Yes, I am having a terrible cold. Thus we tried the sauna (finally, but no pictures). Ritsu had initially some inhibitions about being ‘all nude’, but we came early and no one else was there. Lots of sweating fun an then swimming in the sauna only pool (again, naked 
)
Why work out? Just sit and sweat
Then a lot of relaxy day (the weather wasn’t that great either) + packing up and Julius spent a lot of time at the kids’ club, allegedly working on a club show for the evening.
When that show started, after dinner, it turned out that only 4 of the kids were in performance mode (not Julius) and they did one song .. After that it was family disco again, and Julius, after 5 minutes of hesitation, was all over it.
Another freebie in our hotel package was free entrance to the adjacent Adventure Park, a 55€ value. They have four courses: blue, red, black and extreeeem.
We all did the easy, blue course together (in fact, they did not give Julius the extra equipment to move beyond the blue course, but I later saw a 7 year old boy doing the black course!)
It is something very similar to a thing I did in New Zealand before, but this time using real trees. The blue course is ‘only’ 2 meters above the ground .. the blue course goes to 5m and the black (which is a lot of zip-lining or fly-foxing) is at 10 meters.
Ritsu did the first 3 courses while I kinda chickened out after course 1, for one looking after Julius, who had some dispute with other kids over the use of the trampoline and somehow recalling that I had broken 5 bones in my spine earlier this year and that I should still take it a bit easy.
Weather still gloomy, but at least no rain. While Julius joins the kids’ club for water coloring, we drove to Spittal for some mall shopping.
After lunch we used 2 vouchers of our ‘adventure package’ … one being a carriage ride for the family (a 55€ value) to the Pritzl Hütte, right next to the Pony Alm,
where we used voucher #2, the pony ride for Julius, this time it was actually about 12 minutes (a 5€ value) and all outside. and Julius loved it.
The carriage ride back was packed and full of Italians trying to explain away why they had no return ticktes. This time Julius got to sit in the front.
Very cloudy day for the first time since we arrived. Breakfast, then Julius was very happy to join the kids’ club again.
Ritsu had a massage booked and I was up for a 1 hour tour on a cross country Segway XT, first time ever, lots of fun. Tricky to go downhill. But towards the end (when the rain started) we explored the parking garages of several hotels and wizzed around there.
(Forgive Markus, the Segway coach, for shifting from landscape to portrait while doing video)
Rest of the day very relaxed (thanks to the rain), Julius stayed until 4:30 in the kids club when he had one of the animators call us to get him.
Dinner was ‘peasants menu’, with lots of salad and appetizers (slowly the re-use of food becomes more apparent, but still very well done) and main was a deer goulash, which was very nice (but I was pretty full at that time) … Dance off for Julius again and then time for bed.
After a long day of hiking one would think that Julius would feel like a nap (like the rest of us), but no, he wanted to go to the pool again & so we let Ritsu sleep and I recorded all the different ways Julius gets down that slide:
During summer, the chairlift up to the Aineck summit only opperates Monday, Wednesday & Friday and since the weather was fantastic we paid a whopping 28€ to get up there and then hiked down. (You can also op for a GPS treasure hunt, which would have been 55€ for us, including the lift, GPS rental, a Brett’l Jause and drink, sounds kinda fun, maybe next time)
There is a direct way (kinda boring from the looks of it) and a more interesting way over the back of the mountain. The beginning is a bit tricky as it is down a ski slope and you just never know if you are on the right trail, just follow the others 
It took us about 1.5 h to reach the Brantweiner Hütte where we had nice lunch. Ritsu was overwhelmed by the selection of sausages (and I was a poor translator, as I have myself no idea about that matter) and I had the Brett’l Jause (assorted meats and cheeses with bread)
The rest of the hike, while a nice, slowly descending trail, was with 2.5 h a bit on the long side, but Julius took it better then his old parents.
(Yes, you can kick me, as I did myself, when I discovered that I had mistakingly packed Julius’ old hiking boots, way too small, but he had no trouble doing this hike in his sandals.)
So, on the first full day we did a pretty easy hike up to the Gamskogelalm, and they had a ‘Frühschoppen’ (drink early with live music by family band ‘Die Pöllys‘), had we known, we would have planned lunch there.
The entertainment for the afternoon was a visit to a brand-new playground (Katschhausen, official opening next Saturday)
and a free pony ride for each kid of the kids’ club (further rounds of about 2 minutes for 1€)
Back to the hotel and some time with Julius at the kids’ pool (with silde! Video coming soon)
After dinner (yum and plenty) it was time for the family disco at the bar. It took Julius a while to warm up to the idea, but when he heard a disco version of one of his favorite kindergarten songs, he was all for it.
After a not so long drive and some shopping fun in Villach (boohoo, the ‘end of summer’ sale is already over) , we finally arrived at our vacation destination in Austria, the Falkensteiner Cristallo in Katschberg (Kärnten) [promotional video on youtube that shows the cool flip around TV]
Nice greeting at the reception and a VERY nice room (lots of sliding doors, you can make it as open or compartmentalized as you want. The LCD TV is on a flip panel, so it can be used either in the main bedroom or the living room, ingenious planning)
While Ritsu and Julius were checking out the pool, I participated in the ‘Hotel Safari’ … to know my way around the fairly big place.
We were invited to a ‘welcome drink’ by the manager lady (well, everybody was, and who would say no to a free glass of bubblie?) and then dinner was ‘Italian buffet’ … which first I was skeptical about … we did not come all the way FROM Italy to eat more Italian food! … But it turned out to be very nice, plenty, lots of choices, including smoked fish.
We are on our way to part 2 of our summer vacation, and to cut the whole drive into 2 more manageable portions, Ritsu found us a nice hotel on the way.
We had no idea that Palmanova has such an interesting shape (see google earth pic above). Obviously it was an old Roman fortress and it is nice to see that the structure is still very much intact. The whole town is shaped around a perfect hexagon piazza and our hotel is directly there, next to the nice Duomo (which starts ringing its bells at 7 AM!)
Yes, we have been there before .. i.e. my last birthday .. or Valentines day … and again it was a pleasure!
Still no birthday cake, but the food was great as usual:
Mixed breads to start with (this time we were informed that the pepper in the pink pepper butter comes from Hawaii and Jamaica), 2 freebie appetizers (a tiny mouse of squid followed by a seafood soup with mini octopi on top), then Ritsu and I had the beloved mix of beef tongue and raw shrimp. Newly aranged in mandarin puree (instead of jelly).
Even Julius’ simple pasta bianca looked fancy.
Then Ritsu had button shaped ravioli filled with lobster meat and I had some deep fried lamb cutlets.
I had thought about ordering the meat, which is ‘only’ 5€ per 100gr. but was informed that the meat pieces are rather large (1kg) and it is usually a dish to be shared. Maybe next time.
For dessert Ritsu had something fig flavoured while I was happy with a freebie tiramisu dessert and my Gin & Tonic.
Since the national holiday of feragosto fell on a Sunday this year, Ritsu’s office was closed Monday and we took the occasion to enjoy our ‘Toberua in Italy’ again.
Food was again great, after lunch some other families arrived and Julius had a play pal. The sun came out so we could use the pool. All over perfect.
While we waited for dinner, I took a 12 minute call in English for the Cascina, which was kinda fun:)
Dinner was more of the usual, yummy stuff, but new for us were fried flowers of zucchini and fried leaves of sage. Very very good.
Oh, the top picture was taken by Julius, who got his first digital camera as a present from his Großpapa Kurt. He loves it and keeps taking photos and videos So different from when I was a kid, he does not have to think about ‘wasting film’, ‘bring it to the shop’ or ‘wait a week until it is developed’ … instead, instant gratification on a 2″ LCD screen
Another highlight was a walk through the vineyard!
And we have already booked for Ritsu’s birthday on 9/26 .. so this year, all 3 birthdays at Cascina Vrona!
Another fun story we heard was that a single traveling Japanese lady was just there, she left a message for Ritsu, she had found the cascina through Ritsu’s blog!
Gotta love this place, we have been to this restaurant now 5 times, and we have done this mixed appetizer menu once before, 4 years ago. This is an incredible deal: for 50€ you get a taste of pretty much everything they can throw at you in terms of seafood, for 2 people. It is way too much, but oh so yummy. Just take a look:
When in Levanto, Cinque Terre, this is the one thing I recommend doing … and skip lunch that day.
Le tre cantine
Via Dante, 10
19015 Levanto (SP)
Telefono: 0187801236
We have been to Cinque Terre before, twice actually … but this time we managed to explore all 5 villages…
The first time we made it from #5 to #4 .. and then to the train station of #3 (but it takes a long staircase walk to actually get there.
The second time we did not even get that far, as the hiking route between #4 and #3 was closed.
This time, we did the 2 hikes (very nice) stopped at the usual photostops, and climbed the 382 steps up to Corniglia, which is very picturesque. But we also found out that there is no boat going back to Levanto. So, down the 382 steps and train back.
Next day, after saying goodbye to obachan and ojichan, we took the train to Vernazza (#2) looked around, this place has its main piazza directly at the water, and 2 very nice looking restaurants (albeit the nicer one, besides charging 3€ coperto, also charges 6€ service charge, if you only order one course .. cough cough RIPP OFF)
We then took a ferry to Monterosso (#1) and strolled around there and found a nice pizzaria / ristorante and had pretty descent food. First time a waiter complimented me on my Italian, but I guess in touristy places they do that when a traveller says ‘grazie’
more pics later … maybe
Last evening of this trip, and finally we get to the beach!
I will fill in the blog blanks when I get home (and hopefully Telecom has not cut us off already) … will also upload an HD version of this video …
As part of our ‘show northern Italy to the grandparents’ tour, we stayed 2 nights at Acqui Terme and the nice Roma Imperiale hotel.
On the first night we got very lucky, it was bianca notte in town, like a festival, and they had an interesting shadow show.
Since we had plenty of dinners the nights before, we introduced the Japanese inlaws to the Italian concept of apperetivo at ‘Gusta’, which was pretty nice.
The next day we spent lounging around the 2 pools (one warm indoor jacuzzi kinda thing and a cooler outdoor pool, which for reasons unknown and incomprehensible closes at 5PM).
We had dinner at the main piazza, which has a nice hot water spring (with sulphur smell) and while food was good, my favourite place there would be that little wine bar right behind that spring, which has a nice apperitivo buffet and nice music.
We had tried to be here again at J’s birthday, but our lovely Cascina was fully booked, but we managed to get 2 rooms for a night later. Also our friends from Como (Chris, Cris, Lucca and Eric) got a room and the kids had great play fun at the pool and the dinner outside together was magically illuminated by this fantastic sunset:
It is this time of the year again.
Incredible that this not-so-little boy is now 6 years old. Which means he starts elementary school in September, it also means that now we have to buy bus tickets for him here (no more free rides!)
We spent a lovely day at Fattoria Lovera, had lots of fun in the pool (have a great video, but connection here is too slow to upload).
How better to celebrate his birthday than enjoying a cloudless, warm summer day in the pool?
The day we arrived, the pool looked blue, but thanks to the rain the night before, it magically turned green.
Julius has been sitting on the backs of quite a few animals already: donkey, ostrich and elephant … but never on a horse, until now:
A highlight surely was his first horse ride, guided by Mario.
Julius just had to wear my ‘cowboy hat’ (an Acubra style hat I had bought in South Africa 4 years ago), and he was very concentrated on the task and sat upright the whole time, enjoying the view.
I think he is ready for horse-camp.
Slept very well. Woke up to rainy weather. After a very nice breakfast, which included toasted bread, lardo (think thinly sliced raw bacon), and even egg, we went to a nearby shopping mall. After the due amount of shopping, we had some pizza and went back, while the weather cleared up.
As soon as we returned, Julius headed for the pool again. Since now he is ‘drown proof’, no need to go in with him, I just made sure I had no camera, cell phone, portable computer in my pocked when I sat there watching him, in case I would need to jump in.
During the afternoon Julius kept discovering more of the resident animals (pigs with little piglets, goats and other critters) and he played a lot with Claudia, the 3 year old girl of the family.
And the dinner again. A platter of cheese and salami with bread, a mix of pasta and beans, and then some lamb with peas and steamed veggies. I think out of all of us, Julius ate the most.
Breakfast at Cavenago was a bit dissapointing (a lot of pre-packed items), nothing to write home about. Then again, the Italians aren’t that big on breakfast.
| Drove to Novotel near Malpensa airport to pick up obachn and ojichan. Then on to our next destination with a stop at Casale Monferatto, only to get caught at a very touristy restaurant (it did not look the part initialy) .. 3€ copperto p.p. is probably the highest I seen so far … And besides that most items on the menu were not available, and the service was way under par, and the food was just ok, but not great, I highly recommend to stay away for ‘la brasseria’ and rather go to a close by pizza place. |  |
We moved on, skipping the highway and instead enjoying the scenic routes and finally arrived at our next stop: Fattoria Lovera.
When booking them, I had mixed feelings.. The phone conversations were a bit odd, no one spoke English, I only found one review about the place (in Italian), but the total offer sounded very nice (animals, pool, homemade food)
Upon arrival our rooms were not ready, so we headed straight for the pool and Julius had a blast. Then there was some issue regarding a bathroom with one of our assigned rooms .. So in instead we got one part of the house with 3 bedrooms and one shared bathroom, which is somewhat of a sweet deal, albeit the missing privacy in another thing.(But we were also promised a discount)
And then it was time for dinner .. Oh my .. First of all the very nice outside-under-the-roof setting, great (ok, out in the country, tons of flies and mosquitoes).. As usual with Italian style dinners. 2 antipasti (mixed pickled veggies and vitello tonato), a ragou style paste al forno as primo and then oven chicken with potaoes as secondo and a crème caramel for dessert. Surely a food induced culture shock for my parents in law. How can anyone eat that much?
With that we enjoyed quite some home made red wine and afterwards, while everyone else had gone to bed, I joined the family table with some other guests and practiced my meager Italian in a typical family chat situation, I think at some point we ended up telling each other ghost stories.
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