The days have been coming and going so fast lately it’s hard to even recall what we have been up to over the last three weeks since we’ve returned home from our big Euro trip.
{I got an ice cream maker!!}
Seattle summers are awesome. We put up with 9 months of rain for 3 months of perfection {shhh… don’t tell anyone! The traffic doesn’t need to get any worse…} and try to enjoy every minute of the sunshine while it sticks around.
Because it doesn’t really get very hot in Seattle it’s pretty rare to see air conditioning. Our pets have been using the tile floors and the cement to keep cool on the hotter days.
It seems like I have been extra busy with random little tasks. Here are some things that have been going on lately:
I just started a new workout program at the Pilates studio in our neighborhood. My friend Mary finished her Pilates certification so now my classes with her are done, but that leaves me in need of an exercise program! I am taking barre classes and reformer classes and am loving the new studio.
We’ve caught the decorating bug and I have been coordinating {read: shopping} a bunch of home decor stuff, painters, tile guys and other tradesmen. It’s the perfect excuse to hang out on Pinterest and Houzz! We hope to “finish” our house {that will really never happen} by the holidays… Stay tuned to keep up with our progress!
The berries, stone fruits and tomatoes are so phenomenal right now! I have been taking Jackson down to our neighborhood’s farmer’s market every week that we’ve been home and stockpiling as much produce as I can carry home. I’m going to try to find a good gazpacho recipe for tomorrow’s tomatoes…
It’s that time of year again when Jackson and Henry need to go to the vet. I took J in for his rabies and bordatella shots {of course two separate visits}, Henry went in today for his rabies shots, then Jackson goes in tomorrow for his first of two leptosperosis shots. I am always amazed at how often we visit the vet!
Alex has been getting back into biking now that his broken wrist and ribs are healed. He is loving it!
It’s hard to believe that fall is just around the corner… That means ski season is getting closer! Alex and I are planning on getting new ski gear for the upcoming season so I’ve been doing a lot of shopping and researching, trying to find the best gear.
This is really going to be the busiest year we have ever had in terms of trips and travel, not to mention out of town guests, so I am trying to stay ahead of things and plan our trips… Shocking, I know 🙂
Last weekend was a highlight of our summer in Seattle. We spent the weekend camping in the central Cascades with our friends Carrie, Patrick, Mary and Ryan, and of course Jackson and Berkeley {Ryan and Mary’s dog}.
{the six of us at our campsite}
The drive once you get out of the city is breathtaking. After passing through the town of Enumclaw you start to follow the Green River as you move towards the mountain pass. Most of the drive is through a tree-lined highway that hugs the river. While Alex and I make the drive to Crystal Mountain most Saturdays during the winter, I had never been through Chinook Pass, which is just a bit past Crystal.
The pass is gorgeous to put it mildly. Once the road starts switching back you have a constant view of Mount Rainier. As you climb in elevation, the mountain in view just gets bigger and bigger and really looks fake. The Millers timed it right and got to see it at sunset.
We rolled into our campsite around 7:00, which was just the perfect amount of time to get set up and explore the campground before the Millers arrived at 8:00.
There have been horrific wildfires throughout eastern Washington in recent weeks. Thankfully it seems like they’re under control now. That said, we happen to be technically in the same national forest as the wildfires which meant there was a strict burn ban and we were not able to have a campfire. It was disappointing, but we were fine hanging out around the picnic table and catching up while drinking some wine {or beer}.
When we woke up the next morning we could tell right away that it was going to be a gorgeous day. There wasn’t a cloud in sight! It was chilly, though!! Most of us were pretty cold in the night, actually. Carrie and Patrick brought the coffee and I’m pretty sure Alex “accidentally” threw a stick at their tent for the dogs to fetch as a way to get them to get up so we could have some coffee {it was locked in their car}… Nice way to wake up your friends!
{playing with the dogs at the “beach” at our campground}
I was in charge of breakfast for our first day. I whipped up some mighty tasty breakfast burritos and served them along with fruit I had picked up at the farmer’s market on our way the day before. One of my favorite parts of camping is the food. While Mary, Carrie and I love to cook and go all out with food it is always a challenge to pick foods that are easy to transport and prepare at a campsite. Somehow we all seem to come up with new ideas that turn out really well.
After breakfast we set out towards Bumping Lake to go for a hike. Once we pulled up and let the dogs out of the car they ran about 150 yards down towards the lake.
When all of us caught up to the dogs we realized what an awesome spot they found and decided to park ourselves there instead of going for a hike!
The mountain lakes in Washington are just incredible. We could have sat on the shores of Bumping Lake all day just staring across at the scenery. The twocampgrounds we stayed at last summer had such majestic alpine lake views, as well. This one compared quite well!
The dogs had fun swimming with Alex. I think the water was a little chilly for him, but the dogs didn’t seem to mind.
Mary, Carrie and I made ourselves comfortable on a huge piece of driftwood and popped open a bottle of wine.
While Patrick and Ryan were perusing the shores, checking things out. Ryan decided to try his skills at jumping from a small stump/log to a huge stump. It did not work out well for him, as he did a slooowww mooottioonnn fall backwards right into the lake. He was fine and it provided a nice chuckle for the rest of us!
The weather was absolutely perfect this day {and the whole weekend}. We were all loving basking in the sun, overlooking the gorgeous lake.
The dogs were in heaven. I think they swam for 3 hours straight.
{we found a perfect wine nook!}
Alex tried to convince the other guys to smoke a cigar with him but he was the lone smoker. They all indulged in a cherry seed spitting contest, though. I never heard who won?
All good things must come to an end, though. Eventually we mustered up the energy to walk back to the car and head to our campsite to eat some lunch.
Once we got back the boys decided to put up the canopy tent that Alex and I had just purchased before the trip. We got the canopy in case of rain so that we all wouldn’t have to retreat to our own tents. This canopy is huge – it’s 11′ x 11′ and about 8 feet tall, plus it has screen walls that zipper shut, which was a saving grace from the bugs. It made a great party tent!
The canopy has bold verbiage on the bag that says “Set Up in Three Minutes or Less” so that was one of the selling features that drew me towards it. I always seem to forget how to set up a tent so easy is good! As it turns out, it took two engineers and a doctor 45 minutes to put up the damn canopy. Perhaps if someone would have read the instructions it could have taken 42 minutes off the setup time… Just a thought…
We ended up loving the canopy! It felt like our own little private space. We set it up to enclose the picnic table. It worked out so well we didn’t really leave the tent after we got it set up.
Carrie and Patrick were on dinner duty that night and prepared us a hearty meal of brats, beans and potato salad, then we snacked on her yummy monster cookies for dessert {ok, all day!}. The rest of the evening was spent playing card games in our party canopy until we were finally ready for bed.
Sunday morning came bright and early and quickly showed us it was going to be another gorgeous day. After eating pancakes and bacon we broke down our tents, packed up and hit the road. Before our trip Carrie had requested that we not rush out of the campground and head home right away – she wanted us all to do something on Sunday, too, so that the weekend felt longer. Since we were so close to Crystal Mountain we ended up going on a hike there.
{it looks a little different in the summer… more flowers, perhaps?}
Alex and I had previously hiked from the base of Crystal up to the top of the gondola tower and I remembered it was a challenging hike, but boy, this was pretty strenuous, plus it was hot out and there’s not much shade.
{the boys having fun talking about the new ski lifts going in}
It is always fun to be at Crystal in the summertime because you’re reminded of what lies beneath the snow that you ski on. It is so hard to believe that you can ski on terrain that is so rocky and jagged! There were some spots that literally had a creek running through it that freezes and gets covered in snow mid-winter that we ski over.Â
The dogs were in heaven during the hike. They both love being out in nature, but you could tell by the middle of the hike they were ready to be done. It really was quite warm for them {and us!}.
It’s safe to say we had a great time hiking, exploring Crystal in the summer and just spending time with each other.
The view at the top was well worth the work!
We are so thankful for having such good friends and for living in a state like Washington. There is endless beauty where we live and we are so lucky to live here.
{Thanks for SUCH a great weekend! We love you guys!!!}
Alex and I were recently in Minnesota attending my good friend from high school, Cammy, and her now husband’s wedding. Their wedding took place in White Bear Lake on July 12th. My apologies in advance… I hardly took any photos!
High school girl friends with the bride! Kailey was such a good sport. She was 38ish weeks pregnant and served as one of Cammy’s beautiful bridesmaids. She has since delivered a healthy baby boy named Samuel. {Photo credit goes to Barb!}
The original plan was for an outdoor ceremony at Matoska Park right on White Bear Lake. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate so they had to move the ceremony indoors to the same location as the reception. Luckily for them it was a great backup venue and it ended up working out just fine.
{this is what happens when your husband and bff steal your phone!}
Having been friends with Cammy since sixth grade I know her style quite well. She has always had a very classic style with a bit of a trendy twist in there. If you took a picture of all of us girls and cut off our heads it would be pretty funny to see how different our styles are. Cammy’s, though, would be the most defined, in my opinion.
On her wedding day her true self really shined through. She always looks great but she looked like her most genuine self. Her hair was total 20s style and her dress… oh her dress… She bought a {vintage?} wedding dress, a bunch of lacy fabric and completely re-created the dress to be totally custom to her fabulous style. See for yourself… I stole this picture from her:
{did I mention her mother is a master gardener?}
Their wedding had a lot of creative, un-traditional elements that incorporated their personalities and style. These two are pretty unique and special and their wedding highlighted a lot of their awesome quirks. Adams love of trees and their adoration of nature was apparent in their wedding invitation, table numbers, flowers and ceremony. Cammy’s vintage style was highlighted in the details and decor.
{The wedding was at the Kellerman Event Center. This photo is horrible, but the venue was beautiful with exposed beams and dark wood ceilings and floors. I loved the long tables.}
Cammy searched high and low for vintage plates. She hit the jackpot and they looked awesome with the gold flatware!
{Each plate was different!}
Aside from the wedding itself, it was wonderful to have a chance to catch up with my high school girl friends and their husbands.
On our way back from our recent trip to Europe, Alex and I made a pit stop in Minnesota to spend some time with my family, celebrate my dad’s big birthday and to attend my good friend’s wedding.
Beautiful Lake Shaimeau
As we always do when we go back to our respective hometowns, we had a jam-packed schedule. My mom picked us up from the airport when we arrived and whisked us away to her backyard oasis. She knew just what we’d be in the mood for after being away from American food for a month! She cooked us kabobs, lots of fruit and veggies, and of course, wine.
It was a quick visit with my mom, but I was thankful to have an excuse to spend an evening with her. We were pretty beat after a very looooong day of travel so we didn’t stay up too late chatting with my dad when we got over to his house to stay later that evening.
The next morning we were up bright and early, ready to head up to my family’s lake home to relax and celebrate my dad’s birthday.
I had heard from my dad that there had been an unusual amount of rain and because of that the lake was up very high; he had already had to raise the dock up twice that summer. I was glad, though, that I had some forewarning of what was to come when we arrived.
The water was even higher than it was the previous weekend when my dad was up at the cabin. The driveway was now one with the lake in its low spots. The four feet of grass between the cabin and the lake was no more. There was at least six inches of water in the basement {about 12 years ago we had to fill in the basement with sand because the lake level had come up so high – the basement hadn’t been used in years prior, already}. The lake level was almost even with the top of our dock, which now needed to be raised a third time.
Seeing the lake like that and realizing that the cabin is in grave danger of potentially not withstanding the winter really put a damper on my usual upbeat self.
I was able to snap out of it and remember that we had a birthday to celebrate! My dad’s 60th birthday was the next day, but we would only get to spend a few hours with him that day. To celebrate his birthday a day early we enjoyed a wonderful meal of steaks on the grill and big slices of cherry pie a la mode.
I found a custom sign company on Etsy and ordered a sign for the cabin as a gift to my dad, which is now proudly displayed alongside the bayonet when you walk in the door.
Aside from the sight of the lake and not knowing the fate of the cabin over the next 9 months we had such a nice time relaxing and catching up with my dad. My family shares the property with my great aunt and her children so we were also able to catch up with them, most of whom I hadn’t seen in a few years.
Our time at the cabin was very brief. The next day we needed to leave by noon to make it back to White Bear Lake for Cammy and Adam’s wedding. We had an awesome time catching up with my friends from high school and watching the union of such a wonderful couple. More to come on the wedding…
That pretty much sums up our quick weekend in Minnesota! We flew back to Seattle Sunday morning and began getting settled into our normal life again…
If you’re wondering the fate of our cabin, my dad has three rows of sandbags to protect the structure from waves and an increasing lake level. He plans to replace or support the foundation before winter comes, as well as re-grade the yard around the cabin again. Last weekend he got a new sump pump to drain the water from the basement. His effort was successful, but now they need to bring in more sand under the house. Hopefully with a dry basement there will be no/reduced risk of this winter’s freeze cracking the foundation.
One major challenge in spending a month away from home is deciding what to bring and how to bring it. Realizing that we were going to be constantly on-the-go, walking on cobblestone sidewalks and riding Europe’s public transportation, we decided to go the backpacking route for our recent month-long trip. We honed in on the Osprey Porter 46, which is a 46 liter pack that opens up like a duffel bag, has great pockets inside and then allows you to throw it on your back and travel stress-free through Europe without lugging a wobbly wheeler bag behind you.
{I’m still not sure how I got everything to fit! P.S. these were the perfect walking shoes to bring to Europe.}
My new favorite thing to travel with is packing cubes. We went with the REI expandable packing cubes – I brought 2 large {which conveniently lay flat together on the bottom of the backpack} and 1 small. I used one cube for shirts and scarves, one for pants and dresses and the small one for underwear, socks, PJs and my swimming suit.
{packing cubes packed and ready to go! check out my mini hair dryer and flat iron – these were essential}
We also brought a stuff travel daypack that folded into its own pocket and allowed us to have a backpack we could bring on a hike or out exploring with us everyday. I would highly recommend this or another similar product, even a stuff bag would be helpful.
Regarding money belts and purses… I think my advice here would be to get a money belt rather than be sorry, but honestly, we only used ours one day in Barcelona. Both of us were exceptionally cautious and aware – Alex kept his phone and wallet in his front pocket and I had my cross-body purse zipped at all times with my cards kept in the zippered pocket inside, making it hard to access. We split up our cash between us and only carried necessary credit cards.
{Here I am in Bellagio, Italy wearing a scarf that doubled as a shawl at two weddings + a swimsuit cover-up, along with my crossbody bag and solid clothing which worked well with my accessories.}
Packing for a month in Europe is quite a challenge! I set out to bring as little as I could but also to select clothes that would allow me to mix and match with scarves or fun jewelry, making as many outfits as I was able to. After all, you don’t want to look the same in all of your pictures and you’ll surely be able to do laundry in your hotel room.
Here is what I brought:
1 pair of jeans
2 pairs of Bermuda shorts {definitely could have lived with just one!}
1 pair of shorts
3 dresses
2 sweaters + 1 jacket
1 long sleeve shirt
4 short sleeve shirts
3 tank tops
2 scarves {+1 that I got in Italy} – a large scarf can double as a wrap over a dress or bathing suit cover up, as well as completely change the look of a plain shirt on its own or under a sweater
7 pairs of underwear, 3 pairs of socks
1 pair of low-key walking shoes, 1 pair of sandals, 1 pair of wedges, 1 pair of heels
1 pair of PJs + 1 pair of leggings
3 fun necklaces that went with most of my tops
Lined up and ready to go! Note: I attended two weddings on this trip, if that had not been the case I would have removed the heels and one dress, then exchanged one dress for a long maxi-dress. I also brought one bikini.
As far as toiletries go, we both followed Rick Steves’ advice and only brought one set of everything we needed. He provided a good reminder that you can buy anything you need in Europe. I was surprised how long each travel size toiletry item lasted! The only thing we replenished was toothpaste about two weeks in.
Hopefully this provides some suggestions for successful travel planning and packing for a big trip. Taking time to get organized ahead of time will be worth it in the long-run to have a low-stress holiday.
I think that half the fun of taking a big trip is the anticipation and planning leading up to it. Alex and I just returned from nearly a month abroad and have learned a lot about what it takes to plan a big trip.
I am a total planner. Alex and I spent the better part of a year planning our month-long Euro trip and left feeling calm, collected and pretty stress-free. One of the biggest things we realized, though, is that it really doesn’t take a year to plan a lengthy trip. Here are some other things that we learned in planning this big excursion:
Websites and Apps:
Trip Advisor– check out top rated hotels, attractions and restaurants in cities all over the world and read other travelers reviews and suggestions
Rome 2 Rio – logistics website that helps you figure out how to get from point a to point b
Kayak – it’s helpful to have one site that shows you airfare trends and compares the prices on other travel sites
Orbitz– we booked our major flights through Orbitz
Booking – make and store all of your hotel reservations here + read handy reviews
AirBnB – rent a room or apartment from another person
Viber App – talk and text for free through the Viber app
TripIt App – email all of your individual travel plans to plans@tripit.com (after you create an account!) and it will create an itinerary for you and update you on your travel days with airport gates and changes
Money:
Not all credit cards work in Europe, plus, most of them will charge you an arm and a leg in foreign transaction fees. Thankfully our research proved to be quite successful. Here is what we did:
Chase Sapphire Credit Card: no foreign transaction fees, has a chip {you need a card with a chip in Europe} and gives you awesome rewards
Capital One 360 Debit Card: no foreign transaction fees; we used this only to get cash at an ATM – don’t be a sucker and go to the currency exchange booths
Other:
Microsoft OneNote – how anyone plans anything without OneNote is beyond me! OneNote is basically a digital notebook. We had a tab for each country, then within that we had Transportation, Lodging, Food and Activities tabs where we listed our travel plans, the hotel information, restaurants to check out and either an itinerary or ideas of things to do. We were able to access this on our phones, too.
Phrase Books – If you’re going to a country that speaks a language you’re unfamiliar with I would highly recommend getting a phrase book. We had an Italian and Spanish phrase book that was incredibly helpful, especially when ordering at a restaurant. While most people speak English, it is fun and appreciated to at least look like you’re trying to communicate locally.
Travel Guides – We used Rick Steves’ travel guides which were really helpful. He has a guide for most {maybe even all} European countries, as well as his notorious “Back Door” guides that contain basic travel advice.
Universal Adapter – Europe uses a different electrical plug than the US, so be sure to get an adapter before you go. If you’re going to the UK and another country in Europe you might consider a universal adapter instead of two separate adapters. We brought two adapters. Know that this is different than a converter – check the power plug on your devices to ensure they are dual voltage compatible, otherwise you’ll need a converter.
Activity Planning:
One thing that I am glad we didn’t do was over-plan. Our priorities for being “planful” were having a place to stay and knowing our transportation logistics. Second to those were planning activities. We wanted to be able to be flexible while we were in Europe so we really didn’t plan all that much to do. More or less, we had a list of things that we would like to see and do in each city and tried to make a rough itinerary that didn’t fill an entire day and then work it out when we arrived to that city.
Know When to Go with the Flow:
I’m not sure where we got the sense to do this but we were so glad that we planned our trip in an order that allowed us to go to smaller, more relaxing cities in between our jaunts to bigger, busier cities. We got the chance to recoup and relax by stopping at some cities off the beaten path – plus, those ended up being some of our favorites.
Either way, it seemed like flexibility and the willingness to go with the flow were the two biggest components that added up to a successful trip. Being the planner that I am it helped me to mentally prepare for things to not go as I had accounted for them to go. In the end, all that matters is having a great time.
After 9 plane rides, 8 train rides, 7 hotels, 1 AirBnB rental, 8 cities, 5 countries, 5 different languages, 3 currencies, more than 60 meals in restaurants, and 26 days of traveling, we have returned home from our trip to Europe.
Our adventure began in mid-June with a full day in Cinque Terre, Italy, where we hiked between the villages of Monterosso and Vernazza, ate pizza and local pesto, and sunbathed on the beach. We loved the peach, butter yellow and sunkissed pink colors that made up the landscape of this iconic beach town.
From Cinque Terre, we took a train to a small village outside of Venice called Arqua’ Petrarca to attend Alina and Alberto’s wedding. The setting in the middle of the Italian wine country couldn’t have been better for this Ameican-Italian wedding. The meal at the event lasted four hours, not including appetizers, fruit or dessert, and the wedding itself lasted nearly 12 hours, going into the wee hours of the morning. Italian’s really know how to savor the best things in life!
The best hotel and coffee on our trip was found here. We stayed at Villa del Poeta hotel and had the most incredible customer service we had ever experienced, along with divine Italian coffee. We couldn’t have asked for anything better.
Our final stop in Italy was Lake Como. We took a cooking class, sunbathed, drank a lot of wine and toured the lake and a village by Ferry.
Alex’s family was with us on this leg of our journey and we enjoyed getting to spend several quality days with them, especially his Great Uncle Larry and his wife, Jayne, who live in England.
One of the highlights of our trip was the first day we spent in Switzerland where we took the Glacier Express train from the alpine city of St. Moritz to the ski town of Zermatt. We wove our way around mountains, through tunnels and across expansive landscapes dotted with brown and white Swiss mountain homes until we ended at the foot of the Matterhorn in Zermatt.
My favorite city of our entire trip was Zermatt. Alex and I adore being in the mountains and I loved the small-town feel of the mountain town, as well as being able to look up and stare at a mountain peak as majestic as the Matterhorn. We had an incredible time hiking, taking in the scenery and eating fondue, which was our favorite meal on our trip. The meat fondue {pictured below} is from Whymper Stube and we also had a phenomenal cheese fondue from Restaurant Stadel.
The customer service in Switzerland and Italy was by far the best in our trip. We were so impressed with the level of care and consideration that every person we encountered in the service industry in Italy and Switzerland had. The hotel we stayed in {Hotel Bristol} was great too!
{my little slice of paradise}
The third country in our trip was Spain. We split a week between the bustling, cosmopolitan city of Barcelona and the quiet beach town of Alicante.
Barcelona provided a lot of culture and tourist activities, a phenomenal wine tour through the Priorat wine region, as well as incredible sangria. Our two favorite restaurants in Barcelona were 15 Nights and Bilbao-Berria.
{overlooking the Priorat wine region}
We were able to relax and work on our tans as we laid out on the Postiguet Beach in the coastal town of Alicante. By this point in our trip we were beyond tired of any type of ham, jamon or prosciutto and were really looking forward to a new type of cuisine. Even so, we had two exceptional meals at La Taberna de Tito and Piripi, where we dined with some new friends, Jose Luis and Conchita.
Enter London, the fourth of five countries on our trip. It was a big change going from Spain to London, not just because of the language difference, but the architecture and overall feel of the city drastically changed here. We had the most idea of what to expect in London since there are so many iconic photos depicting the cityscape.
It was really fun to visit places like Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abby, ride the London Eye, as well as see the bright red double-decker buses and telephone booths.
{view from the London Eye}
Other than simply walking the streets, the best parts of our trip in London were seeing the Tour de France come through and eating Indian food at Gopal’s.
{part of the Tour de France}
The final city in our Euro-trip was Amsterdam, Alex’s favorite. We both loved how quaint the town of 700,000 people was. It didn’t feel crowded or over-run with tourists. The weather wasn’t great at all until our last morning in Amsterdam, but being Seattleites, we didn’t let that ruin our time there. Both of us adored the architecture and structure of the city, where it was situated alongside semi-circle canals. The people were very friendly and we really enjoyed the food.
We are really looking forward to being able to return to Europe again one day. As Rick Steves says, plan to be back!
After spending more than three weeks in Europe the time had come to visit the last city on our stopover. We spent our last two days in Europe in the heart of Amsterdam and we were pleased to find that we saved one of the best for last.
Even with really crummy, rainy weather we both quickly began to adore Amsterdam.
Similarly to how we felt in London, the culture and architecture feels so different in Amsterdam than it did anywhere in Europe.
The city center is built in a horseshoe shape based around five canals. Many of the buildings have brick facades that have been painted over, mainly in rich, dark colors. I really am not sure how old the buildings are, but some were noticeably sinking and leaning on their neighbors, so I am guessing they’re pretty old.
Nearly all of the buildings are residential with some having a restaurant or small shop on the street level. There are no skyscrapers or large companies {save for H&M and other retailers} in the city center. This keeps the feel of the city pretty quaint and quiet and helps it not seem like a huge city, which with a population of only 700,000 people, it really isn’t.
{“traffic”}
We felt safe across the city and were amused to see for ourselves how Amsterdam has taken the pragmatic approach to dealing with prostitution and marijuana. Everything blended together and nothing really seemed taboo in Amsterdam.
We had one of our best hotel experiences in Amsterdam, as well. We stayed at Hotel Estherea in the heart of the city, located on one of the canals. The building is extremely old {Alex asked and the receptionist replied that “indeed it is very old sir” so that’s the best we could get} and beautifully decorated and maintained. We would definitely return and recommend it.
Since we were there for such a short time and the weather was so dismal we didn’t have much of an agenda. We spent most of our time huddled under our umbrellas trying to stay dry as we walked the streets. Other than walking through the Red Light District and Vondel Park the only big thing we did was go to the Van Gogh Museum.
On our last evening in Amsterdam we got to watch the World Cup game between the Netherlands and Argentina. We went to a bar near our hotel and thankfully arrived early, scoring ourselves great seats, but only were able to stay until the half because the smoke was driving both of us crazy. Even though they have to label packs of cigarettes with “Smoking Kills” we don’t think that Europeans particularly care, as everyone still smokes somehow. I digress. In any case, we now know that Argentina went on to win that game in a shoot-out and go on to the final against Germany.
Finally on our last day, of course, the sun came out and gave us some better light for snapping some photos. We enjoyed our morning just strolling through the city, watching the “traffic” {bikes, bikes and more bikes} as we overlooked the canal. We loved that morning and were very bittersweet about leaving our final European city to make our way back to the U.S.
The third stop on our recent Euro trip was Lake Como, Italy. This has been an area that Alex especially has wanted to visit, as his great uncle Larry has a home there. Lake Como is situated in the northwest section of Italy and borders the Swiss Alps.
{Bellagio, one of the infamous villages on Lake Como}
The lake is massive – something like 30 miles long and 3 miles across. There is an excellent ferry service that provides transportation across the whole lake, which is helpful to get from one village to another, given the size and landscape of the lake. It is hard to describe the beauty of Lake Como because there really is nothing to compare it to. Looking out across the lake you see giant grassy mountains protruding thousands of feet up from the water. The shore is dotted with small Italian villages that hug the water’s edge, not climbing too high up the steep mountainside.
The water itself was constantly moving, waves crashing on the shore, sounding more like an ocean than a lake. Lake Como is the vacation home to the rich and the famous and has been the stage of several movies, including Casino Royale.
We arrived in Lake Como on a Sunday evening in the middle of July. The route took us through switchbacks and more than 10 tunnels before we arrived at Hotel Meridiana in Bellano, Italy. It was not the most pleasant of drives, given the topography, but Alex had fallen ill earlier in the day and spent the whole car ride nauseous and vomiting. Thankfully, though, he said the excruciating drive was worth it for the magnificent view we had once we arrived. He was back to himself by the end of the day.
{the view from Uncle Larry’s veranda}
Since we were all together at Alex’s sister’s wedding in Arqua Petrarca the day before, several of Alex’s family members, including his parents, Nana, Aunt Chris, Uncle Mike, Cousin Emily, Uncle Dave, Aunt Katie, as well as some family friends, Barb and Donna, made the journey over to Lake Como by train to join us for a few extra days. Alex’s great Uncle Larry and his wife Jayne have a vacation home in Bellano, the town we stayed in, and they were able to schedule some time there to overlap with our trip.
{admiring the view from Uncle Larry’s house}
The first full day in Lake Como the rest of the family set out to take a ferry over to Bellagio to check out one of different villages, while Donna, Stan, Alex and I attended a cooking class. As a thank you for helping out with the wedding, Alina and Alberto gave us the cooking class as a gift. We were picked up by Moreno, the owner and chef, at our hotel and taken to his home and restaurant in the next village.
{the outside of Moreno’s restaurant}
We were greeted with coffee and cookies {aka breakfast in Italy} by his wife and joined about 10 other cooking class attendees.
The class turned out to be more of a demonstration than a class, which at first I was unsure of, but then Moreno proved to be extremely entertaining and I really just enjoyed watching him do all of the work. He showed us how to make pasta dough, then while that was resting he prepared an herb roasted turkey breast and au gratin potatoes. In the middle of the class we were served a snack of prosciutto, cheese, crackers and bottomless wine.
Moreno showed us how to make a filling for our tortelloni {tortellini = small filled pasta, tortelloni = big filled pasta}, which consisted of milky ricotta, herbs straight from the garden and a smidge of garlic, but only rubbed around the inside of the bowl. We got to participate in shaping the tortelloni, which was good practice for when I prepare these dishes at home. Finally, he whipped up a butter and leek sauce for the tortelloni, cooked the pasta and served our first course.
We all loved the freshly made pasta – that was my favorite part of the meal. Shortly after finishing the tortelloni we enjoyed the roasted turkey and potatoes. It didn’t seem terribly Italian but apparently it is. I am looking forward to making that at home.
One of the other attendees asked him about making a tomato sauce and instead of telling her how to make one he brought out the fresh ingredients and showed us all how to make tomato sauce.
{Varenna, Italy – very close to where the class was}
Moreno is an extremely genuine person who clearly loves food and making people happy. He is hilarious, so that was just the icing on the cake. We had such a great time in the cooking class, which turned out to be one of the highlights of our trip.
That evening Uncle Larry and his wife, Jayne, met us down at our hotel for dinner. We sat together at a long table overlooking Lake Como, watching a storm roll in. Thankfully we all made it back from our adventures before the sky broke loose. There was squall after squall of high winds, fierce raindrops, cloud to ground lightning and loud claps of thunder that kept rolling through all night. I enjoy storms and it’s pretty neat that I can say I watched one roll its way across Lake Como.
{uncle Larry & aunt Katie at uncle Larry’s home}
Throughout the week both Nana and Larry were feeling very nostalgic and shared many memories of their childhood together. We learned that their father was held as a prisoner of war and after he was released he ended up going to work for his captors on their farm with his family in tow. Nana’s given name was Desalina, which I knew, and her father crossed it out on her birth certificate and changed it to Maria, just like that. I had always thought she changed it when she and her husband moved to the US.
{nana and her brother, uncle Larry}
We also learned that their family’s surname was originally Iori {pronounced your eye} and they quickly changed the spelling and pronunciation to Yori {pronounced your-ee} after Larry got repeatedly punched in the eye by the Brits saying that his eye was theirs. Alex and I really enjoyed hearing Nana and Larry lament on their childhood stories all week long. We were happy to be a part of their reunion, as well.
The next day was Tuesday and Alex and I decided to take a few hours to ourselves and head over to another village for the afternoon. We hopped aboard the ferry and enjoyed a lovely boat ride across Lake Como to the darling village of Bellagio. Some time when we were aboard the ferry the clouds parted and the sun found its way out. It turned into a spectacular day.
Alex and I loved strolling through the narrow cobblestone streets of Bellagio, poking our head into a few shops and admiring the pink and orange facades that made up the cityscape. Everywhere we turned boasted a view of Lake Como.
Our ferry ride back to Bellano was quite enjoyable. We found some seats on the sundeck and basked in the heat of the day. When we arrived back at the hotel we were greeted by the family outside sunbathing next to the lake. They had all just taken a dip in Lake Como together. We quickly retreated to our room to grab our bathing suit and join them. While we were looking forward to the evening ahead at Larry’s home, we were perfectly content spending as much time in the sun as possible.
One thing I have heard Alex speak of for much of our relationship was his great uncle who has a home on Lake Como. Needless to say, he was very excited to get a chance to see this home for himself. Larry and Jayne’s home is situated up the hill with a 360 degree panoramic view of Lake Como and its surrounding area; it has a veranda that circles the entire house. If I lived there I don’t think I would feel the need to ever go inside. Nonetheless, Jayne has a beautiful state-of-the-art kitchen at her disposal. The kitchen has bright red accents and clean stainless steel furnishings. An Italian’s dream!
We were spoiled by Jayne’s culinary skills throughout the evening as she continued to feed us small bits to tide us over until the pizza arrived. Would you believe that Italian’s, too, order delivery pizza? We all were enjoying the view too much to want to leave and go eat inside a restaurant.
The evening was quite lovely. Larry serenaded us with his accordion and showed us photos of some old cars he had restored. We heard more stories of Larry and Nana’s childhood together, as well as how he and Jayne selected the plot on Lake Como. Somewhere along the line a burst of rain came in, and no sooner was it gone, leaving a vibrant rainbow in its shadow. We even got to see a double rainbow for a short time. Quite an evening, to say the least.
Our trip in Lake Como was a wonderful end to the Italy chapter in our journey. The next morning Donna and Stan graciously drove us across the border to St Moritz, Switzerland.
The second to last stop on our trip to Europe was London. Neither Alex nor I had been to London before and both of us were really looking forward to a change in culture and cuisine.
The trip to London started in Alicante. Not having had our coffee yet, were off our game that morning. We didn’t have enough cash for the bus so we ended up having to take a later bus, making us a little frazzled. Once we flew through security and settled on a place to have coffee and breakfast we also realized that we were short on cash yet again. Thinking it was a give a penny, take a penny jar, Alex grabbed a few coins and handed them to the cashier who looked at him shaking her head. Indeed it was her tip jar.
Once we had our coffee things were a bit more smooth but it was a much longer and more tiring travel day than we had expected. I forgot that we had a time difference so the flight was twice as long as I had expected it to be and then there was an enormous amount of walking once we landed in London. It was all worth it, though, because we both loved the city.
{the London Eye}
Upon getting checked in at The Beauchamp Hotel in the Bloomsbury neighborhood we set out to find ourselves some lunch, now that it was 3:00 and I was hours past the point of being hangry. We found a cute British pub not too far from our hotel that we settled into. We eventually learned that there is a restaurateur in London who buys the greatest pubs in town and produces the same mediocre food at each location.
With full bellies we were ready to take on the city. Except it was raining. We headed back to our hotel to get unpacked and come up with a game plan.
Our first dinner in London was much better than our lunch. We found a quaint little restaurant called Mother Mash that specialized in bangers and mash. You got to pick the type of potato, sausage and gravy for your mash and then a delicious plate of your custom creation arrived at the table.
When we woke up the next morning we were pleasantly surprised to find a note from the hotel manager apologizing for the fact that our shower had fallen apart the night before so he decided to comp our WiFi {this was the only hotel we stayed at that didn’t have free WiFi} and give us breakfast each day. We really appreciated the gesture, especially since the breakfast was really good and saved us a fair amount of money.
{hanging out in Soho near our hotel}
Our first day in London was a very busy one. We started by walking to Trafalgar’s Square and taking in our surroundings while en route. We stopped for a few photos at an iconic old phone booth and took a picture of a double-decker bus. Once we arrived in Trafalgar’s Square we realized that the Tour de France was slated to pass through London the next day. Who knew that the Tour de France wasn’t just in France?
From Trafalgar’s Square we set out towards The Mall which led up to Buckingham Palace.
We saw the marching band passing by on its way to collect the new horses as we made our way to the Palace. We arrived about an hour or so before the changing of the guards took place and thoroughly enjoyed some good quality people watching.
The police officers were very patient in managing the crowd of what they called 10,000 people, but nonetheless, it was quite hilarious watching a bunch of gaping tourists all with their phones, cameras or iPads sticking up in the air trying to get a good picture, all while missing the action on its own.
The changing of the guard ceremony was fun to watch. We saw the two different bands and guards approach, both playing different music and entering at different times.
We weren’t able to see the actual changing of the guards, mostly just the guards marching inside the palace walls. It is definitely something to do while in London.
Hungry, thirsty and tired, we headed to Harrods to explore the luxury department store and have lunch. I was surprised how packed it was, but I suppose, just like us, everyone wanted to see the hurrah of the famous store for themselves.
We walked through the luxury accessories department, which puts Nordstrom to shame, then came upon the deli and bakery. I have never seen so many perfectly displayed pastries and cupcakes. They were stunning. What we were really interested in, though, was the wine shop. Harrods has a famous wine selection. We also found a little wine sniffing kit that comes with 50+ different jars of aromas found in wine. This is to teach your senses what scents you would find on the nose of a wine. The kit comes with an explanation of the scent and also a list of wine varietals and regions you would find that aroma in.
Since it was lunch time we decided it would be a good idea to sit down and do a wine flight and eat some food to re-fuel for the rest of the day.
After lunch it was time to head to Westminster Abby and check out Big Ben and the Parliament Building before heading over to see the London Eye.
{up in the London Eye}
We loved walking through the streets of London. The culture and architecture there is so different than it is in the other cities we visited. It was refreshing to be back in a place where everyone speaks English. While there are a lot of similarities in the building materials, the London architecture felt a bit different than the Italian and Spanish. I guess it’s just English architecture.
One surprising element of being in London was not knowing which way to look when crossing the street. Thankfully for us Americans they have it painted on the road.
Day two in London was another busy one. When we woke up the sun was shining and it was forecast to be a beautiful day. Our first stop was St. Paul’s Cathedral.
From there we walked across the Millennium Bridge to the Borough Market.
It was a bit early for us but we had planned on having lunch at the Borough Market.
While on our way to cross the Tower Bridge we came upon some different street vendors selling churros with hot chocolate, the one food in Spain that was on our list that we never had. Of course we stopped to get a dessert of churros con chocolate.
Crossing the Tower Bridge was great, but it was more fun to look at it from a distance. It is quite a magnificent bridge.
Just on the other side of the bridge is the Tower Museum. This is apparently London’s most visited {read: crowded!} attraction. Neither of us knew much about the museum but Alex decided we should probably see it. I don’t think I would go out of my way to go to a museum. I just don’t have the attention span for museums or the patience for the people who come with the territory. Yes I realize how uncultured this makes me sound… just being honest!
The Tower Museum is basically an old fortress {I want to say built in the 1100s} that has been repurposed into holding the secrets to London’s history over the years, including stories about the famous royalties and warriors, the crowned jewels, the ancient coats of armor that protected the soldiers, and a lot of history.
Right outside Katherine’s Dock we found ourselves on the Tour de France route so we stayed put and watched the crowds grow with anticipation of the cyclists’ arrival. It was warm and sunny and the crowds were building with anticipation as the day carried on.
About 20 minutes before the Tour came through the sky opened up and it started pouring. We all stayed put, completely soaked, and remained until the cyclists came through.
We couldn’t believe how quickly they passed by. Literally 200 bikers flew by in a matter of about 30 seconds. And then it was over.
While it was a brief encounter it was definitely a highlight of the trip to get the opportunity to be able to see a small part of the Tour de France.
For our last dinner in London we went to a small but fabulous Indian restaurant called Gopal’s. Alex loves Indian food and since London is known for their authentic Indian cuisine we couldn’t pass it up. I had never really had Indian food before but was happy to try it and even happier to find that I enjoyed it.
We shared some garlic naan, butter chicken and a chicken tikka something or other {not chicken tikka masala}. Everything was wonderful!
Our evening of Indian food was a great way to cap off our whirlwind trip to London. The next day we were on to our last European city before heading back to the US.
