Like every morning, Sofia woke up on Christmas in the early morning and immediately began to make lots of noise, letting us all know it was time to get up and see what Santy brought. And for a while she was very excited to help tear open her gifts, of which she received quite a few. After a time however she got bored and then tired so she went and took a nap while the rest of us finished the job.
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| Look what Santy brought! |
After we finished opening our gifts and eating breakfast Gina cooked up a storm for the Christmas party we attended that night at Johan's. She made an apple pie, tiramisu, macaroni and cheese, and roasted fennel, butternut squash, carrots, and sugar snap peas. Adding that to the delicious roast, rice, brussels sprouts, and snacks, we definitely feasted like kings!
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We had to cut the evening at Johan's short because we had rented a car to travel to Italy the following morning and didn't feel that a trip over the Alps would be much fun if we were all hungover. Early on the 26th I went to the Zurich airport to pickup our Volkswagon golf but was told a mistake had been made and because the rental agency no longer had any Golfs they had upgraded us to an all wheel drive Audi. It turned out this was really lucky for two reasons: First the weather was awful the entire trip and the all wheel drive came in handy as we pushed through the snow and ice of the Alps; second the upgrade included a built-in GPS unit that gave us perfect directions in a comforting British accent.
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| I'm ready to go now... |
For the brief moments when the weather opened up and we could see more than 30 feet in front of us, this was one of the most stunning road trips I have ever taken. The road up through the pass wound its way through steep, snow covered peaks and deep glacial lakes half hidden by fog. To negotiate the terrain, the Swiss literally cut the road into the sides of cliffs and tunneled through whole mountains. It was one of the most impressive trips I've ever taken.
Once we made it through to the Italian side the going became easier until we reached Lake Maggiore. At that point we ignored the British woman and left the highway, taking a side road built right on the lake. Immediately it became clear that we were no longer in a country with the best transportation infrastructure in the world. Heavy rain had caused numerous rock and mudslides along the length of this portion of the trip and the resulting bottlenecks hindered our progress to Arona. We finally made it safe and sound however, despite the weather and irate Italian drivers.
The morning after our arrival the Garland's relatives picked us up and took us to their home for lunch. They were wonderful hosts. We went to three separate homes to visit different family members and at every one we enjoyed food and drink. Although effective communication was difficult everyone still seemed to enjoy the visit.
Italy was a beautiful country and Gina and I will definitely be taking a trip back. After driving back to Zurich the rest of Frank and Frankie's stay was pretty low key. Really all we did was eat, drink, and play board games. Although one afternoon Frankie and I did make the hike to the top of Eutliberg, which proved to be unusually difficult because the path was covered in a sheet of ice. The view from the top of the hill was worth it though.
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