Friday was mostly a driving day, and a mostly unpleasant one for us.

After breakfast in Sörenberg, we packed up and began our drive south to Italy. We experienced the worst weather we’ve had on the trip … cold and rainy on the north side of the Alps, turning to warmer and heavily rainy on the south side.  The drive up and through the Alps was slow — heavy traffic, bad weather and a lot of trucks. Nowadays, one doesn’t drive so much up-and-over as in-and-through. There are now many tunnels that cut through the mountains, culminating in the impressive Gotthard road tunnel that was a full 10.2 miles in length.

We had visions of a peaceful lunch in some small Italian villa once we crossed, but our delays kept us from crossing the border until around 1:30. The northern part of Italy along the highways was highly industrial. We got frustrated and tempers flared as lunch and our fantasies of rustic villas and guys who look like Guido serving us disappeared.

We drove right by Lake Como in a huff and a rainstorm. Some say it’s quite pretty there… we’ll never know.

We got into our hotel around 3:00 pm. After getting the parking situation resolved (always fun) and getting unpacked, we wandered through this outskirt/suburb of Milan for lunch. The town was deserted – one guy finally told us that everything was closed and that we were “too late” for lunch. We would have to wait until 6:00 for dinner.

Isabella got sick the day before (cough and fever) and was feeling rotten. Brenda was right behind her. So we snacked on the few items we brought with us from Switzerland and then took naps until dinner.

Once it was finally time to eat, the rains began again. We raced over to a restaurant that had just opened and finally had our first proper meal of the day. I speak no Italian, and where we are, finding anyone with English skills is rare. It turns out that-a talking like-a da this, does not help them understand you. My ATM card was rejected for the first time, with a terse notice that I needed to call my bank (open on Monday) to unlock it, since the computer has decided that my recent withdrawal activity was just too suspicious. The last several hotels where we have stayed (including this one) were cash only, and we are close to tapped out. I did bring a “backup” card from another bank (with not so much $$) that should get us by until I can call the good folks at SunTrust on Monday.

After dinner, the skies cleared, the heat of the day cooled off, everyone took showers and relaxed … and things got fun again. By bedtime, we were ready to discuss the next day’s plans – spending a fun filled day in Milan, Italy. And we did just that.

No photos of driving in the rain in tunnels, or disciplining children, or fighting with my spouse; so I’ll present some more idealistic ones of a hike we took yesterday in Switzerland.

Hikes in Switzerland come in only two varieties – straight up or straight down. There was never any level ground to get anywhere fast. We would go up for 15 minutes, sweaty and huffing and puffing, and find ourselves like 1/4 mile away from where we started, still in view.

Brenda showing the kids how to make a whistle out of a plant reed. This turned out to be far more interesting (and competitive) than anyone would have thought. All 3 kids spent the afternoon blowing on weeds until they, too, got it down. Then, the screeching got really annoying.

Josie was the first to get it right, and then spent a lot of time rubbing it in to the other two.

Brenda and Isabella finding “spittle bugs” in the plants.

Isabella, with her Swiss army knife, preparing her next whistle. This is Adam’s favorite shot of Isabella on this trip.

White trash travelers, hanging out their laundry at every stop. We spent a lot of fun time on that ratty, outdoor balcony sofa. Coffee/Tea in the morning, wine time in the evenings.