Northern Italy and Switzerland: Skiing in Zermatt

(Dad note: there are several videos in this post. They seem to only like to play on computers so if you're on a mobile device, including tablets, they may not playback right.)

Zermatt is my favorite place! It was a great place to learn how to ski. We started off by renting skis at Bayard Sport and then confirmed our lessons that we would be taking all week.

For dinner the first night we had a delicious meal at The Bubble, a yummy burger place.  The next day we woke up bright and early, ready for our ski lesson. We all laughed because of our overalls that we had to wear under our ski jackets. Aren't we stylish?

Then we left to meet up with our teacher for our lesson. It was particularly hard to get to our meeting spot at the Sunnega funicular because we had to walk across town in our ski boots, carrying all our gear: poles, skis, helmets, and goggles. When we got there our instructor with the Summit Ski School, Victoria, was waiting for us at the entrance. We took the funicular up and we were greeted by the view of the Matterhorn. In this video you will see the horribleness of my first time ever skiing. In the video you will also see my first fall!

We had lunch at the cafe at the top of Sunnega, but all the tables were taken inside, so we ended up outside in the snow. Cloudy, but not a bad view.

We were tired after our first day and slept really well!

The next morning, we did the same thing as before. Got ready, got on our ridiculous suspenders, and headed out the door. That day we started on the bigger hill in the learning area. It was hard the first time. Very very hard. I ended up going really fast straight down the hill. Not a pretty sight. But after about seven tries, I did my first time standing up, not falling. The video is of my seventh try, not my first. And here is Arya who was helped by Victoria almost the whole day.

That night we played in the snow in front of our apartment. It was very, very soft. We made snow angels and snow slides. We tried to make a snowman, but the snow was so powdery that it didn't hold together.

Later that night when Mom and Dad had just put us to bed, I lay there wiggling my tooth which had been loose the entire trip, and it came out! I already had a plan if that happened in bed. What I did was I crawled over to Arya's bunk bead and whispered, "I lost my tooth, be quiet, don't say anything." Then I tiptoed out my bedroom door and said calmly, "Mom... Dad..." they looked at me disgruntled because I was out of bed. Then I started jumping up and down and yelling, "I LOST MY TOOTH, I LOST MY TOOTH!" The next morning the tooth fairy left me five swiss franks.

On the third day, once again we got ready to go and headed out. Today, Mom and Dad headed out on the big run while we stayed at the Wolli park learning area with Victoria. Later that day, Arya, Victoria, and I did the big run once, and then a smaller blue run that was a lot of fun. The video is of us coming down the big hill for the first time. This is only a very small part of the run, just the ending.

We also did some exploring around town and shopping. With my five francs, I got a very small white teddy bear with a white dress that had a little red heart on it. Because of that heart, I named her Little Heart.

We saw many things around town. Lot of cowbells, swiss mountain dog stuffies, and mugs for beer. We even saw a movie in German!!! We saw Annie in a very cool movie theater with four chandeliers. When the movie was about to start all the chandeliers moved out of the way in a pulley system or something. We also stopped at a fun park that had a mini-zipline!

Our last dinner in Zermatt we had some Swiss fondue. The owner of the restaurant was walking around giving people free postcards with the picture of the restaurant in 1600. It is titled, The Best Cheesehouse in Town. He also showed us how to eat our fondue correctly. We kinda followed his instructions, but we also did it our own way. He was a nice, cheerful, old man that seemed to take a lot of pride in his restaurant.

By the end of the week we had gotten quite good and went down the big runs many times, even without Victoria. We were sad to go because we thought our skiing was over. But we did not know the surprises to come.

Northern Italy and Switzerland - Second Stop: Milan

Traveling just over an hour and a half north from Genoa by train we reached Milan (Milano for the Italians which, as a sidebar, has always bothered me a bit. Why don't we call places by the names the local residents use? Why do we change them? But I digress...) in the mid afternoon. We spent that afternoon and the next day wandering and enjoying many of the sites Milan had to offer. Rather than a chronological play-by-play, here are a handful of my favorite sites.

Basilica of St. Lorenzo Maggiore
Such a grand building. It was originally a Roman structure built in the 400's and has undergone many changes, additions, and demolitions since then. It was upon going in this church that I realized how spoiled I'm beginning to be by the architecture here. If this building were located just about anywhere in the US, it would have blown my mind. However, compared to many of the buildings I've gotten to visit this year, while amazing on the outside, I found the inside rather plain. Having said that, if you make it to Milan, do stop by. It's worth it just to see the immensity from the outside. Oh, and there's a fun park and playground nearby where the kids found some local children to play with for a bit and Arya got a quick game of Tag in with Mom.

Il Duomo di Milano
Now this is a church. This Gothic beast took almost 600 years to build and is the fifth largest cathedral in the world. When you enter, you feel small. Massive pillars, beautiful stained glass, details everywhere. As beautiful as the inside was, the exterior I believe to be the star of the show. Not only did we get to experience the beauty of this structure from below, we also went on a rooftop tour that allowed us to see how detailed it truly is. I noted many times over how there were intricate sculptures in places on the roof that, at the time of it's building, literally nobody who didn't work at the church would have seen and even those who did work there still might not have noticed. I'll let the pictures try to speak, but do yourself a favor and put this on your bucket list, roof tour included.

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II
Built in the late 1800's and named after the first king of a unified Italy, it is one of the oldest malls in the world. It is a simple crossing of two major hallways with shops on both sides covered by amazing arched glass roofs and above the middle, the arches meet at a glass dome. Oh, and it's lined with the top names in high fashion to boot.

La Scala
Being music people, no stop in Milan would be complete without a trip to the most famous opera house in the world. Truly a magnificent building inside and out. Alas, no performance for us, but a nice walking tour including a peek at scores, costumes, portraits, batons, and various other pieces of memorabilia plus of course a look inside the performance hall. No pictures allowed I'm afraid. Do look some up though.

The Last Supper
I wish I could tell you that we got to see Leonardo's famous painting. It would be cool to tell you we got to go through the humidity control room all visitors have to stand in to be sure it is kept from deteriorating any further. And wouldn't you be jealous if I told you when you're there you can see the expressions of shock on the disciples faces as Jesus announces he is to be betrayed and that Judas's seeming indifference gave me the chills? Unfortunately, even such an off-season time it appears that one needs a reservation to get a chance to visit and we didn't have one. So...here's a picture of Santa Maria delle Grazie, the church in which the painting resides. Close enough? :-/

Sforzesco Castle
This imposing edifice was originally the northern entrance to the city wall and served as the governmental hub of the town. Now it serves as a museum of both art and history and is the gateway to Parco Sempione, Milan's version of Central Park. We wandered the castle a bit and spent quite a while roaming the park including another game of Tag, this time with Dad.

Rizzoli Librerie
Readers who have visited Milan probably are surprised by this last entry. Rizzoli is simply a bookstore located in the aforementioned Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. What makes it special, beyond it being a nice bookstore, is the little touching moment that happened here. Stacey and I went to browse the adult section and sent the kids to see what they could find upstairs in the children's department. Several minutes later, I went up to find them and discovered them seated in this super-cool double-seater, double-decker couch. Arya was reading, library-story-time style, the story of Pinocchio to her older sister. They weren't being funny or showing off. They just both love being together and finding little things to enjoy doing together. And, at the risk of sounding a bit overly sentimental, perhaps that is the best site of all.

Northern Italy and Switzerland - first stop Genoa

We just arrived home (yes, Italy home) after 12 days of exploring Northern Italy and Switzerland.

In preparation for this trip we took a bike ride to Cisalfa Sport to load up on winter gear. Thankfully, we found that the whole store was 40-50% off - we needed a lot of stuff as you'll see once we get to Switzerland, and as always, it was quite the adventure hauling it all home on our bikes.

We mapped a route that would include a series of train trips north and then a flight home from Zurich to Firenze, and a final train to Lucca.

First leg, Lucca to Genoa. An easy 2.5 hours. We left early and spent one night in Genoa. We were able to see quite a lot in that first day. Enough to know that as beautiful as it is in January, with Spring and warmer weather it would be easy place to relax for a few days. Located right along the Mediterranean, Genoa is Italy's largest seaport, and very obviously a fishing village (of 1.5 million people). The sights and smells remind you of that.

So who would you expect to come from this nautical center? Why navigator and explorer Christopher Columbus of course. Born here in Genoa in 1451.

Genoa boasts the largest aquarium in Italy, and ranks as one of the largest in Europe. Living just a short drive from Monterey for most of their lives, my kids know a bit about aquariums, but we were still able to spend a few hours enjoying the many creatures and exhibits here.

Another great find for kids on a cold day in Genoa (Genova for locals) is Città dei Bambini. It is a cool place for hands on exploration and science and located a short walk from the aquarium. Activities include an ant farm, bubbles, rock wall, nautical center, mirrors, magnets, and so much more!

We also spent time exploring the cool, blustery outside. We couldn't hide away all day! We found local fruit stands, churches, art and architecture that make this coastal city a real gem.

Arya had a lot of fun taking photos, and Ashley spotted a tower that reminded us of home!