Forgive me, readers, for I have sinned. It's been I don't know how many days since my last posting. I am astonished that the best, most consistent internet access has been on small, isolated farms, tucked up in the mountains. Anyway, there are some new pictures posted, and I'll try to catch up over the next couple of days. Posts will be issued in chronological order, so "today" is going to mean "two weeks ago" for a while....
The day of our departure from Oberschwanden was the first really lovely day of our stay. Between the gorgeously, splendidly, brilliant, blue sky and the green, snowcapped mountains, and the Brienzersee sparkling down below, the view was breathtaking.
And so we headed south to Italy, chasing the rain and haze and fog. We got to watch Switzerland change from the green, pyramidal mountains of the center, to the jagged, gray, granite cliffs of the south. It was quite something, though seemed a little foreboding at times. Especially when the GPS directed us to a train station, and instructed us to "take the ferry" through the mountains... and since the car train was going to cost $200 Fr. and the first of the passes through the Alps was open (though the second was questionable), we headed up into the clouds.
I think there is a certain similarity between our drive through the Alps and Hannibal's invasion of Italy; while he had to deal with elephant-related logistics that we were able to avoid, getting a relatively large, "efficient" (i.e. somewhat gutless) Japanese car up the mountains was quite a daunting task. We started with beautiful summer weather, went up about 45 tight, 180° switchbacks, entered a number of cloud drifts and discovered winter.
If going up was slow and twisty and windy, coming down was worse. The switchbacks were just as tight, but visibility ranged between maybe 50-100 ft., and it was difficult keeping my speed slow enough not to go flying off the edge, or swing back and forth across the other lane. We had to stop half-way down in order to give the breaks a rest, since pumping the breaks wasn't really an option, and they got pretty toasty after the . There were a few moments between driving through cloud drifts when we were able see down the mountain, which just made things more nerve-wracking...
But we made it down successfully, and dropped into the Valtellina. Or at least I assumed we did, since we weren't able to see any of the mountains. The clouds were very low and thick, and the mountains on both sides of a rather small, narrow valley were completely invisible. The valley floor was clear, but everything disappeared a few hundred feet up. Which was rather ironic, since I had chosen to stay in Teglio because it was on a little promontory up above the valley floor, and was supposed to afford a wonderful view. Obviously, it didn't quite work out that way.
Teglio turned out to be a bit farther away from the main road than I had expected, and our B&B was a bit more isolated than I had expected as well, so between the windy roads down the pass, and the windy roads up to Teglio, and the windy road back down to the house, we arrived quite late in the evening. But Ca' Branchi turned out to be a wonderful place to stay. Heidi, our hostess, was incredibly warm and friendly, and the house was very quiet and peaceful. She recommended that we try a restaurant back up the hill, 'al Tegli,' which specialized in the local dish, pizzoccheri (pronounced "piz-och-eri").
We were the only people in the restaurant, besides the owner and his extended family, who were having a great time in the next room. Our meal started with a mixed plate of cured meats, including prosicutto, bresaola, and the best lardo I've ever eaten, all silky and soft and flavorful and looking like snowy hills on the plate. Just wonderful.
Our pizzoccheri followed, and was a pleasant surprise, since we had ordered it without really knowing what we were getting. It was listed as both an appetizer and a main course, and I had assumed it was some sort of pizza. In fact, it is a wonderful dish of buckwheat noodles cooked with potatoes and cabbage and roasted garlic and lots of cheese (which anyone who followed the link above already knows); classic mountain food, and redolent of the best qualities of Swiss cooking (which is generally disappointing, except when the ingredients are cheese, meat and a carb. of some sort), though with some Italian refinements (like garlic). It was quite tasty, and rather filling for an Italian pasta course. The wine was delicious, though maybe not the best pairing; Aldo Rainoldi's Sassella Riserva 2003, which was quite reasonably priced and recommended by Becky, the "beverage manager" at Bar Bambino (thanks Bex). We had just enough room afterwards for coffee and a slice of cake, before rolling back down the mountain to home. A delightful welcome to Italy, even if the weather was lousy.
The day of our departure from Oberschwanden was the first really lovely day of our stay. Between the gorgeously, splendidly, brilliant, blue sky and the green, snowcapped mountains, and the Brienzersee sparkling down below, the view was breathtaking.
And so we headed south to Italy, chasing the rain and haze and fog. We got to watch Switzerland change from the green, pyramidal mountains of the center, to the jagged, gray, granite cliffs of the south. It was quite something, though seemed a little foreboding at times. Especially when the GPS directed us to a train station, and instructed us to "take the ferry" through the mountains... and since the car train was going to cost $200 Fr. and the first of the passes through the Alps was open (though the second was questionable), we headed up into the clouds.
I think there is a certain similarity between our drive through the Alps and Hannibal's invasion of Italy; while he had to deal with elephant-related logistics that we were able to avoid, getting a relatively large, "efficient" (i.e. somewhat gutless) Japanese car up the mountains was quite a daunting task. We started with beautiful summer weather, went up about 45 tight, 180° switchbacks, entered a number of cloud drifts and discovered winter. 
If going up was slow and twisty and windy, coming down was worse. The switchbacks were just as tight, but visibility ranged between maybe 50-100 ft., and it was difficult keeping my speed slow enough not to go flying off the edge, or swing back and forth across the other lane. We had to stop half-way down in order to give the breaks a rest, since pumping the breaks wasn't really an option, and they got pretty toasty after the . There were a few moments between driving through cloud drifts when we were able see down the mountain, which just made things more nerve-wracking... 
Teglio turned out to be a bit farther away from the main road than I had expected, and our B&B was a bit more isolated than I had expected as well, so between the windy roads down the pass, and the windy roads up to Teglio, and the windy road back down to the house, we arrived quite late in the evening. But Ca' Branchi turned out to be a wonderful place to stay. Heidi, our hostess, was incredibly warm and friendly, and the house was very quiet and peaceful. She recommended that we try a restaurant back up the hill, 'al Tegli,' which specialized in the local dish, pizzoccheri (pronounced "piz-och-eri").
We were the only people in the restaurant, besides the owner and his extended family, who were having a great time in the next room. Our meal started with a mixed plate of cured meats, including prosicutto, bresaola, and the best lardo I've ever eaten, all silky and soft and flavorful and looking like snowy hills on the plate. Just wonderful.
Our pizzoccheri followed, and was a pleasant surprise, since we had ordered it without really knowing what we were getting. It was listed as both an appetizer and a main course, and I had assumed it was some sort of pizza. In fact, it is a wonderful dish of buckwheat noodles cooked with potatoes and cabbage and roasted garlic and lots of cheese (which anyone who followed the link above already knows); classic mountain food, and redolent of the best qualities of Swiss cooking (which is generally disappointing, except when the ingredients are cheese, meat and a carb. of some sort), though with some Italian refinements (like garlic). It was quite tasty, and rather filling for an Italian pasta course. The wine was delicious, though maybe not the best pairing; Aldo Rainoldi's Sassella Riserva 2003, which was quite reasonably priced and recommended by Becky, the "beverage manager" at Bar Bambino (thanks Bex). We had just enough room afterwards for coffee and a slice of cake, before rolling back down the mountain to home. A delightful welcome to Italy, even if the weather was lousy.
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Best title for a blog ever. BUT, don't forget that there is more than one person in the world who knows the reference to sandwiches--your sis got it in one second and your dad broke out in song. Viva kid's tapes for road trips!
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