Wednesday, February 26, 2014

San Valentino Day at Enoteca Il Grappolo

We spent our San Valentino Dinner at Enoteca Il Grappolo in Arona.  Stefano and his wife are really sweet and you can tell they really care about their food and wine.  They created a special menu just for valentines day and they paired wine with each course.  I was not hungry for at least 24 hours after this..... 


First Appetizer
Food and Wine Menu


Second Appertivo was Cheeses with Pancetta........


Primi was heart shaped pumpkin ravioli.
Secondi was steak and potatoes....


Torte and Gelato for dessert....


An Italian meal is never complete without espresso...








Breuil-Cervinia, Italy (aka Cervino Ski Paradise)

We fought the Alps and we won!  I couldn't decide if we call this blog "Yes, Matt that is the Matterhorn....yes the big one....yes the actual Matterhorn itself....yes".  Even though the Matterhorn is beautiful, Matt thought it should be bigger and kept stopping people to ask them if that mountain indeed was the Matterhorn and everyone said "yes".  :-)

Now on with the skiing.....here is where we skied!  Cervinia is on the Italy/Swiss border and you can actually ski on both sides!  We took the ski lifts all of the way up to Plateu Rosa and went back down on skis.  Absolutely wonderful skiing here and we will definitely go back!



downtown

Steve, Ian, Matt, Nancy

Yes, that is the Matterhorn behind Matt and me
We stayed at Hotel Meubel Fuggen, a ski in/ ski out hotel!
View from our hotel overlooking the town

Beer break!

Me, Matt, Steve, Nancy, Ian

View from our hotel room in the morning



Steve, Matt

Final cable car up to Plateau Rosa


Me, Ian



You know how they always tell you to not go off the trails?  This is why.....Ian! :-)





The mornings were beautiful and sunny and the afternoons were a bit windy and we had some "white out" moments.



Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Sauz D'Oulx, Italy

Our friend Ian invited us to Sauz D'Oux, Italy for a group skiing trip.  What a cute town, good food, can I say more?  I will let the pictures tell the story.....







 












Bologna

Bologna, Italy is a very old university town (established 1088) and a great place for a weekend trip.  Here are some of the highlights from our journey! 

We started out on Saturday in the piazza and walked towards the two towers.  The towers were great to do at the beginning of the day to work off your breakfast.  If you don't like heights and long staircases, then don't go. 


Piazza Maggiore


View looking up from the bottom of the tower

Picture showing the heights of famous towers


I told you it was a workout

These are the very last steps to the top
View from Two Towers and worth every step

Two Towers
There are a lot of very beautiful churches in Bologna, but this one may be at the very top of my list:





Appertivo on Saturday night

view from our hotel