Many of the restaurants that cater to tourists in Switzerland have similar menus, consisting of raclette, cheese fondue, rösti (the Swiss equivalent of hash browns), schnitzel, pizza, pasta, and burgers. We were fortunate to find places that broke the mold on our travels. Here’s what we found, town by town. Mürren. Our hotel served burritos …
Category: Travel
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2024/07/15/gastronomic-surprises-in-switzerland/
Jul 15
Ciao di Morcote
Stop #3 on the Swiss tour was Morcote, a small town hugging Lake Lugano in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland. Unlike our earlier stop, the town wasn’t mobbed with tourists. We rented an apartment above the downtown strip. The number of stairs to reach the front door with our luggage, then the flight up to …
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2024/07/15/ciao-di-morcote/
Jul 12
Mingling with the Masses in Mürren
Mürren was our second stop in Switzerland. We walked around town briefly on our last trip to Switzerland 13 years ago. I didn’t think it was a huge town at the time. I didn’t detect that many tourists. Times have changed. As with Venice last year, I heard more English spoken. We also saw many …
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2024/07/12/mingling-with-the-masses-in-murren/
Jul 11
Riding the Rails in Switzerland
We’ve been to Switzerland three times over the years. We rented a car the first time, for the “if it’s Tuesday, it must be Belgium” grand tour of western Europe. The second time, we stayed in a car-less town and bought train tickets as needed. This time we invested in Swiss Travel Passes. These get …
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2024/07/11/riding-the-rails-in-switzerland/
Jul 07
First Night in Switzerland – Zurich
Our first stay in Switzerland was in Zurich, mostly to beat back jet lag. Transferring several trains while sleep-deprived is a recipe for winding up in the Swiss equivalent of Podunk at 3 in the morning. Zurich is a banking capital of Switzerland. It also contains the Swiss equivalent of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. …
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2024/07/07/first-night-in-switzerland-zurich/
Jul 06
Hurry Up and Wait – And Wait Some More
This year’s vacation is to Switzerland and Prague. Julian has a thing for mountains, especially the Bernese Oberland of Switzerland. He made most of our reservations well in advance, including flights on Icelandair. We’d never flown this airline before, but friends have had a good experience with it. We left Seattle on July 2 to …
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2024/07/06/hurry-up-and-wait-and-wait-some-more/
Dec 02
A Trip to Post-Pandemic Portland
We visited Portland for the first time since the pandemic last week. We had three missions: A visit to Powell’s Books, one of the P’s of Portland that I blogged about previously. Sadly, Pok Pok and Paley’s Place are no more, victims of the Covid-19 plague. A visit to a couple Julian knew from Ithaca …
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2023/12/02/a-trip-to-post-pandemic-portland/
Sep 21
Vacation Postmortem
Now that we’ve been home for over two weeks, I’ve had a chance to sort my thoughts on this year’s European junket. Here are some words from this wiseacre if you’re planning to head to Europe in the near future: Getting Covid while on vacation sucks. Airports and airplanes, not to mention crowded public spaces, …
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2023/09/21/vacation-postmortem/
Sep 21
The Altana
You see these everywhere in Venice: a small platform on the roof of a building, often appearing rickety and precariously attached. This is a rooftop terrace (Altana, in Italian). Venetians have been building them for centuries, and they are used for a variety of purposes: hanging laundry out to dry, growing potted plants, or simply …
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2023/09/21/the-altana/
Sep 03
Opera Night
Opera isn’t our favorite musical genre, but we’ve gone to a few over the years. We’ve been to La Bohème and Carmen. I went to Rigoletto with our friend Bruce four years ago (my review is here). Julian wanted to see the Venice Opera House, affectionately known as La Fenice (The Phoenix) because it burned …
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2023/09/03/opera-night/
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