sad to go Archives - Dave and Sara’s Excellent 2018 Adventure

Pizza, Pasta, and Gelato

By Dave and Sara on Friday, March 30, 2018

Today is sadly our last day of the Sabbatical. We started the day by heading to the Palzzao Fortuny Museum. The museum was quite cool. It was the personal Palazzo of the Artist Fortuny. They had a few other exhibits but the building itself was really cool. The special exhibit was of Zoran Music. Honestly, (this is Dave), I did not think his art was that impressive. Sara liked it though. The permanent exhibit I thought was really cool. Fortuny designed a few theaters and there were models he developed which I also thought were really cool.

After visiting the museum, we headed to grab some Pizza. We headed over to Birreria La Corte. It was one of the few pizzerias on Venice that are allowed to burn wood. Most are restricted to gas due to fire danger. The pizza was quite delicious.

With the Pizza finished, we headed out to run some errands. Even though our planned destinations were only a few 100 meters away, with poor directions each stop took about 15-20 minutes to get to. One of the important stops was to grab some Gelato. We took this shot of relaxing gondoliers as we ate it.

Tonight we have a massage, followed by heading back to Osteria 4 Feri for some pasta and seafood. Tomorrow morning we take the water taxi back to the airport and fly back to the States. Because it was our last day it was important to us to make sure to eat Pizza, Pasta, and Gelato one last time.

Overall, this has been quite an amazing experience. In numbers we have done:

300+ Miles of Walking
4000+ km of driving
60+ Bottles of Wine (not all betweeen just the two of us)
5 Cases of Wine successfuly shipped home
100+ new words Dave has already forgotten in Italian
3 Countries Visited
6 Ski Resort Slayed
40 Euro lost at gas stations
All of the Pizza, Pasta, and Cheese Consumed
0 days we didn’t talk at length about what Joe and Penny were doing

60 days is a long time to spend on vacation. Luckily, we both agree if we were to do it over again, there is not much we would have changed. The skiing was epic and the road trip was an incredible experience. An interesting perspective is that it is rare for couples to spend 60 days without separation with their partner. Usually you have to wait until retirement for that and even then you likely have some alone time when one runs out. Luckily, Sara and I really enjoyed spending the time with each other. Neither of us felt like we needed time apart or a break which I think is good.

I am very thankful for all of the hard work that Sara put in to earn this Sabbatical. Hopefully we get to do it again sometime in the future. What a long, strange trip it’s been and we can’t for the next one.

Alla prossima, Europe.

Italy Road Trip

Quiet Day

By Dave and Sara on Thursday, March 29, 2018

This morning we woke up a bit earlier than usual to hit the gym. After running for a half hour we headed up for breakfast before hitting the town.

We set out on a walk with no particular destination in mind. We started by crossing the Academia bridge and journeyed around until we crossed the Rialto. The Academia bridge is currently being restored. Our trip took us through the neighborhoods of Dosoduro and Santa Croce.

After walking for about three to four hours we stumbled in to a wine bar, Vino Vero, we found on our last trip. It was one of the highlights of our last trip so we were excited to find it again. They have tons of bruschettas. They also advertise that they don’t have spritz because they love wine. Their selection is quite good both by the glass and bottle which they sell to take away as well. It’s along the Fondamenta Misericordia in Canneregio.

After we finished at Vino Vero we started to make our way leisurely back towards the hotel. We stopped at another bar on the way for more snacks. It’s like tapas in Barcelona where you can eat a little bite and then move on and eat a little more. All delicious bites on toast and a reason to stop for a little while on the walk. In the second bar we met a law student from Israel who lives in Bologna but comes to Venice to buy his supplies for Passover. The ghetto in Venice is still one of the largest Jewish communities in Italy. Nice guy, bought us each a little shooter of wine they drink here called an ‘Ombra.’ (Note: top photo is from google just to show what the ‘Ombra’ looks like)

Our day of laying low had us walking over 20,000 steps. We enjoyed many bars and was able to escape most of the rain. Also tonight we are expecting 1.2 meters of Aqua Alta around 11:30PM so the walkways are up. As we passed through San Marco the water was already bubbling up through the storm grates across the piazza. Gladly we will be back safely at our hotel before the alarm rings. (Anything over 110cm of high tide the alarm rings all over Venice to let people know it’s coming so they can get to where they need to be.) The walkways cover heavily trafficked routes in the the areas that are most prone to flooding.

Tomorrow is our last full day of the Sabbatical and we are understandably sad to see it end. Tomorrow we will try to get emotional and “shmoopy” about the trip unless we get too busy. If that happens you all will have to wait.

Italy Road Trip

Fair Verona

By David on Monday, March 26, 2018

Yesterday and today we’ve been in Verona. Yesterday was fun because it was Palm Sunday and the city was full of people. We walked around quite a bit and saw the Arena from the outside and also Piazza delle Erbe where the city was hosting a kind of science/environmental fair for kids. The weather is nice and all the cafes and restaurants are full. We had a very light lunch at a cute tavern called Osteria Al La. We spent the early evening relaxing in the hotel, when we checked in we got upgraded to a suite that’s pretty spacious. It also is very heavy on the gold accents.

We had a seafood dinner at Osteria Bertoldo in the historic city center, we got a little turned around on the way there so we ended up seeing quite a bit of the center on the way. After dinner we finished with a nightcap at our hotel in front of the fireplace.

Today we went to Juliet’s balcony with all the school children in all of Italy who are apparently here today for a field trip. It was a brief visit. This isn’t a photo of the balcony but all of the walls near the balcony are covered in hearts.

This is the Castle.

We also went to the Arena which is still used a concert and opera venue. Unfortunately we are missing the upcoming production by a few days. Interestingly, the Arena has perfect acoustics so they don’t mike the productions. In fact, today we were way up at the top of the amphitheater and could hear one of the workmen sawing through a 2×4 down in the center.

Tomorrow we leave for Venice, our last stop (sad face).

Champoluc

The Hills Are Alive! Last Powder Day

By Dave and Sara on Friday, February 23, 2018

So today was our last day skiing. Luckily for us, it snowed all night and it was a powder day. While visibility was low, we were able to find a great area of rocks and trees that helped provide perspective. The snow was great. Really light and around knee deep. After we had our fill of skiing the powder, it was time to head back towards Champoluc to meet Karen at the top of the funicular for lunch.

After lunch, Dave took a ride up the magic carpet to get one last powder run before taking it up again to take the funicular down.

After skiing, Sara and Dave headed to the Spa for a very painful massage to try to mend our sore legs after three weeks of skiing. Tonight we are going to have a nice Mountain dinner and pack up for our move from the mountains to the city.

We also had some other exciting news to celebrate!

See you next time Champoluc!

A post shared by David Grunat (@sncarbone) on Feb 23, 2018 at 10:27am PST

We appologize for the lack of photos today. Due to the heavy snow we were bundled up pretty tight.

Also if you thought we could say ‘until next time’ Alps without a Julie Andrews meme, you were sorely mistaken.

Chamonix

Last Day in Chamonix

By Dave and Sara on Friday, February 16, 2018

So our day started somewhat no great today. We woke up and it was still raining. We packed up and headed off to Grand Montets hoping to ski our last day here. When we got there, we learned that the gondola was broken and the Tram had a queue over 2 hours long. We decided that it wasn’t worth it to wait. The other resorts are much lower and with the rain limit at 2000m, they would all be getting rain instead of snow. Therefore, we headed back to the condo. Instead of skiing, we decided to go to the sports center to run. After our run, we came back for a quiet lunch at the house of bread and of course cheese.

After lunch, we headed out to explore the town one last time.

Chamonix, it’s been grand. Until next time.

Verbier

Last Day in Switzerland

By Dave and Sara on Friday, February 9, 2018

Tonight is our last night in Switzerland. It is sad to leave but our next adventure in France awaits us.

To recap from last night, we were planning to go out for some pizza at La Pergola. Unfortunately, when we arrived, they said that their pizza oven was broken. I am not sure that I believe them as others who ordered after we arrived were able to get Pizza. I think they were so busy that they were trying to disuade people from ordering pizzas to give the kitchen a break. As we couldn’t have pizza, we went for pasta instead. It was still quite good.

This morning, we headed back out to the mountain. As it hasn’t snowed in a few weeks the mountain is pretty chopped up. In fact, last night we learned that one of the yellow runs we took yesterday is known as being one of the longest mogul runs in the world. The moguls across the mountain were big. Some of them four to five feet tall it seemed. Anyways, on day six of skiing, Dave was having some troubles getting in the groove. At least there were some great views to be had. Below is a photo with Verbier at the base.

After skiing some off-piste next to the runs, we decided to try the last run we did yesterday this time with good visibility. The run was quite nice. The beginning started with large moguls, followed by a wide open bowl that had some nice snow in it. We descended in to the town of La Tzoumaz:

The path went down a winding road where after a while, there was an actual road with cars next to the run. The path continued to provide us with breathtaking views. The photo below shows the bowl that we skied down way off in the distance.

We also passed a really adorable cheese shop off the road.

Once we reached the town, we took the Gondola back up and headed to lunch on the mountain. We found a great chalet called Chez Clovis. We both had, of course, soup and enjoyed the beautiful views.

After lunch, we worked our way back to Verbier. We ended up taking this route that went right through the town. I am bummed we didn’t get a photo of it; however, they even had slots in the road, so you could ski across the asphalt without damaging your skis. You had to watch out for cars. There were also a couple times where you had to cross an active pomel horse lift. The run went through the chalets in town which I plan to buy a few of with all the money we are making off the stock market right now. Stocks are up, right?

After skiing, we headed back to the room to clean ourselves up. We then went to grab an Apres at Le Rouge. This was another recommendation from Sara’s friend.

Tonight as it is our last night in Switzerland we are of course going to eat some cheese. Off to eat Raclette at La Caveau.

Before we leave Switzerland, here are some of our closing thoughts:

You really do eat a lot of cheese.
If you ate meat, you would be very happy.
People here are very nice.
They aren’t lying when they say it is expensive.
In one part of the country everybody speaks German (Zermatt), then you drive 1 hour and everybody speaks French (Verbier).
Skiing many days without a washing machine results in a really stinky hotel room.
It gets cold here, -24C is a new low for these two California constitutions.
We would happily come back to both towns! Switzerland, its been a blast.

Verbier Zermatt

Next Stop Verbier

By David on Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Today was a fairly low key day for us. Before we get there, we should let you know about our dinner last night. We went to Restaurant Du Pont last night for some fondue. This was one of the oldest restaurants in Zermatt. Compared to Ferdinand’s earlier in the week, it was not as good; however, we were still happy to be eating cheese.

After eating dinner, we headed back to the hotel to pack and attempt to update the blog so images aren’t rotated. Unfortunately, there is a bug where it looks right on an iPad or iPhone but is flipped on a computer. I think we now have it fixed. We also worked on trying to get the subscribe option to work. Therefore, let us know if you get an email notification about this blog post or if you don’t.

This morning, we left the hotel in our electric chariot taking us to the train.

Today was our last time of making the transfer via train. The train was pulling in as we arrived at the station. Once loaded up we headed down the mountain to Tasch to pick up our car/minivan.

The car we got is 4×4 but unfortunately is quite big and ugly. We didn’t get a photo of it but we will at some point. I’ll use this for an example:

The drive from Tasch to Verbier was fairly grey. It looked like the views would have been nice but was mostly covered by either clouds, fog, or smog. We couldn’t tell. Anyways, here is a brief clip showing our drive in.

Once we got here, it was a little too late to hit the hill. Instead we went and grabbed some lunch at some sort of health food cafe that is part of the W Hotel. We both had bowls and I had a juice. It was nice to eat something healthy after eating so much cheese. The rest of the day is fairly uneventful. Mostly, laundry, settling in to the new hotel, and getting important supplies such as hotel wine. The one thing I will say about this hotel is it is not nearly as nice as Zermatt. That being said it will do for the three nights we are here.

Zermatt

Zermatt- it’s a wrap!

By Dave and Sara on Tuesday, February 6, 2018

Our last day full day in Zermatt, here’s the recap.

Last night we walked around the town a bit, it really is so pretty here. There’s a lovely church where all the mountaineers of yesteryear are buried and right next door is the town hall and police station. And this!

Also the world’s largest Alphorn.

We grabbed drinks in a cool bar tucked inside the Old Zermatt restauarant and also ran into our ski guide David there. If anyone is thinking about coming to Zermatt we highly recommend booking a guide through David and his outfit Alpine Exposure. Super nice guy and he found us a powder stash. Yay!

After drinks we had pasta at Pizzeria Roma up the street. Super low key and friendly spot for a comfort food pasta dinner.

This morning we got up early, had breakfast and hit the mountain for our last day. Unfortunately there was weather around the Matterhorn so we weren’t able to go up to the glacier again but it was ok, there is PLENTY of skiing to be had even without the upper, upper mountain. We stuck to the western side of the valley, northern facing slopes which were protected from the storms that tend to come up and over from Italy. We skied the little cable car as everyone seems to refer to it, it’s a peak to peak relic that provides access to a ton of off piste skiing. So fun! Dave tried to make a gopro video but unfortunately just got great shots of his feet.

We also had some important business to attend to today. As many of you know, we put a sticker for Jake up at every resort we visit in Europe. (Sorry this photo is a little wonky but there was a patrol hut right next door and they were giving me the side eye.) Jake loved to ski and travel so we like to think we’re bringing him along with us on a bunch of fun adventures. We hope you enjoy the view of the Matterhorn, Jakey, miss you all the time.

After skiing the off piste area a few times we broke for lunch in Riffelberg. The snow train makes a stop here, I’m obsessed with this little train.

We ate lunch at the cafeteria again today, with the market tanking in the US and Switzerland being mad expensive we stuck with soup and water. But hey, at least it was soup with a view!

The weather got significantly worse after lunch so with our tired legs, we decided to ski just a little bit more and then make our way back down to the village, about 3000 vertical feet 🙂

We’ve been staying at the lovely Matterhorn Lodge and Apartments here in town. The staff; Ruth, Flo and Lea have all been so lovely and the room and lobby are both great. Tonight they surprised us with Apres in front of the fireplace. (…California, who dis?)

We will post about our dinner tonight tomorrow (hint: cheese of course). Tomorrow we are off to our next adventure in Verbier. This will be the last time we have to take our bags on the train. Wish us luck!

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