We've reached the end of our spring break week.  Thursday was our last day touring Lake Como, so we decided to head back to the group fave Varenna.  It was a gorgeous day!

I mean seriously...this was my lunch view.

More gelato of course!

I win for the biggest gelato...when in Italy....

We should have given Menaggio a little more credit.  Once you walked a little further from port, it was super cute!

The drive back to Carate Urio was interesting.  This semi hauling a full load of hay somehow missed hitting us!  I was pretty sure he was coming through the windshield.  The roads just weren't big enough.  I'm not going to lie.  I'm glad Karin was driving.

EEEEEEEK!!!!!

You know you're doing pretty well when you have a house on Lake Como, with your own funicular, and a dog guarding your giant gate!

Mom guilt!  We should have eaten here (Acquadolce) while the guys were still with us.  

It. Was. Amazing!

The food was amazing, that view was incredible, and the company was second to none (even more so if the dads were with!)

Friday morning, we were off to Milan!

The beautiful Duomo...and my beautiful girl. :)

I had one goal...for the kids to see The Last Supper.  Mission accomplished!  No photos inside, so the admission ticket is proof.

Next on the agenda was walking on the rooftop of the Duomo.  This is much more fun than actually seeing the inside.  Which in fact, we did not do.  The kids weren't interested.  They are "cathedraled" out.  I will say though that it is really beautiful inside (saw it on another trip here.)

She is kind of hilarious!

There are beautiful things to see in Milan.  But I'm not going to lie.  It's not my favorite. I think one day is plenty!

We watched Ocean's Eleven when we returned to the apartment.  We had to.  We were George's neighbors for a whole week.  Kids loved it!

Thanks Karin for bringing the Apple TV!

Saturday morning, we started our long trek back to Belgium with a detour.....

The drive through Switzerland was breathtaking!

Here's the detour...we stopped in Liechtenstein!  It is only 62 square miles with a population of 35,000 people.  That is one tiny country!  It is actually called a microstate.

The Prince lives in that castle overlooking the capital city of Vaduz.

Proof we were there!

In researching our stop, we found you could walk out on this covered bridge and be in both Liechtenstein and Switzerland at the same time.  Cool!  We were worried we wouldn't find it....but let's remember just how small this place it.  It was literally the first thing we passed by. 

Standing in two countries!  Where are the kids you ask??  They are in the car watching Spiderman because walking across a covered bridge is lame.  Time to go home.  

That concludes our fantastic spring break.  Blogging just makes me want to go back.  Thank you to the Smith family for sharing it with us.  Stay tuned for more adventures!

Until next time,

Wendy

Switzerland Part 2 "The Top of Europe"

This was the big day we had been waiting for...and we woke up to very cloudy, rainy skies.  This is how our trips seem to go.  When we went to Salzburg, we couldn't see the hills due to clouds and fog.  The hills definitely weren't alive with the sound of music.  When we went to Neuschwanstein Castle, our first sight of it was nothing but scaffolding. It looked like it was in a box!  And, so our "luck" continued with virtually no views of mountains in Switzerland.  Sigh.....

We boarded the bus at 8:30 AM in Zurich.  The first stop was Interlaken.  Rick Steeves pointed out in his book that the glory days of Interlaken are over.  Today, the jung Fraus getting the most attention are at Hooters.

Yes, they have a Hooters.  And yes, we went there.  If you ordered a hot drink, you got a free croissant. :)  With just 30 minutes in Interlaken, we had to choose something fast.  This group was just thrilled about the weather.  Can you tell?

The kiddos in Interlaken.

Then we were back on the bus for our next stop in Grindelwald.  In Grindelwald, we boarded the cogwheel train.  This was the first of two trains to take us to the top of Jungfrau.  The windows of this train pulled nearly all the way down, so you could get great photographs.

Group shot!

The kids loved the waterfalls, but clouds made their way to the ground preventing us from seeing the mountains.

I'll bet that is one heck of a view!

Climbing higher and higher.

As we climbed higher and highter, it got brighter and brighter.  If you're planning a trip here, be sure to pack your sunglasses.

These were our views as we entered the first station to change trains.  I love the sight of the train on the far right that was heading back down the mountain.

The "red" train takes you to the highest rail station in Europe.  You don't travel on the mountain, you travel THROUGH it! 

Mountain snow

Train change

Our guide made sure we always had a group shot.  He called us "family of 10" and always yelled for Mike. 

Now that's more like it! The views on the way up were beautiful!  The train would stop along the way for all of us to get out and adjust to the altitude.  

On the left, where the mountain sticks out, there is a house.  Hikers can stay there when they reach that point of their climb.  Nuts!

We made it to the top.  It really isn't the highest point in Europe...but it is the highest rail station. 

Well, it was bright, but it certainly didn't have the views we were hoping for.  All we could see was white, and the snow was coming down.

That's a lot of snow....

Checking out the ice palace.  The sculptures were nice, but we are little spoiled with the ice sculptures in Brugge.  These sculptures were nothing like those.

She liked having her dad drag her around the icy path. Ha!

We aren't used to brightness in Belgium.  We were struggling!

Playing in the snow like all of the other kids (on the other side of the rope.)

And, then I spotted this sign.  Playing in the snow was OVER!

That crazy woman has that camera in my face again....

I'll give her a smile just to make her happy.

Three orders of chicken nuggets and fries, an Asian dish, and four drinks = $111.  

Making our way down the mountain.  The clouds started to lift.

Those red cheeks were a result of the altitude.  We all felt it more than we thought we would.

Smooches!

God's Country

We had to get a picture with our guide.  His name was Kid, and he could boss a group of 60 people around like it was nobody's business!  He was small but mighty! 

Arriving back in Grindelwald.

Taking the bus from Grindelwald back to Zurich.  The altitude really didn't agree with him, and it was a very long day. The kids were troopers!

The panoramic setting on my iPhone.  Beautiful!

Makes me laugh!

Here is the top, and this is what we were supposed to see.  It's a good excuse to take my mom there and hope for a clear day.

So, it wasn't completely what we signed up for, but it was a great experience with my little family and our friends.  That part of it was priceless and made it all worth it!

Until next time,
Wendy