The rest of our stay in Zermatt, Switzerland: skiing, eating, and strolling

Zermatt is a village at the foot of the Matterhorn and is located in the southwestern part of Switzerland near the Italian border. It is in the middle of the Alps and is not lacking in character. The air is clear, clean, and dry and the town gets over 300 sunny days per year. Cars are not allowed in Zermatt, only the town bus and hotel taxis, making it quiet and not congested. It's exactly what we pictured when we thought of a ski town in Switzerland; houses and hotels with pointed roofs made out of wood, hills and streams flowing through the town, and shops displaying their homemade specialties for out of towners like us to gobble up.

Church in Zermatt

View of the Matterhorn from Zermatt.

The world's largest Swiss army knife in 2007!

We flew into Milan, rented a car, and drove the 2.5-3 hours to Tasch in order to park the car and take the 7-8 minute train into Zermatt. The ride was beautiful as we went around lakes and through the mountains into Switzerland. Amazing scenery unfolded before us as we saw small houses perched atop mountains, small waterfalls streaming down the sides of rocks from the melting of snow, and gorgeous greenery to welcome spring's arrival. Our eyes were met with picture perfect landscapes. Just beautiful.

Through the mountains.

The countryside.

Driving high in the mountains.

After our igloo stay we set out to Hotel Bella Vista to drop off our luggage, and then hurried to get out on the slopes. Spring-like weather welcomed us at the base of the mountain, and even though the snow conditions weren't the greatest we were thrilled to be skiing there. As we skied, we had panoramic views of the Alps and we looked around in amazement at the beauty. Over the three days we ended up skiing just about every part of the whole area. On our second day we skied into Italy for the day and then back into Switzerland.

Passing the Matterhorn.

Smile!

Swiss Alps.

Zermatt is in the valley.

The Italian side.

At the wayyy top taking a rest.

At lunch.

The wind blowing some snow over from Italy into Switzerland.

The food was amazing and we looked forward to the breakfast at our family-run hotel everyday. Specialty cheeses from the area, homemade jams and jellies, a variety of meats, breads, and yogurts with healthy toppings... there was no end to what they could make! They also offered a free apertif in the evening by the fireplace. But the eating didn't end at the hotel! We had a multitude of cheese and chocolate fondue, specialty meats prepared in a variety of ways, and many Swiss wines.

Breakfast at the hotel

One of the appetizers.

Cheese fondue!

We were sad to leave this charming town and hope to return soon. The terrain, the environment, the skiing, the panoramic views, the friendly people, the homemade foods, and of course the company, made this trip very special for us.

Looks like a postcard!

On another note, Jon and I have been taking Italian lessons twice a week since September with our fantastic tutor, Giusy. Starting now we'll be writing one or two paragraphs in Italian to show how far we've come and to practice. I wrote the first two paragraphs and Jon wrote the last one. Giusy helped us fix them up a bit to make sure the sentence structure was that of Italian and not English. Enjoy!

Jon e io stiamo lezione di italiano da Settembre due volte a settimana con la fantastica Giusy! Adesso cominceremo' a scrivere un paragrafo in italiano con quello che abbiamo imparato. Questo ci aiutera' a praticare e anche mostrare il nostro italiano! Il nostro italiano e' elementare, pero' penso che stiamo imparando bene.

Zermatt e' una tipica citta' di montagna. Le montagne sono alte con neve e' la citta nella valle. Le case e gli alberghi hanno tetti a punta e fatte di legno forte. Non ci sono macchine permesse in Zermatt, solo autobus e taxi. Quando siamo stati li' abbiamo mangiato molto cibo incluso molto fondue di formaggio. Ci piace molto il formaggio! Abbiamo anche mangiato fondue di cioccolato, carne, e abbiamo bevuto vino della Svizzera. Siamo andati a sciare sulla montagna e abbiamo sciato qualche percorso che era difficile e lungo. Insomma, ci siamo divertiti e vogliamo tornare presto li'.

La settimana scorsa, Cheryl e io abbiamo sciato nella Svizzera. Siamo andati a Zermatt, dove c'e' un resort che attraversa la Svizzera e l'Italia. Ha cinque montagne per sciare. Abbiamo sciato tutto le montagne in tre giorni e sciato dalla Svizzera all'Italia e ritorno. Poiche' i giorni facevano caldi, la neve era morbida. Anche se era morbida, sciare era buonissimo e ci siamo divertiti. Alla fine del giorno, poiche' le montagne sono molte alte, abbiamo sciato una via per 40 minuti verso il basso. Non ci siamo fatti male ma le nostre gambe ci facevano un po' male. Non vediamo l'ora di tornare alle montagne alpi prossimo anno per sciare.

An igloo stay in Zermatt, Switzerland

While visiting Venice we met an Australian family who was traveling around Europe for two months. They told us how they had stayed overnight in an igloo in Switzerland. Right away we thought, "We have to do that"!

Zermatt is a ski resort area that we had wanted to visit and ski in. A bonus was that they also have one of these igloo villages, called iglu dorf, 2,700 meters up the mountain. After reading all of the material and knowing what we'd be getting ourselves into, we scheduled our stay in the igloo to be on the first night of our arrival in Zermatt. We arrived at the meeting point at a hotel (also halfway up the mountain) a little early so we could enjoy a nice lunch and the bright sun ahead of us.

Sitting outside eating lunch.

A closeup of the Matterhorn.

Jon's potato, cheese, and sausage soup.

Our guide came around 5pm and gave us and the three other couples instructions. We took the train one stop up and were let out into what seemed like endless snowy possibilities! In the distance we heard reggae music and saw smoke flowing from a makeshift chimney. We trekked our way to the igloo village and were amazed by this little area in front of us. A series of perfectly shaped domes laid before us with two rows of outdoor lounge chairs from which to gaze at the Matterhorn. Our excitement was hard to contain.

I think it's this way.

Hiking towards Igloo Village - in the background.

Iglu-Dorf

The entrance into the village.

We were greeted with spiced mulled wine in mugs and spent the next hour lounging in the sun in relatively warm temperatures (about 5 degrees Celsius, 41 F), watching the sun slowly make its way behind the Matterhorn. We talked with the three other couples, two from Switzerland and one couple from Italy (from Naples!). We all got along right away and knew that this was going to be a night to remember.

Enjoying a mug of spiced mulled wine.

Sunbathing in the snow.

One of the entrances into the main igloo.

Around 7 we went inside the igloo, which hovers around 0 degrees Celsius. After our eyes adjusted to the lowered light we looked around the common areas. Beautiful ice sculptures and etched wall art seemed to be around every corner with candles in small nooks illuminating the rooms. There were many areas for people to sit down, with the chairs and stools covered in sheepskins to keep warm. The guide also gave our small group a tour of the rooms that were available in case someone wanted to upgrade. We were very happy with our "romantic plus" room; the "plus" being that we had a private "toilet". There were rooms without this like the standard room (sleeps six and they will fill it with whoever signs up for it) and the romantic room (just like ours without a toilet), and rooms that had much more (romantic plus suite) with a private jacuzzi and sauna.

The bar.

Dinner room!

A sitting area.

The view just before dinner.

After we returned to the main area the bar was officially open, and we drank the hot spiced wine and tea to keep us warm. Dinner was all you can eat cheese fondue and the Swiss showed us how to properly eat the fondue, including getting the "grandma" at the bottom of the bowl (the melted, hard piece of cheese you need to scrape out), and taking the bread from the bowl with your hands to put on your plate rather than just poking a piece from the main bowl with your fondue fork.

Mmmm... fondue!

Snowshoeing was next on the agenda. The snow in front of us was illuminated by the bright moonlight and stars. The tranquility and brightness very much reminded me of my time in the desert in Israel, though about 30 degree Celsius colder! The guide occasionally stopped and pointed out the star constellations. Towards the end she pulled out two bottles of liquor, one being grappa, with plastic shot glasses. High on the mountain, in snowshoes we were taking shots of this liquor that tasted very much like slivovitz (Feinberg Passover anyone?) with a little less burn. As Jon and I took our second shots we looked over and saw the Swiss couple swigging it from the bottle. Yikes!

Later that night we hopped into the outdoor jacuzzi with the Swiss couple and drank a few glasses of champagne while we talked about different travel experiences around the world. In the jacuzzi next to us was the Neapolitan couple. They were drinking their free bottle of champagne because the husband went into the main igloo with only a bathing suit on and no shoes (that was the challenge presented to us at the beginning of the night). At around 12am we decided it was time for us to go to our igloo... a long day of traveling, high altitudes, and a bunch of alcohol made us a little light headed. Plus, we wanted to be ready for a full day of skiing the next day. Back in our room we quickly became aware of how cold the room was, but realized we were actually pretty toasty in the sleeping bags since they are meant to withstand temperatures as low as -40 degrees Celsius. We zipped them up so just our faces were showing and went right to sleep. Unfortunately, we didn't get the greatest night of sleep on the hard surface, waking up often. Before we knew it, it was 7:45 and the guide came into our room with hot tea to wake us up. We had 20 minutes to meet outside. We fumbled through our layers of clothing, some of which we had put at the bottom of the bag in order to keep it warm, and our shoes, and packed up our backpacks.

Our igloo.

Ready for bed!

Breakfast was to be at the hotel down the mountain a little bit, and to our surprise we were getting there via individual sleds! Sledding down the same mountain that people were going to be skiing on soon after was fantastic and woke us up a bit!

Ready to sled!

Sledding down the mountain.

We arrived at the hotel and stepped into the warm heat that we hadn't felt in quite some time. A large array of breakfast items lay before us and we dove right in. We chatted with our new friends while enjoying some of Switzerland's specialties. It all went by so fast and before we knew it, it was time to go. We headed towards the train to take us down the mountain to the village of Zermatt where we were to start the next part of our vacation.

Overall, we had an amazing, once in a lifetime experience with the igloo village and we're so glad that we were able to partake in such an adventure. Would we do it again? Probably not. Not because we didn't enjoy it, but we feel it's something that's only meant to be done once. The sheer novelty of Iglu-Dorf, friendly couples from around the world, the food, and different activities made this an unforgettable experience for us.

Tuscany: A cooking class, a ton of wine, and a day in Umbria's Orvieto.

Though tired and jet lagged from our trip to the States we couldn't pass up an opportunity to go to Tuscany for the weekend for a cooking class and wine tasting. We went to Torciano Winery in San Gimignano where they also have accommodations. We actually went to this winery in September just for a wine tasting and loved the atmosphere, wines, and food. It is family owned and they genuinely care about their business and what they're putting out there. The grounds of the winery are picture perfect and the small cottage like accommodations we had were fantastic.

When we arrived on Friday we were welcomed by the owner with big glasses of wine, a small tour of where we'd be staying, and where the class, dinner, and wine tasting would be. About an hour later we met the owner and his cousin in the kitchen. Another glass of wine in hand we learned to make dishes such as ragu (meat sauce), saffron risotto, lasagna, steak with green peppercorns and sauce, ribolitto (a typical Tuscan dish made with vegetables and bread), and crepes. All of these dishes were then brought out for us to eat while we tried eight more wines. We thought we were going to burst from all of the food! This was such an amazing experience that we'll remember and treasure forever.

Outside of our room

Ragu

Saffron risotto

Our dining/wine tasting area

The next day we woke up with no set plans for the rest of the weekend. Since we had been to the town of San Gimignano before we decided to drive to Volterra which is about 30 minutes away. We made frequent stops to take pictures of the beautiful landscape.

View from Volterra.

Inside the Archeological Park

Inside the park.

On the drive back to Torciano we stopped at two wineries. The first winery overlooked endless valleys and San Gimignano. They were very hospitable and welcomed us without hesitation when we showed up at their door. They too have nice grounds and accommodations with an outdoor pool. We may just have to come back...

Enjoying the nice view. That's our jetta!

The entrance to the winery.

So happy.

After we came back from wine tasting we bought a bottle of wine from Torciano, enjoyed the wonderful weather and played a game of Bocci ball. That night we went to dinner in San Gimignano. We walked the empty streets and picked a random restaurant that looked good... and it was!

Lounging with some wine.

Bocci ball!

San Gimignano.

 The next day we hit the road to begin our drive back. We knew we wanted to go to Orvieto, a beautiful city about 1.5 hours away, so we left right after breakfast. Orvieto is a medieval city, walled in and sitting on a big chunk of volcanic rock called tuff. The city rises above the practically vertical faces of tuff cliffs overlooking the Umbrian countryside. Sigh... it was so beautiful.

Yep, that's me.

And there's Jon!

The streets of Via del Duomo and Corso Cavour are perfect for strolling and shopping. We hopped into a shop where a local craftsman specializes in olive wood. The pieces were beautiful, some decorative and others meant for use around the house. We bought two fish trivets and a small cutting board. We also stopped in a wine shop and bought half a case of delicious Umbrian wine.

The restaurant we ate lunch in was spectacular. We said to each other as we walked in, "No more wine"! But as soon as we sat down we couldn't pass up some good Umbrian wine, so we ordered a bottle. We had the typical mixed appetizer, where many plates continuously came out consisting of different meats, cheeses, fig spreads, white bean salad, and different kinds of bruschetta. A general pasta dish with a boar tomato sauce came out for our meal. Yum!

After lunch we made our way to the Duomo. We had heard that the Duomo was something we needed to see, but we were so surprised at the architectural masterpiece we found ourselves looking at! We had just been strolling down these medieval streets and all of a sudden we were face to face with the astounding facade of this building. It was a mass of mosaics, stained glass, and sculptures. The side of the Duomo is made of white and black horizontal stripes which very much reminded us of the style of the Duomo in Florence. We found out later that it was designed by Arnolfo di Cambio who was the architect of the cathedral in Florence, so there you go!

There are other things to do in Orvieto that we didn't get to because we had to make the drive home to pick up our fur child, Maya. In no particular order these include the underground city of Orvieto, the archeological museum, St. Patrick's well (Pozzo di S. Patrizio), and whatever else we discover along the way.

All in all we made out pretty well buying a total of 36 bottles of wine to take home, receiving two others on the house, drinking a total of seven bottles in less than two days, and buying a few bottles of balsamic vinegar, spices, and white truffle oil. We may have to test our Italian cooking skills now!