October 4th: We started with breakfast in the pizzeria. It was still rainy but the view was great.
Our table for breakfast (and dinner the previous night). Lake Como in the background.
We couldn’t leave town without paying our respects at the temple to Allesandro Volta., founder of electrochemistry, inventor of the electric battery (“voltaic pile”), and discoverer of methane.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t go inside because it was closed for renovation. The museum houses some of Volta’s original devices.
Our next target was a gastronomic one: Salumificio Rossi, one of Italy’s top producers of prosciutto.
The retail store. Each of those hanging lumps is a prosciutto-cured ham.The meat sampler for two included several prosciuttos and salamis.Parmigiano Reggiano is also produced in this region. This is a sampler plate of different ages.The cheese came with fig, apricot, and cherry jams. And Italian basil leaves.Did I mention that they made prosciutto?
Then a lot of driving in the rain. Easy to blog because nothing much to say. We stopped for the night in Fontanella, and had dinner at a simple pizzeria.
Carol got a calzone; I ordered a smoked salmon pizza.
October 3rd: We bade farewell to Grindelwald and headed out. But our 3-day pass was still good, and we had one more mountain to climb. So we drove to Wilderswil and took the 1893 cog railway up to Schynige Platte. (On the first day, we didn’t do First. But on the second day, we did First first.)
The first part of the hike was going from the hotel to the Daube (the rocky peak) and around it to the overlook point beyond it.The overlook point, looking back at Daube.
At that point, I suddenly discovered that my camera had a panorama feature. What can I say, I’m old and slow.
Looking down at the town of Interlaken (“between lakes”).
From the overlook, we basically followed the ridgeline to the right, towards Oberberghorn.
The ridge part of the trail, with a lake on the left, and the valley below Oberberghorn on the right.The ridge got sharper and steeper …… but the views down the Interlaken side got increasingly spectacular.
Eventually though, the ridge ended at the Oberberghorn.
Oberberghorn. We cut back right at the yellow sign, and headed back by a lower route.But not before taking one more panorama of Interlaken.The trail back to Daube. The rest of the hike was somewhat boring, and I was somewhat exhausted, so no pictures.An hour later, we were back on the train.
Once we got back down, it was time to drive to Italy. The weather was overcast, but otherwise it was pretty scenic.
We stopped for lunch at a famous street-food stand called Sweet Ride, in Bönigen (near Interlaken).
I had the Lachs sandwich (foreground) with a ginger beer, while Carol went for Prosciutto. Then we had ice cream for dessert.We got to watch swans in the lake while eating.
A bit further down the rod, we heard there was this famous waterfall near Meiringen. We drove close to the top of it, over an incredibly narrow road, only to find that there was no place to park at all, except for guests of a small hotel there. So we turned around and headed back down, without even a glimpse.
Even from the ground, you can barely see any of it.
There was a small car offering rides to the top, but we just missed one, and didn’t want to wait for the next.
So, we left it behind and continued on our journey. As we climbed out of the Swiss Alps towards the Italian Alps, there were lots of scenic views with other waterfalls.
Finally, we crossed the Sustenpass (2224 m) and could start descending.
Finally we made it into Italy. Our lodging that night was at a pizzeria, Della Torre, up on a hill overlooking Como. It was pouring rain and we had a hard time finding it, but once settled we had an excellent dinner in the restaurant.
Carol had the grilled mixed fish (sea bream, salmon, shrimp, prawn, squid, monkfish), while I had a Milanese risotto with quail breast and porcini mushrooms.
Energy and Time 