The Switzerland Report - Day 5

|| Aug 1 ||

Findings: Mountain Passes Sometimes Cause Car Sickness

Food: Cheese cubes, apples, farmer's snack bars, Dar-Vida - on the road

The most direct route to Italy from Lucerne is the 17km Gottardo tunnel in Switzerland. In summer, with all car traffic from northern Europe funneling into one lane entering the tunnel (a lane in each direction), delays of two hours or more occur at all times. We decided to take the mountain passes to Italy. The mountain route guaranteed two hours more driving but avoided the parking lot on the freeway at the tunnel and also offered some of the more stunning views from the trip including four of Switzerland's highest passes. Kaleo drew us a stellar map to guide us through Brunig, Grimsel, Furka, and Gottardo.



We left the farmhouse mid-morning and about 10 minutes into the trip Johanna began complaining about the car ride. "How much longer is it?" "Why can't we ride bikes to Italy?" "I hate the car." "My stomach hurts." "My head hurts." "I'm hungry." "Can I play with your iPhone?" "Why does it cost money to use an iPhone in Switzerland?" "I really hate the car." I would have felt something other than annoyance were it not for the fact that our 7 minute car ride to school every morning includes the same commentary. Even as her pleas became odder, most notably the declaration, "My cheeks hurt," I paid no real attention until she threw up suddenly, eight times, in the Grimsel Pass. Here she is moments later.



She rebounded impressively as we sped through Italy. We arrived in Levanto in the early evening. Our accommodations were at an agritourismo called L'Erba Persa. I would not recommend it, but I would stay again. Erba's misfortune is to be situated neither close to the beach nor up in the hills away from the bustle of visitors. Instead, it is directly on the main artery into town with trucks, cars, and scooters storming by at all times. Erba is an attractive, ramshackle villa with an organic vegetable garden, 20 cats, 5 dogs, a goat, various other random animals, and a cage with bunnies on the bottom and lovebirds on top. This inspired the new name for my band or store, "Lovebirds and Bunnies." Johanna loved being around the animals and the owners were very sweet. They charged us 50 Euro a night, half of their normal rate, claiming that Johanna was darling to be around so we deserved a discount. I totally agree with their assessment and the rewards that should come with it.

Day 6>>