Before we departed Nevers, we decided to do a “walking tour” . It is quite a beautiful town with some stunning buildings , and is situated on the Loire River.

 

The Gothic Cathedral dates from the 13th and 14th Century. We loved the Palace Ducal which was the symbol of power for the old Counts and Dukes of Nevers. The architecture was spellbinding , dating from the 16th Century.

It was built by a Count who wanted to live in something” more stately than a fortress”. We think he achieved his aim!

We stopped at Beaune for lunch and of course a glass of wine , and then proceeded onto our stop for the night at Baume les Dames at a B and B where we had stayed last year and we loved. We knew the B and B had a lovely garden.

 

 

 

 

Our dinner that night was a bottle of red, a baguette , and a rather large hunk of comte cheese,(because we are in the home of comte) and it is Greg’s favourite!

 

 

 

The next day we headed to Switzerland to stay with our Swiss Family. We had a lunch stop at Solothurn and we were quite impressed with the 13th Century Astronomical Clock Tower.

We love staying with Esther and Jean Pierre with the wonderful view of Lake Zurich from their balcony. On our first day in Zurich we went to Zurich’s “home mountain” at Uetilberg. We walked for nearly 2 hours along the ridge of the mountain and Greg’s knees survived! The next day we took a boat ride on the lake to meet Stew and Lyndsay who had arrived in Zurich.

 

That night we enjoyed a lovely dinner with Claudie also ,at Esther and JP’s.

Our next day in Switzerland was an absolute highlight! We went to “The Top of Europe” to Jungfraujoch at 3454 metres! What a sensational day it was!

 

We left Zurich by bus at 8am and travelled via Interlaken, where we had a great view of the Eiger Mountain. We then travelled a little further by bus before getting on the Jungfrau Railway, the highest railway in the world.

 

The railway line to the peak took 16 years to build and was opened in 1912. What an achievement , and all done by manual labour! The workers were guaranteed one bottle of red wine per worker per day to create a “better mood” !!!!!

The railway goes up and through the middle of the mountain, it was amazing.

There is an observatory at the top (3571 metres) and the “Sphinx” , with a viewing terrace has amazing views.

 

We experienced all types of weather at the top with cloud , sunshine and even a small snow flurry , with a temperature of 2 degrees C, not as cold as we were expecting.

We had a great lunch at the top, the rosti was fantastic!

 

 

 

The trip down the mountain was just as scenic with valleys and waterfalls galore. It was a wonderful day , another tick off Greg’s bucket list!

It was as usual another wonderful stay with our Swiss Family. Thank you Esther and JP. We left Switzerland and headed toward Italy via the Gotthard Pass. Switzerland is such a picturesque country , with its many mountains and lakes , and the highways running alongside lakes such as lake Lucerne.

We have now returned to Piemonte in Italy, and back to Monforte d”Alba where we stayed 2 years ago. It is like coming “home”.

Today we enjoyed a loooooong lunch at a Michelin Restaurant. Our rabbit salad and warm chicken salad were a great way to start the meal. Our agnolotti del plin was something we were looking forward to having again , and were not disappointed. The panna cotta for “dolce” was quite tasty also, and of course it was all washed down with a couple of glasses of red!  We finished off of course with an expresso! Yummy!

 

 

We plan to have a quiet relaxing day tomorrow before heading off to Malta on Thursday!

By the way , a weather update, blue skies , sunshine and a balmy 34 degrees! Sorry all you Melbournites!

Its that time again!

Ciao

Love Greg and Rhonda