Our next stop in the Swiss Alps has been incredible! As I am typing the start of this post, we are sitting at 2,500m in the Berggasthaus Alter Santis. This is an alpine guesthouse located on one of the highest peaks in the Swiss Alps, and it is incredible! You can actually see 6 countries from the peak – Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, France, and Italy.

This guesthouse has been on Mount Santis for over 150 years (but just underwent some renovations so it’s quite nice!). It is so beautiful, quiet and magnificent here. Literally, it is completely silent… no TVs, no Internet…. and just one lightbulb in our room.

We ate dinner at the guesthouse, and Ryan enjoyed traditional Swiss food! (You can also see my not so traditional Swiss dinner!)

Ryan’s view of Swiss Food

My view of Swiss Food…

I guess Swiss Hot Chocolate also comes from a packet!

We then headed out to watch for sunset and nightfall. It was only 38 degrees Fahrenheit (and to think we were over 100 degrees just a week ago!) so it was a chilly wait for the cloud cover to clear. The clouds kept floating in and out so that one minute all you could see was fog and the next minute you saw spectacular sunset and moon views.

There is a gondola down there

In fact, there was a full moon while we were here. Several locals had come up just to watch the full moon. We met one person who came up the mountain just to take photos of the moon and stars so he stayed out taking pictures all night at nearly freezing temperatures. Wow!!!

This has definitely been a very authentic experience as it sounds like not many Americans stay here! The locals were so surprised we were staying here but said that it is a true gem so we were so glad to have found it. It was such a neat experience as most guests had dinner in one large room and stayed there having tea, coffee, and hot chocolate for quite a while. We enjoyed visiting with several people before heading out to take pictures of the moon and mountains. Despite some cold fingers, it was wonderful! We were all the more thankful for a thick down comforter (in August!) since our room was about 55 degrees. 🙂

The next morning I woke up quite early to see sunrise. Our room faced east and overlooked the mountains so we couldn’t have had a more perfect vantage point. While its normally difficult to persuade Ryan to get up for sunrise, he only had to sit up in bed to see this one! 😉

Ryan loves to watch sunrise

In the bathroom we noticed that there was a box with a timer and 3 chips. Maybe this is common in Swiss hiking guesthouses or maybe something in German was written somewhere that we didn’t understand, but we had to guess at this one! We guessed it was shower related, and I got to be the guinea pig. I figured my best bet was to be really fast. It turns out you had 2 minutes and 18 seconds of water… At which point the shower completely shut off. Wow, talk about needing to move fast! It’s quite difficult to get water to the top of the mountain so it was important to conserve so we were happy to help… And I would say a 2 min, 18 sec shower will definitely conserve water!

After a breakfast of Swiss cheese, warm wheat bread, and yogurt, we hit the hiking trails again. Our morning hike was called Rotstein Pass, which has been rated as one of the top hikes in Switzerland. This hike crosses between two mountain passes on a narrow trail so you get 360 views of mountains for almost all of the hike. There are chains along about half of the hike so you can grab on to avoid falling, and we rented hiking poles as well. This is one of the most beautiful hikes I have ever been on! Here are few photos of the view:

To see more on this hike, check out: http://m.myswitzerland.com/en/hiking-the-ridge-between-mts-saentis-and-altmann.html

After heading back down the mountain, we drove into a small town called Appenzell that looks like the traditional Swiss town image you probably have in your mind. We enjoyed eating some local Swiss cheese and a hazelnut cake as well as strolling through the town.

We finished off our visit to the region with a short stop over in Lucern, a pretty city with both a lake and mountains. We dined by the water and then enjoyed walking across the waterfront and seeing the Chapel Bridge. This medieval bridge is over 800 years old and has paintings in the eaves that depict historical scenes as you walk. It also has flower boxes all along the outside. It was pretty!

Look for more updates from Switzerland soon!

Greetings from Munich and Neuschwanstein Castle!

After leaving Berlin we traversed Germany to reach Neuschwanstein Castle near the Switzerland border. It was fun driving the autobahn on the way there! We had brief stopover in Munich on our way for dinner and snuck in a couple of pictures (albeit it was a bit rainy!)

Neuschwanstein Castle is located in the Bavaria region of Germany. Many think this castle was the inspiration for Disney’s Sleeping Beauty Castle. We found a new hotel that just opened in February that was located at the base of the castle. You could look up at the castle while eating breakfast!

We toured the inside of the castle then were able to walk to a bridge overlooking it. Thankfully, it wasn’t raining and the morning clouds started to break! Here are a few pictures:

This is a short post for us, but look for another post soon from the Swiss Alps!

Emily breaking the land speed record on the Auto Bahn – only around 100mph, but the g forces kept me from taking the picture when she was driving faster

We celebrated our arrival to Berlin by stopping at a German pastry shop (called Mr. Minch) that we found on a list of top 100 bakeries in the world. The chef has worked in Chicago so we of course felt a personal connection to him. 🙂

Our hotel is actually in the former East Berlin (Mitte) so it is fascinating to see the development that is occurring. I remember watching the fall of the Berlin Wall on TV (I was a news junkie even as a kid!). After we checked in, we rode the U Bahn (Subway) to the Charlottenburg area (part of former West Berlin). While there we went to the Ka-Da-Wee department store, which feels a bit like Harrods. This was a fruitful shopping trip as we found our second clothes line so we can air dry more clothes now. We are sure that most Berliners go shopping for clothes lines here! 🙂

While in the Charlottenburg area we also visited the Kaiser Wilhelm Church. The Church was mostly destroyed during WWII but now stands as a memorial of remembrance. The Church is currently undergoing massive reinforcement so we couldn’t see the outside, but we did go into the new Church next door.

Several of my German co-workers kept telling me to have flammkuchen when I was in Germany. It is funny that this keeps coming up as it is actually a French type of pizza (tarte flambee), but it is served all over Germany. We found a local place with flammkuchen that was quite good! The pizza is a very thin crust without tomato sauce. We tried typical varieties with leek, cheese, and prosciutto.

The second day we visited historical sites around Berlin. We started by visiting Tränenpalast – The Palace of Tears at Friedrichstraße station. The station gained its name as it is where East and West friends/families had some ability to shortly meet but led to horribly tearful goodbyes when they had to separate again.

The museum was thought provoking and moving. It went through the entire timeline of the Berlin Wall and the separation of families and friends that occurred for almost 30 years. It is so hard to believe that the wall was still standing during our lifetime and that .

When we got near the site, we asked a local (in very broken German) if he spoke English and if this was indeed the museum’s location. He started started crying and said he’d always speak English for an American. He thanked our country for standing for principles that freed Germany and eventually reunited Berlin. Wow, this made us feel so grateful for what we have.

The next stop was Checkpoint Charlie which was one of the most famous border crossings between East and West Berlin. The area is commercialized now (some company has “American Troops” with whom you can take your picture …), but it was interesting to see. We then went on to the Topography of Terror Museum a former SS headquarters and the border of the Berlin Wall.

The Museum was very well done and fully explained the events leading up to Hitler’s reign and the atrocities that occurred from 1933 onward. We took the opportunity to go on a guided tour which was quite informative.

Our final stop was the Reichstag, Germany’s Parliament building. I found out that you can get free guided tours in English if you reserve several weeks in advance. The entire operation was quite impressive. We checked in and then had to provide confirmation that we were expected visitors. We then went to a second stand where we had to show our passports. Next, we went through airport style security. Finally, we were walked to the actual Parliament building by a guard where they again checked our identity! Wow!

Today the building has been completely restored. During the restoration graffiti was found on the walls belonging to Soviet soldiers that liberated Germany so it was preserved as part of the city’s history.

There was also an interesting art exhibit showing bricks for each democratically elected parliament member. You’ll notice, however, that there is a black box in one photo which signifies the horrific Nazi reign. The tour completed by visiting the dome on top of the capital which has a great overlook of Berlin (although it was raining!)

We stopped by to have coffee with Angela at her office

Impressive – even the do not enter ropes have the country’s colors!

On the walk back to the hotel we walked past the Brandenburg Gate which was neat to see as well!

Our next stop is the Neuschwanstein-Hohenschwangau Castle.

PS from Emily: Ryan must look like a technical expert in all countries. Maybe it’s because he gets out an iPad with a hard drive, a USB hub, and a cell phone everywhere! 😉 We’re sitting here at a cafe and a lady from Greece out of the blue asks in broken English (first in Greek… then English) why her phone isn’t working. I’m thinking… how on earth is he going to know?! Sure enough, he was able to help them! She wasn’t dialing with the correct country code prefixes.

In Prague he became the technical expert for two people who couldn’t get into their gmail account at the hotel. It’s quite funny… he must just look like he knows what he is doing! I’ve been so thankful for his technical workarounds as it’s been taking herculian efforts (and lots and lots and lots of workarounds!) to get our pictures backed up and loaded using our iPad!

Wow, it’s hard to believe it’s been 10 years since I was in Prague!

I spent a summer studying in Prague in undergrad so it was a memory filled reunion for me and an intro to Prague for Ryan. Ryan and I were dating at the time I studied here so he heard lots about the country but had never seen it. He has also pestered me for 10 years for not taking many pictures of my dorm, classroom, or campus. 🙂 So… it was very fun to show him where I was in person!

There are definitely still examples of the country not being quite as developed. For example, the road from Vienna to Prague is primarily a 2 lane road… as there would have been no ability for Czechs to be able to travel outside the borders to Austria.

However, there are less and less of these examples now that two decades have passed without communism and the Czech has joined the EU. It was fascinating to see the advancement the country has made! Coming into the city, we saw new malls, housing developments, and major company buildings (particularly IT-based companies such as HP, Atos, and Microsoft). I also noticed many of the buildings had been cleaned and repainted.

We kicked off our time in Prague with a visit to the campus where I studied. We had lunch at the campus restaurant where I ate lunch each day, saw the dorm where I lived, and walked past the classroom we used. It was so fun to see it again!

This is the phone booth I called Ryan and my family over the summer!

This used to be a cinder track – they got an upgrade!

After visiting campus we headed downtown, and I took Ryan through all the typical Prague sites. We saw St. Wenceslas Square with its Horse Statue, which is a frequent meeting point and the site of Czech student Jan Palach burning himself to death in 1969 to protest Soviet occupation of his country. We then walked through the Old Town (an area filled both with lots of historical sites and tourists!), the Jewish Quarter, and an area with my favorite view of Prague Castle.

Jewish Cemetary

We also had a wonderful end to the day with one of Ryan’s friends from high school Church youth group. She is now a missionary in the Czech Republic and teaches English classes. We were able to meet up for dinner and had a wonderful time! It was so interesting to hear about the local culture, her work, and the challenges of working in a country that is <1% Christian. This was also Emily's first time meeting Stacy. Ryan had his first taste of traditional Czech food (Emily was never a big fan ;)), and we had such a wonderful time with Stacy! Thank you so much Stacy!

Our hotel had a fun program in which a hotel staff member would go for a run through the city and explain the history and culture of various areas you passed so I started off the next morning with a run. It was a lot of fun (and Ryan was happy I had another group for running so he could sleep in ;))!

We spent the rest of the morning exploring Prague Castle before heading to what is called the "Dancing House" for lunch.

The Dancing House was designed by Frank Gehry and has a beautiful view of the skyline. We had actually decided to eat lunch here because it allows you to go to a private observation deck on top of the building for free (after you pay for lunch…haha). Prague is a very beautiful city from above, with red roofs throughout the city and the historical buildings preserved. Since Prague and the rest Czechoslovakia were quickly taken by Hitler after the Sudetenland was ceded and the city avoided most of the airstrikes in WWII, architecture from multiple centuries remains intact today.

We finished off the day by visiting Vysehard, an old fort for the city that overlooks the river (thanks for the reco Stacy!), before going up Petrin Hill. Petrin Hill has an mini “Eiffel Tower” on top of a hill over the city. We went up at sunset and enjoyed a beautiful view! We finished off the night with dinner on Petrin Hill followed by a walk back to the hotel across the famous Charles Bridge, one of the most popular areas in Prague.

Greetings from Vienna!

After a short drive in from Salzburg, we spent a day exploring Vienna.

As you may have noticed by now, we like restaurants! Since Vienna is known for its cafes, we picked out a few local favorites to try. For lunch, I had an excellent pancake with plum sauce as my entree that is a local Austrian specialty. Only after the waiter acted like I was strange did we realize it is typically served as a dessert! Whoops! It was about the same sweetness as any pancake with fruit topping in the US so I think that I must really like things sweet! For our actual dessert, we enjoyed a raspberry torte which was great!

Nearby the cafe, we went through the Schonbrunn Gardens, which is a huge park area and palace. The grounds revere beautiful, and it looked like locals loved to walk, run, and relax there.

We then headed into the heart of downtown via subway. Having used subways and trains in multiple international cities, I can say that Vienna has to be one of the most visitor friendly systems around! We’ll tell you more about this in a separate post, but this was an instance where having a chip credit card with a PIN number (takes a lot and lot of work to get this in the US!) was critical for buying a ticket. For those traveling internationally, look for an upcoming blog posts on some tips/tricks that we’re putting together.

Once downtown, we first headed for the Musical Instruments Museum (Kunsthistorisches Museum: Collection of Historic Musical Instruments). I was able to see several trumpet collections such as some of the original herald and keyed trumpets.

I didn’t know that my Dad’s metronome had made it into the museum!

Kellogg Friends – Remember the Steinway case?

We finished off the day by hitting a local market (more fresh peaches :)), walking through the Imperical Palace, and then hitting up two local cafes. We particularly enjoyed Cafe Sperl, the oldest cafe in Vienna. For dessert, we enjoyed a plum tart and mocha expressos at Cafe Aida, another local spot.

We have noticed that Austrians seem to love to stop for a pastry and cafes. We see many more people just getting this versus having a full meal at a restaurant. Sometimes in the US restaurants are annoyed when you just get coffee and dessert so it’s been really interesting to see!

Guten Tag from Salzburg!

It was a great time to be in Salzburg as it is the middle of the world-famous Salzburg Music Festival.

Our first stop in Salzburg was the Mirabelle Palace and Gardens. At the palace we were able to see the concert hall where Mozart frequently played.

Outside in the meticulously manicured gardens, we saw several places shown in the Sound of Music. The gnome shown here was patted by the children and the horse statue is shown during the scene as well.

The Sound of Music is certainly still engrained in this city. In fact, the hotel where we stayed had the DVD on constant loop!

After grabbing a Sacher Torte and expresso (well known dessert, but I didn’t love it since it wasn’t overly sweet or moist!), we enjoyed a walk through the beautiful old town on our way to the music festival.

Since I play trumpet and was in the Ohio State Marching Band, I enjoy classical music (particularly if it has lots of brass :)). I have have always wanted to go to the Salzburg Music Festival which is held for 6 weeks each summer and features concerts with some of the top symphonies and conductors. I was excited we could design our trip to be in Salzburg during the festival and found tickets were very, very popular! We bought tickets over 4 months out when the tickets went on sale, and the concert sold out almost instantly!

We are used to classical concerts in the US in which we are way below the average attendee’s age and many people dress fairly informally. This was definitely not the case for Salzburg Music Festival! Nearly all the men were in suits and women wore either formal gowns or formal historical dresses (we were so surprised to see that historical dresses (think Sound of Music dresses) are actually still worn!). Needless to say, we definitely felt underdressed in business casual!

The concert hall was packed, and many of the people there were in their 20’s and 30’s. We had even opted for the less prestigious concert featuring Mahler 4 versus the premiere concert Meistersinger (I wasn’t sure if Emily last through the 5.5 hour Meistersinger concert so i went on my own in Chicago :)).

We grabbed more dessert and coffees after the concert but noticed a big change from Italy and Spain. We nearly closed out the cafe at about 11:30 PM – this would have been very early in Italy or especially Spain!

On our next day in Salzburg we headed out of the city to a little town called Hallstatt which is nestled between a beautiful lake and mountains. We had planned to spend the day hiking but it was a rainout. However, we still got to see the view (albeit a bit rainy) and had a pretty lunch overlooking the water before heading back to Salzburg.

We enjoyed some traditional (and delicious) apple strudel before going to another concert – this time at a church featuring 5 organs playing concurrently which only takes place one time per year.

Our night finished with an exciting trip to a laundromat! The cool part was that the same machine both washed and dried. While this resulted in us accidentally drying a couple of items that were not supposed to go in the dryer (whoops!), it was a neat idea!

Greetings from Venice!

Since there are no cars in central Venice, we researched how to park our car before arriving. We actually found it was best to have a reservation for parking and to prepay it. We were very glad to have a reservation as most of the garages were almost full!

After parking we took a water taxi into the main section of the city. While inexpensive the water taxis are definitely not speedy! It like riding the Chicago Red Line or non-express Purple Line to Evanston…. you feel like you’ll never get there because of stopping at every single station!

Our hotel was about a 10 min walk from the main square, and we were so happy that we had limited luggage! We saw multiple people hauling enormous suitcases on luggage carts that had to be manually unloaded at every bridge! For those of you who have been to Venice, you can imagine what a mess this can be. Venice is known for its bridges which all have a relatively steep incline to accomodate gondolas. While the bridges are very scenic, they are a mess for luggage carts!

We thought our hotel would be nice, but you are never sure until you’re there. It turned out to be wonderful! It was an apartment with a room upstairs, a kitchen, and a living room. It was in fantastic condition, was on a quiet street, and overlooked a bridge and plaza.

We spent our first afternoon walking the streets of Venice (everyone says to just enjoy “getting lost” on the streets of Venice. For those of you who know Ryan, this wasn’t exactly up his alley! He insisted on using his offline GPS maps and of course never got lost once in Venice! ;)). We then watched sunset from various points, including Punta della Dogana and San Giorgio Maggiori (on a small island looking back at Venice).

As we were researching restaurants in Venice, we found that many of the restaurants can be pricey but not very good. By looking at several foodie websites, we found two restaurants that are known to be very good. When we emailed one of them for reservations, however, we found that it was closed due to the August holiday season (for those that aren’t aware, it’s typical in several European countries for people to take 3-4 weeks of vacation in August so many businesses just close during this period). We asked the owner for other recommendations, and she gave us a list of well-known local restaurants. I started calling and found only one that was open during this week of August! It was a local pizza restaurant located on a small residential street about a 40 minute walk from our hotel.

The walk to the restaurant was well worth it! We weaved through countless narrow side streets and found the restaurant located in a beautiful plaza by a canal and bridge. You know you’ve hit a local restaurant when you only hear Italian. 🙂 The pizza was fabulous!

We’ve also noticed that we always get assigned a “special” server who speaks English, sometimes even the Maitre’d. While we are happy to try to order in Italian, I think that they figure their English is far superior to our Italian attempts and less frustrating for them. 🙂 In fact, we have trouble even practicing other languages because people instantly switch to English (often without us even speaking… apparently we don’t look French, Spanish, or Italian!!).

On our second day in Venice, we visited the Doge’s Palace that was once the seat of Venitian politics and the city’s prison. We also happened to be in Venice during the Biennial Art Exhibit, which is a world-renown art show. Over the years this art exhibition has catapulted several up and coming artists to global promience, such as Edward Hopper. Each country is able to send one artist to the show so it was interesting to look through art from around the world.

We finished up the day with with dinner overlooking St. Mark’s Square at the one other foodie restaurant we found. It was a great ending to our time in Venice!

Ciao! We’re off to Austria!

Greetings from Tuscany!

Based on some great recommendations from a co-worker (thank you so much for all the fantastic advise and recos, Marco C!!), we took a beautiful route through Tuscany on our way to Venice.

One of the towns we we stopped was Siena, a beautiful walled city. We spent the afternoon wandering the narrow streets and saw the main plaza where a horse race occurs. While a horse race wasn’t happening while we were there, it was incredible to think about horses and thousands of people fitting into this plaza! There were even bleachers set up in front of restaurants for people to watch the races.

We also spent some time relaxing (as well as fun things like updating our budget, catching up on email, etc ;)) in a cafe over expresso and gelato. 🙂

For dinner that evening, we headed off to a restaurant that overlooked the vineyards and hills north of Siena in Tuscany/Toscana. We arrived in time to see the landscape in the sun and then watched sunset over dinner. We enjoyed a fantastic dinner of seafood, pasta, and truffles. It was a very fun evening!

Now we’re off to Venice. Ciao!

Sorry – we hit save on the wrong post – this is the one we meant to send today 🙂

Hello from Rome!

We kicked off our time in this ancient city with a visit to the Vatican. We did a lot of advance research to find out the best way to visit and decided on a pre-scheduled tour booked directly through the Vatican. We were glad to have a reservation as the line was wrapped around the building by 9 am when we arrived!

Our guide was great, and we got to see the Vatican Museum, St. Peter’s Bascilica, St. Peter’s Square, and the Sistine Chapel. Although the tour was almost 4 hours, we got to see so much and our guide was so good that the time flew by. We were both very surprised at how busy the Vatican was! Our guide said that it would be hard to even find him, and he wasn’t joking! It was jam-packed in all the major areas so we actually had ear pieces to be able to hear our guide as we moved through as we would have never been able it stay together or hear him without it!

Seeing Michelangelo’s work in person was incredible! We both were struck by the contrast between Michelangelo’s pieces and the paintings completed in the Vatican just 10 years prior to his commission.

St Peter’s Basilica was also incredible! While it is one of the largest basilicas in the world, it doesn’t feel much larger than other basilicas. This is because statues were made 4x normal human sizing, and letters were amplified even more. This skews your perspective and makes it seem smaller than it actually is. It was such a neat experience to visit this holy site!

Balcony where the Pope addresses crowds

Next up, we hiked across town to the ancient sites of Rome – the Colosseum, Palatine Hill, and the Pantheon. It was again 99 degrees so we definitely worked up a sweat! Before arriving, we stopped quickly for some pastries (which negated the benefit of our walk I’m sure!). We had found this pastry shop on a top rated list, and it was delicious! We enjoyed petit fours and profiteroles.

We had also booked a tour of the Colosseum and were again glad to have a reservation as it saved us a very, very long line. The tour allowed us to go the ground level, underground area, and top level which are not open if you have a general admission ticket. We really enjoyed it! If you’re headed to Rome, we definitely recommend booking in advance!

Our visit to the ancient Roman ruins was capped off with visits to Palatine Hill and the Pantheon. Palatine Hill is the center hill of Rome’s 7 hills and contains many ancient Roman ruins, including the Roman Forum. The Pantheon, which was originally built as a temple to gods and is now part of the Catholic Church, is one of the best preserved Roman ruins. It is absolutely amazing to look at ruins over 2,000 years old!

We finished off our time in Rome with a walk past Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps at night before grabbing gelato for dessert. This was a great end to our time in Rome!

Ciao for now!

Greetings!

As the title of this post suggests, we had an interesting start to our time in Italy! After leaving Monaco we quickly hit the border of Italy and spent the morning driving. The interstate stretch in this area is certainly exciting! It winds up the coast of Italy but traverses several mountains so you cross very high bridges overlooking seaside towns and countless tunnels.

We were headed for an area called Cinque Terre and were about 45 min away when we saw break lights and traffic stopping. Knowing the type of roads we had just been on, we thought it could be an accident. Although we don’t know any Italian, you can figure out a lot by observing!

After seeing 3 ambulances, over 10 fire trucks, and multiple police vehicles, we knew it was going to be awhile. In fact, most people shut off their cars and were walking around on the interstate. Then, the Italian police brought us water to drink…uh oh!

We eventually found a kind person who spoke English who gave us a status update. It turned out there was a huge car fire in the tunnel which caused significant damage to the tunnel and filled the entire tunnel with smoke. Thankfully (and absolutely most importantly!), everyone was fine. The only issue was the tunnel damage which shut down the road for 4 hours!

We were fortunate to have water, snacks and iPads so the time passed quickly. The only bad part was that we missed getting to go to Cinque Terre 😦

On the bright side…

– We were not in the tunnel when it happened (thankfully!!)
– We’ve now read up on how to escape tunnel fires (*details below for those interested :))
– We also have a great reason to return to Italy in the future – to see Cinque Terre!

We also thankfully made it to Pisa in time for our timed admission to go up the Leaning Tower. While you know it leans, it feels really crazy to be up at the top and feel the lean in person!

It looks like a few people have been here before 🙂

We even had a chance to get the classic Leaning Tower of Pisa photos. 🙂 Here are a few:

After leaving the Leaning Tower, we had a fast-paced drive into Rome! This time we saw 1 accident, 1 overturned semi, and 1 car fire. Wow! Today was definitely an adventure, but we had a few fun driving experiences such as:

1. The speeds for even mountainous, winding interstates are quite high at 130 km/h (~78mph)! Apparently the speed “limits” are really more of a max versus the speed you feel safe to drive!

2. Driving lanes are both narrow and optional. 😉 Drifting over into the lane beside you without warning is completely normal!

3. Fires do happen in tunnels. Here is what we learned about tunnel safety (for anyone more experienced with this, chime in with any other advice!)

– The key is to get out fast! Drive (if you can) or run (if necessary).
– Most tunnels have signs periodically throughout the tunnel saying the number of meters you are from each entrance or emergency exit so you can use these signs to know which way is the fastest exit.

– Almost every tunnel has a sign at the entrance that indicate the length of the tunnel so you can also use this to judge how far you are into the tunnel.

We are now ready to explore Rome! Look for an update soon!

Bonjour from Nice and Monte Carlo!

Our next stop was to beautiful Nice, France. We gave our feet a break from walking and took a bike tour to explore Nice. We had a fun time! Our tour guide was very good and took us to all the major Nice sites.

We first saw the Promenade des Anglais which runs along the ocean side of the city. The beautiful beaches here are unique as they are comprised of smooth stones versus sand. We also rode through Old Nice and saw the Opera House, a flower market, and several historical buildings in which the architects had painted false windows. Apparently when the funds ran low in building projects, faux windows were painted on!

Which windows are real and which are fake?!?

Hundreds of gelato flavors including a graham cracker variety a friend Steven suggested 🙂

We then rode up to the top of Castle Hill (Colline du Chateau) which is about 100m above sea level. From the top, we had panoramic views of the bay and beaches. Very nice (sorry, bad pun :))! We could also see homes of several famous people from here, including Elton John, Sean Connery, and the hospital where Anglina Jolie had her daughter.

Tasty Orange-Mango Soda the tour gave us. Interesting that it has no carbonation yet carbonated water is popular!

Next, we headed onto Monte Carlo, Monaco, which is located about 30 minutes from Nice. We took the scenic route into Monaco by driving the steep hills above the towns and sea.

Once in Monte Carlo, our Citroen held its own on the Grand Prix route – albeit our speeds only approached about 30 kilometers per hour. 🙂

We really enjoyed our time in Monaco! As you might imagine, we saw lots and lots of expensive cars and huge yachts docked in the harbor. I also saw the flashiest pair of Louboutins I have ever seen being worn!

Our first stop in Monte Carlo was to visit the Prince’s Palace that is set on a hill overlooking the city. We then looked through several beautiful gardens that overlook the ocean before winding our way off the hill.

We capped off our time in Monte Carlo with a really neat dinner overlooking the harbor and hills of Monaco. The view and the food were absolutely fantastic! (For those curious, we have been swinging the calories and budget of these meals by going light at least one meal… for example, if we have a nice dinner, lunch has been a piece of fruit and either yogurt or a granola bar. On average, we’re good! 🙂 Often, we have found some restaurants have a great tasting menu for lunch so it can be a great way to try nicer restaurants for less.)

Ryan’s formerly wrinkled sport coat. It didn’t seem to enjoy the compression bags so creative measures were used to make him look presentable.

Our actual rental car – that Citroen was just a joke so you didn’t get jealous

Next stop – Pisa/Rome!

After spending about a week in Spain, we headed for the French Riviera and Monaco!

Our first stop was to Cassis, a small seaside village outside of Marseille, France. The area is know for Les Calanques which are deep rocky inlets of white stone that create coves and ocean cliffs. The water here is very blue as this region is around what is know as the Cote de Azul (translates as blue waters).

The combination of white rock, ocean, and beaches was incredibly beautiful! We took a boat from Cassis to see the first 8 of a chain of calanques and had a wonderful afternoon.

The locals seemed to enjoy the beaches and finding their own outcroppings of rock for enjoying the sun. We also saw lots of people cliff jumping into the water – neat!

We grabbed some delicious sorbet and then headed off for a scenic overlook drive above Cassis. The views from this drive were incredible! Here are just a few of the views we saw:

Several people have asked what type of car we have so here’s a shot of it – it’s a Citroen C4. It’s working out very well!

We did have some excitement before dinner in Marseille! We always check maps/GPS to ensure that the local roads allow traffic, are two-way, etc. The road for the restaurant passed all of our tests. Well, when we drove to the restaurant we got in some trouble… The road was two way, but it was only as wide as one car!!! So, once we got to the restaurant and found no spots we had to do a six-point turn (Emily took the honors) while against a 15 foot drop off into the bay. After we made it out of that jam we went to a bigger street with parking. We found a spot, but the spot was actually painted on the sidewalk – yes, you have to ram your car up over the curb and park 1/2 on the sidewalk and 1/2 on the road. By the time we got to dinner we were about done for the day!

Here is a picture of our “two-way” road! Emily got to turn the car around in the narrow bend without going into the water. 🙂

Once the car was parked it was time to have the world renown Bouillabaisse. Bouillabaisse is a soup made of tomato broth with multiple types of fish in it. Marseille has an active port so the Bouillabaisse here is made up of fish literally caught that morning so it’s absolutely fresh. In fact, the specific fish included in soup varies each day based on what was caught that morning. When we ordered, the staff brought out the fish that would be used to make our exact soup (Emily always loves seeing the full raw fish before cooking ;))! It was delicious!

Next up is Nice and Monaco! Au revoir!