Chamonix- ice cave by Lindsay

We went on an excrutiating hike to an ice cave. It was really hot and i started wheezing halfway up. Once we finished the hike we took a lift down to the ice cave. Once we got off the lift we had to walk down about 55 flights of stairs. The ice cave had LED lights in it and carvings. I slid down the part where they didn't have carpet. After we took the lift back and went to our apartment.

Chamonix to Zermatt by Lindsay

We took a four hour train ride to Zermatt, Switzerland. When we got there we walked about a half mile to our hotel. At the hotel there where two sets of bunk-beds. That night we made pasta for dinner. Zermatt is the town that you can see the Matterhorn from. When we went to the store we could see the Matterhorn clearly and it was really cool.

The Gondola, Chamonix by Lindsay

The gondola took us up the mountain 9,000 feet. When you are going up the mountain the gondola goes through pilons and you feel like you're going to drop. After we got up there we went on a hike to the bottom of the cliff. The next day we went up again and stayed at the top for a little while.On the way back down it felt like we where going to drop but more so then the way up

Favorite Food of the Alps/Italy Trip

We had a lot of great food on this trip. Our first real meal was really cooked by me as I went to the nearby market as soon as we woke up on our first day. I bought some basic supplies like eggs, cheese, bread and fruit. We cooked up a breakfast/lunch (as we woke up at noon) of eggs on baguette.

Some other memorable meals were the potato casserole I had at 1904. 1904 is basically a bar with a large outdoor patio. Lindsay chose this restaurant on her first night to choose and it was an excellent choice as we sat outside and enjoyed some beer, the warm evening and some great food. My entree was some sort of potato & ham casserole swimming in a melted pungent cheese. It was the closest to fondue we got on the trip & it was delicious.

We also really loved the omelet restaurant in Chamonix as they had excellent kir, and a garlic bread entree that came with a salad. Tom's French onion soup was excellent & I was jealous I did not have my own bowl.

Our next culinary highlight was in Florence. There was an excellent trattoria almost right across the street from our apartment. It attracted me as it offered roasted vegetables with melted brie as an entree. Seeing as this was a somewhat unique vegetarian option, I was excited to try it. On our way in, there were some pasta and gnocchi dishes coming out of the kitchen that I also could not resist ordering, even though it meant that I had way too much food on the table! I had some very large tube-shaped pasta with red sauce, Lindsay had pesto gnocchi & Tom had some sort of Bolognese.

We also found a little cafe around the corner that served espresso and pastries at breakfast. I gave into temptation and ordered the custard-filled croissant for breakfast one morning and was thrilled with it. It was one of the best things I have ever eaten and it filled me up all morning.

The last memorable meal we had was in Venice. We went to a more authentic wine bar that was listed in our guide book. The menu was listed on the wall and only in Italian. Our online translators were not helping as many things just did not have English translations. The waitress, however, was very nice and pretty much recited the whole menu in English for us - the bad part was that about 95% of the items centered around seafood that we are not comfortable eating: cuttlefish, eel & octopus. I decided to be daring and I tried an appetizer with sole and sand dabs. I did not realize that sand dabs are served whole, but I did not want to waste them so I gave them a try. Unfortunately, they were very fishy. The sole was quite tasty, and both were served with a very good polenta.

We ordered the only non-fish entrees on the menu: chicken curry, vegetarian ravioli and duck gnocchi. All of the dishes were very tasty - fresh and again, much better than you can get in an average restaurant where we live. Even though we did not like many of the menu choices, this was probably one of the more memorable meals on the trip.

Chamonix- The luge by: Lindsay

              

In Chamonix we went on this roller coaster called  a luge. it's a metal track you go down and you can control you're speed. There are blue or orange carts you can go in. My family all went 3 times. The only boring part is waiting for it to go up because is takes about 5 min. to go up the track. My experience there was really fun and i would go again but there aren't any luges in America.