Unplanned Adventures ~ Europe

Sometimes, my husband and I love to rent a car, drive and see where we end up.

It’s almost always someplace great . This day was one of those great days!

In October we took a grand adventure from Paris to Italy . While we were staying in Northern Italy we had a down day . Why not add another country to our trip .... Switzerland was only an hour or so north . We got comfortable in our little TINY car and began our adventure. We wound through the cutest little towns in Northern Italy before we crossed into Switzerland.

My only disappointment....no stamp in my passport (open borders). That was quickly forgotten as the view in front of me opened up to the stunning Swiss Alps in the distance . We jumped on an expressway because....well, it looked to be going north and then too late, we missed the sign that said “Next exit 50 miles “ guess we were going 50 miles into Switzerland! We climbed higher and higher as the expressway wound over and through mountains and we finally saw an exit . We of course, turned the wrong way to get back on and now, definitely a little lost on a country road .... I suddenly freaked Mike out when I yelled “stop, pull over there” I couldn’t believe my eyes , it was a beautiful old castle , or what was left of it . We walked down the hill and began to imagine what each room might have been and who had spent their life there . So many possible scenarios were beginning to come to life in my head until.....

we were very quickly diverted to what sounded like music, quite randomly in the distance . It’s like the hills were alive with the sound of music , for real! We followed the sounds and then we saw goats , many goats , grazing the sides of the mountain with little bells on their collars. As they walked on the hillside somehow the tinkling of their bells formed a beautiful melody.

Now imagine standing next to the ruins of a medieval castle , hearing the sounds of music , gazing at cute little goats on the hillside, all the while being surrounded by the Swiss Alps .....You would think that would be enough, nope..... as we turn our heads to the right we spotted a little stone chapel . So, like most normal curious people , we trekked down the hill and wiped off the windows and peered inside . We could see beautiful ornate stained glass windows by the still standing altar, and wooden pews where I'm sure centuries ago prayers had gone up to God, probably by the same people who lived in the castle . Prayers for famines , sick babies, wars , lost loved ones ... yes, I think a lot! I wish I could have stepped back in time just to glimpse this area for one hour or maybe just one minute.

We thought we had gleaned everything we could from this adventure but not so .... as we were making our way back to our car we saw a sign and a map in the distance ...it was the hiking trail for the Alps ...so of course we had to take a few steps on it . Now we could officially proclaim that we hiked the Swiss Alps!

As we circled back again towards our car we noticed an old grape vineyard still producing grapes and prickly little balls all over the ground. Several elderly people were collecting the balls by the bagfuls...I walked up to an older man and asked what they were , he said in a very heavy accent “chestnuts “ as he held one up to me. My reply definitely confused him , I said very merrily“ you mean, like ....chestnuts roasting on an open fire” I thought it was clever and funny ...I’ll choose to believe his forlorn expression was just a language barrier and not that he thought I was a nutty American .

We took a different route on the way home so we could at least get a glimpse of Lake Como before we left Northern Italy.

Guess what we had for dinner on the way back? Yup...McDonald’s.... we are so American !

Sometimes the best adventures are unplanned ! So Just Jump !!