Venezia

We were fortunate enough to have a whole day to spend in Venice. We had originally planned to take an optional excursion to the colorful fishing village of Burano, but decided we needed the time to explore as much of the unique city of Venice as we could. We were enchanted by the canals, of course, and all the winding passageways and hidden corridors. We took more pictures than were practical because every direction you look and every new turn greet you with interesting sights. We want to bring it all home with us! 

Piazza San Marco

Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo

Basilica di San Marco

Gelato break

Canals, canals, everywhere!

Mom, I had no idea your Geraniums were such an italian look.  They are on nearly every balcony in containers just like you have, right down to the black iron railing.  Beautiful.  

Tomorrow's post "When in Rome"

Via Italia

Early morning start to Italy today.  We woke at 6:00 a.m. to get things moving.  We have two major stops today before the pinnacle, Venice.  We stop in Lugano, which is still in the Swiss alps, but basically Italian and Verona, Italy which is famous for the balcony inspiration for Romeo and Juliet.

In our travels we passed through the longest tunnel in the world.  Over 16,000 km.  I'm not sure how long that is in miles, but trust me it was dark for a long time, perhaps 15 minutes or so.  

A view of Lake Lugano and "The Bennett" family.

Our first Italian meal was at the roadside stop.  It rocked.  The girls had lasagna, Jenn had caprese salad, and I had prosciutto, mozzarella, and tomatoes in balsamic and a bruschetta with olives (+ espresso).  Magnifico.  Omiyage centrale, but we passed and now have many wonderful ideas.

Oh yes, we also added Cafe Crema, a coffee ice cream.  Deliciouso!

We had a short stop at Juliets balcony in Verona.

Quick stop at the hotel outside of town and then we bused to the water taxi headed to Venice for our intro tour and late-night dinner in the sunken city.

It was beautiful, low crowds in the evening, and spectacular photos.

A view down the canals.  We can't believe how accurate Vegas got Venice, it is amazingly similar.  

At least the water and gondolas.

I found this cool old sign strolling to dinner.

Sam tried her first sips off Prosecco, she wasn't a big fan, but was excited to know she was doing it legally.  Dinner was great caprese sald, pasta, short ribs, and Tiramisu.

On the way back we had to go by the famous Rialto "Kissing Bridge" Bridge.  When you kiss on the steps you lock eternal love forever.  I suppose 10-12 kisses is overkill to get a good picture ;)

Back to the hotel... Night Night.  Back to Venice tomorrow.

Lucerne, Switzerland

A full day stop and we opted for a few excursions today to keep us busy.

This morning began with a lake cruise (not a good investment), sleeping might have been a better choice.  We were initially afraid we would be out of town and have to travel in like Amsterdam, so we opted in.  It was a nice boat ride with fantastic views off very unattainable homes.

The day was cloudy, so we were unable to see all the mountains on the cruise, another minor downer, but we had the next adventure all lined up already, so we just had to move on.

The ascent to the top of Mt. Titlas, it is a 45 minute or so ride up the mountain.  It has four lift changes with the final lift having a floor that rotates 360 degrees.  Again, cloudy but while we were up there the clouds shifted in and out to get us a variety of viewing options.

One really cool (pun intended) part was the glacial ice cave.

I'm too sexy for my scarf.... Yes men wear them in Europe.

Sam was too sexy for this pic... We made her do it against her will.  Full disclosure.

One of the quick cliff view we had when the clouds moved out. I'm guessing there are clouds up here most of the time.  I can bet it would be amazing without though.  The whole time up there I was reminded of my ascent up Haleakala Crater, same elevation, crazy!!! 10,000 ft.

A nice view from about 6000 feet without the ice and snow.

Our day concluded with an afternoon of shopping.  We had hoped to go to Swiss fondue tonight, but could not find anything for four less than 300.00.  The girls were non-plussed, but after shelling out over 25.00 for chicken nuggets at the mountaintop restaurant, and not wanting any more loose Francs to throw away, we found a modest dinner and settled in early.  

I'll end this post with an evening shot of the Matterhorn, spelled Mattehorn here, from outside my window.

Goodnight all our loyal followers.  Italy here we come.

Rhineland to Switzerland

Mostly a long travel day today, but we do get to do a couple of things.  Today is our 19th wedding anniversary and we celebrated on the Rhine river cruise.  Amazing castles and fortifications from WWII to see.  

After our cruise, a quick lunch in the amazingly beautiful Heidelberg.  One of the most picturesque places we have seen to date.  Cobblestone walkways through German shops selling everything we can't pronounce.  Awesome.  Jenn and I had schnitzel, Sam and Al chicken nuggets and chips (fries).

Off to see the alps in Lucerne, Switzerland.  Our first greeting to the city was great, we saw a wall carved lion monument, the exterior is in the shape of a pig (done after the lion when the artist found out the city wasn't going to pay him as much as promised!).  

The countryside and enormous mountains are really hard to believe they are so surreal.  

A view from our Hotel.  

Not too shabby.  Our final goodnight included a German Riesling we picked up in the Rhine Valley (at a discount wine shop, by the truck stop) for 5 Euros.  It was nice.  Saved half for tomorrow.

Amsterdam to Rhineland.

We began the day with a canal cruise and then a diamond making tour (boo, but free bathrooms and coffee, yay).  

Seeing the streets Nd houseboats from the canal was very nice.  We saw Anne Frank house along the tour.  The water is disgusting if you look at it carefully.  

Afterwords we had time for shopping and lunch.  Jenn and Sam found the cheese shop, Ally and I found panini.

Back on the bus for a dreary rainy day of travel.  It was wet all day long.  Northern Germany looks a lot like Baltimore.  Big trees and lush greenery.  You can't see much.  It was a good book / iAnything day to relax.

When we arrived we located our first Biergarten and beer vending machine... Haha.  I tried to get a beer but apparently all the 14 year olds in Germany beat me to it.

Bonus Blog

We had a couple of choice shots that were omitted in previous posts and felt at they had to be added. These shots were culturally important.

Samantha and her favorite British cyclist "Mark Cavendish"

We also forgot to add the stroopwaffles.  Also modeled by Sam.  We forgot the photo of the first batch we bought, they were really good, so we bought some more for this photo.  The were not as fresh and sadly not as good.  Photo was well done though.  She refers to herself as "Klauss" now?

We couldn't forget bike parking.... Wow!! Hope you can zoom the picture.

They are everywhere.

Next stop Brussels and Amsterdam

Next adventure grabbing a quick breakfast before finding our tour bus.

This is the typical scene at at meal with wifi.

Off to the train station.

Under the Chunnel to find Sam's first glimpse of France.

We have arrived at the hotel just outside of Amsterdam and it is awesome.  It's so cute right by a small canal and shopping district.

I'll probably have too many pictures (none of them scantily clad in windows).  We took the train and headed for Amsterdam, a 12 minute train ride to downtown.  We trudged right down the main canal early and it wasn't too crude yet.  Plenty of coffee shops wafting aroma for the girls to experience.  A wee bit scary how much one of them knew.  The other one was none too comfortable about any of it.  All in all it was a really good experience though.  Tomorrow we get a canal tour and time for lunch before heading off to Germany.

All of the best pictures had Jenn in them... In her element?  Not quite. But VW's and cheese?

We got none of it, but sampled a couple.  Found hemp cheese, no free samples, though!

"Breakfast in London stays in London"

Ally's actual quote was "What happens in London stays in London," but we quickly morphed it into the title of today's blog. Started our day with quite a spread: traditional English breakfast, buffet style. It was actually quite good, except the traditional English breakfast items! OK, to be fair, this is Jenn writing today (hi everyone!), and bangers and beans just don't do it for me for breakfast! But there was a great variety of fruit (mangoes, kiwi, pineapple) and the girls enjoyed some waffles with Nutella. Anyway, we didn't think to take pictures of the spread, but an unexpectedly good way to start our day. 

And then, off to St. Paul's Cathedral. Really, one of the most amazing sights we've seen so far, and, as our tour guide said, a feat of mathematics, for sure! 

We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but got these two online for illustrative purposes:

Looking up into the dome:

Amazing! We were bummed, however, to miss the opportunity to climb up the 500 or so steps into the  dome... Missed it by 2 minutes. Guess we have to come back to London!

After a trek through Trafalgar and watching a Houdini-like busker escape chains in Covent Garden, we had a few minutes in the National Gallery to see a few Monet's. 

Our last day in London ends with sushi, both of the girls have been hankerin' for it (Brit style, of course!) 

Tomorrow we continue our adventure with the start of our tour, catching a train through the Chunnel over to Brussels! Stay tuned...

New adventures begin.....

Met up with the family again today.  Yay.

My morning started with a walking tour of old London (with a business twist) from a student who is heading to the University of London business school..... Smart, top 3 in the world school.  Awesome.  Seeing the temple church where the knights Templar were formed, amazing.

The round portion on the right built in 1000 A.D., crazy.

The tour was great, but was even better to book my 3 credits and find my people again.  We met at the Tower of London for a bunch of exploration.  My homework on Henry VIII paid off here, to expand what I already knew.

We all had a good laugh on the parapets with fun photos.  Each person had an accompanying character.  

Long trek back to the hotel on the tube, but the first hotel in our tour is really nice, much better than I expected.  Harry Potter tour and St. Paul's cathedral tomorrow.  Getting pumped for the 500+ staircase.