Sisters

First of all, I have a list of a few sights that I MUST see before I leave Europe and head for home. The list goes like this: The Last Supper in Milano, Assissi, home of St. Francis in Tuscany, one of the concentration camps in Poland or Germany and Anne Frank house in Amsterdam. I have successfully seen one of those sights with my sister Peggy.

Read on.... My sister Peggy arrived for her 10 day visit on Sunday, Sept. 20th. Sundays here in Lausanne are very quiet since most businesses are closed, something we do not experience in the United States any longer. We took this opportunity to walk our quiet city, meandering along the cobble stone streets, walking thru the beautiful gothic Cathedral and drinking in the beautiful view of the city just out side of the Cathedral doors.

The next morn, we hit the ground running. Marc joined us on our 1 hour train ride to the capital city of Bern. We took the 2 hour walking city tour. After lunch we joined in on a tour of the inside workings of the clock tower. Built in the 12th century, served as a women's prison in 1405 and the astronomical clock was added in the 16th century. The clock shows not only the time, but also the day of the week, position of the planets and signs of the zodiac. Also unique about the city are the series of eleven 16th century fountains with colorful figures, landmarks of medieval Bern.

Tues. morn. off to Stresa, Italy. I even drove the car by myself! We were a little worried getting lost in a foreign country, but thank heavens for GPS, we call her "bitching betty". She guided us right to our hotel which sat on the banks of beautiful Lake Maggoire. Our room over looked the water and we enjoyed two peaceful days shopping, eating and drinking our way thru the quaint town. Peggy was laughing because the owners of several of the shops recognized me from my prior visits. We spent the first afternoon in my favorite little wine shop. It is family run and the owners made us comfortable with a plate of cheese, meats, bread, olives, oil and of course wine. We left fully loaded down with olive oil, wine and the fabulous pear liqueur. Before we left the owner gave me her card with her number and was told to come over in the winter and she will open up the shop and share a bottle of wine with us. It is nice feeling like a "regular" somewhere on this foreign journey I am on.

On our final day in Italy we took the hour and half train ride into Milano. The morning was spent at the famous museum, Pinacoteca Ambrosiana. It houses the world's most astounding collection of Leonardo's writings and the only remaining "cartoon" of Raphael's famous fresco, The School of Athens, which he painted in the Pope's apartment in the 1400's. By far the most incredible moment was standing in front of the famous "Last Supper". Leonardo's masterpiece painted on a refectory wall in a Donminica convent next to the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie. It brought tears of emotion to my eyes. Who would have ever thought I would have the opportunity to see this masterpiece! Can't wait to see it reenacted again at the Pageant of the Master's in Laguna Beach. The day in Milano ended with our tour bus leaving us behind! It was 6:05pm, we had no idea where we were and we had a little over an hour to catch our train back to Stresa. After trying in vain to catch a cab, we decided to start walking and try to figure out where we were with this little crappy map we had in the back of my tour book. Thankfully, we happened upon a taxi stop area and took a 40 min. ride back to the train station. We ended the wonderful day eating dinner on a little side street in stresa at 9:30 at night.

The rest of the trip was spent enjoying dinner on our patio looking at the Alps and sun setting on Lake Geneva, eating chicken dinner at a restaurant among the vineyards in a small village and enjoying beautiful Luzern with our private 3 hour walking tour. I sent Peggy home with sore feet, sore knees and blisters on her feet. But hey, they don't call Lausanne the San Francisco of Europe for nothing!