Goodbye Switzerland, Hello Italy? Wait, Hello France!

We were sad to say goodbye to Switzerland. Honestly, we loved it so much and I just stared out the windows and wondered how anything could possibly be so beautiful! But our four days were up (it was no secret that mom wished we had just spent the whole week in Switzerland and forgot France altogether), we packed up our bags and packed up the car. It was about a five-six hour drive to Cannes. But about an hour into our drive (we were still in Switzerland), we stopped at a gas station, and all the writing had somehow changed from familiar German to Italian. I wasn't prepared. I racked my brain for the bit of Italian we had prepared ourselves with (Dov'e il bagno, per favore?), and we spent all our remaining francs on the gas station's selection of Swiss chocolate. (Hello, Lindt Cayenne Pepper dark chocolate!!!) Before we left Switzerland, we saw some ruins off a small exit and thought, Why not? We spent the next hour exploring Castello di Mesocco. It  was our last chance to stop, look around us before leaving the country, and may have been one of my favorite things we did in Switzerland!

Yes, that's a waterfall right behind us!

Bianca and Portia

If we were dressed differently, this could be our Christmas card for next year!

Looks precarious, but she's safe!

Bianca loved the castello

Too bad we couldn't go up in the tower

We spent the rest of the day driving through some pretty awful parts of Italy to get to France. I was starting to regret leaving Switzerland at all. We stopped every couple miles (it seemed) at the vast amount of toll booths. When we needed to stop to eat, it was seriously a lot of work and embarrassingly, we ended up stopping at McDonald's. We tried several different places but the cucina (kitchen) was always closed! I'd later find out that it's very normal in Italy for a restaurant not to be open during lunch hours. I was just so happy to find a bathroom and sustenance to get us to France. And wow, do the Italian people LOVE McDonald's. It was crawling with people. Eric and I are wondering if we shouldn't just move to Italy and open up a McDonald's!

Yes, we came all the way to Italy to eat at McDonald's

Things didn't look up when we entered France. Still, way too many tolls (I don't even want to think how much money we spent on toll roads alone) and there was a huge traffic jam through Nice. As we were driving through Nice, I was very grateful I had decided not to stay there. I don't think I would have liked it as much as we ended up loving Cannes. We stopped on our endless search to find an ATM machine and Portia had to go to the bathroom. Halt--enter French! Mom took some French in high school, so I told her she was in charge of getting us through France. We ended up at a boulangerie (bakery) buying cookies in the hopes that the woman would take pity on us when we asked her for a toilette. She didn't. She pretended like she didn't know what a toilette was. Fortunately, some motorcyclist succumbed to the pleas of grandma begging in broken French ("Enfant, toilette "s'il vous plait?), and he let them use the bathroom in his motorcycle shop. (Merci! Merci! Merci! Merci! they all thanked him after the fact). Still, we got some pretty decent cookies to tide us over until we reached Cannes.

We found this little hair salon entertaining at the end of our drive:

Anyone else see the problem with naming a salon Oops!!!?

We parked our car in Cannes and didn't think about it again for the next several days, as we could walk everywhere! The man Michel who rented us the place also lived in a different section of the house where we stayed and had his daughter there (Portia's age) and a cousin, plus four cats! This gave Portia a French-speaking playmates (but isn't play a universal thing?) and cats to seek.

Portia and her French friends

We loved how extremely French this old house was, although the stairs were very creaky.

Our dining room was lovely with lovely fresh flowers and antique tiles

Our French house

Bianca had a loft above the kitchen for her private sleeping quarters.

Bianca's sleeping arrangements in Cannes

Eric and I had the most amazing view of Cannes and the Mediterranean from our bedroom window:

Ahh, we made it to Cannes

Michel gave us a caddy for grocery shopping and sent us to the grocer before things closed for the evening. Thank heavens most people were more than willing to speak English with us (not the rude French people I was expecting). Thus begins our adventures in France. . .

DOORS OF THE DAY

So it's not exactly a door per se, but I'm guessing there used to be one there

A door in Cannes

Small villages

I love the colors

So, we started our last day in Switzerland driving around, looking for a super old monastery. We ended up not taking a right turn and then into another little village where we found this lovely little post office (aren't the colors great?) and I had to jump out of my car to get a picture in front of it. I don't even remember the name of the village, but it was near Tiefencastel.

We finally did make the correct turn and then had to hike a while to make it this old monastery in Mistail. It is one of the oldest churches in Switzerland. The wildflowers and the trees and the scenery were gorgeous--like straight out of Heidi--so the hike was part of the fun.

The hike

Well, we are on our way to a monastery so this isn't a surprise

Isn't this wildflower field absolutely lovely?

Bianca reading, as per usual

Church of St. Peter, belonged to a monastery built in 800s

A gaggle of geese protecting the monastery

My little Heidi of the Hills

The building was super old--built around the year 800--and still had old paintings on the walls. It is now an operating church, we think, called St. Peter.

We wanted to have fondue before we left Switzerland, so we had been told the previous night at the restaurant this particular restaurant in a small village called Parsonz (but the restaurant is also named Bellavista ironically) would make us fondue. This little restaurant was really just so cute.

Eating the fondue at Bellavista

I swear, everywhere in Switzerland has a "bella vista"!

Mom really loved this sweet little restaurant in Parsonz

After lunch, we came across this old tower and just had to get out and explore. 

They still use the swiss franc in Switzerland, so money seemed to be a perpetual problem for the first half of our trip. I had arranged to pay in cash for all the places we stayed to save on wiring and paypal fees, but our ATM would only let us take out 400 francs/euros a day. We were always on a quest for ATM machines. This brought us back to Chur, which was the biggest city around. At least shops were open, and we were able to do a little shopping. We came across this sign that we thought was odd, especially considering it was in English (so few things were) and what exactly does this mean? Bianca found her name listed under these "uninhabitable objects":

In Stierva, there was a little book that told about an "adventure park" only a ten-minute walk from where we were staying. This ended up being a real highlight. We all LOVED the zipline! There was other park equipment as well and the view was amazing!

Portia on the zipline

Bianca in front of the amazing view

Portia is no doubt upset that it wasn't her turn on the zipline

A little playhouse

We headed back early to pack up as the next day, we left for France.

DOORS OF THE DAY

Portia and Grandma in the front door to the Mistail monastery

A door in Chur

St. Moritz

The view from train station in Tiefencastel

I had really wanted to go summer skiing while we were in Switzerland to say I'd snowboarded in the Alps, but it turns out most of the resorts don't do summer programs anymore.  The one resort that does--Zermatt--was so far away, I just accepted that it wasn't meant to be. St. Moritz is one of the big ski resort towns, so we went there for a day trip anyway because the train ride looked so extraordinary with all the bridges and steep mountains. There wasn't a lot going on there, however, since it was the off-season. So we just wandered around to see what there was to see there. At least it had finally stopped raining, but it was still pretty cold up in the Alps.

Bianca and Portia made a fun discovery while they used the bathroom on the train ride. I guess the toilet is just an opening that drops everything from the toilet straight down onto the train tracks. They came back laughing that they could see the rocks straight through the toilet opening. I was just grateful there was a bathroom option as the train ride was an hour long.

On the train to St. Moritz

Getting off the train, we first encountered this beautiful huge lake. It really was just breathtaking.

Then we went into the city side of town and meandered along the roads. I wish we could have done some shopping, but most of the stores were closed as well. Portia did, however, secure her first souvenir of the trip--this little stuffed kitten who she named Streiffen Jewel (streiffen means striped in German) at the bistro where we had lunch. Portia gave her a German name so she wouldn't forget she was a Swiss cat. This cat does make appearances in the photos for the next several days; this could be a fun game to pick out in a Where's-Waldo sort of way. Bianca picked up some Swiss chocolates that were artwork for her souvenir. Portia ordered a "hot dog" for lunch and was quite dismayed when she got a hard roll, buttered with one little piece of ham on it. She thinks they might not know what a hot dog is in Switzerland. 

Another faucet in the town

A fountain in the city center

Bianca in St. Moritz

I'll bet you didn't know there was a "Leaning Tower" in Switzerland! Neither did we! It's not quite as grand as the one in Italy, but we thought it was funny that this trip would contain two leaning towers. It looks like it was an old bell tower and church and it still had a cemetery behind it (although it was under some sort of construction). Speaking of bell towers, one of the most magical things about Switzerland was the way the bells would chime on the hour. Every day. All day long. I really loved that.

The Leaning Tower of St. Moritz

Dandelion fields with Stierva in the distance

What is it about Switzerland that makes even dandelions charming? We would drive by field after field of yellow-dotted grass and marvel at how beautiful it all was. (I know I'd hate it if it were in my yard, of course, but it's funny what a different perspective can do for a person. After all, it's only a weed if you don't want it there.) Now Portia makes these wonderful dandelion bouquets at home, but there were some huge fields in Switzerland dotted with way-too-many dandelions, but they really are so beautiful!

We had a fun time but realized while we were there that we really do prefer spending our time in the small villages than the larger cities. 

Upon returning to our small village of Stierva that night, we stopped at the one restaurant--a family owned restaurant named Bella Vista to make reservations for dinner. Eric tried to make the reservations but he couldn't communicate. They spoke no English whatsoever. So I headed in there and really am impressed that with my meagre German skills, I can communicate enough to get us a reservation for five to have Capuns (a local dish that was really quite amazing). It was this leaf-stuffed with rice and bacon (almost like a dumpling) with a really delicious cheese sauce.

Wating for our food at Bella Vista

Kapuns were an old dish eaten by poor people, but don't be fooled--they were delicious!

They asked Portia if she wanted sausages and she said yes. Then they brought out hot dogs. This was funny because now she really isn't sure what to say to get a hot dog on her plate--but my, was she happy to see them! We spent a lot of time that night at Bella Vista, but it was so wonderful!

DOORS OF THE DAY

The St. Mortiz library front doors

Hemingway's Club

I'm pretty sure this was a mausoleum at the Leaning Tower cemetery