promised to take us out to lunch the next time we visit!

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