Isola Bella (4/17/1983)

Sunday, April 17, 1983

I left at 7:45 to walk down the empty streets to the train station. I caught up with Marsha C on the Bahnhofstrasse and we got to the station about 7:10. The train came in at 7:15 and I went to save seats while Marsha waited for Helen S who was to arrive at 7:20. She didn’t show up until 7:32.5, because she was waiting at the ticket window! We took our seats and a very old French-speaking lady joined us. There were two tour leaders for our excursion to Isola Bella, one waving an SBB flag. They gave us a package of a perfumed wet towel and a little mandolin pin to wear to show we were part of the group.

Isola Bella Tour Itinerary page 1

Isola Bella Tour Itinerary page 2

Most of the people on the tour were French-speaking senior citizens! The train left at 7:34 and in Bern our cars were shuttled to the Brig train (we never had to change trains!). The weather was wonderfully clear, not a cloud in the sky and we could easily see the Alps from Bern. The Thunersee was calm and flat as glass. We followed the Kandersteg valley and headed into the Lötschberg tunnel. It was slightly hazy in the Rhône valley, but very sunny. In Brig we were shuttled to the Domodossola train. We saw a train heading to Bern from Rome and Marsha suddenly exclaimed, “There’s Urs!” Fastnacht Urs was coming home, and he saw Marsha and waved!

Once through the Simplon tunnel, there were groans of disappointment because it was heavily overcast and the tops of the mountains were shrouded. It was truly awful! We got off the train at Domodossola and exited the station to board one of three buses. We were on bus number 2 with a mustachioed and bereted driver.

Bus number slip

We were on the water side when we got to Lago Maggiore and passed many towns of stone buildings with stone roofs. We also passed many quarries and stone masonry businesses. The valley had industries scattered here and there, and they along with the few houses and villas were surrounded by walls or fences with a gate. Several had guard dogs!

They were farther along with spring as the forsythias were finished and the azaleas and rhododendrons were beginning to bloom. The fruit trees and hibiscus were done, but the magnolias were fully in flower. I think I saw a pink dogwood tree.

We passed the nice waterfront of Stresa, and the major islands in Lago Maggiore, before being let out at a port at the end of the town. The group was herded onto small motorboats, each holding about 20 passengers. Sitting at water level, we chugged over to Isola Bella, which seemed to be the largest island, arriving shortly before 12:00. While waiting our turn to land, we were caught by a large wake that rocked the boat, really scaring one of the ladies on board. Once on land, we decided to go to the small park that once was the entrance courtyard to the palace. We sat on a wall and ate our lunch of fried chicken and potato salad with biberlis/little beaver cookies of Lebkuchen with a marzipan filling for dessert.

Helen and Marsha

View towards Isola Pescatori/Fishermen Island

At 12:30 we found the palace was closed from 12:00-13:30. We went through a doorway in a false wall and saw a gentleman in a pissoir!

Helen and Marsha in front of the false wall

We continued up a narrow alley full of souvenir shops. We wound our way through the small town and kept running into exits from the palace gardens. We kept heading south and followed one particularly narrow alley, ending up behind a restaurant. We discovered a lavatory, having passed up one where you had to pay a fee. This one was free, but turned out to be a ceramic hole in the floor. We walked along the waterfront souvenir stands and bought some postcards. I automatically checked my change and found I was 100 ITL/60 cents short, and had it rectified!

We entered the tiny church and saw many people examining a reclining figure under the altar. I kidded Marsha that there was a real body there. We went to investigate, and decided it was a real body! The skull, forearm and calf bones were visible, but the hands and feet appeared waxy. Shudder! We left San Vittore/St Victor or whoever he was and saw it was only 13:00. We went to Caffélago, a lakefront café to have coffee. Helen and Marsha had cappuccinos and I had regular espresso. At 13:30 we joined the crowd waiting to enter the Palazzo Borromeo. We knew our entrance fee was included in the excursion cost, so we tried to enter. But all the mandolins were told to stand to one side to wait for the leader. Time passed and it was 13:45. We were to be back at the boats at 14:30. Finally we were allowed in as a group and told to follow a guide speaking French. Marsha and I went on ahead. There were brief written descriptions in each of the 14-15C rooms, in four languages. We saw the room where Mussolini met with representatives from England and France in 1935, and the bed where Napoleon once slept. A glass chandelier from Murano, an ivory saddle, a ballroom, huge tapestries, etc. Downstairs were the “grottos,” rooms lined with stone and rough cement shaped into shells, coral, and underwater cave drippings. Really interesting but with one room after another, with displays of real coral, prehistoric artifacts, china, and horse trappings. Back upstairs to the gallery leading to the extensive gardens, which were in stepped terraces. On one side was a fountain decorated with statues and grotto-style shells.

Grotto-style fountain and rhododendrons

 I thought I noticed a white peacock tail behind a column. Suddenly we noticed white peacocks all over the place, and one had his tail spread.

White peacock

Peacock down feather

The plants were wonderful; magnolias, rhododendrons, azaleas and hibiscus galore, tulips, pansies, etc. There were sculpted hedges and topiary trees.

 We climbed to the top terrace for a closer view of the peacocks standing on the heads of statues.

Marsha decided the top terrace was a better place for the grand ball she was planning to hold in the palace. We walked down, passing our group just on their way up. We passed palm tree stumps, a bonsai tree, lemon and orange tree hedges, a giant rhododendron tree, and blossoming cherry trees. We decorated ourselves with fallen blossoms.

At 14:30 we figured we had to leave and found an orange revolving gate to exit. We made our way to the dock and boarded a boat that took us past Isola Pescatori (once for the servants of Isola Bella) and Isola Madre which also had a palace and gardens (for the mothers of Isola Bella!), but much smaller. We arrived across the arm of the lake in Verbania and boarded the waiting buses. We left at 15:30, driving through some very narrow streets, and following the east side of Lago Maggiore on our way back to Domodossola. Quarry blocks, used to make repairs of the Milano Duomo, were pointed out. Our three buses appeared to be a big spectacle as we were stared at by the inhabitants of all the small towns. Arrived in Domodossola at about 16:15. so we had time to walk to the old part of town, around the winding streets, through the numerous plazas, and past curiously-shaped stone buildings with stone roofs. Back at the train station we bought ice cream and this time I almost shortchanged the vendor 1000 ITL/$6.

A train pulled in with an Italian locomotive. The Swiss locomotive backed our cars onto that train. The Swiss locomotive then pulled our cars and the Italian locomotive away. The Italian locomotive came back on a neighboring track. Finally the Swiss locomotive backed our cars in too be hooked up with the cars of the first train. I boarded the first car for Biel-Bienne, only to find eight people were holding all the seats in the car for others. I went car to car, meeting up with Helen and Marsha where we managed to find seats together. The train left at 17:10, and we headed back through Brig, Thun, and Bern to Biel, staying in the same car the whole distance. We were hot and Helen was having trouble with the stuffiness, wanting fresh air. At the Biel station, we said goodbye to Helen where she hopped on her bicycle to go home. I left Marsha at the Evilard funicular and returned to the Personalhaus/staff residence.

Tuesday, April 19, 1983

Today was the third and last appointment with the dentist. He took a half hour to clean and buff my teeth and fillings. I was royally ushered out the door. They didn’t want me to pay; they would send a bill!

Dental appointment card

Thursday, April 21, 1983

Yesterday I received a survey from the University of Buffalo and enclosed were international coupons for postage. Today I mailed the survey back, and the post office readily accepted the coupons for the airmail letter, even thought the coupons were really for surface mail.

Hans Rüdi S picked me up for our language lessons, but we spent the first half hour trying to complete a travel contest by naming places pictured in the Biel-Bienne newspaper.