German Holiday: Days 5&6

Today I am sharing days 5&6 of our trip! I was going to share 5-8, but the post was just simply too long.

If you missed days 1-4 you can catch up here.

Lugano & Lucerne

Day 5

We made the drive from Lake Como to Lugano. We explored for the day and swam in Lake Lugano. It was hot, but it was beautiful. 

**Rather than drive straight from Como to Lucerne we decided to stop in Lugano to split up the drive. Even though it isn't a very long drive, 5 people and their 3 weeks worth of luggage crammed into a Golf makes for a tight ride. We thoroughly enjoyed the stop.**

Lugano, Switzerland

It reminded me a lot of Como, but was charming in its own way!

The BIGGEST watermelons I've ever seen!

We were looking at a swan. Perhaps even talking to it... ;)

Swimming!

After enjoying a street food lunch we made the rest of the drive to Lucerne, Switzerland. We checked into the hotel, and hit the downtown for dinner.

The famous Kapellbrücke (Chapel Bridge). It is the oldest wooden covered bridge in Europe.

Walking across the bridge.

We moseyed around town for a bit before settling on a traditional Swiss restaurant for dinner.  

The food was fabulous, and by far the most expensive meal I have ever had. When people tell you Switzerland is expensive, believe them. Because it. is. expensive. in a way that you can't even imagine!

** At this point of the trip I got Skeeter Syndrome (Google it if you dare). The Swiss mosquitos didn't like me. At all. My bites were huge (like the size of bagel bites) and they all blistered. It was disgusting. So wear bug spray - if only I had.**

Day 6

Day 6 we were going to the top of Mount Pilatus. Prior to this vacation Blake and I decided we were going to hike to the top. Well, Blake's brother (Aaron) is an experienced hiker and he looked up some technical bits about this hike and it was decided that it was probably a bit too much for me. SO - Blake's parents and I bought the Golden Tickets and Blake and Aaron hiked to the top. 

The Golden Ticket

You purchase your tickets near the train station at a little booth. The Golden Ticket consists of a boat ride on Lake Lucerne, a ride on the world's steepest cog railway, an aerial cableway, a panoramic gondola ride, and then a bus back to Lucerne. 

Here is a map of the Golden Round Trip. Cost: 106 CHF.
A bit pricy, but if the hike isn't your thing and the weather is good the Golden Ticket is well worth the money. Plus you get to dance and sing I have the golden ticket. :)

The pictures are going to be a mix of the hike up and the ride up. Blake's pictures and mine. :) Blake and Aaron set out a bit earlier than us since it would take them longer.

The start of the hike.

The view of the train I rode up. 

Lake Lucerne

Cows and the train. 

What I was doing while Blake was hiking to the top - enjoying a latte. ;)

The cows! Blake said they were so close at some points that he could touch them.

If you are interested in hiking to the top, the trails are well marked.

Hiking!

Views for days.

My boat ride.

Blake could see the top!

Here we come on the train.

The inside of the train.

We all made it to the top! 

To celebrate, we got beer. I mean, Blake worked really hard. ;)

Amazing views.

It was a beautiful day.

Take a time out. We did. We got off where you change from the aerial cableway to the gondolas. At this stop they have a toboggan run and you best believe we rode it. :) It was amazing. I must've been so excited that I didn't take one single photo. 

Here's a photo from their website. Since you needed to see it. 

It was a long, amazing day. We celebrated with pizza and an early sleep. 

Join me tomorrow for Days 7&8.

xoxo

German Holiday: Days 1-4

I. Am. Back!

First: This Quote. How perfect is this? It is so incredibly fitting for my life, and I love it.

We returned home Sunday night from our 17 day - 5 country German Holiday. 

Over the next several days I will be sharing our trip. Today read about pre-holiday and days 1-4.

Pre-Holiday

Blake's parents arrived on Sunday (September 4th) and we hit the town! Braunschweig was having a festival. Nothing says welcome to Germany like a festival of beer, sausage, and other great food. :)

We explored and enjoyed each others company.

The Ritzi House

And look at these delicious puffy food bits. I don't remember what they were called. But they were fabulous. 

Rainbow :)

Blake's parents left Monday morning for Amsterdam since Blake had to work until Wednesday.

Wednesday/Thursday

We toured the VW factory. I don't have any photos because they don't allow it. But let me just say it was really neat and an awesome start to our Holiday! 

We were supposed to head to a city in Germany on Thursday, but we had a slight change of plans. Blake's dad had been pretty sick all week, and by Thursday he still wasn't better. It was decided he needed to visit the Doctor. This bit of info is important because I am about to share with you about the hospital in Germany! Yep. He went to the Dr. and she sent him to the ER. If you ever find yourself in the hospital in Germany - I hope you find my personal observations (with one specific hospital) useful. 

1. We learned that even though it is a hospital, hardly ANYONE spoke English. You would think people would speak English. But... a lot of them still don't. 

2. Everyone showed up with their suitcases! I mean to tell you - Full Blown LUGGAGE! We were confused... until 4 hours passed and still no Dr. Then 4 more hours, and then they inform us they would like to keep him overnight. 

3. They don't have air! Nope, no AC, even in the hospital. The rooms have nice big windows, and you are welcome to open them. Welcome to 80 degree weather in the hospital. 

4. The Dr's are over-cautious and they have a complete different approach than the Dr's in the US. It was a very interesting experience. And truthfully, we still don't know what was wrong with him. They made us suit up to enter the room. 

No germs for us!

Day 1 - Friday

Blake's dad was released from the hospital Friday afternoon and we hit the road. He was a trooper. We needed to be at the Milan airport on Saturday at 4pm to pick Blake's brother up. So rather than drive the full way on Saturday we got a head start. We drove to Ulm, Germany. 

I found a cute family lodge, complete with bunk beds for Blake and I. :)

I truly don't remember bunk beds being so uncomfortable. But it was fun. 

Day 2 - Saturday

We drove the "4 hours" from Ulm to Milan airport in Italy. I put 4 in " " because it actually took twice that long... Traffic. We drove through the craziest mountain roads in Switzerland - complete with switchbacks and hairpin turns. But it sure was a pretty drive.

We picked Blake's brother up and headed for our Air BnB in Lake Como, Italy! We were staying in the town of Moltrasio. The lake is surrounded by tons of little towns, each charming in their own ways!

In the map above you can see the little towns that surround the lake. The pink arrow is where we stayed. The two red stars are the two towns we explored. Truthfully we could've spent all 17 days here exploring the towns!

We chose our Air BnB for the views. You can view the listing here if you are interested. We loved the placed we stayed at and it was an overall amazing experience!

It is truly incredible.

But, in order to get a view like that, it takes work. I am talking like 300+ steps. Tons and tons of steps. But I was all - Oh George Clooney does this all the time, so, so can I. And by day three it seemed easier.

Completely worth it. 

We chose to eat at the bottom of our steps in this little Italian restaurant on night one. We sat down, not sure of what we were in for... and sure enough there was no menu. The waitress asks you all these questions in Italian and we all just basically nodded our heads, completely unsure of what we had just ordered.

But... then out came the best Italian food I have ever had, served up family style!
#WelcomeToItaly

Day 3 - Sunday



Coffee on the balcony. 

Boarding the water taxi to Como.



360 degree views of amazingness.

We decided collectively that the best way to explore the towns would be by boat. It worked out extremely well and we got to see the towns from the water! It took me 3 glasses of wine and about 5 hours to try and make sense of the boat schedule, but I did it!





I mean seriously, this place was incredible!



Even this dude thinks so! ;)



You can pretty much bet, if there's a funicular, we're going to ride it.

We spent the rest of the day exploring Como and taking it all in. And of course we ate Pizza. :)

Day 4 - Monday

Monday morning we set out for Bellagio, the other star marked on the map above. It was a 2 hour boat ride from the town we were staying in, and we had something special planned for 1pm so we left pretty early!



The walk to the dock ALSO included a boatload (HA see what I did there - ;) ) of stairs.



Come to me Bellagio.



 

The streets were all so charming.



And they ALSO had a lot of stairs.

Then we headed to our special engagement. We had rented kayaks!



Possibly my favorite thing we did all vacation! IT was amazing.





No better way to see the lake!



Kayak selfies.



Quite possibly the best gelato we had all vacation... and we ate gelato just about every day. #NotKidding

That wraps up days 1-4! Como was amazing, and it was a perfect start to our holiday. Every single person enjoyed all that it had to offer and the weather was outstanding. Not to mention the views. THE VIEWS.

Come back tomorrow to read days 5-8!