Hard to believe we are in week 6 of our trip. We return to the US a month from today.
Five weeks in Switzerland flew by! Five nights in the Saas-Fee area (actually stayed in Saas-Grund) were followed by four weeks in Lauterbrunnen in our favorite apartment. While in Lauterbrunnen we took two side-trips. Having an apartment “Base Camp” allowed us to pack very lightly and spend 3 nights each in Kandersteg and Bettmeralp. Each place is unique and interesting, and there is far more to explore in each than we could so in a quick stay. Bettmeralp is on the short list for a full week next September.
As usual, Swiss transportation was a dream. I adopted the SBB app for some ticket purchases including the Half Fare Cards. Very convenient. I wish the Berner Oberland Regional Pass came in an app. Apps rule our travel world far more than they did in 2019.
The trip to Ortisei in the Val Gardena was longish but we like a train day. One bus, five trains, and one taxi seems crazy but as the Swiss end runs so efficiently, hopping on-and-off those first short rides to get to Brig wasn’t bad.
At Brig we caught a nice EuroCity to Italy. Before Domodossola an employee (not the capotreno) came by to look at COVID certificates as that is now required on high-speed trains in Italy. He did not scan them, just looked that we had a QR code on our phones. Then the Border Police came through, completely ignoring us. No one asked for the mandatory dPLF.
At Verona our trip got a little more “gritty” as Rick would say. The Regionale Veloce was a single class train and it was FULL of students returning to universities in Trento and Bolzano. Several people were barely mask-compliant, lots of sprawling groups that knew each other well so physical distancing was a joke. We stood in the vestibule of the train for 90 minutes. The capotreno came by, apologized, and told us “Mondays are always like this.” We had a nice chat with him as he is an “Americanophile” (is that a word?) and liked that I could speak Italian with him. I needed the practice after two years of only conversing in my head.
So now we are in our beloved Ortisei where the season is winding down fast. Many lifts are closed so we will do our lower-elevation walks, make extensive use of the bus passes we were given by our hosts, and head for the higher elevations on the 4 remaining open lifts on the next three days as good weather is predicted. It is delightful to be eating Italian food, speaking the language, and enjoying the peace with no crowds. Today my mission is to find some strudel up on the Alpe di Siusi. I know a place…