Last Day of Riding

July 18, 2015 was our last day riding a motorcycle in Europe.  We rode through Switzerland, looking at the amazing views on our way to Zurich.  The weather was cloudy, but without rain.  The pictures have a hard time capturing the depth of the expansive views.  Often, we must turn our heads up, down, left, and right to see the complete view.

Taken from the back of the bike as we climb, higher and higher.

Above tree line, near a snow-fed lake.

Lots and lots of hair-pin turns.

Can you see the waterfall in the distance?

Watch out for the cows!

 Our tour guides, Gretchen and Rob with the other riders Dennis (standing) and Bill.  We'll never forget you.

We both feel ready to return home to our normal life routines.  This trip will stay in our minds forever.

Lovely!

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.

Italy!

July 15 & 16, 2015.  We have enjoyed Italy immensely, although it has been 91 F and humid.  On July 15 we drove through many small towns and farms of northern Italy.  Before leaving the skiing town of Courmayeur, we enjoyed a buffet breakfast.  We were offered many sweet pastries, sliced meat, cheese, fruit, eggs, strong coffee and even some dark chocolate squares (yum!).

Arco Di Augusto has a traffic circle around it now.

We stopped at a small Italian town of Aosta in Italy where we parked and walked around to view Arco Di Augusto built in the 1st century AD, a Roman Theater built in 25 BC, and other ancient remains that were amazing to see.

Wall of Roman Theatre in Aosta.

Roman building remains.

We then drove to see a castle in Fenis, Italy that was built in the 14th century although it has been restored throughout the centuries.  We were not allowed to tour the inside without a tour guide, so we paid the 10 Euros for the tour.  The guide spoke rapidly in Italian, with an occasional bit of translation into French.  We were not upset, we realize we are traveling in another country.  However you never realize how fast professional tour guides can speak until you are trying to understand and translate!

Outside view of castle in Fenis.

Dining room of the castle.  

Wood railing, each piece of woodwork is unique, not identical.

Frescos on castle walls

The rest of yesterday was spent driving small back roads.  We rode up to view the Italian side of the Matterhorn, which looks very different from the Switzerland view.

The Matterhorn, as seen from Italy, so it doesn't have the typical pyramidal shape.

Lunch was a shared plate of ravioli with cappuccino (Odile) and espresso (Mark).

Ravioli and espresso lunch at an outside table.

We did not arrive at the hotel until 8:30 pm, so it was 9 pm before we had showered and dressed for dinner.  Our group had our food ordered and served as soon as we sat down.  A great dry red Italian wine was served with penne pasta, then pork and vegetables, followed by cappuccino-flavored mousse for dessert.  We were exhausted, but it was wonderful to have Rob and Gretchen Beach guiding us on this trip!

One one of many spectacular views in Italy.

We fell into bed.   Our hotel is called the Grand Hotel Majestic in Verbania, Italy.  It is a restored 1870 building on Lake Maggiore.  Lake Maggiore is a huge lake with ferries, boats, and many towns along the shore.

Walking back to the hotel in the heat.  Photo taken by a
bicyclist passing.  He was from New Zealand!

Mark slept until 9 this morning, worn out from yesterday's long day.  The breakfast buffet includes even more pastries, with similar food to the last Italian breakfast buffet (except no dark chocolate).

Today, we are "resting."  We walked into the town of Verbania and then over to another larger town: Taranto.  Many European stores close from noon-2pm, but in Taranto they close noon - 3:30pm for lunch.  We did some window shopping, ate some delicious gelato, stopped by the food store and walked back home.  We must have walked over 6 miles, but it was great to stay off the motorcycle for a day.  We both have sore bottoms!

Mark's gelato cup was filled with 4 different flavors.

The weather is much hazier, so pictures are not as spectacular as they were previously.  Throughout this trip, we have frequently entered churches that are open during the day.  The inside is always spectacular.  Most churches are Catholic, in France and Italy.

Catholic Church in Verbania, Italy.

Tonight's dinner will be a picnic with prosciutto, cheese, bread, cantaloupe, and more wine.  I'm not sure that it's dietetic, but we have been eating a lot and this seemed simple and easy.  Our hotel balcony is on the side of the hotel, with some view of the lake and some view of the street.  However, it is hot outside, so we may eat in our air-conditioned room instead.

Sorry, this post is so long!  Tomorrow after breakfast we drive through more of Italy, stopping in Arosa, Switzerland.

14th century forts, later used by Napoleon

July 14, 2015.  We have to correct our post yesterday.  We did not spend the day driving in Italy.  We drove from Italy to France and then back to Italy.
We took time to visit an old fort in the process of being restored,  The signage is in French, and it was hard to get the details.  We believe the fort was originally used to protect a town in the 14th century.  Later it was "remodeled" by Napoleon's army in the 18th or early 19th century.

What a view!

A church on the top of Col de L'Iseran.

Roadside art.

 Here are some photos of cars for Mark's friends at Mancon.

 As we got gas at the end of the day, we saw this GTR.  Unfortunately it was broken down on the side of the road only minutes after leaving the gas station.

We are staying the night in a fabulous Italian ski hotel in the town of Courmayeur.  Dinner  last night was antipasto plate, wine, a cheese and pasta main course, dessert, and some liquor to finish off the meal.  Life is good!