Day on the Lake
Interlaken is the land and city between two alpine lakes near Bern (the capitol). We went by train from Seftigen to Thun to catch the ship that criss-crosses the lake. We were visiting Heather, Heinz, and their baby Jackson who are friends of our daughter KC (isn’t it great when your kids become adults and share their friends with you!)
. We had a beautiful, awesome day in the low 70′s,clear, snowy alps, azure water.
Swiss life is amazing, gentle, and tasty. The minimum wage is close to $25 an hour, but then it’s $7 for a simple cup of Starbucks. The public transportation is great, lots of pasture and farms with big-eyed cows wearing their bells (not all of them, these are prizes that they get to wear around their necks if they are best in show). And every home is required to have a bomb shelter and air purification system in it. Heather and Heinz’s made for a great wine cellar with a heavy thick door though it was kind of scary.
Tunnels
We left a gorgeous day in Montalcino to tearful goodbyes and much happiness for all that we experienced. Heading north, we got on the autostradde just south of Florence and enjoyed some magnificent scenery, from the mountains, to the prairies, to the ocean of Venice.
Ahhhhh, but Venice. There were no gondolas, water taxis, or vaporettos running on this busy Sunday. There were races in the canals of all sorts of floating contraptions, but mostly multi-person skulls. Never saw a start or finish line, but these had commandeered the scene. They were fun to watch but couldn’t get to some places because of crowds now all reduced to walking.
We managed to get to St Mark’s Square, where there is construction limitations on the campanile, only to find it wall to wall people (Multiple cruise ships in port). Lines were so ridiculously long, we passed on all sights and had a cup of hot chocolate, and people-watched and meandered down alley-ways that weren’t impassable.