A couple we met on our Antarctic trip invited
us to visit their home in Napa. In
February 2005, one of them picked us up at the San Francisco airport and drove
us to their home. Their swimming pool
had a mosaic dragon on the bottom and wonderfully warm water. They took us for lunch at the Francis Ford
Coppola Winery and dinner at the restaurant located inside the Freemark Abbey
Winery in St. Helena. We watched the Oscars together and the next morning one
of them took us to a BART station so we could take the subway to a station near
the home of Yvonne and Gordan Kimber in San Ramon. Gordan always liked to show us all the
pictures he had been taking.
Dragon mosaic on bottom of swimming pool
Yvonne and Gordan took us on a drive to the
coast including Santa Barbara and an old car museum. I didn’t see my father’s 1902 Knox that my mother
donated to a California museum after he died.
It was a pleasant visit.
Old cars
Gordan and Yvonne Kimber
Me and Diane
A second BART ride took us to the San
Francisco airport where we met our friends Sue and Carmen who flew up from San
Diego. Carmen had researched the best
wineries to visit during this Zinfandel barrel-tasting weekend. If we purchased a special event wine glass, we
could carry it from winery to winery and enjoy unlimited wine tasting. I was glad that Sue, and not Diane or me, had
rented the car and was doing all the driving.
Diane and I ordered several cases of future vintages to be delivered to
our home in Columbia.
Me with Carmen and Sue tasting wine
Back home, Diane’s sister, Susan, had sold
their house in West Orange, NJ and moved to Columbia to join her husband, Joe,
along with their daughter, Kelly. Susan
was co-writing a romance novel with a friend, and we helped her set up an
office for her writing in the previous dining room of the condo. They started paying rent in May. Joe hated driving the school bus, and applied
for a job as a bus driver with the city transportation department. Kelly started taking classes at Columbia
College.
Meanwhile, our friend Craig was planning
another trip for the three of us, this time to Italy and Switzerland. In May, the three of us flew to Rome where
Craig rented a car. Our first night’s
destination was a hotel in Lido di Tarquinia, a town about an hour north of the
airport named for its location. Lido
means beach and the inland part of the town is simply Tarquinia, so it was
located on the sea side of the highway.
When we arrived at our lodging, there was a big family celebration going
on in the restaurant which we were asked to join. No menus were offered. We were seated outdoors, given a carafe of
wine and the grilled food just kept coming to our table. There were lots of vegetables, grilled squid
and other seafood which we gobbled up.
The next day we explored the streets of Tarquinia including the old
fortress and views of the Roman aqueducts.
After lunch we found the Necropolis of Tarquinia, the location of the
colorful Etruscan tombs, some of which were large enough to enter. After a visit to a museum of Etruscan art and
artifacts, which predate Roman civilization, we were ready to travel further
north.
Pink fish bedroom for the three of us
Stones for simple tombs
Tomb Interior
Our next night’s stay was in a spa near the
village of Scansano. Before we headed
inland, we drove along the coast through the Maremma Park where we viewed the
very long-horned Maremma cattle. A walk
to the beach provided views of the French island of Corsica and distant views
of the Italian island of Sardinia. After
we reached Scansano, it wasn’t easy to locate our night’s lodging at a spa. Most of the problem was the language barrier,
as at first, we could only find old men to ask who didn’t speak English. After we finally found some young men, we had
no problem getting directions as 1) they spoke English and 2) they probably
knew young women who worked there. Craig
deserved a massage for his tight muscles after driving, and we arranged one for
him. Diane wanted nothing more than
swimming laps in their big pool. I just
had fun watching the little girl with short legs running up and down the side
of the pool trying to keep up with Diane.
Semi-wild Maremma cattle
Where Diane enjoyed swimming
The next day, Craig drove us through the
hilly countryside to visit the surrounding towns. I
observed little old ladies walking down the street carrying their bags of
groceries, but couldn’t identify the grocery shops. I finally figured it out when I saw some
enter a doorway through strings of beads and others leave with bags filled with
groceries. There was no signage. Everyone just knew where the neighborhood
grocery stores were located.
We had lunch sitting in a nice park of a
larger town and then headed back to the spa for an excellent dinner. We kept heading north toward Sienna, our next
stop. Our lodging was on the edge of
town, within walking distance of a grocery store, called a coop, but not
pronounced co-op but rather coop, as in chicken coop. The most interesting item I saw was the
packaged chicken complete with its head attached. Our unit was on the roof. We could sit outside and eat and also easily
dry the clothes that needed washing by this time. Diane and I fell in love with Sienna. The Palazzo Pubblico, the historic city hall,
is on the town square and contains several secular frescoes. The most famous of the secular frescoes are
three panels collectively known as Allegory and Effects of Good and Bad
Government. We very much enjoyed lunch
at the Pizzeria adorned with a stuffed Boar’s Head.
The Boar’s Head restaurant
We chose our next destination because of an
encounter we had in St. Louis at an Italian-themed dinner held by our wine
distributor. At the meal Diane was asked
to sit next to Count Guicciardini, the owner of the estate whose wine was being
paired with the food for each course.
Diane and the Count had a lively conversation. She learned that his wife was interested in
growing olive trees, so the estate also bottled and sold olive oil. As a result, we ordered both wine and olive
oil from the distributor to enhance our own Italian meals.
Now in Italy, our next stop on the way to
Florence was The Castello di Poppiano Estate, the home and business of the
Count. On the way, we got lost and
accidently met his sister who at first thought Craig was her pool boy. We followed her directions to the Count’s
estate where we received an excellent tour of both the winery and the olive
press and bottling. We ordered many
bottles of wine to be sent to the hotel where we would be staying in Gstaad,
Switzerland.
Fields of olive trees and grapevines as
seen from roof of winery
Then we traveled to the Hotel Balestri in
Florence. We found a Guicciardini (like
the Count’s) street and remembered the story about how the castle was located so
that it could warn Florence if an attack was coming from Sienna. Evidently these cities had a history! Our hotel, on the bank of the Arno River, was
ideally situated for walking around the city.
There was so much to see in Florence, and we wanted to view as much of
it as we could: The Duomo famous for its architecture and the “Florentine Pieta;”
The Galleria dell ’Accademia with its statue of David as well as others in the
museum and courtyard; the Palazzo Vecchio with its many other statues of
David. We walked across the Ponte
Vecchio, the first segmental arch bridge built in the West, crossing the Arno
River, and viewing its many shops along the way. This bridge was the only one spared from
destruction by the retreating German army in WWII.
Via Guicciardini off the Ponte Vecchio
bridge in Florence
The frescoes inside the dome
Jason holding Medusa’s head
On the other side of the Arno, we visited
the Pitti Palace, the home of the Medici family, the Uffizi Gallery, and toured
the adjoining Boboli Gardens which they designed. We also enjoyed the culinary delights in
Florence. I was developing a real taste
for gelato and coffee with warm milk. Craig
and I quite enjoyed seeing the astronomer Galileo’s thumb and middle finger at
the History of Science Museum. These
digits were chosen for amputation by the inquisitors as they were necessary for
writing with a pen. Galileo was not
popular with the Catholic Church because of his belief that the sun was the
center of the universe, not the earth.
Driving in Italy had not been easy for
Craig, especially with two backseat drivers.
None of us knew the language and we didn’t have good maps. The roads we were taking did not have numbers. Instead, at intersections the signs pointed
towards roads with the names of small towns.
Especially going to Scansano and from there to Sienna, we were in the
countryside and it was difficult to figure out which way to go. There was always more than one opinion. Craig’s white-knuckle driving led to our
transition to the rails for the remaining northward journey, stopping to stay
in Locarno, a Swiss village located on Lake Maggiore.
As ever, Craig had fun excursions planned
in Locarno. The first outing was to
obtain a high-altitude view of the area.
We rode a funicular to Orselina, where we boarded a cable car that took
us to a viewing platform. However, we
weren’t to the top yet! For that segment
we boarded a two-person open ski-lift.
Once there, we had a marvelous view of Lake Maggiore and the Alps. For the second excursion, we boarded a boat
on Lake Maggiore and rode to the Brissago Island botanical garden featuring
plants from the Far East, South Africa, Central America and New Zealand. The
next boat took us to Ascona for lunch before we returned to Locarno.
First, the cable car, then the lift
View from the top
Lake Maggiore as seen from the Brissago
Island botanical garden
The next day we boarded the train for Sion,
Switzerland on the banks of the Rhone River.
Craig had made reservations for lunch at a winery in Sion, Maison
Gilliard. An employee picked us up at
the train station, drove up the hill and through a tunnel entrance to the
vineyard. We were taken to a small
luncheon table overlooking the vineyard and the Rhone where we were joined by
Willy Becker, their only English speaker. It turned out that Willy had been the owner,
and he had recently passed on the operation of the vineyard to his
children. He and I bonded when we
discovered that we had both worked with punched cards and IBM’s unit record
equipment. I had worked for IBM, and he
had worked for John Deere in the US for many years. Once the bond was established, we started on
the Brioche with cheese and sausage along with several bottles of wine while
Willy told us the complete wine growing story.
We learned that since their vineyards are so high up with no roads to
them, helicopters were used to take the baskets of harvested grapes to the
manufacturing facility. Willy enjoyed
our company so much that he took us back to town and insisted on taking us for
more drinks before the train left.
Whew!!
Lunch under the vines
Tour guide Willy explains things to Jeanne
while Craig listens in
Navigating stairs from one level to the
next after wine
View of the Rhone River showing vineyard
levels
While changing trains in Montreux, Craig
purchased tickets for the second level panoramic seats in the front of the
train car for our trip to Gstaad. However,
after having had lunch, wine, and two beers, it took only a few minutes for us
to struggle to keep our eyes open despite the beautiful scenery. Only the sound of Craig and Diane’s snores
kept me awake for most of the trip. It
was a short walk from the Gstaad train station to the Hotel Christiana owned by
Craig’s friends Nagy and Isabella, a couple who had worked and been married at
the Tan Tar A Resort at the Lake of the Ozarks.
They wouldn’t let us pay for anything.
Thankfully, it was off-season, not time for the Swiss Open (played in
Gstaad), and they didn’t have other guests.
We ate three meals a day in their restaurant and in the evening were
served some of the Count’s wine we had sent.
Hotel Christiana
Diane and I went on a couple of hikes on
trails labeled Wanderweg. Craig took us
on a day train trip to Gruyères made famous by its cheese. On our last night, the hotel restaurant was
closed for a family dinner which was a fondue of meat (including horse meat),
seafood, and vegetables. We met all of
the friends and family that we had heard Craig talk about after his almost
annual visits to Gstaad.
Isabella in the kitchen and Nagy setting up
tables in restaurant
Bellies are full
Our next train ride was to Lucerne where the
three of us boarded a boat for a long ride to our overnight hotel, the Park
Hotel Vitznau. Diane and I had dinner by
ourselves that night as Craig left to visit a friend who worked at another
hotel. The next day, after arriving back
in Lucerne, we put our luggage in storage lockers so we could easily tour the
city, walking along the ancient walls and through the painted bridges spanning
the canal.
Lucerne’s Chapel Bridge
Lucerne old wall
Our final destination was Zurich. The Fraumünster
is a reformed church in Zurich's old town which contains remarkable Marc
Chagall stained-glass windows. While we
were there to see the windows, the organ player came in with his grandson to
show off their grand organ that has 5793 pipes making it the largest organ in
the whole of Zurich. What luck to hear
that concert! We couldn’t understand why
Craig wanted to take us to the Urania Police Station until we walked into the
foyer and entrance hall where there was the most amazing art painted in the
1920s by Augusto Giacometti. The ceiling
and vault paintings show ornamental floral designs and geometric patterns while
the walls depict people at work: stone carvers, carpenters, astronomers and
magicians.
One of the Marc Chagall windows
I am watching the organ
A painting at the Urania Police Station
It was time for our adventure to end with a
flight home from Zurich. Diane and I
were so thankful that Craig took us on this trip. His meticulous planning and consideration
shown us along the way only deepened our friendship and regard for him.