The Palm Express

I went back to Zurich after 5 months away with only 3 firm plans –lunch with the girls on Monday (at yummy Café Schoeder), a BBQ at our place with friends and neighbors on Tuesday (as always, so great to see everyone and hard to remember why I left in the first place) and a weekend getaway with Martin, destination unknown…We purposely didn’t plan out where to go until I got into town - our only two thoughts were 1) avoid flying and any train rides longer than 5 hours and 2) go some place warm. With only a 4 hour travel time radius, Martin and I opted for a SBB package deal – The Palm Express - with one night in St. Moritz, a bus ride through the mountains and one night in Menaggio on Lake Como; as the brochure noted – from Glaciers to Palms.

Here is my photo montage!

We arrived in “sunny” St. Moritz Thursday afternoon…yes those are rain clouds and that is snow on the mountain.

With the weather preparing for the next storm, Martin and I enjoyed a quick walk along the lake and retired indoors for coffee, strudel and beer. And with no other plans for the evening, we enjoyed a long dinner and went to bed early.

We awoke the next morning to winter…it was snowing! So much for going someplace warm. Good thing we were leaving for the palm trees of Lake Como that morning.

We worked our way up and over the mountain in a blizzard… I am sure the views would have been stunning, I was mainly focused on the narrow, winding road along the sheer cliff.

We had a brief stop in Chiavenna for 20 minutes, during which Martin and I took a quick tour of the town and enjoyed the arrival of the sun.

We also worked on our “self-portrait” shots.

We arrived in Menaggio and, to our delight, we found it sunny, although not that warm (especially when compared to our trip to the region the same weekend the year prior). But at least we had found the vacation we were looking for.

Sorry for the kissing shot…our “self portrait” shots were less than stellar – as you can see.




That night, we enjoyed another long dinner and possibly one too many adult beverages, but hey, we were on vacation and enjoying ourselves. Too bad it had to end the following day, but not before another semi-warm day after the partially sunny morning.

The Robertson

Warning – the following post is in no way culturally stimulating, life-changing or even slightly mature. It is utter nonsense, and completely me. If you have any false allusions about my worldliness, please stop reading.

I was first introduced to the Robertson, a shot of Jim Bean chased by a slice of bacon, by a friend’s brother in San Francisco and it has become my destiny and mission to make the shot a local treat. What is not to love, it is a perfect pairing of whiskey and salty sweetness that can be enjoyed during brunch or after dinner. That plus, the shock value of ordering a shot of Jim and side of bacon is just priceless (well, maybe just class-less, but all the same). That first weekend in San Francisco, we single-handedly introduced the shot to over 30+ people at different bars throughout the day.

However, what I thought was amazing, my closest girl friends were all too willing to disagree…they were slightly confused, slightly grossed out and yet, slightly curious. So two weeks later, when we all convened on Reno NV to celebrate Anj’s 30th Birthday (plus Joanna and Markus’s engagement and just our overall friendships) I was instantly bombarded with snide comments and looks of disgust from the girls, and yet, encouraging remarks from the guys who were more than intrigued.

Unfortunately for me, my overall goal of spreading the word of the Robertson came back to haunt me. After the Friday night of what I thought was all talk, I joined the crew Saturday morning at the casino café only to find a plate of bacon and shot of Jim Bean waiting for me. Unwilling to start the morning off alone, I convinced Brad, Anj’s boyfriend, to join me and by the end of lunch all of the guys had joined in. Yes, it was the perfect recipe for instant bonding with the group of new boyfriends (and fiancé)… who knew bacon could do so much. As Justin put it…Bacon is the new ranch – you can put it on or pair it with anything.

The day continued along in the usual manner…we finally left the casino café table after breakfast, brunch and lunch (4 hours all in) and spent the rest of the day hanging out, jokingly ordering the Robertson for each other and just catching up. And when it was all said and done, we must have eaten a whole pig and consumed a bottle of Jim Bean. In fact, so much bacon was enjoyed, that I suffered from the bacon sweats and shakes the entire drive home the following morning.

Turn your noise up if you will, but as a true testament of the amazing-ness of the shot - all of the guys from Reno have subsequently order (or tried to order) the shot at their local bars, Joanna and Markus may or may not be serving them at their rehearsal dinner and Brad has now started working on new whiskey pairings…next up Crown and Twinkies.