Magda & Miso - Who said "Diamonds are a girls best friends"?

“Dogs are our link to paradise. They don't know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring--it was peace.”
                                                                                                                                                     ― Milan Kundera

 

 

 

                  

 

 

Salice Blu - Bellagio, Italy

Hi guys! I am back once again & will continue sharing with you our trip of 2012. After spending a week in Switzerland, we are now finally headed to Italy. The course of the trip was set to Bellagio, Siena & Rome.

When i plan our holidays, i always like splitting our time between some romance & sightseeing. So it's not just business business, but also time to relax & enjoy each other's company. So Bellagio, +Italy was just perfect for that. If you read multiple articles about top most romantic places on earth, this city is at the top of the list in Italy. And hey, there is always a chance you can bump into Mr. +George Clooney :) It takes around 5-6 hours to reach Lake Como by train. Once there, another 1 hour by car to get to Bellagio. You can also go by ferry. They say the scenery is quiet amazing while approaching Bellagio from the lake. But let me tell you this, the scenery was spectacular even by car. It's faster & you don't miss out on anything.

Bellagio is truly amazing. It's very secluded & you feel like you are hidden by mountains from the rest of the world. We have stayed in Borgo Le Terrazze & at the time of booking, the hotel was ranked as No1 on +TripAdvisor . The hotel is amazing & as far as i am concerned, has the best view of the Lake Como.

I have also made it a point to try Salice Blu Restaurant. Once again, at the time of my research, this restaurant was at the top of the list on +TripAdvisor 

We have made the booking way ahead of the travelling date & i could not be anymore happier about the choice made for romantic dinner. We were picked up from our hotel by one of the restaurant chefs.

The atmosphere in the restaurant is very very cosy, very romantic & beautiful.

We have opted to sit outside, but the inside looked just as good. 

Certainly, no romantic dinner is good without a bottle of a great Italian wine?

We have started the dinner with home made "Antipasto". Unfortunately i did not take the picture, as i was too indulged into my husbands company :) For the main course, we have chosen Tagliolini with lobster. It was THE tastiest pasta I've ever eaten in my life. Seriously!

Amazing Chef Luigi Gandola.

Bookings are essential!

Food, food, food!

They say almonds are good for you. So i like eating a few almonds, in search for extra energy :)

Not a big fan of salads including fruits. Below is an apple salad one of my colleagues had in Lime Tree Cafe, Media City. Loving that place for a quick, healthy bite. I do find it slightly over the price, though. How about you guys?

+Costacoffee RMAG chocolate fudge cake. This is specially delicious before boarding the flight early in the morning. Yummy breakfast treats :)

Home made salad. Just a blast of colours & vitamins.

 Beautiful Cafe Latte at +Sixsenses Zighy Bay breakfast buffet. I am still raving about this place & hopefully one day i will go back there again.

Green Tea with Macaroon at +Jumeirah Zabeel Saray. Speaking of Macaroon, i am so looking forward to going to my Macaroon baking class in couple of weeks. I have always wondered how do they cook these things?

Switzerland - Day 5 - Part II

So once we have finished our trip to Santis, it was time for me to go back to Bern and make myself ready for Italy.
But before that, we have decided to visit Luzern the next morning.

The city is very popular with tourists, crowded and very beautiful.

The weather was not so hot & not so cold. Just perfect for a stroll of a picturesque Luzern. I was very surprised to see the lock on one of the bridge walls. Any idea on what could it be and why would one do this? I know that somewhere in Russia, couples tend to lock these on one of the bridges as a sign of love? Or something similar to this anyway :)

After that, it was time for lunch. And, seriously, Switzerland is really blessed with really fresh, tasty and yummy food.

This salad was one of the best salads I've even eaten in my life. It had some salad leaves, tomatoes, walnuts, cranberry sauce & chicken. It was so tasty!

This was the last day of Switzerland and i am so thankful that i got the opportunity to visit such a beautiful country.

Switzerland - Day 5

Hi Guys! I know I've been MIA for a while now. There has been so much going on in my life, that, honestly, i did not have time to edit the pictures and write down any sort of update.
I still did not finish my Swiss travel story, which is bad of me, i know, considering that this day was the highlight of my entire journey.
On this day, Aline has taken me to the most amazing place on earth - Santis. But before that, we've gone back to the same bar we were at the night before for some yummy & healthy breakie.

The combination seems to be so easy to prepare, but somehow, i am never able to do something like that for us at home.

If you guys remember, in August there was an issue with Pussy Riot in Russia. The story was heavily covered by all the major media channels. And you can imagine the extend of my surprise when our waitress has presented us with the cheque below.

After that we drove to Santis and pictures below were taken on our way. I can't stop talking about the scenery that Switzerland is blessed with & honestly think that people living there are the luckiest ones in the world.

Now, let me tell you a little bit about this place. Santis is the tallest mountain in the Alpstein region and is around 10kms away from Appenzel (the place where we went for cheese tasting, i wrote about it in one of my previous posts). The mountain is nearly 2,503 meters above the sea level and the summit is easily reached by the cable carriages. The view from the tip is magnificent and i just could not get enough of it. Just make sure that you get a jacket with you, as it gets pretty chilly up there.

 I could rave on about the nature for pages more, but ill just let you enjoy the pictures. Up up & away!

Don't you guys think this is amazing?