Rain :-(

Verbania from the back of the ferry boat.

There were palm trees in Italy, near the lakes.

July 17 started out beautiful with a ferry ride from Verbania, Italy to Laveno, Italy.  We rode to little town of Indemini on the Neggia pass and then to Bellinzona.

The road through a small town in Switzerland.

 We drove the San Bernadino pass above tree line in Switzerland and had a great picnic at the top.  Odile left her jacket zipped to keep her warm from the cold breeze.  Unfortunately, we hit our first thunderstorm on the way down from San Bernardino.  So we added warm liners/ rain liners to our jacket and pants.  We took a highway to Thusis and then drove the small windy road up to the bowl at the top of the mountain where Arosa, Switzerland is located.  It rained hard through this drive, but Mark has been driving a motorcycle since 1981 and knows how to drive in the rain.  Lightning flashed and thundered echoed through the mountain passes.  Others in our group had hail also, but Mark and I only had rain.

Our picnic view.  You can see the road that took us here curving up the mountain.

Mark, Rob, and Dennis at lunch.

 We are safe inside our hotel.  Our pants and jackets are now drying on our patio.  Arosa is a truly spectacular bowl at the top of a mountain.  Dinner was grape salad, salad bar, soup, raclette, and strawberry cake (Odile) or mango sorbet (Mark).  Raclette is a Swiss specialty where you choose an assortment of vegetables and fruits on your plate.  The server has a special heating lamp, which melts a huge roll of cheese.  The server then scrapes a large amount of liquid hot cheese onto your plate.  Very Swiss!

 One more day of riding before we fly home.

View from our hotel balcony in Arosa, Switzerland.