Wiener Lovers

(Pictures for the last blog have been posted. Sorry again for the delay on those. The pics from this blog are up too, now…)

So after another tough week of work, we left last Friday night for Vienna, Austria. We had planned this trip way back in September when one of the partners at work suggested we look into an opera or musical there during Christmas time. Apparently it’s the quintessential Christmas city…and it was!

Onward to Hahn, Germany we went for our RyanAir flight on Friday night. The animals were out that night in the airport! Queue cutters everywhere. Ag actually got a good picture of what Europeans consider a line. Anyway, we got on the flight with no problems and landed around 9:30pm. We had an hour and ½ bus ride from where we landed, Bratislava (Slovakia), so we both took a small nap during that.

When we got to Vienna, the bus seriously just dropped us at the corner of some street. It was the weirdest thing. It was dark and kind of chaotic, and Ag suggested we just grab one of the 5 cabs that were sitting there (mind you it was 11:00pm at this point and about 50 others had just gotten off the same bus and were wondering the same things we were…where the hell are we and how the hell do we get to the center of town?). So without hesitation I agreed. The cab was key because we were at our hotel in 10 minutes and it was only 12-14 euros to get there.

The hotel looked like a mini-theater house. It was beautiful, pictures and paintings everywhere, wide staircases, really elegant, etc. Oh, I must note a few facts about Vienna (these are per Ag’s research). It’s basically the New York City of Austria, as well as the country’s capital. The city breathes art and culture. Vienna is the city of music and home to composers like Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and Strauss. The architecture of the churches, buildings and museums were very impressive and varied from Romanesque to modern day styles.

Anyway, back to our adventures….so, our hotel was really nice and we checked in around 11:15pm. We were kind of hungry and the desk worker suggested the Japanese restaurant around the corner might be open. When we got there the restaurant doors were locked but the lights were on and the sign said they were open till 12midnight. Weird, but what can you do?? So, we opted for the next best thing (aka, the only thing that was still open), McDonalds! I have to say, I haven’t had Mickey D’s fries for about 5 years now…and once they hit your lips…well, you know the rest!

Back to the hotel we went to sleep and prepare for our next day’s adventures…..

Saturday morning we got up by 9:00am and headed down to the breakfast room where there was a nice spread of fruits, eggs, breads, meats, etc. From there, we headed out and our first goal was to get downtown to the Spanish Riding School (horses). The weather was crisp, chilly and overcast, but manageable.

The tram was right outside our hotel which was wonderful and we just got day passes for it. It only took us about 10 minutes to reach the main center area. When we got off, the sights were very impressive! There was a huge Christmas market already in full-swing and then the across the road was the center of the city. There were a few museums and the national library in this main square area and it was all just very beautiful and classy.

The Spanish Riding School is where they train the Lipizzaners (white stallions) and occupies a number of buildings in central Vienna. The stables are in this beautiful building next to the school and you could seriously walk by and have no idea 30+ horses were inside! The riding hall looks like an elegant ballroom and even has huge crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. There were two levels where you could peer down and watch these impressive creatures and their trainers at work. We just went to the morning exercise sessions between 10:00am and noon, but there are more formal performances that you could go see. Basically, imagine these huge, powerful, magnificent creatures, dancing on their toes and swaying side to side, as Mozart and other classical composers’ music played. Sounds girly, but it was cool to see. I told Ag this was a little different than seeing her usual impressive white stallion working out in the morning…

After that, we really just walked the city. The pedestrian area was all cobblestone streets and people were everywhere. The Christmas feeling was in the air! We went up to a vendor and got our first Gluhwine of the day and started to wander. Lights were up all over the roads, small shops were stuffed with people. Horse and buggy carriages were everywhere too.

The places we recognized from home (aside from McD’s), were Tiffany and Co and Starbucks. We had to stop in Starbucks considering finding a place that serves a normal cup of coffee is really unheard of in Europe. Usually you get a ½ cup of something resembling motor oil and are suppose to casually sip it down! (Coffee here is a bit different…that will be a different blog.) Ag of course got her Gingerbread Latte and said it was definitely Christmas now!

So, we shopped, shared a soft pretzel, visited a few churches, etc. We walked the “ring” of Vienna meaning we basically walked in a triangle through part of the center area and then along the Ringstrasse on the outskirts of the town. The road on the outside of the center had a few of the main art and history museums, a huge park with lots of benches (see pics) as well as the main opera house.

The end of the triangle put us where we started when we got off the tram that morning. Instead of going back into the center, we went to the Christmas market. At this point it was close to 3:00pm and the place was wall to wall packed! It was beautiful though and the smell of pastries, hot wine, candy and brats was in the air. There were a few rides set up for the kids to enjoy and plenty of vendors selling random gifts, ornaments, etc.

We left that area and headed back to the hotel to relax for a bit before our show (we had tickets to a musical that night). We had noticed a grocery store across the street from our hotel so when we got off the tram, we opted to go inside to get some wine and a few snacks. We didn’t really eat much since breakfast and our show was in an hour or two, so going out to eat would have been rushed.

We got back to the hotel and feasted on some hummus, crackers, sugar snap peas, cheese and wine. Talk about some fine dinning! It was so much fun though and it worked out perfectly because we were able to get ready for our musical at a relaxed pace.

The Volksopera house was about a 10 minute walk from us, but unfortunately it had begun to rain. We sucked it up and made the trek with no problems, thanks to our Stephen T. Badin umbrella! We got there around 6:40pm, found our seats and were ready to rock out to the “Sound of Music” by 6:50pm.

Right before the show started, I figured I should “save myself” and apologize to Ag beforehand for falling asleep. (See previous “London” bog.) And, it’s a good thing I did because I did drift off at one point and woke myself up because I twitched so much that my legs and arms shook!
Anyway, the whole show was in German, but they did have a small screen above the stage with English subtitles. After my 10 minute cat nap, I actually really paid attention to the show and it was great! The singing was beautiful and there were a few funny lines that made me laugh.

As most people know, this play is about the Von Trap family and Maria becoming a part of their family. It is also about WWII and trying to get the Von Trap father to be a general for Germany and the Nazis. There were a few scenes in the play where the soldiers came out wearing Nazi badges, another where the swastika was displayed on the stage for a good 10-15 minutes, and yet another where a person came out and shouted “Hiel Hitler!” and gave the salute. You could literally hear the crowd gasp when these scenes were first shown. It just shows how much the history and controversy from the war is still in the air today….it was only 60-70 years ago which is interesting to think about.

After the show we stopped at an Asian restaurant that was along our walk home. Ag got her sushi and I got a tasty stir-fry and it was super cheap. For drinks and a huge amount of food, our bill was only 23 euros! Plus the server came and gave us two complimentary after dinner drinks! Not a bad deal.

The next day we had our tasty breakfast and then checked out. We left our bags at the hotel since we were not leaving for the bus till 6:00pm that evening. Our flight wasn’t till almost 10:00pm. Unfortunately, it was COLD on Sunday. The wind wasn’t blowing but the high was probably in the upper 20’s low 30’s.

We went back into the city center on the tram and walked through the Christmas Market again and shopped. This time it wasn’t as crowded which was great! After that, we started to walk across the street to go check out a few of the museums and parks. I reached into my pocket to get my map out and it was gone! Of course, I was very upset because as I have said in the past, the map is everything!

So, we went back to the Market and circled our steps in the hopes of seeing it on the ground. Unfortunately, we were out of luck and I was sad. So, our next mission was to see if we could find an information office as we strolled around during the rest of the day. On the way “strolling,” we passed a few horse and buggies and I suggested we take a ride.

Into the buggy and around the town we went! The ride was perfect because it took us to places in the city we didn’t walk the day before. We went into part of the Old Town area, we saw the first bar establishment that was built in the 1500’s, passed a few main museums and where Mozart’s first concert (at the age of 6!) was preformed.

As we were getting out of the buggy, I asked the driver if he knew where an information office would be because we lost our map. He said to hang on and reached into the magic buggy and whipped out a really nice Vienna book! “Take it!” he said. “Does it have a map?”, was my response and he said he didn’t have a clue. Obviously some poor, map-less soul had left the book in his buggy during a previous journey and he was more than happy to get that clutter out of his vehicle. I opened the book and, viola, earmarked was a map of the city! Back in business!!

As we walked away I said to Agnes should we tip him or something for this….it was a $13-15 book. She said think about it. It’s not his, why would he need a Vienna book? He’s a freakin tour guide. Perfect for us!

We walked around for a while and then stopped in to Starbucks to grab our Christmas drinks! Really, we just needed to warm up! The Starbucks here are exactly like the ones at home. The interior had big comfy chairs and couches, people were working on their computers and reading, etc.

There were a few other Christmas Markets throughout the city and we walked into those as well. After that, we went back to a different Starbucks to warm up again!

At this point it was 3:00 or 4:00pm and we wanted to grab a bite to eat. We wondered around in the Old Town area, looking for a place and ended up in this little hole in the wall place down a small side street. It was awesome! The food was reasonably priced and the food was really tasty. The atmosphere was quaint and subtle and the walls were all dark wood with Christmas holly hanging from the ceiling. And the best part…the food was traditional Viennese.

We had some wine and beer as well as soft pretzels with cabbage and beef soups. Then I had Wiener schnitzel and potatoes. Ag had a mixed salad and potatoes as well. The potatoes were served cold in this oil and vinegar sauce. Kind of like potato salad, but better! The mixed salad isn’t what we would normally get in the US. The mixed salads in Germany, Austria, etc are usually shredded carrots, cabbage and potatoes served with a vinegar sauce. It was a really authentic meal overall and we were really impressed and left full and happy!

We then walked into the main center area where we were yesterday and people were everywhere. It was so crowded and honestly, we were so surprised to see ALL shops were closed. Most places in Europe are closed on Sunday, but seriously, I commented to Ag that there are hundreds of thousands of euros just walking around, ready to be spent! Could you imagine stores in the US being closed on a day like this? All stores: grocery stores, malls, Walgreen’s, Target, etc. Life wouldn’t go on! I seriously don’t think we would know what to do….

We caught the tram back to the hotel and grabbed a drink at the hotel bar while we waited for our cab. We cheered to a successful trip in Vienna and after a Tia Maria and Johnny Walker Black, we were on our way to the bus and then the airport.

Our flight was a bit delayed and the “animals” were running wild in the airport again, but we got home safe and sound.

Well, thank goodness for the weekend! This week has been an intense one at work (70 hours in 5 days), but one more week and then it’s the high skies for home and relaxation! Ag’s dad and sister, Theresa, recently made arrangements to come visit us for the Holidays. They get here on Sunday and Ag has got some good plans for them! She is super excited to have them here and rightly so. They leave on Friday, and then we leave on Saturday…we can’t wait to see everyone in 7 days!!

The Days of Our Lives...Part Deux

(The pics are finally posted for the previous blog.)

Well, I am finally back after being gone for 5 days in Orlando, FL for E&Y training (Tues. Nov 28th-Sat. Dec 2nd). The training was fine and I have to say, it was nice being on homeland territory! I watched Sports Center 8 times my first day there! I got to see and meet up with several of my buddies from the Chicago office as well which was great. Me and Jacob Cooper (guy from Chicago, who lives in Amsterdam on the same program as me and was in attendance at the training as well...see previous blogs “The Coopers, I’ll be Damn’ed”) even ran to Wal-Mart at 6:30am on morning (literally ran...aka jogged) and ran home with bags of treats (American cookies, cereal, etc) for our ladies back in Europe (oh, the joys of places being open 24 hours)!!

In total there were 1,500 new managers attending this training, all from across the US. All 1,500 of us were split up into 37 groups for each day’s “breakout” (fancy way of saying classroom) activities. When I went to my room for training, who was I assigned to sit next to?? Darren Ludwig! Darren is one of my great friends from work in Chicago and he and his wife visited us in Lux back in August (see “The Cinque Terre” blog). Needless to say, I lucked out and had a great time catching up with Darren, making fun of the other people in the class, etc.

While I was gone, Ag went to visit Annette Cooper (Jacob's wife) in Amsterdam Tues - Thursday. She caught the train from Luxembourg on Tuesday morning, and arrived in the ‘Dam just after lunch time. From what I hear, they mostly did “girly” things, hung out, shopped in the markets, watched movies, etc.

On Wednesday afternoon the girls went to Zaanse Schans. The Zaanse Schans is a quaint old village on the banks of the river Zaan that tries to give the same feel and look to how a Dutch village would have been back in the 17th and 18th centuries. The houses were all small wooden homes, there were small bridges, workshops, windmills, etc.

The wooden shoe workshop had hundreds of wooden shoes (strangely enough!) on display and for sale. All shoes for sale were made there, too, which Agnes said was really cool. Of course all the employees wear the wooden shoes and even Ag tried on a pair (see the pics...I think they were more Zach's size). From the shoe shop, the girls ventured over to the cheese farm where there were several goats out back grazing the land. Fresh goat cheese anyone?? Other stores in the village included a few museums, a bakery, a grocery store (set up like it would have been back then) etc.

Ag got back on Thursday night and cleaned and babysat all day Friday and part of the day on Saturday (she had to make up on her “earning potential” for taking a few days off!). On Saturday afternoon I got home and it was good to see my girl. We had planned on going to Heidelberg (Germany) but I had too much work to do and was so tired from the flight home that we cancelled that trip.

Instead, we hung out for a bit on Saturday afternoon, went for a jog and then headed out to Trier to see Laura and Robbie. Our other friends, Eoin and his girlfriend, Sorcha, were there as well. Unfortunately, I hit the “jet-lag” wall and had to call it a night at 10pm!

Before we left though, we did get to experience the Christmas Market. It’s like a freakin fantasy land, honestly. The city center was all “Christmassie” and there were tons of people walking around, drinking hot chocolate, coffee, Gluhwine (hot mulled red wine), laughing and being jolly. We all enjoyed some Gluhwine and caught up for a bit. Robbie and Laura bought me and the Ag some of these really thick wool hats that come down over your ears and tie under your chin. Those damn Irish all had a chuckle when the two “Yanks” were trying them on. Then Eoin, Robbie and company went to a late dinner and Ag and I opted to walk around for a bit instead and then hit it. There are just lots of the shops that are set up are like little wooden huts (making it feel like you are in a snow glow or candy-land!). The huts sell really nice items varying from wood carved ornaments (Ag’s choice) to brats and brew-ha’s (mine)!

Sunday I slept till almost 1pm but Ag ditched me and went with the Carters to the International Bazaar at the LuxExpo. Basically there were 60 stands representing 45 countries selling authentic cuisine and “hometown” items to all customers. Ag said they tasted the Indian (outstanding!), Mexican and checked out lots of other cultures. The USA booth had the following items: hot dogs with chili, brownies (these are huge here), popcorn, etc. They had peanut butter, candy canes, Duncan Hines cake/brownie mixes and Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups for sale!

The rest of the day we just hung out, watched some NFL, I worked, etc. The rest of this week both of us have just been working. Ag actually went to Sebastian’s school Christmas Play on Tuesday. All I have to say is God bless all the teachers in the world who keep these kids in control! Friday we leave for Vienna, Austria. The “Hills will be alive!“ as we go to the musical, the “Sound of Music”. Hopefully it’ll be in English? If not German??

Well, for now, it’s back to the grind till Christmas! Later on…

The days of our lives...

Well, first off, thanks for the update on the 10 year reunion Renners! It sounds like we missed a bunch and you are right, the blog would have been superb! And Josh, we’ll see about that gift.

So, last weekend we went out on Friday night with Jake and Sally Carter (the family Ag sits for). We went out in their town, Remich, which was a great time! The town is small and quaint and we hit up a few bars (and the kabob joint) before the night’s end. Sally and Jake are just a very chill awesome couple to hang out with and we always have fun when we get together.

Saturday was a bit rough to say the least, but I managed to get a run in and then headed to work. That night Ag and I crowded around to computer and watched the OSU and Michigan game over a few brews and some tasty grilled chicken and veggies. It was a nice, relaxing evening.

On Sunday morning, we got up and drove out to Hahn, Germany to pick one of our friends up at the airport. Abby Crossen is one of our good friends from Chicago who was in Barcelona for work….so she squeezed in a few extra days to come see us. (Thanks Abs!) Abby was flying in on the forbidden (but deliciously cheap) RyanAir….

We got her without any problems and we were on the way back to Lux by 11am. One of Abby’s first comments to us was, “The people on that flight have no idea what a line is! Everyone cuts!”. As we have said before, RyanAir brings out the animal instincts inside of you!

On the way back from Hahn to Lux there are a few random German restaurants/hotels just sitting in the countryside, and we always say “Wouldn’t it be nice to stop there sometime…” So, today was the day. We opted to stop at one of the places for lunch. It was a tasty meal of brats, sauerkraut, pork, cabbage, etc. The waitress, after having taken my plate from me after the meal and noticing that I had basically licked it clean, said, “Did you like everything?” “No, I hated it!” I replied. She honestly looked offended until she noticed I was laughing. Really, really good to say the least.

We rolled out of there and were home around 1pm. Ag and Abby then went to meet our friend Laura at The Culinary World Cup. Basically, Lux holds this tournament every four years and twenty-five national teams, eleven military teams, scores of regional and private teams and four hundred individuals compete in it! The whole purpose of the event is to assess the chefs’ and pastry chefs’ performances.

There was a wine and bread “wing”, a chocolate “wing” and then the main center event. Inside the main room there was a huge ice mountain with stuffed polar bears and fish all around the bottom as if there was a stream running below the mountain. There was a “lazy susan” type river that had veggie and fruit trays floating by. The pork and cows were hung for display, cheeses were available for tasting, there was a pig pen with pigs running around, a “fountain” of ham (hocks of ham with water spouting up through it), etc.

There were walls set up and different countries were put to the test to cook their best cuisines. Judges were walking around with clip boards, reviewing, asking questions, etc. Sounded very similar to a version of “Iron Chef“. Food and creations were on display all over as well. From what I heard, it was nuts! (Unfortunately, I was working….)

After that event, Ag and Abby went into the city center and walked around for a bit. I got home that night to the smell of a delicious meal cooking and homemade caramel popcorn. Yummy stuff!!

On Monday, I had to work all day but Ag and Abby slept in and then caught the train to Trier. They spent most of the day there walking around and shopping. Again, that night I came home to another really good meal.

Tuesday morning Abby left and the rest of the week was pretty low key for us. We went to ‘Maybe Not Bob’s’ restaurant for Thanksgiving with our friend Ryan. The meal was tasty but there wasn’t any pumpkin pie! Then we went for dinner and drinks on Friday night with our good friends, Laura and Robbie. After dinner, we went to see the new James Bond movie. It was perfect…action, guns, cars, dumb plot, easy to follow, cheesy romantic lines, Texas Hold ‘Em tournament, Bond girls….what more could a guy ask for? Saturday we had our other friends Robert and Alexandra over for dinner. Ag cooked up some beef stroganoff and we drank some good wine. Good times, good times!!

Tomorrow I leave for Orlando (EY new Manager training) and Ag is going to Amsterdam instead of skiing in France. She and Annette Cooper (see previous Amsterdam blogs) were supposed to go skiing in Val Thorne, but, long story short, there was a change in plans and Ag is now headed up to the Netherlands to hang out with Annette. I get back on Saturday and we are heading to Heidelberg, Germany for the Christmas Markets. Heidelberg was one of the only German cities not destroyed in WWII, so it’s meant to be really old and nice. And the German Christmas Markets are like a fantasy land, honestly. So it should be fun and we’ll update you all on those adventures at a later date!

Stockholm, Sweden

Blog by Agnes, edited by Matthew

This past weekend we ventured north to Sweden’s capital, Stockholm. Taken from our guide book:

"Stockholm is built across 14 islands and is often called the Venice of the North. With more foreign visitors than any other city in Scandinavia, it is also considered to be the Capital of Scandinavia. Stockholm is situated at the point where the vast Lake Mälaren flows into the Baltic Sea and was built on this strategic spot in the mid 13th century, enabling the founder to tax merchant vessels going in and out of the lake.

As water covers one third of the city area, the maritime life is an important aspect of the city. There are plenty of bridges, marinas and locks. The water is so clean that you can drink it and catch salmon in the middle of the city. The climate is very much conditioned by the sea winds, so even the warmest summer day will be contingent upon the sea breeze finding its way into the city streets. Some basic facts: 1,3 million people live in the greater Stockholm area. The average temperature in Stockholm is around -2 C (28 F) in January and about 18 C (64 F) in July."

We left on Saturday morning around 6am for the Hahn airport. I have to say, our flights were really, really cheap and then somehow, everything else kept getting more and more expensive. Let me explain….As we have mentioned in the past, Ryanair is a crazy airline. We got our flights, for two people, round trip to Stockholm for 37 euros. However, there is a 10 euros fee for using your credit card and there is a fee of 10 euros for every bag you check….so 57 euros or so for two, roundtrip. Fine. Not a bad deal at all.

Well, Ryanair started a new policy on November 1st that your checked bag can only be 15kg verses the regulation before, 25kg. So, we were 5kg over and got charged an additional 40 euros! Annoying, but whatever. It was okay, right, because our flights were so cheap??
We get through security with no problems, grab a coffee and take off at our scheduled time, 9:25am. Our arrival time was 11:30am. The flight was 100% smooth til the very end….before we left, we checked the weather and the forecast was for highs in the 20’s-30’s, winds up to 20mph, and rain. LOVELY!! So, when we were landing in Sweden, as the plane was 10 feet or so up, hovering over the landing strip, a gush of wind caught our plane and pulled us up a bit and then we went back down. We landed but not before Ag’s knuckles turned white from gripping the arm rails!

After that fright, we went to the baggage claim area. Honestly, this airport looked like a barn turned into a airport. There was NO one there and it was just a really big, big room with doors around the sides. I think the pilot was our bus driver and the flight attendants were security….seriously, they just switched hats around.

We got on our bus to the city which was about a 1.5 hour ride. The cost was 28 euros round trip per person but that is okay right? Our flights were so cheap…..

As we got closer to the city, you could start to see water and buildings everywhere. It was a nice drive, aside from the fact that it was raining.

After our ride into the city we got off at the main central station. The station was NUTS! It was like Chicago’s metro station at 5pm! People were walking in each and every direction and there were signs for the Metro, the tram, the subway, the buses, etc. Also, the escalators there were on crack because you walk up to them and think “La, la, slow ride with my things.” Oh, no! You got on this thing and it jerked you back! Fastest ride ever. Crazy! Anyway, we confirmed where we had to go with the information booth and made it to our hotel by 1pm.

The hotel was awesome. It was Hotel Kom and sat just north of the main central area and was a short walk to the action. The breakfast spread was delicious and the staff was really, really friendly. They also had a gym which was super nice. Apparently, the hotel is owned by the YMCA, so the equipment was great! Ag hadn’t been to a gym for over 7 months now and I haven’t been in over a year so we were kind of in heaven! (…As sick as that sounds!)

After we checked in we headed out to find a place to eat because we were starving. We found a Mongolian BBQ joint right up the street and it was de-lish! After that 70 euro meal….(it’s okay though because the flights were so cheap right??) we went into Old Town. We walked the pedestrian streets and went into a coffee shop for dessert and coffee (roughly 20 euros but it’s okay though….our flights were so cheap!) and to take a break from the rain.

Unfortunately, most of the stores were tourist shops so we decided to head to one of the other islands where there were more stores and things going on. We went into a few boutiques and after wondering for a few hours we decided to head back and get out of the rain for a bit.
On our way back, we passed an Irish pub just up from our place, The Foggy Dew. We decided to go in for a drink and guess what!? Ireland was playing South Africa in rugby and the place was packed. We worked some magic and found 2 great seats. After 4 beers for 30 euros (but it’s okay because our flights were so cheap right?) we went back to shower and get ready for our night.

It was around 8:30pm or so when we headed out. We went to a wine bar (Terrenos Vinotek) that has 32 wines on tap. You basically get a debit card and then insert your card in a slot above the wine of your choice. A “tasting” is then poured into your glass. It was really cool and just a different thing to do. We had some cheese and bread there as well and hung out for a good portion of the evening.

After that, we walked around the town for a bit and it was ALIVE! Talk about sassy, dressy and clubby! There were long lines of club goers trying to get into places all over. Please note too, it was about 20 degrees out! We enjoyed ourselves, people watched, grabbed some late night kabobs and hit it.

The next day, we ate a yummy breakfast at the hotel and then we to the gym to work out for a bit. After that we headed to the palace to see the changing of the guards. To be honest with you, we didn’t really see any guards “change” per say. Basically we got there right before the event started. (It was clockwork, I tell ya!) There were two groups of soldiers. One group just marched with guns and the other with drums. The “guns” group started marching and the “drums” followed. They started at say point A and walked basically in a square around the palace! Everyone followed them while they did this and marched along, but no one ever “changed” places with the guard who was standing at the palace. So, that was that. (Weird…but that is okay because that was free….)

Then we went to the Djurgarden Island. On Djurgarden is an amazing open air museum situated on top of a hill called Skansen. There is a zoo and an aquarium in Skansen. In the zoo area there are animals native to Sweden: bears, reindeer, moose (only one, though…otherwise it would have been meece), seals, etc. They had a feeding at 2pm so we went on a mini tour with the animal caretakers and saw the animals up-close which was cool.

After that, we walked around and just took in the sights. The park is full of buildings from all over Scandinavia and vary in age. The great thing about the buildings is you can go into them and they are fully furnished and you really get to see how people lived and worked through the ages. There is a main street that has several shops: potter, printer, general store and a bakery. Of course we went into the bakery…where they had freshly made pastries for sale. We got a few and headed to a small café where there were small wooden tables and chairs. The tables were lit by candle light and it was very cozy. We enjoyed our goods, had few coffees and then headed out.

After Skansen we walked up the street to the Vasa Museum. The museum houses the Vasa, a wooden warship that sank in Stockholm Harbor during her maiden voyage in 1628. A bit of history from the museum:

“The Vasa was built during the 30 Years' War of 1618-1648, when Sweden had lost a dozen ships and needed vessels to support King Gustav II Adolph's military campaign in the Baltic. The ship was the largest in the history of the Swedish fleet, with an extra cannon deck that the king himself had ordered during the Vasa's construction. On August 10, 1628, the vessel departed from her mooring in front of the royal palace with some 130 crewmen and wives on board. As she sailed slowly through the islands that separate Stockholm from the open sea, a wind caught the sails, and the top-heavy ship unexpectedly hove to port. Water poured through the open cannon ports, and the ship sank in the 105-foot (32-meter) channel. Although most of the crew and passengers escaped, some (including the ship's cat) went down with the Vasa. Sporadic salvage attempts took place over the next 50 years, but the ship was all but forgotten by the end of the 18th Century.”

The ship was resurfaced all in one piece about 40 years ago.

It was amazing to see and just to try to comprehend how people built such a large vessel. The woodwork on the ship was incredibly detailed and refined. It was truly something to see.

We left the museum/Island around 5pm and started walking back to our hotel. It was really, really cold, but it was a nice evening. Few side notes: 7-Elevens were everywhere, sushi, Mongolian BBQ places and Kabob restaurants were all over. Also, the sun set at 3pm and was pitch black by 4pm. We don’t have many pictures of the outdoors because it got dark so fast!
As we walked back, we walked down a few of the main streets that really made us feel like we were on the “Michigan Avenue” of Stockholm! Lots of shops and people buzzing around.

Once we got back we changed and headed out for our drink reservations. Drink reservations? Aha, yes. We were going to the Absolut Icebar and by ICE bar, I mean completely all ice. Before this reservation, we tried to go to the Skybar at the Radisson Hotel, that supposedly has an awesome view of the city. But to our surprise(and disappointment), it was closed! We opted to grab a drink at a place close by which worked out perfectly fine.

So, the ICEBAR….The bar, the walls, the couch, tables, everything was all ice. It was really, really something to see. The temperature in the joint was -5 degrees Celsius….so around 20 or so Farenheit Before entering, the host whips a crazy silver space coat on you and you need it! The drinks are served in fist-sized hollow ice cubes and trust me, you had to have your gloves on to hold the drink to your mouth! The amount of time you stay in the bar is 45 minutes. (Ag asked the bartender how long he works and he said in 4 hour shifts.)

So, after that, we decided to warm up our bodies and feet with a hearty meal at a restaurant across the street.

Dinner was very tasty and the place actually reminded us of a Applebee’s but Swedish style. After that 70+euro meal (It’s okay because our flights were so cheap…) we headed back to the Foggy Dew and were pleased to see that the Bengals game was on! Alright! After watching them lose a heartbreaker to San Diego, we returned to the hotel and retired for the night.

The next day at breakfast was a bit weird to say the least. I set my plate down at my table and went around the corner to get a coffee. As Ag and I approached our table, we notice a 9 or 10 year-old normal looking kid, petting my cheese. He was seriously stroking it.

We both said something and he finally moved but obviously something wasn’t “right” with him. Plus, it made the breakfast a bit awkward. The dad didn’t really watch the kid too much and he was kind of just wondering the room.

After that bizarre encounter, we went to workout, shower, and then checked out. We took our bags to the train station and left them in a locker there. Then we just walked around for a few hours before catching the bus back to the airport.

Stockholm was great. It’s a really cool (literally and figuratively) city to visit! I have to give Ag credit on this one because she did all the research and reservation work. I was impressed with our adventure.

This week has been a week from hell (work wise) to say the least. That is all I will say because I don’t want to talk about it! But we do have a few things to look forward to.

1. Our good friend from Chicago, Abby Crossen, will be visiting Sunday-Tuesday of this week.

2. Then we have Thanksgiving and we are going to a bar called ‘Maybe Not Bob’s”. Ag was going to cook and I have no doubt in her ability, but we won’t be here for the left-overs so it’s not completely worth it. They supposedly have a decent American menu at the bar that day so we will see. Plus a few of our friends are going to come so it should be fun.

3. Ag is going skiing with our good friend, Annette Cooper, whose husband Jacob works for the E&Y office in Amsterdam. Jacob and I are leaving next weekend for Orlando, FL. We have training and the girls are going to go and play!

After that, it’s December. My how time has flown by. I have been here for over a year and Ag, just over 6 months. We are so excited to see everyone and spend some great quality time with family and friends during our two weeks home for Christmas!

Tour of Tuscany, Days 7, 8 and 9

Note: Please read the previous blogs to make sure you haven't missed any adventures!

Friday, October 13th- Sunday, October 15th

After another tasty breakfast spread, we were on the road to Venice. It was a crisp fall day and the sun was shining. Actually, the weather was great everyday that we traveled….cool mornings/evenings, sunny, highs in the 70’s during the day.

We left at 10:05am and got to Venice at 1:00 - 1:30pm! It was all highway but after the traffic we hit around Florence yesterday we were mentally prepared for the worst. However, it was so easy it was kind of scary!

The hotel we were staying at in Venice was actually on an island called Lido. We had to take a water ferry to it and saw signs for the ferries as soon as we pulled into the Venice area. The boat was just about to pull out but waited for us. It was the coolest thing…you just drive right onto this massive boat and off it goes. We got on and were cruising over the waters within minutes!
Our little smurf was doing okay and I am sure it was happy to have a rest on the boat for a bit.

The ferry was a decent size and had a bar and area to sit up on top. The ride was about 30 minutes and it was very scenic. You could see the San Marco Basilica from our angle, boats were cruising all over, it was just an amazing city to see!

We docked, drove off of the ferry and headed to our hotel. It was located in this really, really cute village area that had shops and restaurants lining the streets. There was a huge beach area and there were cabanas lined up in the sand. It felt like we were in a small resort town; Ag and Steph said they felt like they were in the Hamptons….(must be nice to those who have been!)
Anyway, we checked into our room and then went to a pizzeria, Gran Viale, and had a few pies and beers. We then walked up the street to the water taxis. We got on and were on the Venice island in about 20 minutes.

The way the town operates is just amazing. There are no cars in the area and everyone seriously gets around by boat or by foot. The streets are so small, narrow and tiny that you can get lost very easily. The water taxis are set up like a metro train or the Chicago Loop trains. Gondolas were everywhere too. Also, there are not a ton of sites to see in Venice, it’s more the experience of being there, being around something totally different, that you take away from it….

With that being said, we went to the famous Piazza San Marco where the St. Mark Bascilia is…the plaza is also the home to 1000’s of pigeons! They were everywhere and Ag has a fear of birds so this was just perfect for her! It actually works out great for me because she holds on to me really close! No really though, I get a kick of seeing her freak.

The Bascilica was impressive and the inside was very dark, yet filled with art and beauty. After we walked though that, we grabbed a few beers and just walked in and out of stores, winding our way to other things to see. We got to the Ponte di Rialto which is a famous pedestrian bridge. We crossed it and then ran into a ton of vendors on this main street. We turned down a side ally and ended up in a small plaza area. At this point, we decided to uncork a bottle of Chianti and give our cheers to Venice! It was around 7:00pm and we were having a great time just hanging out, exploring and absorbing our surroundings.

After our bottle, we found a outdoor restaurant that had pretty good food. We all had our own meals, but shared one pasta dish, the cannelloni. It was the best cannelloni I have ever tasted. The pasta melted in your mouth! After dinner we took a water taxi back to the San Marco square. It was about 9:00 or 9:30pm at this point.

The pigeons were all gone and the square was alive with lively restaurants. The restaurants had outdoor seating that put you on the outskirts of the square. Musicians at these restaurants were playing beautiful instrumental music. We listened to a few peaceful, relaxing songs and then started wondering down a side street again…this time in search of a gelato stand! We found one, but not before I ran into the secretary of one of the partners in our office! She was there for the weekend to celebrate her birthday. Talk about a small world!

We walked back to the water taxi and were home and in bed by 11:30pm. The next day didn’t turn out as planned but was a success to say the least. After breakfast we went to where we had to board the ferry back to the main Venice island. We had planned to park the car and explore Venice a bit more, grab lunch, etc. Unfortunately, we were 4 cars short of making the cut on the first ferry and had to sit for an extra hour and wait for the next ferry.

Once we did get to mainland it was close to 12:30pm and traffic was really congested getting into the parking areas. We decided to go to a town right outside of Venice for lunch and then headed to the airport. K-our hotel guy said it would take about an hour or so to get to the airport. Plus we had to return the Shiat Smurf. We were there in 20 minutes! The car was parked and returned, everything was fine done and we were finished within 5 minutes. Seriously. It was crazy!

So, we sat for about 3 hours in the smallest airport I have ever been in. Honestly, they had 2 gates. We got out with no problems though (which was the good thing) and landed back at Frankfurt Hahn around 6:00pm.

My buddy, Robert McEwan, met us there at the airport and together the 5 of us drove back to Amsterdam. Two reasons we went back to Amsterdam: 1. Steph and Pete’s flight left from Amsterdam the next day, and 2. the Amsterdam marathon, half marathon and 10k were the next day. That was a long drive….just because we were all tired. When we got to Amsterdam, we all stayed with our friends Jacob and Annette (thanks again!). Jacob and I drove Steph and Pete to the airport the next morning and thus the Tuscany trip was over….

That day, Agnes and Annette ran the 10k and McEwan, Jacob and I ran the half marathon. The race went well but it was windy and cold in Amsterdam. We managed though! Not sure what Agnes’ time was in the 10k, but I averaged a 7:31 mile over the duration of the half marathon. I’m happy with that! We finally were home and in our beds in Lux around 10:00pm. What a week!

Since this trip, we haven’t done a whole lot. Ag has been busy babysitting, cleaning apartments and working for her company back at home, Lakeshore Staffing. We have been relaxing and taking it easy. I have been ridiculously busy at work lately (normal days are from 8:00am to 10:00pm). Unfortunately, I have let my business creep into our adventures, as we had to cancel our Belgium plans for this weekend. We were planning on driving up to Brugge and also seeing Antwerp. However, I am just trying to stay positive and keep on keeping’ on….the good thing about those Belgian cities is that they are very very close and we can really drive up there anytime we aren’t busy and feel the urge.

We do have a trip to Stockholm, Sweden planned for next weekend which should be lots of fun. We are planning a drive to Reims, France (the capital of the Champagne region!) the weekend after that. Then we’re off for a weekend (Belgium, maybe?) and then I go to Orlando for a week’s worth of training for work. After that, we have a weekend (and opera) in Vienna, Austria and the various German Christmas Markets to attend. Then, viola, we’ll be home for two weeks at Christmas. So, until the next adventure, au revoir!

Tour of Tuscany, Day 6

Thursday, October 12th

We woke up and had a decent breakfast spread of croissants, yogurts, breads, hams, cheeses, etc. By 8:45am we were in the Shiat and on our way to Florence. The drive to Florence was only about ½ hour but we ran into crazy traffic getting into the heart of the city. There are no major highways that lead you directly into this city and for some reason the traffic was really heavy. All roads were one lane, stop and go. We managed to park the car in the center under the train station (as our hotel recommended) and were exploring by 10:00am.

Florence was nuts! You could just feel the energy around you. And, can I say it’s the leather capital of the world?? There are vendors everywhere selling great coats, purses, man-bags, etc. It is probably the art capital of the world as well. So many artists’ works (i.e., the ORIGINALS) are here. Also, motor bikes were cruising around everywhere (kind of like Rome) and people were on the go.

Our goal was to get to the Galleria del l’Accademia where the original David, by Michelangelo resided. The line to get into this gallery was HUGE and we did not reserve tickets before hand since we were kind of “going with the flow” with our plans. So, when all was said and done, we did not see the statue.

Instead we toured the Bascilica Santa Maria Novella that had some amazing paintings and sculptures, including a few of Michelangelo’s works. It was all pretty impressive. We then headed through the city just observing all that was around us. We stopped and got some sandwiches and a few beers at a corner café and then headed on to the Leather School where we read in a book that they sell discounted items. Not so much the case (stuff was pricey!), but that didn’t worry us. We were ready to negotiate with the vendors outside.

And negotiate we did. By the end of the day, Agnes and Steph had new leather purses, I had a new leather work/courier bag, and Agnes was the proud owner of a really sweet leather jacket.

We walked through the Leather School which somehow led us into the Santa Croce cathedral.
We are not sure how that happened considering there was a front entrance to this church where everyone else was paying?? We looked around for awhile, then got out of there before someone figured us out and headed into the plaza area and down a few streets to one of the main sites in Florence: The Duomo, Santa Maria del Fiore and the tower.

The Duomo is the largest domed structure in the world and all I have to say is WOW! Inside the church was a very large open area. There were not a ton of paintings or sculptures on the side walls but the top, inside part of the Duomo depicts scenes from the Old Testament. The art work was amazing. We decided to climb the bell tower to see the Tuscany view. After 400+ stairs we were at the top and it was well worth it! The city was a huge, sprawling mob scene and the hills in the background just seemed to keep on rolling on….

We walked through the Piazzale Degli Uffizi where the Uffizi Gallery is located. This museum houses works by Titan, Michelangelo, deVinci, etc. There were sculptures of the artists outside the museum and the Piazzale stretches to the Piazza Della Signoria. This Piazza is a splendid open-air museum with monuments and works of art all over. (I went a little crazy with pics of the statues!)

From this Piazza we walked to the famous pedestrian covered bridge, Ponte Vecchio. There were shops lining both sides of the bridge and the area was bustling!

At this point it was around 3:00pm and we wanted to get going because we had reserved spots for a wine making tour at a vineyard that evening. Our tour started at 5:00pm and considering we hit traffic getting into Florence, we wanted to be safe.

Well, long story short, we had a couple of detours, some stand still traffic, and other things that occurred to ensure that we didn’t make it to our hour long wine making tour. We did make it for a wine tasting though! Let me explain….we got back on the road and got out of Florence with really no problems. Unfortunately, we missed our road toward the hotel and ended up driving about 10-20 minutes out of the way. No big deal….we gave ourselves enough extra time.

The thing about European highways compared to the US is that if you miss your exit, you are screwed! Seriously, there might not be another exit for a good 10-20 minutes…as in this case. Well, we got on the right road and still had about an hour to an hour and ½ to get to our tour…and the drive should only take a ½ hour now that we were finally on the highway……no problems. We are good to go! (Or so I thought…)

Well, the highway gods were not on our side that day. Within 10 minutes we were in stand still traffic for a good 40 minutes or so. At this point, Ag and Steph were about to pee their pants. And of course, please note as well, in Europe not only are there hardly any exits, there are hardly any bathrooms off the exits.

Needless to say when we finally got into an area where I could pull off, Steph and Ag had to just let it go behind the car. Another reason why I love being a guy….anyway, after a little stage fright, the girls were fine and we were back on the road. I told Ag that I was proud of my “little camel” and got a healthy slap on the a*s for that comment!

We still made it to the Dievole wine plantation for a lesson on wines and a tasting which was really nice. The place was situated down this really long windy road through the heart of the Chianti area. Our guide was really helpful and friendly too. We ended up buying a 6 bottle case to split among the two couples. I can’t wait to uncork one of those bottles a few years from now!
After our tasting we drove into Siena. Siena was only about 10-20 minutes away. The sun was beginning to set and it was going on 7:00pm. Trying to figure out where to park in Siena was a bit challenging because the entire city is surrounded by a huge castle wall. Therefore, there were only a few entrances where you could actually drive into the city center area.

We managed to park and then walked into the town’s main square, Il Campo, which is a theatrical, fan-shaped area. It was really cool and I had never seen anything like it before. There was also a huge bell tower, the Torre del Mangia, there as well. People were just sitting in the center area and there were restaurants that went all around the outer part of the “fan”.
The city gave me a really good feeling. It was clean, you felt the uniqueness and quaintness of the area, it was comfortable.

Our goal was (and always is) to not eat at a “tourist trap” so we had asked our wine guide for a suggestion on a restaurant to try. It took us a little bit of time to find the restaurant, but we did and it was good! The restaurant was called Trattoria Papel and it was located behind the center and kind of hidden in a small plaza area. Our server was great, spoke pretty good English, and convinced me to try the Wild Boar dish. It was fantastic-o!

After dinner we strolled along some side streets back to the car. It was a really quiet night in the town and the walk was nice on the cobblestone roads. Actually, now that I think about it….all the streets in the city were cobblestone. We got back to our hotel around 10:00pm and crashed.

What a day!

Tour of Tuscany, Days 4 and 5

Note: We've posted two blogs simulatenously. Please see the blog for days 1 through 3 via the link on the right.


Tuesday, Oct 10th

Our flight left Hahn, Germany at 8:15am, meaning that we had to get up around 4:30am to ensure we got to the airport with enough time to check in and position ourselves in the waiting area (so that we wouldn’t get stomped over by the hordes of cattle that are the Ryan Air passengers). It was fun to sit from a distance and show Steph and Pete how these people act. “Look, now that guy’s going to sneak over there like he’s not sure where he’s going…..now this lady is going to move her bag just in front of that guy….” Then BAM! people were crowding around the check in desk in no recognizable form of a line and jockeying with each other for position. This was 40 minutes before the plane was due to be boarded!

Anyways, we had no problems with our flight and when we got to Milan we picked up our rental car and were ready to drive to Cinque Terre, then Pisa, then through the Chianti region, then to Florence, then to Siena, then to Venice….yes we had places to go and see!

Okay, so it’s important to note here that we didn’t really know anything about our car. Basically, we knew it was 15 euros a day and had 4 doors. I should have taken note that something might be a bit weird about the car when the lady at the counter repeated several times, “This is a Fiat Panda. That is okay?” Of course, it had 4 doors and I assumed it would be fine right? Well……
We get to the parking lot to pick up our car and just laugh. Honestly, the car was bright smurf blue. The horn went “Meep, Meep!” instead of “Beep, Beep!” The back had JUST enough room for our bags (creatively packed) and Ag and Steph had a few backpacks laid across the back seat with them. It was crucial that Steph and Pete had packed so light!! The car was a stick, but there was no odometer box on the dash…shifting was a function of just listening to/feeling the car. As you can imagine, the thing had NO pick up what so ever. Seriously, Pete and I would pull out on the highway and were flooring it with the hopes of moving….at one point, going up a slight hill, I said, “Everyone start leaning forward!”

Anyway, the car became the joke of the trip. I nicknamed it the “Shiat” (instead of Fiat). We started to use the word “Smurf” in our sentences and sayings. For instance, we would see a really cool building, “This is Smurf-tacular!” The simple things in life humor us, I guess.
So, we finally get on the road and start our drive to Cinque Terre. This was mine and Ag’s second trip to this tiny, beautiful place. (Please see the blog, “The Cinque Terre” for those adventures.) Our drive to Cinque Terre was about 3.5 hours...roughly 450 clicks! (Pete was calling kilometers “clicks” and we all thought it was great).

On the way to Cinque Terre, we stopped in Parma. Parma is the parmigiano-reggiano cheese capital of the world! We parked and planned on just grabbing a bite to eat. We went to the tourist information office and they provided us with a map and recommendations on a restaurant. We headed into the town which was really cute and quaint (did I just say cute? no…Agnes wrote this and I’m just editing). Anyway, it was a nice town and we found the restaurant without any problems. It was called Gallo d’Oro and was located through the center area of town and down a small side street. This was perfect because we got to see a bit of the city as we walked to it. The meal we had may have been the best meal on the whole trip.

We got a tray of assorted cheeses and a few pasta dishes. The cheeses, especially the parmigiano-reggiano, were delicious! I guess the best way to describe the experience is as follow: You are with great company, the sun is shining but you are under an umbrella, sipping on wine, snacking on cheese….does it get any better than this??

We got back on the road and the next city we hit was LaSpezia. It was an awesome town along the Med Sea. The city actually reminded Ag and I of Sardinia. The palm trees were blowing and the sun was shining. We pulled over and snapped a few pictures and then got back in the car. We had about another 1/2 hour to go.

The rest of the drive was through the mountains to Cinque Terre. The road was really windy and literally along the coast, overlooking the sea. We got to our village, Vernazza, and parked the Shiat. As soon as we stopped the car, it started smoking! Seriously, we didn't know what was going on...apparently, the brakes had a rough time maneuvering through the mountains and needed a break!

So we walked down the hill to the town and checked into our hotel…it was awesome! However, the set up to get to our rooms was a bit difficult (physically that is). We had to walk though a small part of the village, up a few sidewalks (everything was an upward incline), up a few steps, and finally got to our building. Well, then we had to climb 3 flights of stairs to get to the room. Whew. It was all worth it though! We had two rooms with a joining bathroom. There was a small patio area with chairs that overlooked the sea. It was beautiful.

At this point, it was close to 4:30pm and we had to get moving on our hike before it got dark. If you recall from the previous blog about Cinque Terre, there are five villages connected via train, boat and a hiking trail. We were staying in the second village (going from North to South). Our plan was to hike South to the remaining 3 (Corneglia, Manarola, Riomaggiore) and then check out Monterosso (the Northern-most village) the next day.

We got to see 2 of the 3 villages that night before it turned completely black on us. However, the sunset was really beautiful from the trail and the villages looked pretty sweet lit up at night. We caught the train back to our village but had to wait about 20 minutes for it….so we whipped our hand-dandy cork opener (we now travel with one everywhere we go!) and opened a bottle of wine (2 euros in the local grocery store, Dixie cups included) while we waited!

The train was 50 cents back to our village and we were home by 8:00pm. We got ready, showered, etc and were at dinner by 9:00pm. We ate at the restaurant that was associated with our hotel. The bread, pasta, seafood, wine….everything was great. After dinner we grabbed a few blankets and the rest of our bottle of wine from earlier that night. We then sat out on our balcony overlooking the sea. I of course fell asleep right there in the chair while everyone was talking. It was a great day…


Wednesday, October 11th

We woke up the next day and took the train to the first town, Monterosso. We had croissants and coffee overlooking the water and then headed into the village to walk around a bit. Ag and I didn’t explore this town as much the last time we were here so it was great to just take in the sites and absorb everything around us. The beach area was really nice too! The one interesting thing we did notice was a TON of English speaking people. Last time we were here, hardly anyone spoke English.

After breakfast and a stroll on the beach, back to the Smurf we went….it was close to 11:00am and it was time to hit the heart of Tuscany! We stuffed the car with our things and our bodies, praying it would make it out of the mountains. So far so good…we passed through La Spezia and headed onto Pisa. Pisa was roughly 83 clicks from La Spezia (45min to 1hour). The drive was great; the mountains were on the left and the ocean was to the right.

We arrived on the outskirts of Pisa and kind of struggled figuring out how to get into the city area. We managed though, parked the car and found a small pizzeria for lunch. The food was really good, our server was funny, but my one complaint: they charged 3 euros for ONE can of diet Coke!

After that money rape we walked just a bit further to the Piazza dei Miracoli. The Piazza was a huge great lawn area that had the Duomo, the Cathedral and the Leaning Tower, which houses the bells for the Cathedral. The construction for the tower began in 1173 and took 200 years to finish. The soil was so soft that the tower started sinking in areas and hence the reason it leans today (there’s a little fun fact for ya!). It was really cool to see.

After that, we got back into our car and headed toward our hotel. It was about 3:00pm at this point. The drive through Tuscany was on complete back roads and you could seriously smell the wine. We passed through many small towns, stopping to take pictures, etc. Most of the buildings and homes were a dark burnt orange/yellow colors. Many were made of stone too. The hills just rolled, and rolled, and rolled. The other thing besides tons of vineyards were that there were olive trees everywhere. All I have to say is we had some of the best, most fresh olive oil we’ve ever tasted during this part of the trip.

We pulled up to our hotel to find that it was literally smack dab in the middle of a wine field. There was a court yard with tables and a patio area out front, lawn chairs overlooking the vineyard and fields out back, and beautiful flowers growing everywhere. Plus, they had this sweet swimming pool…what a place.

The rooms were all scattered around the property. Our quad room was in the back, off a small path. We settled into our room and went to sit overlooking the vineyard and have some wine. We decided to have dinner at the hotel that evening which was a 4 course meal starting at 7:00pm. The meal consisted of the following items: bread, wine and olive oil (of course), ham/beef pâté, the best tomato soup I have ever tasted, bowtie pasta, roast pork tenderloin, and a baked puff with ice cream in the middle. Tasty!

After dinner we sat out back on the lawn chairs, chatting, sipping on wine…another great day and night!

Tour of Tuscany, Days 1 through 3

Saturday, Oct 7th-Monday, Oct 9th

After a tough week of work, we were very excited that our vacation with Steph and Pete was about to begin. We woke up on Saturday, went out for our respective runs and by 10:30am Ag and I were on the road heading to Amsterdam to pick up our pals. We arrived around 3:00pm, parked and checked into our hotel. Pete and Steph’s flight landed at 4:20pm, so we figured we had plenty of time to figure out how to get to the airport. Our hotel manager informed that there was a bus, which stopped about 3 blocks away, that would take us directly to the airport. “But,” he said, “You better hurry because it comes in 5 minutes and the next one doesn’t leave until 4:30pm.” The next thing we knew, we were literally sprinting about to the city center to catch the bus. It was like an episode of “Amazing Race.” Luckily, we made it to the stop just as the bus was pulling up.

When we got to the airport, we found out their flight was a bit delayed so we had a sandwich and beer to pass the time. After awhile, they showed up carrying only two normal size backpacks and a pretty small suitcase (one that you could definitely carry on to a plane). “Well, let’s go get your stuff,” I said. Lo and behold, that was all they brought! I couldn’t believe it. Talk about awesome packers! This little detail turned out to be one of the most critical occurrences of the trip, as you will read in the next couple of blogs. So, we headed toward the bus stop and arrived to discover that we had just missed the bus back to the city center. The next one wasn’t for another hour, so we had a beer and chatted as we waited.

Eventually we got to our hotel and we were out in the city exploring by 7:00pm. A few bars later, we were in a Mexican restaurant sipping on margaritas and eating a delicious meal. We went to a few other places and then walked through the Red Light district with all the other tourists. The area was booming to say the least. After that we headed back toward our hotel but not before we stopped for a piece of pizza and ice cream!

When we got back to our hotel we all made the “climb” to our room. Honestly, the steps were so steep it was like climbing a ladder. Plus our quad room was on the 4th floor!

After a breakfast of breads and spreads, we headed back to Luxembourg. We got home around 3:00pm and just chilled. We had some tasty wine and cheese, Wheat Thins (Steph brought some for us!), beer, etc. Later we ordered Indian food and our Irish friends Robbie and Laura came over to hang out as well. We watched the NFL games and had a great, great night.

The next day we drove to Trier, Germany and went to my favorite restaurant for their breakfast buffet. As always, it was delicious! After breakfast we shopped around and walked through the Roman Gardens. Also in the city center, there are two huge Catholic churches built right next to each other. The architecture in both churches are extremely different and unique. One church is Gothic and the other is Roman architecture.

After Trier we headed into Luxembourg Centre Ville (the city center). We parked in the Grund area, walked up to the city center and strolled around, did some shopping, etc. It was a beautiful day so as we walked we took some great pictures of the city. On our way home, we went to the grocery store and picked some things up for dinner.

When we got home, Agnes and I were really itching to get out and run a little. We planned to do the Amsterdam half marathon the next weekend (right after Pete and Steph were due to leave), and we knew we wouldn’t get a chance to run for the rest of the week. So while Ag and I went for jogs, Steph and Pete made dinner! Nothing like making your guests feel welcome, huh?!

After dinner that night we just packed and organized our things….ready for our Italy tour to begin!

Tour of Tuscany 2006

What a week! We just got back on Sunday around 9:30p after a very eventful week of traveling. As stated in previous blogs, our good friends, Pete and Stephanie Stratil, from Seattle (before living in Chicago with us for 6 years!) were here for a visit.

Our itinerary consisted of the following:

Saturday, Oct 7th: Steph and Pete arrived in Amsterdam. We stayed and partied there that night, then headed to Lux the next day.

Sunday, Oct 8th and Monday, Oct 9th: We toured around Lux and Trier, Germany.

Tuesday, Oct 10th: We flew from Hahn, Germany to Milan, Italy, then drove to Cinque Terre, stopping along the way in Parma.

Wednesday, Oct 11th: We hung out in Cinque Terre for a bit, then headed to the Tuscany wine region (the heart of Italy).

Wednesday, Oct 11th-Friday, Oct 13th: We toured around Tuscany, including stops in Florence and Siena, as well as wine tasting and tasty dinners in the countryside.

Friday, Oct 13th: We drove to and toured around Venice.

Saturday, Oct 14th: From Venice, we flew back to Hahn, Germany, where we picked up my friend from work Robert and drove back up to Amsterdam.

Sunday, October 15th: We took Steph and Pete to the airport in Amsterdam that morning for their flight home, then ran in the Amsterdam ½ marathon in the afternoon.

Stephanie had been to Europe but most of the places on our agenda were new to her. Pete had never been across the pond so this was quite an opportunity for him. We will be writing the blog of our travels by day, similar to Ferd and Andrea’s visit. We have lots going on this week and next (out of town for training, etc.), but we will do our best to update the blog ASAP. To summarize, the trip was awesome, we ate and drank well and had the best time.

On a side note, Uncle Tim, your comment on the Oktoberfest blog was awesome and Ag couldn‘t stop giggling about it after she read it…Yes we forgot to mention there were chicken stands among the brat, pretzel and beer stands. The chicken stands were huge and basically had whole chickens roasting rotisserie style. There were probably 200-300 chickens cooking in one stand at one time. Part of the reason Agnes thinks this is so funny is because after being in the beer garden all day/night, she was craving a chicken and basically walked up to the stand and declared “I’ll have a chicken!” And a chicken is what she got! I had a few bites of it and it was delicious!

On a second side note, our heartfelt thoughts and prayers go out to you, Kris. Stay strong, get better, and we’ll see you in a couple of months when we get home for Christmas.

Munich...Beer We Come!!

“…We are going to pick Ryan up around 6.30am and be at Rob and Laura's by 7.10am at the latest. I will drive like a bat out of hell (albeit very safely) and that will put us in Munich around lunch....err.....beer time. We'll get to Munich and park at our hotel….we'll all throw our bags down and then rendezvous at a place to be determined ….once we get there, it's no-holds-barred. Like, I wouldn't be opposed to going streaking through the quad and into the gymnasium, taking a beer shower, or even going to KFC (if it's still open)….Holla! let's go get drizzunk!”

Okay-so that was the short version of the email I sent out to the crew on Friday, September 22 to fire them up for Oktoberfest 2006!!

First thing’s first. The facts about Oktoberfest…..

- Oktoberfest is always celebrated the last two weeks of September.

- 30% of the year's production of beer by Munich breweries will be consumed in the two weeks of Oktoberfest.

- 12,000 People are employed at the Oktoberfest. Of these, 1,600 are waitresses.

- There is available seating for 100,000 people.

- The six Oktoberfest breweries, (Spaten, Augustiner, Paulaner, Hacker-Pschorr, Hofbrau, Lowenbrau) sold 6 million mugs of beer in 2005 (5.5 million in 2004).

- Roasted oxen served: 88

- Sausages served: 219,443 pairs

- Roasted chickens served: 459,279

- There are currently 14 main tents at the Oktoberfest. The tents themselves are semi-permanent structures which are only occupied during the festival.

So, as you can see, this was my kind of party. The troops on this “mission” were myself, Ag, Robbie, Laura and Ryan (a new dude in our office from Seattle). We were running pretty much on schedule Saturday morning and arrived at Rob and Laura’s at 7:04am. After a few pit-stops and a little traffic, we arrived in Munich around 1:30pm. We all got settled at our hotels and Ryan, Aggie and I went to “whet our pallets” with a small sample of beer at the hotel bar as we waited for Laura and Robbie.

Then off we went onto the subway, destination: a wonderful place known as Pretzel, Beer and Brat Land. Basically, Oktoberfest is a HUGE festival/carnival in an area of Munich called Theresienwiese. Really, the festival is similar to a state fair. Rides, games, tents, food, beer, people….it was awesome. People were everywhere and the atmosphere just seemed to ooze fun!

The main brew hall tents were enormous, and basically, they looked like huge buildings. We went up to a few of the tents to see if there were any tickets/spaces available but unfortunately, every place was full. We weren’t too worried though. Our plan was to just walk around and drink a few beers and then head into the city and hang out at some biergartens that we knew we could get into. So, we got some brats, pretzels, etc and as we were eating, we noticed a small gated area behind one of the tents. The gate to this area kept opening and closing, people were going in and out…..HUMMMM??? Maybe we can go in too?

We jumped in the small line and within 10 minutes we were seated in the biergarten of the Augustiner Tent! The setting: there were long tables and long benches where people were sitting, chatting, eating and sipping on their liters of beer. Everyone in the place seemed really happy. Roughly 8-10 people fit at a table. We sat down at our table and ordered our 1st of many liters….I looked at my watch…it was 2:30pm….

There was a couple with their kid eating at our table when we sat down. The dude was really nice and chatty; he totally became our friend right away. Eventually they left and a group of 5 sat with us (tight squeeze at the table!) and with this group there was a random 20 yr old guy from Texas who was engaged to one of the German chicks at our table.

They eventually left and we found out that after 1hr of sitting in the garden, you were supposed to leave. Supposedly that was the “rule” so that they can turn over tables, etc. Well, I’m not sure how we managed to stay there all day and all night but we did and we had fun!!

Throughout the night, we all just had a blast! Really, everyone just talks to everyone, people are relaxed and chilled, it was great. Robbie and I managed to try on a couple “Bayerish” vests, chat it up (and arm wrestle) with a couple of East Berliners, and meet some Dirndl ladies (as Ag took pics of us/them!). All I have to say about the Dirndl ladies is “bombs”!

We finally left our little garden around 11pm. The festival grounds had cleared out a bit and we headed to the subway. When we got back to the hotel, we decided we needed a mid-night snack and found a Greek restaurant around the corner of our hotel and it was open till 1am!

When we walked in, the place was dead and the host and cooks were sitting at a table. They seated us with smiles and even brought us shots! Anyway, after a tasty meal of pitas, gyros, meatballs, etc., we headed back to the hotel. As we were leaving, we looked around and noticed that the place had actually gotten kind of crowded….everyone was all about the late night food!

We finally went to bed but not before Ag got a picture of Ryan and I passed out on the bed. In the most heterosexual way possible that two guys could be passed out on a bed together. Lovely.

The next day we walked around Munich for a bit and grabbed lunch at the Hofbrauhaus. We left around 2pm and estimated that we should be home by 7 or 8pm. Unfortunately, there was a major crash on the autobahn and we were in stand-still/slow moving traffic for about 2 hours. Finally, we got home at 10:30pm.

All in all, I highly recommend Oktoberfest and would go again in a heartbeat. Munich itself is awesome, and when coupled with the enormous festival, it makes for an even better time.
So now it is back to reality. I have been extremely busy with work because I am in a new manager role. There’s lots to do and learn…and things are definitely not the same here as in the U.S. I will not bore you with the details but obviously, it makes things more challenging.

However, the living and traveling experience is amazing and Ag and I couldn’t be happier. Speaking of traveling, Pete and Stephanie Stratil arrive in Amsterdam on Saturday. We will of course be picking them up and proceeding to travel all of next week. The nonsense is about to begin again…..

"Tour" - The Last Days...Salzburg, Luxembourg and Trier

Note : Please read the previous blogs to catch up on any of the adventures you may have missed!

Monday, September 11th

Again, the church bells were our wake up call. We got up, had our generous breakfast buffet, and decided to head to Salzburg, Austria. We were only an hour away and how could we not see the place where The Sound of Music was filmed?? Salzburg is also famous for being the place where Mozart was born (a little trivia for ya!).

So we jumped in the car, got there without too much hassle, parked and found a map right away. I could tell the “hills were alive” in the city and we were excited to explore (Note: that was Agnes’ comment…I would never say anything so girly). We did some shopping on the cobblestone streets that had tons of little, unique shops and boutiques. It was really beautiful and quaint. We saw a few castles, the Abby where Maria stayed, and the Cathedral. We took a carriage ride and then strolled through some beautiful flower gardens. We stopped into a local grocery store, bought some food for lunch and then sat in a park and had ourselves a little picnic. Before we knew it, Salzburg turned out to be one of our favorite stops.

We left around 4pm and started the long drive back to Luxembourg (roughly 7-8 hours). After some bumper to bumper traffic in Munich, a hail storm near Stuttgart, and a slight diversion (e.g., I turned off the wrong exit again….damnit!), we finally pulled up to the homestead, tired but happy. It was about 2am and we all went right to sleep with no plans to get up early the next day. What a fun week…..

Tuesday, September 12th

We were woken up the next morning around 8am, not by the lovely church bells we had grown accustomed to hearing, but to a loud and annoying drilling sound in our neighbor’s apartment. Obviously, something was under construction!

Anyway, we sat around for a bit, chatted and had some coffee and pastries. We then went into Luxembourg Centre to show my parents the Grund (the valley area of town where we usually go out). We walked around and then grabbed lunch at a place Agnes and I really like called Oscar Wilde’s. I really like this place because they have a delicious Sunday roast every week, great food in general every other day, and a nice beer garden area where they’ll show sporting events on a big screen. Plus, the signs for the toilets say “Flip Dry” (for men) and “Drip Dry” (for women)…how can you not like a place like this? Andrea had the best burger she's ever had (finally she got her burger!!), and the rest of us had a variety of other good stuff.

Afterwards we walked off our lunch by taking a stroll in the Bambesch…a forest behind my apartment with what seems like a million different running and mountain biking trails. From there, we heading to the United States Military Cemetery and World War II Memorial. The weather was gorgeous and made these two events incredibly enjoyable.

From the Memorial we drove into Remich, which is about 30 minutes outside of Luxembourg Centre on the Luxembourg - Germany border, and also the place where Agnes works. We ended up going to see the Carters, the family Ag works for. It was nice to sit and chat with them for a bit since we hadn’t seem them for some time. Plus, Ag got to see her buddy, Sebastian. It was obvious that Seb was happy to see Aggie…he ran up, hugged her around the neck and said “Ag, where have you been? I’ve wanted to play with you for ages!”

From Remich we decided to drive over to Trier, Germany. The drive from Remich to Trier is awesome! The road is all along the Moselle River and there are just tons of vineyards along the way. Basically, we were driving on the Lux side and across the river was Germany (kind of like the West Side and Lindenwald, or Cincinnati and Kentucky). The hills were just green and rolling and it was a beautiful drive.

In Trier we walked around and shopped for a bit. Then we met our friends, Robbie and Laura, at our favorite restaurant in town. We ate, drank and were merry. After dinner we walked through town to the Roman gardens. Trier is the oldest Roman town in Europe, besides Rome of course….another trivia tip!

We got home around 10pm and Ferd and Andrea just organized and packed their fudge. Off to bed we went and then on Wednesday we just woke up, had breakfast and hung out till their flight home at 2:30pm. Unfortunately, once they left, we had to go back to reality….

So all of this happened between September 5th and 13th. Last weekend (September 23rd and 24th), we went to the world famous Oktoberfest….meaning we drove back to Munich again! Even though we didn’t have tickets to any of the beer tents, Aggie randomly found a sweet set up for us (nice hotel close to the action) so we went just to check it out. Robbie and Laura came along, as well as a new American guy from our office, Ryan. We’ll be blogging all about that sometime later this week. Oh, and Mike, there'll be plenty of Drindl photos for you!

This weekend we’re chillin and I’m catching up on some work. It’s been a lazy weekend so far and we’re glad!! We needed a little break, because next weekend our great friends Steph and Pete Stratil will be coming and we’ll be off to road trip and conquer another European country. Which one? Stay tuned!

"Tour" Day 6 - Munich

Note : Please read the previous blogs to catch up on any of the adventures you may have missed! There has been a flurry of blog activity in the past couple of days...

Sunday, September 10th

We all woke up from the church bells chiming, well rested. Our plan for the day was to just wonder all around Munich so after a feast of a breakfast (eggs, sausage, fruit, pastries, granolas, etc) we went out to explore. Rumor had it that the Pope was in town today and was going to be speaking in the city. Hummmmm….maybe we will see him?

So we literally walked around everywhere and had a very relaxing day. The weather was awesome (as it had been the entire trip), we went into a few brew houses (Lowenbrau and Hofbrau haus’, to be specific), walked through the pedestrian streets and window shopped, etc. I have to say, there were lots of locals just wondering around in the streets in the whole “German” gear - guys in the leather shorts with suspenders and caps, gals in their Dirndl’s - too which was cool.

There were lots of cops out setting up barriers for where the Pope was going to be later that evening. The center area (Marienplatz) also had some big screens set up so that you could see the Pope saying mass. After walking a bit, we found a bench to rest on and then we notice people walking/running down this one side street and you could hear people cheering at the end of it.
Well, I could tell my mom wanted to check it out so I went with her down the street as Ag and Ferd enjoyed resting. We got to the end of the road and stood in the crowd for about 2 minutes. All of the sudden the German Shepard himself walks out on this balcony, literally 20 feet from us! He gave a blessing and then went back into the “dog house.” I wonder if Snoop was in there too??

Upon returning to Agnes and Fred’s spot, we noticed a bunch of Cardinals hanging out on the sidewalk. It was kind of funny…a bunch of these Holy dudes walking around, chillin, smoking some cigs, etc, right underneath a sign for “Trader Vic’s Night Club.” I had to get a picture!

After that we walked to one of the big parks located in the city and found a beer garden “planted” right in the middle of it (get it?…beer garden…they grow beers there…“planted”…). Talk about a great set up! There were tons of picnic tables set up, a bunch of trees with Christmas lights strung though them and I could just envision this place being an awesome place to hang out at night. We had a drink and then headed off to an English speaking mass. Mass was at 6pm in a really small church that had probably 20 pews and 25 participants. It was very quaint.

By 7:30 we were having dinner at the HB haus. In true Catholic form, we had headed there right after mass. Talk about some serious people watching! We sat there and ate and drank and enjoyed the live music. Of course, we had a crabby server but that did not ruin our spirits! We were in Munich, the beer capital of the world and no one was going to destroy my happy mood!

We strolled home and again, I went right to sleep….

"Tour" Day 5 - Luzern, Fussen and Munich

Note: Please read the previous blogs to catch up on any of the adventures you may have missed!

Saturday, September 9th

So we woke up in our attic with the church bells chiming and headed down to breakfast (bread, jams and coffee) and then caught a tram to the train station. At the train station we got tickets to Alpnachstad, a small village up the road where we would then catch a cog railway up to the top of Mt. Pilatus.

Mt. Pilatus is 7000+ feet up….not too shabby! The cog railway is the steepest cog rail in the world, with more or less a 40% grade the whole way, and it took 40 minutes to reach the top. On the way up, you could not only get a great view of the beautiful countryside, but you could see cows (with the big cow bells on!) and a few random goats just hanging out. I’m kind of surprised they can walk okay. It was really steep!

When we finally reached the top, we had an awesome view of just mountains and towns and lakes (oh my!). It was beautiful and breathtaking. There was a vendor selling snack foods (including brats!), a hotel and restaurant at the top as well. After snapping some pics, we had some hot chocolate, a brat (probably the best one on the whole trip) and some other snacks.
We were a little surprised to see that people were hiking up this mountain like it was the easiest thing they have ever done. People of all ages too! From our view, you could see just little bodies scattered over the mountains crossing over the paths. It was a pretty cool sight.

Once we got to the bottom and back to our hotel, it was close to 3pm. We headed out because we had about a 4 hour drive to Fussen, Germany, and then on to Munich. Sadly, we were done with Switzerland…..

So onward we went, taking in the last few sights of Switzerland, passing into Austria and finally into Germany and toward Fussen. Fussen is known for 2 castles, one of which (the Neuschwanstein) happens to be the one that the Disney World Castle is modeled after. The drive there was awesome with the rolling hills and greenery all around.

We were getting close and then, the unthinkable happened: the B309 turned into the B310 and I missed my turn. Long story short, we went about an hour out of the way. Ugh! Ag and Andrea were fine in the back because we were passing through some really quaint and cute looking ski towns…they loved the sights. Glad they were having fun, because I was kind of stressin'!

Finally we figured out our route and ended up passing through some other awesome mini-towns/villages. We were temped to stop at a few beer gardens on the way but opted not to since it was going on 7pm or so and we still had to get to Munich.

We got to see the castle and of course, everything closed at 5pm. Basically, you had to park your car and then either take a bus up or walk (30-45 minutes) up to the main castle entrance. Our goal was to really just see it and we did…two minutes and it was “Okay, that was great…now everybody back into the car!!” Please let me explain.

So honestly, the castle was really sweet. But I lost interest (and my cool) after talking with our hotel in Munich. Since we were running later than expected, Ag suggested I call the hotel just to let them know we would be there around 9 or 10pm. I place the call and get through to the hotel and was surprised to hear “I have no reservation for you” coming from the girl on the other end. Funny, I was holding the confirmation and such in my hand. WHAT??!

As soon as I heard that, I was on a mission to get to the hotel and thank goodness we found it without any problems. Now it was around 9pm. They only had 1 double room (not 2) left and the girl could not explain why they did not have our reservation. But, she was nice enough to call another hotel up the street and figure out that they had 2 rooms available for us to use. However, one room wasn’t ready yet…we’d have to wait about 45 minutes.

We left and went to the other hotel (Hotel Prinz) to be sure it was okay, and it turned out to be sweet set up. Woo-hoo!! There was also a brew hall right up the street, the Paulaner Haus (Paulaner just so happens to be one of my favorites!), so while the room was being cleaned, we grabbed some dinner and beers. In the words of the great Homer Simpson, “MMMM….beeeeeerrrrr.”

When we got back to the room around 11:30pm, we all fell right into a deep sleep and didn’t wake up till the church bells were chiming the next morn’.

"Tour" Day 4 - Interlaken and Luzern

Note : Please read the previous blogs to catch up on any of the adventures you may have missed!

Friday, September 8th

We got up, showered and left Bern by 9:00am. We were staying the night in Luzern but wanted to stop in Interlaken on the way. The drive from Bern to Interlaken was about a ½ hour. Interlaken is what you imagine Switzerland to look like: a small ski village in the mountains with rivers and lakes, cottage looking homes, etc.

Interlaken is situated between two lakes, and the water in the lakes was this greenish-aqua color. Again, this was another thing I have never seen before. It didn’t look dirty, just a beautiful random light -greenish-blue.

Anywho, we sat at an outdoor café and had breakfast. So far, everyday had been close to perfect weather, in the 70’s and sunny. This morning was a bit foggy and overcast, so we were a little worried and were hoping it would clear up….and it did! By noon it was partly cloudy and warm.

We could tell that something was going on in the town because there were banners over the streets and tents and stands were being set up. We found out that the Jungfrau Marathon was that upcoming weekend. Of course, my dad and I went into the Casino to check it all out (yes, the Casino in this small ski town is where you register for the race). As we were looking around, I ran into my next door neighbors from Luxembourg, Mick and Petra! They were running the race…such a small world. The race had an amazing course….amazingly hard! The first 5-6 miles were relatively flat. Then the course began a gradual climb and then BAM! The last 18 or so miles were seriously straight up the mountain. Probably one of the hardest courses I have ever seen.

After breakfast and gathering marathon info, we just shopped, talked, walked around, etc. We found a pretty cool shop and, when the dust settled and the credit cards were put away, we most likely had single handedly ensured that it would stay in business for the next couple of months. We also saw some kids doing crazy stunts and handstands, so we got some pictures of them. Then, we talked Andrea into overcoming her fears and we all took the cog train up the mountain for a awesome view of the city, the two lakes it‘s nestled in between, and the majestic peaks in the background. All in all, we were about 3,000 ft up there.

There was a bar and restaurant at the top of the mountain and after clicking some pictures, we sat down for a refreshing beverage. Andrea got her apple strudel, Fred got a milk mustache, we were all having a fun time. We headed back down to town around 5:00pm and decided to drive onto our next city, Luzern.

The drive from Interlaken to Luzern was about an hour or so through the mountains. Mountains and pine trees were everywhere and the roads just winded through them. Every so often there would be a lake or river along the road and a small town just sitting there, tucked into the gorgeous scenery around it.

We found our hotel with no problems. Hooray!! (I was determined to not let what happened in Bern become standard protocol. In fact, I became anal-directions-man for the remainder of the trip…which, as you will see, didn‘t really do me much good anyways!) So, we checked in and were amused to find that the “quad” room we reserved was more or less an attic with four beds. It was just like me, Josh and Zach’s room back on Andover! Laughing, we threw our bags down and headed out to explore and grab dinner. Like most of the places on our trip, there were not a lot of “must-do’s” in Luzern…the experience is in just walking around and taking in the culture.
We walked into town and walked across the Spreuer Bridge, a pedestrian bridge built in 1408. The river was lined with restaurants on either side and there were lots of people walking around the town area. The streets were really clean and the sight was very pretty. On a side note: all sorts of flowers grow over here and people definitely take advantage of their beauty by putting up flower window baskets, etc., absolutely everywhere.

Anyway, we headed into Old Town to do some window shopping on the cobblestone/pedestrian streets and then found a restaurant along the river for dinner.

After our crazy server in Bern, we were a bit worried about the tall lanky dude that was approaching our table a minute after we sat down…he looked like he had just taken a few bong rips with his buddies in the back of the restaurant. However, to our surprise and relief, he spoke awesome English and had a great attitude. He definitely made our meal enjoyable and fun. After a few beers, brats and sauerkraut, we decided to head back to our attic and retire for the night.

We had a long day and the next was going to be just as fun-filled!

"Tour" Day 3 - Bern, Switzerland

Note : Please read the previous blogs to catch up on any of the adventures you may have missed!

Thursday, September 7th

So we woke up the next morning to an awesome feast awaiting us in the grand dining room of the Chateau. The table was set for 10, so all guests ate at the same dinner table (but you could come and go as you pleased). The breakfast consisted of granola, pastries, homemade jams, REAL American-style coffee, yogurts, and fresh bread. When we were all full and satisfied, we packed up and left the Burgundy wine region….on to the chocolate and cheese capital of the world!

We drove 3-4 hours to our next destination and the capital of Switzerland, Bern. (This city was recommended to us from one of my friends from EY who works in the Zurich, Switzerland office.) The drive to Bern was really scenic and beautiful which made the time go by quickly...also making the time go quickly was the fact that Audrey was feeling “chatty,” so the conversations were flowing and bouncing around from one thing to the next.

As we were pulling off our exit for Bern, the directions said to go left. Some how I got distracted and turned right. Long story short, we found our hotel but after a 30 minute unexpected tour of the city! The guy at the front desk must have sensed my frustration, because I said “Look, I parked right down the street…please tell me I can keep my car there for the night.” Welp, he just told me to park in the spot right in front of the hotel…even better for unloading (and re-loading) the luggage!

We asked our concierge for a map of the city (because a map is the key to successful touring) and he gave us a nice walking route; basically we were going to be making a big circle around the whole city. First we went through a gigantic rose garden-slash-park at the top of a hill overlooking the city. Needless to say, this place provided a great view of Bern. Also, the roses were all sorts of random colors that I haven’t seen before in a rose (aka “Something really cool that I didn‘t even know about!” - Frank the Tank). The whole area was just very green, the river in the valley below was flowin’ and the hills in the background were a rollin’. Kinda sounds like a CCR song don’t it?

Then we walked past the visitors’ center, which has a huge cage/pit with a few very large bears (the bear is the local “mascot“ in Bern). Moving right along we went window shopping on some of the pedestrian streets, saw the famous chiming bell tower, went into a church to see the architecture and then stopped to grab something to eat in the city’s central square.

Unfortunately, we had a crazy server who was a bit annoying and liked to get in our business. For example, Andrea said to US at the table that she just wanted a burger and our server butted in and said something like, “Oh no. You don’t want that. You can get that in America.” Then she went on and on about something that none of us understood. When we actually ordered, Fred was like “I want THIS salad, and that’s what I want.“ Needless to say, we ate and then got out of there before she followed us….

We walked on a few more cobble stone roads and stopped at a few vendors and markets. During that time frame we picked up some seriously good chocolate. Fernando and I were also doing some serious window shopping for Swiss Watches. Honestly…you’d think that they would be cheaper in Switzerland, right? Not quite, my friends. At minimum, they were 1,000 CHF (Swiss Francs)…that’s roughly $850. Ouch!

Anyways, then we went down a few other streets and then started heading back to our hotel. The city was hopping! It was around 5:30-6:00pm and people must have just gotten off work. Big Fred held off the crowds by putting up a block with his crutches, so that was key!

Side note on the crutches. Freddie was only supposed to be putting about 25% pressure on his left knee. Sometimes he would see something and in mid-stride (e.g., when his crutch should have been supporting him) and say “Look at that!” and point with his crutch…as he kept walking. Needless to say, we got a couple of funny looks from people who must have thought he was faking it!! I could only chuckle at the man!

As we were walking back we crossed over a bridge, and we stopped to look down at the river. We were probably 150 meters up and you could see all the way to the bottom of the river! The water was crystal clear and beautiful and the current was ridiculously strong…I have never seen anything like it before. So this is what fresh mountain water looks like? Could you imagine standing on Columbia Bridge and seeing to the bottom of the Great Miami River?? Not so much.

As we were about to move on, I glanced back down to the river and noticed the strangest thing…people started floating by! Honestly, we were standing up there and then 4 people came swimming, actually floating, down the river! I was so jealous and wanted to just float down the river with them. It looked so cool and was probably the most awesome feeling!

I got over my amazement and jealousy when we start walking on because Ag and I had seen a beer garden at the top of the hill we were headed towards. Well, of course we should go see how the view is from that angle (and grab a beer in the meantime…). We get to the top, grab seats and take in the brilliant view. Rolling hills, bell towers and church steeples to be seen, people buzzing around below, it was great.

After a few beers we headed back to the hotel, stopped in for just a few minutes and then walked up the street to a small Italian pizza joint for dinner. After our pizza we headed to bed ready for tomorrow’s adventures: Interlaken and Luzern, Switzerland.