"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.

"Tour" Days 1 and 2 - Luxembourg and France

NOTE : Please read the previous blog for the Introduction to the 2006 Wine, Beergarden, and Bratwurst Tour...

Tuesday, September 5th

At 8am, Aggie and I were in the car on our way to Frankfurt, Germany to pick up Big Ferd and Andrea. At approximately 10:30am, just outside the arrivals gate at the airport, there was a “Lindenwalder” sighting…and the National Lampoon’s Marcum European Vacation had begun! We had a serious road trip planned out, we were feeling good, and our itinerary was as follows: Luxembourg; Burgundy, France; Bern, Interlaken and Luzern, Switzerland; Fussen and Munich, Germany; and Salzburg, Austria (only if we had enough time…Salzburg was to us what Bed Bath and Beyond was to Frank the Tank).

We met the Marcum parents at the airport without any problems and we got back to Luxembourg around 1pm. I gave them the grand tour of our apartment (which took not even 5 minutes). Then we jumped onto the bus and headed into Luxembourg’s city center.

We walked around at the Schueberfouer (see previous blog “Cinque Terre” for definition) and had our first of many brats and beers. Then we walked through a few parks and window shopped on the pedestrian streets.

Fred and Andrea were tired from their travels so we headed back to our place for dinner. We grilled out and had a feast! Wine, beer, cheese, veggies, steaks, etc…tasty stuff! Off to bed we all went dreaming of Burgundy, France….

Wednesday, September 6th

After showers, coffee, pastries, etc., we were on the road to Burgundy, France (this was Aggie and my’s second time in this wine region, see previous Burgundy blog from the May 2006 archives). We left around 10:30am and arrived in Burgundy around 3:00pm. We passed through Dijon, France and stopped in Nuit St. George for a late lunch. Nuit St. George has 3 or 4 places in the town center where you can actually eat, but of course all the places were only serving drinks; they were not serving food. We kind of forgot that in most French cities (and several other European cities for that matter), restaurants close their kitchens from 3:00pm to 7:00pm….fiddlesticks!

We went back to the car and decided to eat some of the snacks we had packed instead. Finding a nice set of stairs to sit on, we made a little picnic and ate our pretzels and Goldfish crackers. We also got a few odd looks and, with Big Fred’s crutches (he's fresh off knee surgery) laying there, a couple of people actually dropped coins into our snack bag! (Okay, not really) Then we went for some wine tasting in the same vineyard which the Ag and I visited back in May. The same caretaker dude came out and on we went to our tour of the cellars and tasting of it's wine. After some drinking and purchasing 3 bottles of wine, we were on our way to the Chateau we’d be staying at in Melin, a few miles down the Route du Grande Crus (the wine road).

We pulled up to our mini-castle and for some reason, no one was around. There was a sign that said “ring the bell for service” so I went over and rang the big tower bell. Literally, like a church bell at the top of a tower with a long cord you had to pull on to get it to ring!! Quasimodo Marcum! A man stuck his head out the window and told us the owner would be right back.…she had to take her kid to soccer practice. We found out that she and her husband bought this place in 2000 and fixed it up. They now run the vineyard, make all the wine, run the Chateau, etc. Not a bad gig.

One part of the Chateau was built in the 1400’s, and the second part was added on in the 1700’s. Either way, it was pretty sweet. Once the lady got back, we were taken to our room, which was really neat. The room was huge and the furniture was all antique and was a beautiful dark wood. We got settled and then went to the cellar around 6:00pm for our wine tasting (the second of the day).

We were joined in the cellar by 4 other Americans who were staying at the Chateau as well…talk about a small world. Anyway, after a good hour or so of wine tasting….and again, after purchasing another 3 bottles of tasty wine…we headed off for dinner.

Our landlady suggested dinner in either a small village up the street, Mersault, or in Dijon. We opted for Mersault and it was a good call! The restaurant was called Les Arts and it was the only restaurant in the village. There were probably only 20 house in this village too. We sat in the back patio and (luckily) were the first to be seated out there….within 20 minutes, the place was packed! No surprise, as this patio was an incredibly pretty setting in which to dine. The walls were brick and flowers covered them. Lights were hanging in a few trees. And on and on…

Our dinner was probably one of the best I have had. It was a 4 course meal and the main dish was beef tips and pasta noodles. The meat was just falling apart….mixed with some bread and wine, I was a happy camper! And the best part…I ordered everything (for all 4 of us) completely in French. And it all came out the way I intended!! Even a blind squirrel can find an acorn every now and then.

It was just an all around great night: good company, refreshing wine, delicious 4 course meal, perfect weather, great scenery.

We headed home, full and happy, and anticipating our next jaunt….Bern, Switzerland awaited us the next day…

2006 Wine, Beergarden and Bratwurst Tour

Given the recent comments about the length of our posts, we have decided to break our descriptions and accounts of the 2006 Wine, Beergarden and Bratwurst Tour (starring Fred and Andrea Marcum) into six chapters (one per day of "the Tour").

Similarly, we will post our pictures to the web site and have them broken down by city (rather than all together). This should make the blog reading and picture viewing more enjoyable and a little quicker for those of you taking 5 minute mental breaks at work.

Overall, the vacation was a success and it was very fun to hang out with Big Ferd and Audrey during the past week. We think they enjoyed their first time in Europe….we certainly had a great time showing them around.

So, check back often because we’ll be posting a new entry every couple of days over the next week or so. If somehow you’ve missed an entry, just look to the archives (on the right) and click the appropriate link to catch back up!

The Cinque Terre

The Cinque Terre (which means "five lands") is on Italy's northwest coast. It consists of five villages nestled between the Mediterranean Sea and the rugged, terraced hillsides that tower above them. No cars are allowed in these villages so if you drive, you have to park your car at the top of the hills and walk down, luggage and all. The five towns are (from northwest to southeast): Monterosso al Mare (the largest), Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore. The villages are linked by a train, a ferry, and a spectacular yet somewhat difficult hiking trail.

We left on Friday after work….Aggie and myself, along with my buddy Robert and his lady friend Alexandra. We headed out to Hahn, Germany for our Ryanair flight to Milan, Italy. We were meeting up with Darren and Nicole Ludwig (great friends from Chicago) who were beginning a 2 week trip of Europe. From Milan, we were catching a train to the Cinque Terre village Vernazza.

On Friday, we took off with no problems at 8:30pm and arrived at our hotel in Milan around 11:30pm. Nicole and Darren were at a watering hole across the street and welcomed us right away. We were starving (and thirsty!) after our flight so we grabbed some late night dinner…nothing like homemade Italian pizza and pasta accompanied by a cold beer at midnight!!

The area by our hotel was pretty cool and there were lots of people out. Basically, instead of beer gardens, there are bars lining the streets and people just stand in the sidewalks drinking and hanging out. It was a good atmosphere.

Our train left at 7:20am the next day and we got to Cinque Terre in about 4 hours. The scenery and view of Cinque Terre was something I have never seen before. It was truly amazing.
Each village looked pretty similar but had a few things that were unique enough that you could remember them by. All of them had basically one main road (more or less a wide sidewalk) that led to the top of its respective hill. Each place had an intimate, quaint feeling, with a few restaurants, one or two grocery stores, etc.

We got off the train in Vernazza and walked down the small street to our hotel. Along this “road” were 15 or so shops total. Laundry was hanging out of many windows, older locals were busy sweeping and getting their shops ready for the day, there were some tourists walking and there were a few random cats and dogs running around (no strays like Sardina though). The homes were so colorful and built into the hillside…It was an amazing sight!

We got to the bottom of the hill and took in the view. There was a main square with 4 restaurants, 2 or 3 gelato/sandwich shops, some row boats in the bay area (no real motor boats) and a small beach. The ocean was crashing into the rocks and some people were swimming or out sun bathing.

We called our hotel contact because we did not see a sign for our hotel. We found out though that people basically just rent out apartments for really reasonable prices and live in the same location. Our owner lived across the hall from us! He was an awesome guy and just had to love his life. Stress free and relaxed, wearing a button down dress shirt with board shorts and flip flops….sweet. He was very helpful and friendly.

We got our keys and the room was great! We had a common sitting area and then 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. Perfect. Then, we headed out to explore. We grabbed lunch on the pier and after lunch Robert and I thought we would be dare devils and swim in the sea….well, it was a little different than just swimming. Getting in was easy…getting out was a little different. We had seen these kids jumping in off the pier and then when the waves would come in, they would try to basically scale the wall and let the waves lift them up and out of the water. It looked so easy…two finely tuned athletes like me and Robert could easily do this too, right??

As you will see from the pictures, we struggled! There was one point where the waves lifted me up, I started to pull myself up, and then the waves REALLY let back out to the sea (I’m talking like 10 foot swells, easily) and there I was hanging from the side of this pier!! You can see on of the pictures where my hands were just hanging on to the wall! When it became apparent that this could last all day, I ended up using the ladder to get out and walking over to the edge to pull Robert out. After that incident, we went over to the bay and swam by the boats, which was much more relaxing.

After the swim, we thought we would go for a hike. We were staying in the second village so we wanted to hike to and from the first village that day and then conquer the other 3 the next. It was around 2pm so we headed out. To get to the trail, we actually walked to the third floor of our building, walked out the door and, bam!, there was the trail that lead you through our village! These places really were built into the sides of the hills…

The journey from Vernazza to Monterosso al Mare was TOUGH! We were not expecting the hike to be as difficult as it was…you were seriously on the edge of cliffs, climbing over rocks, etc. There were some areas where “stairs” were formed from rocks and there were a few downhill spots. However, it was mostly an uphill battle that took about 2 hours. The view was worth it though!

When we got to Monerosso we walked around a bit and this village was actually the liveliest of the five. There was a decent size beach area and several restaurants. We grabbed some drinks and ice cream at a bar overlooking the sea, relaxing our legs. We then realized it was getting close to 6pm and we wanted to head back before it got too dark on the trail. What was amazing is that it took us only about an hour to get back! After the first little part, almost all of the trail was down hill.

Before we all rested and showered up, Ag and I headed to a wine shop and got some local red wine and a few plastic Dixie cups. It is very common, I guess, in Cinque Terre to buy a bottle of wine and just ask for it to be opened then and there and for the cups from which to drink it. We enjoyed a few glasses and then we all met in the plaza area for dinner.

Dinner turned out kind of funny. When we got the wine, we realized there were 4 places in the plaza with seats outside and where we could eat dinner. As a group, all 6 of us walked up to 3 of 4 places but none had any available tables. We went to the last place and it was the only restaurant that didn’t have anyone sitting outside and eating! We were skeptical, but we didn’t have too many other options so we sat down.

We ordered and things were going well….we were all really happy, tired and just amazed at how hard and yet how awesome our hike was…. my and Darren’s appetizer comes….we all talk more. It’s a beautiful evening and a great breeze is blowing, etc. Then everyone’s food came out except for mine and Darren’s. The group was being polite and waiting, but after about 5 minutes of waiting, we told everyone to just go ahead and start eating…no point in their food getting cold. That turned out to be a good call because I think they were literally rolling my pasta and catching Darren’s prawns!

Everyone was done and finished for about 10 minutes and then our meals came. Ridiculous. I do have to say though, it may have been some of the best pasta I have ever tasted. Definitely 100% hand made and you could tell. It was extremely good.

After dinner we walked up the street to get some gelato and then retired for the night. When we went to bed, we had the windows open and you could just hear the waves crashing into the shore. Very peaceful.

Ah, the night….well, at 2:45am we were woken up by one of the loudest alarm systems I have ever heard. It went off for about 2 minutes and then stopped. I tiptoed to the window to look out and saw a few guys putting down the restaurant umbrellas, cleaning up, etc. We could hear them shouting back and forth to each other, and they sounded kind of serious, but we had no idea what was going on because they were of course speaking Italian.

Then, the alarm started going off again for about 15-20 minutes and honestly, we thought we were going to die. It was like the Germans were bombing the village. I half expected to see ninjas scaling down ropes from menacing black helicopters and raiding the square (I was also half asleep, so cut me some slack). Agnes honestly thought that someone was trying to climb a ladder and into our window! During the time this alarm was going off, all the lights in the town would cut out and it would be pitch black. Then a flash of lightening, then a huge roll of thunder, then the lights would come back on, one at a time…then off, etc, etc. A few minutes later, one of the worst thunderstorms I have ever seen blew into the area. Sheets of rain were coming down (it was like sea water was just being scooped up…by the Germans and ninjas, of course…and dumped into the village) and finally, the alarm stopped. Were we dreaming or what? What was going on?? Finally, we fell back to sleep. The next day we confirmed we were not dreaming as Darren and Nicole witnessed the alarm too. However, somehow Robert and Alexandra, who were staying in a hotel just a few houses down from ours, heard nothing.

Anyway, the next day we all woke up and had coffee and croissants in the square. We then mentally prepared for our hike southeast to the next 3 villages. It was a beautiful day! The sun was shining, people were out and about, it was awesome.

We left Vernazza around 10:30am and got to Corniglia in about an hour. Corniglia sits on a cliff and doesn’t go to the bottom of the hills so the climb wasn’t awful. Actually, the first part of the trail was pretty intense but once you reached eye-level with the village you were good to go. The path was also a bit shaded but you definitely had to be careful because there were some slick rocks from the rain the night before.

This was probably the smallest village out of the 5 and very quiet and quaint. It seriously had MAYBE 5 places to go into and that is including 2 restaurants, a grocery store, etc. We then left Corniglia and walked to Manarola. The hike wasn’t bad at all, maybe 30 minutes at the most because it was mostly downhill and the path was paved. This village had lots going on and 4 or 5 really good looking places to eat.

We walked into a small sandwich shop and when we came out, we ran into our friends, Jacob and Annette Cooper, who were doing a 2 week Italy/Tuscany car drive. Small world huh??
Manarola had a swimming area and people were jumping off the rocks and into the sea (no beach). Of course Robert and I felt we had to jump in. The water was crystal clear and just looked so inviting (although being able to see the rocks in the water and not being 100% sure if it was deep enough was a bit scary)!

Anyways, it was fun stuff, and as we were dare deviling, we got to see a pretty cool peculiarity for this town. As mentioned, there was no beach. So how do people get their row boats out of the water? As you will see from the pictures, you row your boat into this little area and then a crane is lowered down about 50 feet. You tie a rope that is around your boat to the hook and up your boat goes! You walk up the steps and then you wheel it to a “dock” area (aka parking space) on the side of the street.

Onward we all went to the next village, Riomaggiore. The walk was paved and more or less flat; it took us 20 minutes. It was a very nice way to end our journey! We walked around a bit and took in the view of all the villages from across the sea. Riomaggiore had a small swimming area and a few shops too.

At this point it was only 2pm and we had seen all of Cinque Terre! Our original plan was to take the water ferry back to Vernazza but unfortunately due to the rain the night before, the ports were too rough to dock the boats. We decided to stroll back to Manarola and go to one of the sandwich shops for some food and drinks. We were all pretty tired and yet very satisfied with our day’s activities.

We then we took the train back to Vernazza for 2 euros a piece - money well spent! We grabbed some wine and Dixie cups, drank and chatted about our day, showered and headed to dinner. It was around 8pm at this point.

Dinner was a huge success! Well, Darren and I got our food but Aggie and Nicole didn’t get the veggies they ordered with their steak…instead they got some free chips but at least we all ate at the same time! After dinner we grabbed some gelato and a few more bottles of wine. We sat on some stone steps and chatted, laughed and enjoyed the rest of the night.

We headed to bed wondering if we would be woken up again by the sirens. Thankfully, no disruptions this time and we woke up feeling well rested. We all kind of relaxed and had coffee, enjoyed the atmosphere and village scene and then headed out around 11am.

Nicole and Darren caught the train to Rome and we headed back to Milan. We spent the day in Milan and then caught a late night flight back at 10:30pm. Needless to say, we got in late! It was 1am when we were pulling up to our apartment and of course, of all nights, Monday was my fantasy football draft. 8pm in Chicago translates to 3am in Luxembourg. I was a ball full of fun at work on Tuesday, that is all I have to say!

This weekend Darren and Nicole will meet up with us in Luxembourg. Then on Monday they are taking the train to Paris and we have Big Fred and Andre arriving on Tuesday for the National Lampoon‘s Marcum Family European Adventure! On the docket are Burgundy (France); Bern, Interlaken and Luzerne (all Switzerland); Fussen and Munich (Germany); and maybe a day trip to Salzburg (Austria) from Munich.

Other news :

- Agnes has a new skill. She can safely and comfortably drive a stick shift car. Can anyone say "designated driver"??!!

- We’ve sold the “green machine” (the Saab) and bought a new car…an Audi A4. Wish us luck with this one!!

- College football starts this weekend and we (by “we”, of course, I mean me) couldn’t be more excited…we bought the ESPN College Ticket package for the internet.

- The Schueberfouer (basically glorified St. Ann’s festival, just instead of the hillbillies and drunken brawls, they have a ferris wheel and roller coasters) is going on in Luxembourg these days. We’re gonna check it out with Darren and Nicole either tonight or Sunday.