15 posts from 2007

So finally this was a good last impression for me and so we headed back to our good old loved couch. One day without daytrip will give us enough patience to get thru the long journey back.

Finally on the last day I was longing to travel again, we went to Sta. Caterina del Sasso in Leggiuno at Lago Maggiore. It was a quiet long drive to get there, again bike-3wheelers. Hermine got the privilege to get to this historic place and it was worth it, a nice place a typical restaurant was nearby where no tourists appeared. Sometimes it is a long search to find these places, where you get the typical food but not on a tourist basis.

On the way back we made a stop for another portrait of myself and children were fingerpointing at me shouting elefanto. You can guess how much I liked this.

On this day we went for the village we were staying for the fortnight, but in the end you had the feeling the inhabitants did not like to see foreign persons at all. At least when it comes to taste, they probably do well keeping out of sight...

So it was just a short excursion and we thought we could finish the day with Hermine going to her favourite place Porto Cerosio.

Today we three elephants were so tired we had to work on all our impressions we got and what Hermine told us about the Bambus plants which are of course our favourite ones that we decided to stay on our couch. Doch, however, -a sleeping elephant- suddenly asked to go out for travelling, this was a surprise for all of us, Doch is normally a very disciplined one and fun is not his first priority. He even took his first photo.

Actually he had chosen the highlight of the Italy tour, they went to a valley with green water and lots of stones, scenery must have been really fantastic. He told us that they had very typical Switzerland food there. It was after one week Pasta and Pizza a good alternative for our owners.

Doch did not go for the walk, he is as I told you a very disciplined elephant and stayed on the driver's seat for several hours  and took care nobody stoled the car, he was confused that strange people were staring at him, but as it is not usual that a toy elephant is sitting at the driver's seat, just a normal situation. As a little excuse he was getting is own private souvenier photo. And guess where it was: On top of the dam which Pierce Brosnan umped down during the opening sequence of Goldeneye! Luckily he could keep from trying it too...

On this Monday a very nice location was chosed to be visited: Morcote, an romantic village in Switzerland. No question who should go from us elephant. Ladies first and Hermine was very thankfull afterwards.

The location really was fantastic and Hermine got some nice compliment about her look. Her highlight was a visit to a Botanic Garden with lots of Bambus, it was difficult for Hermine to resist to take some plants for us elephants but she is a disciplined small elephant lady with respect for nature so finally she headed to the parking lot to meet us and we got a second portrait photo from us. We liked this day very much.

It was Sunday, so we took this day for a relaxing one. Later in the afternoon we went out for visiting 2 villages nearby but expectation seemed to be too high so finally we went to Hermine's favourite place Ponte Cerosio, where I decided to send Herman around for a walk and he was rather impressed and for this day he was a quiet toy elephant. It seemed that whole Italy went out for a walk, all with ice-cream and family. Would have been to crowded for me:-( But at least there were more fluffy things like us...

We elephants have come to the decision that we would like to participate in all trips. Today something strange happened. We went to Luino at Lago Maggiore and according to my will Hermine should take a walk at the lake as her favourite places seem to be villages at a beautiful lake.

After a while our owners got confused was it really Hermine who was with them, but when they asked they got a nasty remark how they could even have any doubts. They kept on being very sceptic as this elephant toy was already familar again in the restaurant and was seated on an extra chair. The tongue looked so different, no this could not be Hermine and so it was proved latest in the car that Hermine was still waiting there and Herman got his triumph :-)

I again spent all time sitting in the car but this time I could also enjoy a beautiful view at the lake. Here you find some photos of Hermann at the lage and of course of Hermine who just modestly enjoyed the view from the car. Hope to post one of me soon.

My 3rd trip went to Varese as it was a very cloudy day and you could hardly plan some nature trips. There was lots of traffic and some strange people could be seen on the streets. Cars crossing from all sides, I was glad I was safe on the backplace in the car. So I spent most of the day in the car in the parking lot.

Again I allowed Hermann to go around, after some minutes heavily rain started so the three of them went to a nice design restaurant where I bet Hermann was the first toy elephant to get extra seated within there and you can guess he did more than enjoy it.He was served some bambusbread at least in his phantasy and felt comfortable there.

On the way back we made a stop in Ponto Cerosio where Hermine longed to see the lake and felt like having been there for ages. She was welcomed by the local people, they talked in Italian to her, so Hermine finally felt proud people talking to her. My highlight of the day was my first photo I have ever taken. Here you can see the result.

Today my second trip took place. It was decided not to go to all the planned places in Switzerland but to focus more on the villages in Lombardei (mainly because Mainzelmann had forgotten all the papers at home and so every crossing of the border turned out to be a little adventure - but with us elephants in the car, they were always let go). I did not care - my focus was to be a travelling elephant and so I was.

We went to Viggiu, a very nice small village with a nice atmosphere. Hermann and Hermine joined for the trip and so we had a nice souvenir photo together. As I am too big to walk around hidden in a bag I decided to send Hermann who was really excited to go on his first trip and so he enjoyed it  much - actually a kid wanted to grab him out of his bag.

My highlight of the day was of course the nice portrait photo of us three couch elephants. But for the photographers amongst us, the highlights were clearly in front of their lenses.

I discovered there were many funny little trucks with only three wheels on the road. And bikes, of course. I really like travelling.

The big finding of this vacatiom is the beautiful town of Porto Ceresio at Lake Lugano (totally other side than Lugano, close to the Swiss border).

Though Hermann was asking again to take part at the trip I decided Hermine should better go, what she liked of course. Porto Cersio has a beautiful promenade and lots of photos were taken. Find some in the photostream, amongst them a burnt out ship, Eva and a church and, of course, a biker.

Hermine got her photo standing at the waterside. It was so windy that she couldn't just sit there but had to be fixed or she would have been blown away.

And again what a suprise the next thunder followed in the late afternoon.