Tag Archives: good food

Day 29 – Un-cork the fun bottle

So good – what a high point to end our Ireland adventure! We love Cork – yes, I am starting with this. Who cares for a minute by minute retelling of our day?

again, the more appropriately sized ones

What would there be to say anyway? We packed up and got on our merry one. One last time deciding against the (toll laden) direct route and taking a scenic detour via the coast instead. Same as yesterday, it was really worth it. Not quite Wicklow mountains, but worth it. Probably my last single track roads on the island, framed by the sunny green pastoral landscape of the south.

Even though the reputation of Cork as the foodie capital of Ireland was calling to us, we opted to take it slow and have one last lunch on the road. Once again, a handy beach provided the perfect backdrop for a few sandwiches and some planning ahead. One last chance for the hobbits to get their feet wet on an Irish beach.

At a bit after 1 pm we had made it into central Cork. The drive in was already promising, crossing the river Lee a few times via inner city for a couple of first views. On second try we found a very conveniently located charging station right on the central island and woke both kids to get ready to explore!

hearing protection for all – AoE did not want to put them down

If you have read past blogs of ours you will not be surprised that the recommended “English Market”, a still operating market hall selling produce and delicacies, was very much our cup of tea. From there we tried to find a few self-guided walking tours (turns out this was discontinued during Covid) but ended up going our own way anyway. Teatime was up and we chose the delightfully kitschy “Tara’s Tea Room”.

We wandered from here further into Shandon quarter*!”§ aiming for another cluster of sights on the hill north of the main island in the river Lee. This turned out to lead to another brilliant stumble into adventure. The main point of interest here was the bell tower of the Anglican Church on top of the hill. Two unique features – with being able to go up for great views of the city not counting: A – it is an active bell tower, but all guests are allowed to ring the bells themselves. And B: The most adventurous ascend of any tower we had yet – stairwells down to 50cm width culminating in a wild climb through the timber framing of the belfry itself. As you pass right next to the bells, hearing protection is actually provided by the church for any adventurous visitors! I made it even with the Agent in the carrier on my back, with no more than a scraped knee. Nina was mighty impressed 😀

After that unexpected mini adventure, we decided to try our luck and go for one last proper dinner on the Island. Market Lane provided just the right opportunity we needed. So we wandered back down the hill and into central Cork on our way to dinner. Number 3 even got the chance for a second visit at a toy shop he had spotted earlier and where he had fallen in love with a particular wooden train set on display.

Dinner was once again great, including the service. The kids got their own little menus including a colouring section and were distracted for the brief wait. The food was great, too. Even Number 3 went for the edgy choice and had smoked haddock on mashed broad beans (which was very good, too).

The car was fully charged and the campground not far. The kids got to watch their good-night program while we set up the camp and were quick enough in bed that we were only a few minutes late for roleplaying. Even the 4G / WiFi was good enough for a smooth final two hours online with some of our friends before collapsing to bed ourselves.

Day 27 – Have a Guinness when you’re Tired

Given the unreliability we experienced with the public busses yesterday, we decided to go into town once again with the hop-on option. We had a two day pass anyway, so why not. Number 3’s pick from yesterday got elevated to TOP 1 for the day.

Yup, dead zoo it is. Giant Irish deer in fact

Turned out, we got pretty lucky – with all the bussing and transferring we made to the National Museum – Natural History branch at about 10:40am. We were greeted by a staff member asking, with a mildly concerned look, about a reservation on our part. Reservation? This was a free museum; we did not expect that. Turned out that they were renovating to modernise the exhibition and had only about half the space to use – it was still free, but attendants had to be limited to avoid dangerous pushing and shoving. As said though, we arrived just in time to be allowed in without a booking.

The exhibition, also dubbed the “dead zoo” was packed with taxidermies of local animals. We have a similar wing in the Senkenbergsches Naturkunde Museum in Frankfurt, so Number 3 felt right at home. With only one floor open, 45 minutes were plenty to the get through the exhibition. All of a sudded, we had some extra time on our hands.

We decided to give Nina and myself a small treat and have a really quick browse next door at the National Gallery. We only had enough time to check a few of the Irish artists up to the expressionists and switch to the Europeans for a few minutes with the resident Caravaggio.

The kids were excited to be on the hop on hop off bus again

Our lunch appointment was at 12:30, the hop-on-hop-off bus leaves every 20 minutes. That means we should have plenty of time to get to the Guinness storehouse. Or so we thought. First, the bus was late, then we had to switch to a different one entirely due to a defect on the first one. All in all, it took over an hour – we maybe could have walked.

It did lead to a bit of a sour start of the Guinness Storehouse experience, unfortunately. When we finally arrived at the 1837 bar our lunch reservation had been released and the wait time was up to an hour. We settled with the bistro style Brewer’s Dining Hall – a rather disappointing choice.

The storehouse itself was anything but, fortunately. A tasteful beer-themed Disneyland experience, including sights, sounds and smells. All very well done, not too overcrowded and not feeling like being charged for getting a commercial. To be honest, it still is just that in the end, but the smartly converted storehouse and the laid back confidence in the quality of the product made it second only to a port lodge tour in Porto. Especially since you get to top it off with a beautifully pulled pint of Guinness in the spectacular Gravity Bar with views all over the city. Nina volunteered her free drink (plus Phoebe was dutifully asleep). That meant I got to get a side-by-side of on tap Guinness to Guinness 0.0. The alcohol-free version is shockingly good, in my opinion.

Oh look! I am trying Guinness again! It’s…

It had been a long day; I am still under the weather and on mild cough meds. The decision what to do for dinner was not easy. Ultimately, we stuck to our guns and went with the booked table at yesterday’s choice: The winding stairs. We arrived a bit before our reservation time, not feeling temple bar on our last stroll through the quarter. What a great decision it was. The views and the atmosphere in the place were great. We got a table on the second floor upstairs (poor waiters) with the river Liffey as a backdrop. But all that paled in comparison with the quality of the food. The kids shared a vegetarian “scotch egg” while Nina and I went for mains – cauliflower and pork belly respectively. Everything was just perfect – well cooked, smooth, exciting flavour combinations. And not even that accordantly expensive. I kind of doubly regretted the Lunch now – how can two dishes of such diverting quality be charged at the same price?

Regardless, we were glowing now all the way back to the campground. Even the bus was not that much too late this time (it was, but conveniently so for us). A good end to a packed day!

Day 22 – Kerry-go-Round

Campground forgettable – time to go. Not as quick as we wanted, though, or to do the Gap of Dunloe guilt-free (it is a public road, but traditionally used by jaunting cars, bikers, and hikers). At least early enough to go for the Ring of Kerry itself clockwise without much trouble.

In the end, it all worked out fine. The road has been upgraded in recent years and we have been on much worse with worse traffic. We only encountered the first oncoming busses around lunch-time (they are only allowed to go counter-clockwise) and never had much trouble passing each other.

Much worse (but more fun) was the first minor side road to a well-preserved ring fort. Not quite as spectacular a location as up north in Donegal but preserved instead of re-constructed. We had fun and both kids eagerly climbed the ring, this time fully uninterrupted.

After that we made our biggest mistake of the day and allowed the Agent of Entropy to fall asleep before lunch. It would come back to haunt us later. Said lunch worked out absolutely perfectly, though. After a 3 minute supermarket stop, we were stocked on great bread, fresh salads and veg. Only 15 minutes later we had pulled into another great spot to drop our picknick blanket once again. This time, at a beach somewhere on the Skellig ring, with added ruins and big skies to round of the image. Oh, and as a beautiful reprise of our first trip with the roof tent, we found very passable Pastel de Nata in said random supermarket as well!

The extra bit around along the Skellig loop was described as an adventurous bit of road in the Lonely Planet. In the end, it was scenic but certainly not worse than many other roads we have been on by now. Traffic was also very manageable. There was good reason to dare the wilds of Kerry’s far West though, regardless of road conditions: Another Chocolate Factory. We got a neat free tasting and way too much sugar for the hobbits and sat down for a round of hot chocolate for all of us.

A bit worn out after so much of the Wild Atlantic Way we were not going for many more stops after that. In the end, the drive is a bit of the attraction with this one. We found a campground a bit further along on Beara, the next peninsula south of here. We pushed it, but not before taking “the road less travelled” to avoid a third visit to Killarney in two day. Turned out that the road via the Ballghbeama Gap was the sketchiest bit of driving for the day. It was also totally worth it! We had the road almost to ourselves (minus the obligatory sheep) and even though a light rain had set in, the vistas were still great!

After that the only question was about what to do with dinner. We would have enough time to cook, but not much inspiration. On the other hand, we were passing a second time today through Kenmare, which we had snobbed earlier today. The Lonely Planet had a top recommendation for a local restaurant. A quick call confirmed that they had space for us for dinner at 5pm sharp, kind of perfect for our plans.

The dinner was excellent, and our kids both managed to stay well enough behaved to keep it a pleasant experience. I was especially proud of them for trying both my mussels in white wine sauce as well as the really excellent chowder that I finally got to have. The vegetarian options were taken serious as well. So, we all ended up properly stuffed and ready to fall asleep right there and then.

Luckily, the campground was only 15 minutes away. It had a bit of an abandoned charm, but at least we were left alone and could collapse well and early into our camp.

Day 18 – To Loop or Not to Loop

One thing was clear, I wanted off this campground asap. All sympathy to non-neurotypical folks, but maybe running a hospitality business is not the right calling for yous. I don’t care if I can eat of the toilet seat if all your quirks and utter inflexibility make the stay annoying at every step. “Can we charge the car?” “No, we don’t do this, electricity is too expensive”. “Can I pay for it?” “No, we generally don’t allow it …” -.-

The big question was to head straight for Limerick City or take the 2hrs to go west first to do the loop head to the tip of the loop head peninsula (creative naming, I know). The weather forecast looked like the former, but when we hit the road at 9am, the look at the sky made us fancy our chances. It was the right choice, for sure. Lone single track roads with wild and exciting vistas all the way. A quick stop at the lighthouse at the westernmost point was all we needed. For once, we opted against the tour to go up and moved on. In we came on the southern route to come out again along the northern cliff-side road. Such spectacular views greeted us all along that last stretch that we really had to wonder why we were almost alone here, while fighting for bad vistas with busloads of day-trippers yesterday. This was preferable to us any day of the week!

After this great morning, it was about a 1.5 hr dive to Limerick. As we could not charge the car yesterday and won’t be able to tonight (or so we though) I headed for a 15 minute top up on a fast charger before going to town to park conveniently at a 22kw AC charger in downtown. The kids slept through the drive and woke back up with enough drowsiness to excuse this slight delay of lunch. Including another short hunt for a free AC charger it took us until 1.15pm to get to the designated lunch place. There was a short queue to get seated when we arrived at the Hook & Ladder as it was still very busy.

up there we must go – for views and fun points

It turned out it was well worth the wait with excellent food all around. Even the kids were great and did not make a scene due to the delayed lunch. Service was nothing short of exemplary, even though the house was packed. A very welcomed change to our last lunch experience. We ended up staying to transition seamlessly into tea time as well.

After that success, Number 3 got his wish as well. Of the few options to go for, we decided the King John’s Castle was our best pick. It was a bit on the pricy side, but that was made up for by an excellent exhibition part. More interactive than Galway City museum, both kids were occupied long enough for me to dive into the meat of the history part. Win-win, I’d say.

After that, all there was left was a slightly late trip to the camp for the night, delayed even further by the fact that I had not realised that it was actually “in” the gated forest park it was named after. So with a final 15 minute detour, we got there, set up and were pretty much ready to collapse after a quick muesli dinner for the kids. No internet or cell phone reception anyway … 😀

Day 11 – Black Sheep

I had worked myself up into a ripe old mood. What a horrendous campground. I knew of the downside (one looong line, with facilities only on one end), but I did not expect the price. 10€ “festival extra”, only that no one had told us on the phone about it. So we paid the extra with no time to even maybe go and enjoy the reason. Bottom line: Most expensive night so far, for a farcically bad camp. The view was good, but everyone was drunk – snoring and farting – and the loo was so far off that everyone else kept going there by car! To top it of, of course they would drive all the way past our end to turn their cars around noisily.

Breakfast and packing was enhanced by the sound and utter stink of the next door camper’s diesel started up and then left running unattended for 25 minutes! What is wrong with people?

I was not a good husband or cheerleader that morning, but we powered through it and got to Ireland’s northernmost point, Marlin Head, by 10am. There was a promise of great coffee and pastries served by a legendary food truck in the Lonely Planet, and when pulling into the parking lot, the truck at least was there on top of the hill. After a friendly chat we took off for a little 1km cliff walk to be (hopefully) finished off by second breakfast on top of the hill.

Hell’s hole was maybe less impressive than usual, thanks to the brilliant weather and 23° C “heat wave” currently hitting the North of Ireland. Usually, water pushes up this narrow rift in foaming gusts, but with almost no wind, there was not much of a show. Still a very scenic walk.

With almost no wind, Hell’s Hole was very tame today

The top of the hill did not disappoint and once again, we had some treats, coffee and tea before heading off again. The treats were pretty good, but the coffee was excellent and the service world class. Back at the car park we even managed to settle some of our eternal karma debt after chatting with an older Dutch couple on two sharp looking road bikes. She had slipped on the fresh split seal and cracked an indicator – something our handy supply of duct and electrical tape could help sort out in no time.

Lunch was a touch late, but we were well prepared. Even without picknick tables, the Grianán of Aileách along the way was an almost perfect backdrop. We dropped our picknick blanket and had sandwiches in this place that immediately made obvious why it had been the site of some sort of fortification for at least 2000 years. The views over Lough Swilly and Lough Foyle were spectacular, all the way over back the Inishowen Peninsula and to Northern Ireland.

We thought there might have been another opportunity for a stop on the 1 hour and 20 scenic drive up to our camp for the day, but with kids falling asleep and potty breaks, we just kept going. After all, the camp for the day promised to be an attraction in its own right. And for once, it held up.

The camp was set up in terraces up the slope of a hill with great views of a golden sand beach. The spot we got was great, with a serene view. There was enough time left for the kids to spend some time at the beach, getting their feet wet in water way too cold for my taste. To round it off, we had a beautiful dinner once again from a vegetarian travel cook book very good friends gave us as a present a few years ago. Halloumi and black beans, delicious!

First beach experience for the kids on this trip

Now hanging out, catching up on blogging and trip planning while the kids are asleep. The weather is still nice enough to be out without wishing for a pocket oven and a shelter. Good times.

P.S.: Oh, I forgot, the title: The Agent of Entropy has learnt that sheep are interesting as roadside attractions. Plus, black sheep are extra special, as they feature in two of their children’s books. So every damn black sheep we pass triggers about 25 hyped up: “black sheep, black sheep! Mama! Black sheeeeeeep!”. As a reminder, we are in rural Ireland … 😀

On our way to the northern most point of Ireland: Malin Head

Day 6 – On to Eire

And with that, our time in Scotland had come to an end. If we hadn’t pre-booked our ferry, I’m sure we would’ve stayed for another night. It was just such a lovely campground. The owner was nice, the landscape super pretty and our neighbours easy to chat to, plus they liked having Number 3 around.

We packed everything up with time to spare and headed off to the small town right next to the ferry port. Flo’s plan was to charge the car, spent a little time and then head on to the check-in. The first charger, however, was out of service. By the time we’d gotten to the next one about 3 minutes later, me (and with me Number 3) had gotten nervous about missing the ferry. By unforeseeable happenstance, Flo listened to me and we drove on to the ferry port…where we logically stood in line for a while. 😀 We were by no means the first ones at the port but I got A LOT of shit for our waiting time. Not even a coffee and two muffins made a real difference.

Leaving the campground, we had told the kids about leaving Scotland and continuing to Ireland. The Agent of Entropy said “nochmal Schottland bitte” (Scotland again please) which she always says if she enjoyed something and would like to repeat the experience.

slightly worried, AoE might get blown off her feet

Alas, time continues to go by even when you’re just waiting around and we were allowed to board eventually. The kids were raving with excitement. Everything was big and loud, it was windy outside and there were toys to play with. I think, the Agent of Entropy has found her calling as a being of the wind. She probably feels kinship to it as it also brings a lot of entropy into the world.

For us adults, it seemed like another ferry ride, mostly like the one to cross Cook Strait: Waiting time, overpriced bad food in the restaurant, people battling for the comfiest spots. Since this ferry ride though, both kids really want to go back onto a boat, but please for longer next time, okaaaaay?

At 1.30pm we arrived in Belfast. The Agent hadn’t slept on the ferry instead she’d been all over the place and was thus exhausted. It didn’t take long for her to fall asleep in the car although we just drove from the port to a charger in the inner city. Flo managed to gently put her in the kids carrier so we could go and explore Belfast a bit. Number 3 still is a city exploring champion. He walked everywhere with us, through the rain, from coffee time until dinner.

We started with a bit of a tour around the quarter that we ended up in. There were murals to look at and little lanes to take. We came across many a pub that looked lovely but it was neither the time nor the circumstances to go into one. Instead, we found our way into “Established coffee” for a coffee time break. By that time, the Agent of Entropy had woken up again and graciously agreed to a chocolate cookie and a babyccino.

Around the corner there was a cathedrale which had a spike coming out of the middle of it. It piqued Flo’s curiosity so we went in. Unfortunately, it was about to close. They let us in for five minutes but we couldn’t figure out why the spike was there and what it meant. Number 3 was happy though as he got to light a candle in the church, something he really wanted to do in Aachen already. I loved it too, as a kid.

From here, we took the “scenic” route to our car, still debating how to proceed with the day. We were toying with a couple of options i.e. having an early dinner in town or setting up camp and then taking the bus back to Belfast for dinner. We decided to go for the first option as both kids seemed to be over a certain threshold already. Unfortunately, Number 3 had listened in to our conversation and demanded a bus ride in the 100% electric, pink double-decker buses which we simply couldn’t work into our plans today. Proving our suspicion that the kids really just needed to go to bed, he had a full-on tantrum. Many words of comfort and a promise of a bus ride in Dublin later, we went to dinner in Yügo. Asian fusion at its best, the plates to share were right up our (and the kids’) alley. I had miso-grilled corn and fried rice, Flo had duck truffle rice, Number 3 opted for blackened salmon and the Agent chose and ate the chicken spring rolls all by herself. As all food was just so good, we decided to order another round with dumpling, kimchi buns and last but not least, milk chocolate ganache as a dessert which my kids ate more of than me.

Round bellies and sleepy eyes shuffled back to the car and we headed for our communal campground, only 15 minutes Belfast city centre. It turned out to be just what we needed with a patch of grass, facilities and a code-operated gate which kept everyone outside who was not camping.

Just when everything was set up and the kids in bed, we realised that there were a washing machine and a dryer set up here to comfortable use. It was just too good to pass on so Flo took it upon himself to manage our laundry while I just went to bed.

P&O goes to Larne, we are heading for the Stena Line Terminal

Day 4 – Holidaying

With the longest of the pre-planned days and definitely the most stressful one (for me) behind us, we can now slow down a bit. It manifested by us lying in our sleeping bags a bit longer even with the kids awake; and Taking our time to make breakfast without starting to pack at the same time; with being happy that one of the other kids showed up with a card game (Dobble) that he wanted to play with Number 3 and actually taking the time to play two rounds; and also, having a bit of a forest exploration detour before leaving the campground.

primally natural – Flo enjoyed the cuddles

We found rabbit holes and empty snail houses and unripe hazelnuts, much to delight Number 3. The Agent of Entropy seemed to need cuddles more than anything as she simply refused to walk.

Luckily for (me) us, the sun was shining this morning and it got warm quickly. Flo had been grumbling about summer being over now that we started this holiday into a cold and wet country. And England had been true to the stereotype, greeting us with grey skies and drizzle. Today, even Flo enjoyed the weather (at least in the morning).

We hit the road for a short drive to a fast charger. With only 250km to go today, we could allow for more stops and a leisurely pace. Since we’d taken our time on the campground, it was close to lunch time by now and we had to feed the tigers. That was no problem with the standard highway rest stop, greeting us with our pick of fast food to choose from.

Back at the car, we realized that charging hadn’t worked the way we wanted but it had stopped prematurely. Slightly fed up with the whole charging situation in England, we opted for Fastned with we knew would be good. The nearest one was another 40 minutes away but we just had had lunch and Number 3 had asked for ice cream as dessert. So we even had another excuse to stop.

we are here for the carge, not the familiarity, promised

Fastned worked as well as it is known for. There was a Lidl next to it so we got some shopping down in the meantime. Number 3 got ice cream, the Agent got to push one of the fun sized trolleys and there was even a toilet to boot. All the things you could ask for with small kids. >.< It wasn’t quite as nice as the coop yesterday though. #battleofthesupermarkets

Loaded up with (now slowly melting) ice cream in the car, we drove towards the campsite. Unfortunately, it was another 1.40hours away due to a small traffic jam in the middle. There was no good opportunity to stop and enjoy some ice cream, instead we were really glad when we arrived at the campsite.

Nobody greeted us. Even after the phone call we weren’t much better off as the person on the phone had said that the internet was down and she would check later if we’d booked and paid as we said. Slightly confused, we had half-molten ice cream on our blanky when Flo read his conformation email again. It cleared up everything. It said: Please call to let us know you’ve arrived, then proceed to choose a tent site to your liking, set up and we will get back to you as soon as our work allows us to do.

Easy enough to follow. It is a great campsite on a working farm. There are many, many sheep, lots of horses and our good old neighbours, the cows. It was an instant hit with the kids. The words “farm”, “horses” and “cows” were uttered a lot, mostly by our youngest one.

By now, the sky was grey again and a chill wind blew in from the west. We are just a stone’s throw from the Scottish border after all. We got our lovely dinner done before the rain set in. Friends of ours had given us the cook book “two pans on the road” a while ago and for this trip, we’d actually remember to take it with us – thanks Number 3 for going and picking out a few recipes. Thus, the first recipe was followed and tasted great! 🙂

Good morning sunshine, porrige to get started

Day 14 – Parma where the ham comes from

We were in a good spot to start early for Parma. Camping Arizona was still muddy from last night’s rain and the mud bogged us down a little, physically as well as mentally. It was 10am before we left, having had to pack the awning still wet.

the streets are narrowing, we are getting closer to our goal

In good time, we arrived in Parma, only to be mind-boggled again…this time by the old inner city, which as a surprise for us had limited access for cars. Google maps led us around in circles, through houses and into places we were not supposed to go. We didn’t quite understand it at the time but the inner city has zones that you’re not supposed to enter with a car. Electric cars would have been allowed in, though only with a permit that we would have needed to organize days ahead.

We just desperately tried to get to a charging point all of which were in the inner city with no good way to get there. It took us quite a while and little bit of driving through zones we weren’t supposed to be in to find a free charger and start exploring the city on foot. We will find out in a few months if that will cost us a bit extra.

Our first point of interest was a prosciutteria where Flo bought ham to take home and some salami and cheese to consume on the road. I would have loved to buy fresh pasta but we have no way of cooling it (and carry way too much food already) so it would probably spoil. Having secured these before lunch we went to “Officina Alimentare Dedicata Parma” where I’d booked a table to break our dry spell around lunch time. Parma, we had decided, was going to be all about food for us.

I feel that with both Flo’s love for savory treat and Nina’s sweet tooth, we have to focus hard on portion control for Number 3 …

We dug in. Starters included both a local cheese and a cold meats platter. Both kids dug into Flo’s salami, Number 3 also liked my parmigiano reggiano. The Agent just sat there, slowly letting her piece of sausage dissolve in her mouth. We were quite impressed.

For mains, I had gnocchi with pesto, Number 3 went for tortellini, the Agent of Entropy got a torta fritta and Flo had buffalo tartar. Finally, the dessert I ordered was a lemon pie dipped in white chocolate with pistachios and cream on top. It turned out not to be entirely “my” dessert as I had to share it with Number 3.

Full to the brim, we got up and walked around a little more. We checked out the Baptistery and the Duomo, but soon after headed to the car to get to the next campground. Before settling in for the night, we had a short stop at a gigantic coop to stock up on things the Agent can eat as well as fresh milk. It took Flo and Number 3 45 minutes to come out of the grocery store again, getting lost twice in the huge complex.

Our campground for the night turned out to be quite…basic. It had the feeling of a rest stop near the Autobahn. It was the only option close to Bologna and we’d only stay one night – so okay. The mosquitoes were a different thing though. I got bitten so often that I retreated to the tent. After a mosquito sat on the Agent of Entropy’s temple, she came into the tent with me. Still full from our indulgence at lunch time, we had a light muesli dinner and went to bed soon after.

ok, bare with me: This is the Agent grabbing my phone, activating the camera and taking a non-garbage picture. We were impressed when we saw this

Day 7 – Post Bus to Gluttony

It is rather unusual that we stay in one place for three nights. But we had full supplies, no deadlines and plenty of choice for things to do. We did want to take a break from any serious walking, though – the memory of the tower incident might still be too fresh. So, we decided on what we love to do and what this kind of travel affords us the spare funds to do so: Explore the next best town!

It rained during the night and stayed overcast for almost the entire day – which was kind of perfect for this kind of excursion. Not having had many distractions in the morning allowed us to meet a rather ambitious 9.38 am bus ride to town. It is only 4 km and we could have walked there, but for only 2 € the convenience of a bus was too hard to resist.

As a sign that we are -that- close to the Swiss border, the bus was operated by the Swiss postal service (a High Alps thing). We got almost a bit confused when all the signs and ads in the bus were in German instead of Italian 😊. Six stops later and we decided we were “in town” enough to hop out. Time to explore Chiavenna.

We got our first glimpse of things to come looking into the old town from the new bridge over the rushing river Mera. And we saw a lot of ongoing construction on the banks, covering up some but not all significant damage done by severe floods in northern Italy in the last years.

Before we would hit the old town, we couldn’t help but stop at a brand new Pasticceria (plus café) on the far side of the bridge called Soul Cake. I mean … we had to, right? I myself was quite delighted by the realisation that we are in Italy now – for I had the best coffee in weeks served to me. Nina was completely enchanted by the huge selection of petit-four, filled croissants and cakes on offer. We settled on a variety of three croissants and a bit of relaxation. After all, we had two hours to fill before the chosen restaurant would open at 12.00 noon.

Well prepared, all of us performed admirably at the 1 ½ hours stroll through the narrow alleys of the old town. The most impressive feature had to be the steep 8m drop in between the 4-6 story buildings down to the rushing river Mera. The shift to “Italian” feel and architecture is pretty severe – only 10 km up the valley you can find the wood-clad romantic idyll of the Swiss Alps, whereas here the Romanesque window openings and slightly crumbling yellow washed facades evoke a clear Mediterranean feel.

We finished our walk with a mere 20 minutes to bridge and we were able to distract the Agent with a feed and Number 3 with a magical little footpath cut into the rockface – all mossy green and gloomy. The place where you would expect to meet nymphs and fairies.

We got lucky by being there right on opening time and still got a table even without reservation. It turned out, as is kind of our luck, it was Republic Day today! No wonder we had trouble finding a free campsite for Thursday and Friday.

Anyway, we went to a “Crotto”, a local form of small menu restaurant that evolved of cellars for curing meats and cheeses. They had few enough items on the menu that we could basically order “one of each”. Once more, we got a bit emotional – because the food was excellent, home made gnoccetini (with cheese), cold cuts from their own cellar, polenta (with cheese :D) and biscotti for dessert – but more so because eating out has become part of our identity, and we were not able to do so for almost a year by now. We missed it so much! Even the house wine was great.

The bus was on time (Swiss precision and so on …). Unfortunately for us, we were not able to convince Number 3 to take a nap or at least a bit of rest. So, the rest of the day was a bit of a drag with him getting up to worse and worse plots cooked up by his sleep deprived brain. At least when it was time to go to bed, he fell asleep mid-sentence.

— sorry for the amount of pictures. We had to nights of gaming and I want to get is out, no willpower to be tough on the selection anymore 😀 —

Day 4 – Old friends in new places

Our original plan was to leave for Italy today but when yesterday turned out to be…substandard, we decided to stay the whole day at Christine’s place to relax and catch up with one of our oldest friends. Luckily, Christine, Torsten and their little one were able to host us longer than they had expected. J

The day started off with Flo making pancakes for everyone (such a treat!) and they were devoured in record time. To be fair, we haven’t had enough sleep as the catching up part started yesterday evening which stretched into the night and then our two rascals were awake from 5.50am onwards when the Agent of Entropy crashed into the wooden train set with gusto and woke us up with a start. The best thing to do to remedy some of the effects of a night with not enough hours of shut-eye was to immediately plan our second breakfast. At 8pm, Flo, Christine and the Agent of Entropy left for the bakery to buy more baked goods for our indulging shenanigans.

Second breakfast started around 9.20am and after so much yummy food we all agreed to go on a walk before taking advantage of the more relaxed Swiss Corona rules and eat out for lunch. As it is with kids though, it took forever to get three of them ready to leave so by the time we were outside we had about 40 minutes left before the aforementioned kids would demand lunch. -.-

Our walk was postponed until after even more food and we headed straight to the restaurant in the next village up. Neither Christine nor Torsten had been there before so it was nice to explore something new with our hosts. This part (or maybe many parts) of Switzerland are very rural so we passed sheep and chickens and a picturesque fountain on the way. All three kids absolutely loved it.

The restauarant…what can I say?…it’s been almost a year since we went out for food. It was a celebration in itself to be able to do this again. Also, the food was delicious, the place kid-friendly (Number 3 had a Pizza Batman and a scoopf of mango ice cream) and our outside seating had just the right combination of sunshine and shade.

On the way back, we then had to hurry to be home in time to get the kids to bed for their midday nap. Well, two out of three kids had to nap. We still took the scenic route home with time for cows, a tractor and all things Swiss. It was a bit of a task to get the kids to calm down enough to sleep but once the Agent of Entropy slept there even was time to play a boardgame with Number 3.

In the late afternoon we went to the playground where much fun was had.

Back home we opted for more food followed vy a much earlier bedtime. J Tomorrow, we’ll head off to Italy…with a detour (back to Germany o.ô) to refresh our rapid Covid tests first.