Hello Vipiteno… long time, no see! (part eight)

As I have mentioned in previous blog posts (and videos), I first discovered the formerly Austrian and currently Italian town, Vipiteno/Sterzing, back in June 2009. I went on a bus trip out of the Edelweiss Lodge in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. They advertised a day trip to Italy in Vipiteno and Bolzano. I went for it.

I remember that week spending every day on a tour somewhere with other military spouses and their families. On that particular day, I was seated next to a very hostile man who seemed angry that I existed. I guess he was mad that he had to sit next to me, instead of with his wife. That’s why you should get to the bus early, so you can stake out your territory.

In any case, I enjoyed both Bolzano and Vipiteno in June 2009. Bill and I went to Bolzano in August 2020. And now, we have enjoyed Vipiteno together. Below are a few Vipiteno pictures from my first trip. I remember our group was herded to a purse shop there. I bought a leather bag that I used for some time before it was time to replace it. We also visited a very old church that dated from the 14th century and is famous for its frescoes. I don’t know why I didn’t post more pictures. Bill and I didn’t have a chance to go there during our visit together.

On Saturday, March 15th, we woke up to snowy skies, which later turned to rain. We enjoyed a good breakfast at Hotel Erna– cold cuts, cheeses, breads, fruits and vegetables, and these incredible rolls that were shaped liked crescents. They had a sweet filling and toasted almonds on top, and they were served warm. They were so good!

It was raining during our visit to the town, which literally put a damper on things. Luckily, there are many shops in Vipiteno. It’s a great place to buy things. And, indeed, we did buy lots of gifts for the grandchildren and stuff for ourselves. Bill also insisted on buying me an umbrella. Aside from that, I took a lot of photos, and availed myself of the very welcome free public restroom near the tourism office. I am relieved to report that it was also pretty clean!

*The tower is pretty much the main attraction!*

Vipiteno is also where I purchased my latest prop… I bought a middle finger paperweight. I feel pretty sure I will get my money out of using it. I even made a video about it.

I made this video for my friend, Dave, and to show off the new toy I bought in Vipiteno!

We bought toys and delectables for ourselves and the kids, then went searching for lunch. The town has many pizzerias, and a few places that appeared to offer cuisine that is more for the Austrian/German palate. We ended up at a pizzeria ourselves, a place called Ristorante Bellavita. It looked like they were doing some cosmetic work on the outside of the place, which isn’t on the main drag.

We sat down at the back of the restaurant and both decided to have pizzas. Bellavita offers some special ones. Mine was called Aline, and had Brie, cherry tomatoes, mozzarella, bacon, and oregano. Bill’s was a white pizza that had pork bellies, mozzarella cheese, and basil pesto. He managed to finish his, but I only got through half of mine. Then, for dessert, I had Blanco profiteroles, which were chocolate filled and covered with whipped cream! We took the rest of my leftover pizza with us, but Bill ended up eating it.

I see the this particular restaurant doesn’t get the best ratings, but we definitely enjoyed our lunch there. Service was good; prices were reasonable; and we felt comfortable. Also, the pizzas were interesting and delicious!

After a bit more walking around, we realized the weather was getting worse. It was colder and wetter, and frankly, it wasn’t fun hanging around outside in it. So we decided to stop by a Spar grocery store (Austrian chain) and pick up some more goodies for home and the kids. As much as we shopped in grocery stores, there are still some things I wish we’d bought.

After that, we headed back to the hotel, and I played with my new pink hand. I also took selfies, and then a long nap… When I woke up, someone on YouTube had left me a comment on one of my best videos, advising me to take it down because of the election results. Bill and I made a video response to that, and I got to put the new pink hand to good use.

I’m glad we visited Vipiteno. It really is a charming town, even when the weather is bad. There’s good food and shopping, and it’s a nice place to spend a Saturday afternoon! For those who want to do more than shop, there’s also good skiing and hiking, as well as the train to lovely Bolzano, which is well worth a look. We might have gone there, if we hadn’t already been. I would probably rather stay in Bolzano, although the area around Vipiteno and Brennero is very charming. March was a good time to be there, too. I would imagine there are many crowds in season. I noticed lots of bus parking, and of course, my first time there was on a bus tour!

It kind of gives you a look at Hotel Erna, and the hand, which comes from Hong Kong, but was imported through The Netherlands.

And, as was our custom on this particular trip, we decided to stay in and watch movies as we wound down our trip. In the next post, I will describe the drive back to Germany, and that will end the blow by blow account of this trip. It will be followed by my usual “ten things I learned” post. Stay tuned!

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Food and wine in Switzerland, Italy, and Liechtenstein… part fifteen

Landing in Liechtenstein…

As I prepare to write the last two parts of this series, it does occur to me that I need to work on my titles. At least no one can accuse me of writing “click bait” titles, right? What you see is what you get. Ah well, I’ll work on it.

On Monday, May 2, Bill and I made our way to our final stop on our spring tour– Vaduz, Liechtenstein. Originally, we had planned to go to Lugano, Switzerland, for the last two nights. I have been wanting to go to Lugano forever. But I realized that Lugano was too close to Florence and not far enough away from Germany. Staying there would potentially mean arriving too early for check in on May 2, and having to drive all day on May 4, when we made our way back to Germany. Also, I couldn’t decide on a hotel in Lugano. There was one that really attracted me, but was quite pricey. Another one was less expensive and got very high ratings, but didn’t lure me like the other one did. I finally got frustrated and decided to change plans.

I decided on Vaduz because of something that happened in 2009, when Bill and I lived in Germany the first time. It was June, and Bill’s mom had come from Texas to visit us. We were going to be PCSing (permanently changing stations– moving) in September of that year, so we were trying to cram in some last minute travel. At the time, Bill’s mom had never been to Austria, Switzerland, or Italy, or really, anywhere in Europe except for Germany and Ireland. I got the bright idea to book us a long weekend at an apartment in extreme southern Bavaria. On the second day, we went exploring, and eventually found ourselves in Italy, where we literally got stuck for hours, due to a sudden rainstorm that flooded the roads.

On our way to our joyride mishap in Italy, we stopped in Vaduz, Liechtenstein for a look. It was novel to be visiting the tiny country bordered by Austria and Switzerland. Parker got her passport stamped. I remember thinking that Vaduz was a pretty town. I took a few photos, since we were fortunate enough to have, at least at that point, beautiful weather. Hours later, I wished we’d turned around after we visited Liechtenstein… or even Chur, Switzerland, where we had lunch.

Remembering how pretty I thought Vaduz was in 2009, I went looking to see if there were any nice hotels there. I kind of wanted a splurge, since I knew we’d be tired after a week in Italy. I love Italy very much, but being there has a tendency to wear me out. But that might be because we often stay in somewhat busy areas.

I was also looking for peace and quiet, and very comfortable accommodations. That’s when I found the beautiful 29 room Park Hotel Sonnenhof, which also has a well-regarded restaurant called Maree. I noticed all of the enthusiastic reviews of the hotel, and found myself lured by the idyllic photos of the snow capped mountains and green lawns around the hotel. Then I noted that it was about a six hour drive from Florence, and maybe five hours or so from Wiesbaden. Perfect! That would split up our drive home nicely, and give us the chance to experience something novel– a tiny German speaking principality (62 square miles) with Swiss currency and ties to Austria. As small as Liechtenstein is, there are three other countries in Europe that are even smaller! Liechtenstein is also one of only two double landlocked countries in the entire world, the other being Uzbekistan. That means that it’s surrounded by countries that are also landlocked, and reaching a coastline requires crossing at least two national borders.

Below are some photos from our drive out of Italy… It was a very beautiful journey, although there are even prettier routes through Switzerland. We crossed over some majestic mountains to get to Vaduz.

When we arrived at the hotel on May 2, I was immediately struck by how beautiful and peaceful the surroundings were. The parking lot was mostly empty, and it was very quiet and calm as we approached the front door. A Tesla charging station was located at the front of the parking lot. I would later see many very expensive cars at this hotel. It’s clearly the “best” hotel in Vaduz.

An efficient receptionist who spoke flawless English checked us in, reminding us that Maree is currently closed on Mondays, but a small snack menu is available for hotel guests. I was glad of that, since it was mid afternoon when we arrived, and we were both tired of being in the car. It is possible to walk to the city center of Vaduz from the hotel, but it would have been a stout stroll, as the hotel is in an residential part of town.

We were assigned a junior suite– room 33– which has an African theme. The rooms are individually decorated. The room was very nice. The bed was especially comfortable, which was great after our week in Italy. We had a small terrace that overlooked a serene “park”, and offered majestic views of the Alps. I could have sat there all day, watching the mountains change with the sun and clouds. I had picked up a sandwich just before we arrived at the hotel, but Bill was hungry, so we ordered from the snack menu. It was just enough to satisfy us for the first night. Bill turned on the water cooler (air conditioners are illegal in Liechtenstein), and we enjoyed a peaceful night’s sleep.

On Tuesday morning, we slept in a bit, then had a nice breakfast at Maree, which is where we also had dinner reservations. After breakfast, we walked around Vaduz, took pictures, and talked about everything. When it was time for lunch, we made our way to the Cellars of the Prince of Liechtenstein and the Hofkerllerei, which is a winery and restaurant. We hadn’t planned to visit this place in advance, but decided to go there because it looked like the menu was promising. Besides, we had spent our entire vacation drinking Italian wines. What better place to cap off the vacation? Below are some photos from our day in Vaduz.

And more pictures from Vaduz, lunch, and our wine tasting…

I think the next post will be the last in this series. Time to wrap up this trip and move on to other things.

skiing

Food and wine in Switzerland, Italy, and Liechtenstein… part two

Onward to Andermatt, Switzerland…

When Bill gave me the parameters of time he would have to take this trip, I started considering where we should stop, and for how long. I usually don’t like to do overnights, unless it’s a place we’ve already been. I like to have the chance to look around a place and get a feel for it… and decide if I want to go back sometime. Nevertheless, we had eleven nights, and I knew I wanted to visit Parma, Italy. Parma happens to be near Modena, where excellent balsamic vinegar comes from, and Bologna, which I’ve heard is just a lovely city with great hotels and food. Originally, I thought we’d stop somewhere in Switzerland for a couple of nights, but then I realized I’d prefer more time in Italy.

Then I consulted Google to find the best place to stop. I determined the halfway point between Wiesbaden/Frankfurt and Florence (Firenze). It turned out to be Göschenen, Switzerland, which is a cute ski village. For some reason, I didn’t find any suitable hotels in Göschenen. I see now that I could have also planned a stop in Innsbruck, Austria, which is at about the halfway point between Wiesbaden and Parma. But we’ve been to Innsbruck; in fact, we were just there two years ago. So I decided on Andermatt, a ski village in the Alps. There’s a super expensive hotel there called The Chedi, but even though I love expensive hotels, I decided to book us a room at the Radisson Blu, a brand new facility that is impossible to miss once you get to Andermatt. Getting to Andermatt isn’t all that simple, either.

*Göschenen, Switzerland was on the way to Andermatt.*

I was actually considering a different hotel in a nearby town, but Bill vetoed it because getting there would have required traveling on a super curvy road that would have added an hour to our travel time. Mountain switchbacks in Switzerland are no joke! We stopped at a rest stop that looked like a ski lodge. The pay toilets took Swiss francs and euros, and looked like little chalets. It was probably the nicest public toilet I’ve ever seen.

Nice of the Swiss to let us pay to pee with a euro.

I didn’t know a thing about Andermatt before our visit. I looked at photos and could see that it’s a very beautiful place. I had no idea that we’d basically have to climb to the top of a mountain to get there. But it was actually kind of cool that we did that, since it snowed while we were visiting. As if the snow capped mountains weren’t striking enough on our arrival, they were stunning on Sunday morning, April 24th, as we were getting ready to continue our journey to Torrechiara, Italy. I was glad I brought sweaters!

Since we were only in Andermatt for a night, I didn’t get a chance to do much exploring, but we did have a somewhat mediocre dinner at the hotel’s restaurant, Spun, which is the Romansch word for “spoon”. We also had a round of Swiss beer at the bar, which was very nice. The Radisson Blu in Andermatt has lots of nice facilities, including a pool and sauna, which we didn’t have time to try. Spun was so named because of the unique mixture of cultures in Switzerland, and the fact that Andermatt is near the French, Italian, and German regions of the country. I can’t say that I necessarily got the mixture of cultures in the dish I had, which was a rather ordinary Zander filet. Bill had beef cheeks with polenta, which he enjoyed. He did say it was more of a winter dish, but then it was snowing in Andermatt, so there you go.

Our drive to Andermatt was mostly uneventful, save for running into the homeless looking guy in Germany on a bike. He wore an orange safety vest and medical mask under his chin as he raided the trash cans. After a lunch of Schnitzel and warm beer, I watched in horror as he pulled several bottles out of the trash, looked in them, and drank out of them before he put the bottles in his bag to be traded for euro cents. The only other thing that was notable was the bottleneck to reach the road to Andermatt. There’s a tunnel where drivers are allowed two or three at a time. It took some time to get through it, then we drove up the steep mountainside, passing several furiously pumping bikers who appeared to be on a journey to Hell.

The staff at the Radisson Blu was very professional and… Swiss. 😉 Everybody spoke perfect English and was very polite. The hotel was immaculate, and there’s a very handy parking garage adjoining the hotel. All in all, it was a very convenient place to stop. Just be sure to bring your Swiss plug adapters! Switzerland uses type J. I did invest in a couple of them years ago.

The bed at the hotel wasn’t too bad. It was firmer than what we’re used to, but it was basically comfortable. I don’t usually like to stay in corporate hotels if I can help it, but in this situation, the Radisson Blu was the best option. Below are some photos of our basic room. It was about $250, which seems expensive, until you remember it’s Switzerland… and a brand new hotel.

Andermatt itself isn’t very convenient to get to or leave from, and I don’t ski. I don’t know that we’ll be back, but at least we got some pretty snow before we went on our way. Feast your eyes. I could watch the mountains all day from our French balcony. But we had to get going to Italy, so after breakfast, we checked out. Breakfast at the Radisson Blu is fine, though pricey. There’s definitely something for everyone.

We checked out at about 9:30am and got on our way to our next stop… a castle in Italy. Check out the switchbacks! People were riding bikes up this! Ouch!

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A whirlwind trip to Austria, Italy, and probably Switzerland, part 9

Bill came back from his final meeting in Vicenza by 10:00am. That meant we were free to pack up and leave. I was pretty ready to go. Don’t get me wrong. Vicenza seemed like a nice town based on what little I saw of it. I was just really looking forward to our hotel in Switzerland, which I had been eyeing for years. That, and it seemed like the air quality in and around Vicenza was really terrible. I noticed a lot of smog around Vicenza and Verona.

I hadn’t realized how long it was going to take us to get to Vevey, Switzerland. For some reason, I think of the countries in Europe like states in America. Like there will be big interstates connecting them easily. That’s definitely not always true. As it turned out, it took all day to get from Vicenza to Vevey. We were forever stopping to pay tolls, too. I think we paid about 50 euros worth just to get out of the country. Then we had to take St. Bernard’s Pass, which was almost another 30 euros.

Our drive to Switzerland introduced me to the Auto Grill phenomenon. Sure, I’d seen truck stops before, both in the United States and Germany. For some reason, when Bill and I travel, we rarely stop at them. We learned our lesson in Italy. When you drive on the autostrada in Italy, you take a ticket at the beginning of your journey, then pay when you get off. We got off the autostrada in Bergamo, searching for a place to have lunch. We found no easy options, so we got back on the road. I told Bill we should just stop and eat at an Auto Grill. The first one we stopped at was just a snack bar. The second one had a full service cafeteria style restaurant.

And, as to be expected in Italy, the food was pretty good. I had chicken with fries. Bill had salmon and potatoes. I had a piece of yummy chocolate pie for dessert and Bill had some kind of delicious custard. I know we have truck stops in the States, but this was pretty damn impressive.

The one and only Italian beer I drank in Italy. Wine is ridiculously cheap and good there. Beer is not their speciality, though this one wasn’t too bad.

The outside. We had a lot of sun.

Auto Grills also offer relatively clean places to pee for free. They also sell lots of stuff… stuff that I might even consider buying. Seriously, they have all kinds of high quality Italian foods there, everything from sausages to dried mushrooms (yecch). And you can get gas for your car, too.

Cool looking bridge as we headed toward Turin. The following pictures are of the magnificent scenery, kind of ruined by the poor air quality.

When we had to pee again, Bill ended up at an Agip station. We walked in and I was shocked to see a Confederate flag. Yes, we were in Italy, not far from the Swiss border. An Italian friend commented that perhaps the owners of the gas station were from southern Italy. Who knows? But you can buy your olive oil there, too.

I took a photo of these cheesy looking Italian liqueurs because they reminded me of something else.

The drive to the huge pass between Italy and Switzerland was absolutely beautiful.

I ran out of juice in my phone in the big tunnel. I had just enough to tell people we made it to Switzerland before the damn thing conked out.

All in all, we had a nice time in Italy. I’d like to go back, though maybe not to Vicenza… or maybe to a different hotel. Don’t get me wrong. I see why people like Hotel Victoria. It’s great if you’re doing business or moving to Italy. It’s also great if you want to shop, which is what I ended up doing. But to see the actual town or do things without taking the bus or driving, you need to be located elsewhere.

I guess if Bill asked me to go back with him, I’d go, though. We had wonderful food in Italy and I did pick up some great stuff for the kitchen and my wardrobe. I didn’t spend a lot of money, either… except on the tolls!

The Traveling Overeducated Housewife

…the wanderings and ramblings of a boring housewife…

Tag Archives: The Alps

Hello Vipiteno… long time, no see! (part eight)

Food and wine in Switzerland, Italy, and Liechtenstein… part fifteen

Food and wine in Switzerland, Italy, and Liechtenstein… part two

A whirlwind trip to Austria, Italy, and probably Switzerland, part 9