May 26-27th Fri./Sat.
We left Seattle around 11 am and arrived in Amsterdam then flew an hour into Munich. We checked into our hotel and went to the spa for the evening.

May 28th Sunday

We ate breakfast at the hotel then headed out about 8:30 on our road trip today heading towards the Dolomite's. It's about a three-hour drive to our hotel and the Italian Alps.

Entering Austria

We stopped at the town of "Hall in Tirol." It's a town in the Innsbruck-Land district of Tyrol Austria. We walked around for just awhile. It was a really cute town. When salt was money (it was the only way to preserve food), this small town was very wealthy. It mined salt for over 800 years.

We stopped at the Swarovski Crystal World headquarters in Austria. It was fun to see but not really worth the 19 euro's a ticket. 

 Cinderella's glass slipper

The netting on the trees had crystal all over them but it was hard to see in a picture. I wish it would have showed up it was so pretty!
We continued our drive to our hotel in the Dolomite's. We checked in then walked around town. We stopped and got a gelato. It's warm, but so nice out! Our hotel has a beautiful view of the Apls. We went to a small grocery store and picked up a few things. We ate dinner at the hotel, it was four courses. Really nice and really good.

Brenner's Pass

Entering Italy

View of the Alps from our hotel

The chocolate square had the name of the hotel on it and it was topped with gold nuggets. 

Breakfast

We ate breakfast at the hotel. It's a beautiful view again of the alps. We then took the bus up to the Alpes di Siusi (The Dolomites/Italian Alps.) From the bus line we transferred to the cable car which took us up into the alps. There is a huge open meadow the largest in Europe. We spent the whole day there hiking and getting a lot of sun. It was breathtakingly beautiful. Pictures just never do the actual scene justice. We relaxed and ate lunch looking at the beautiful scenery in front of us. Tomorrow we get back on the road and head towards Venice Italy for two days. 

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Kind of a stupid selfie picture but we just wanted to capture and remember the feeling of being there and taking it all in.

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May 30 Tuesday

We ate breakfast at the hotel then continued our road trip to Venice. We drove about 4 hours. Checked into the Marriott near the San Marco airport. We rested for awhile in the hotel then took the bus to Venice. We caught a water taxi over to Venice. We walked all throughout Venice and ate lunch in one of the squares. We headed back to the hotel about 9:45 pm. The weather was in the 80's which I thought was going to be horrible. It was warm but the city streets are close together and the buildings are high so there is a lot of shade. Michael called it ancient air conditioning.

The poles along the waters edge are equivalent of the families coat of arms.

The gigantic hands reaching from the water to support the sides of the Ca' Sagredo Hotel is a visual statement of the impact of climate change and rising sea levels. 

The Rialto Bridge is one of the four bridges spanning the Grand Canal in Venice. It is the oldest one and was the dividing line for the districts of San Marco and San Polo.

The Doctors in the 17th & 18th centuries wore a plague mask which was filled with aromatic items. They were designed to protect them from the putrid air, which (according to the miasmatic theory of disease) was seen as the cause of infection. The design of these costumes has been attributed to Charles de Lorme, the chief physician to Louis XIII.

As a series of islands surrounded by a salt-water lagoon, Venice lacks natural sources of fresh water. As a result, Venice has found alternative ways to obtain fresh water for the city. As far back as the 6th century, Venetians built well systems to collect and filter rain to be stored as fresh water. Venetians depended on this system for their fresh water supply until 1884, when a modern water supply system was established. There are about 230 wells around Venice which are now unused.

We sat and ate gelato in this little courtyard. There was a guy playing the lute. A lute is a plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity.It was so pretty I bought 2 of his CD's. He let us take a picture of him. Here's a picture of a lute.

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May 31 Wednesday

We enjoyed sleeping in this morning. We headed back towards Venice but we got on a boat and headed towards Murano. Murano is famous for beautiful glass. We watched some men creating glass pieces by heating, rolling, and blowing it. Very cool! Actually it was very hot in that building. 

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We walked around Murano for awhile. Michael bought me a Murano glass bracelet with Swarovski crystals and gold speckles in the beads. I love it. We took the boat back over to Venice and spent the day there. We ate at the Hard Rock Cafe.

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The Bridge of Sighs is made of white limestone, has windows with stone bars, and passes over the Rio di Palazzo and connects the New Prison to the interrogation rooms in the Doge's Palace. The view from the windows of the Bridge of Sighs was the last view of Venice that convicts saw before their imprisonment.

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View out the window at the Hard Rock Cafe.

We are heading to Bologna, Italy today. We walked through Bologna most of the day. We had a really good lunch. We also visited the Bologna University. I really wanted to see the Anatomical Theatre. 

Bologna University is the world's oldest continuously operating university and has one of the most beautiful anatomical theaters.

 The Anatomical Theatre was founded in 1088 and is completely craved from spruce. The tabletop is made of marble. It was damaged during WWII but still looks pretty much as it did when it was lit by candlelit for dissections of humans and animals.

The center of the ceiling is craved with the figure of Apollo, the god of Medicine, surrounded by symbolic images of constellations carved in wood.

Lecture room

 Library

June 2 Friday

We ate breakfast in our hotel then headed to Verona, Italy. What a beautiful city! Our hotel was the Crown Plaza in Verona. It was very nice! We walked all over Verona. I really wanted to see Verona Michael wasn't really into it but soon changed his mind. It's pretty touristy but sometimes that gives you an idea of how much people want to visit this place. I wanted to visit the Romero and Juliet location because I loved the Shakespeare play when I was very young and had even memorized the entire words of the play. (Weird I know but I loved it.) After we visited the location and hung a love lock we went to the main square and walked around the market.

The Verona Arena is a Roman amphitheatre in Piazza Bra. It was built in the 1st century. It is still in use today and is internationally famous for the large scale opera performances given there.

"Two households, both alike in dignity, in fair Verona, where we lay our scene..."

                                                      William Shakespeare 

Walking around the streets of Verona still feels like it's Shakespearean legacy. Even though Shakespeare had already set a play here, "The two gentlemen of Verona." it's the tragic love story of Romeo and Juliet that this city is known for. It's also why the city is called "the city of Love." Even though we don't really know if Romeo & Juliet really existed, their families did. The Montagues and the Capulets. They were two important aristocratic families from Verona, and Dante himself mentions them in his "Divine Comedy." 
The most famous spot to visit is Juliet's house. The building dates back to the 13th century. The house is now a museum.The gate that you enter is covered with messages that lovers have left. 

 Once you enter the courtyard you see Juliet's balcony. 

In the courtyard stands a bronze statue of Juliet. Tourist always have their hand on her breast the legend says that this will bring good luck in love. You can tell where it is touched a ton! 

Gum wall.(reminds me of the gum wall at home in Seattle) The sign next to it said don't stick gum here!

Love Locks

Piazza Erbe

Piazza Erbe is Verona's marketplace. Over the arch way hangs a whale's rib we knew about it but had no idea where it was. We were sitting in the market resting and Michael looked up and saw it! It has been hanging for over 500 years. It was a souvenir brought home from the Orient by spice traders. 

A marble plaque is placed on Verona's walls in Piazza Bra, with a quote from romero's exile.

The tragic ending of the story takes place in a churchyard. What is traditionally considered Juliet's tomb.

Verona's Cathedral

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Love Locks

Climbing many stairs to get a great view of Verona. 

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I bought a really pretty dress right here in the square.

A clear view of Juliet's balcony entrance...No people since it was closed on our way out.

Not as well known as Juliet's house but not far from it, is Romeo's house. The Montagues' house is a huge medieval building with a wide courtyard and colonnade, protected by a castellated brick wall. It isn't open to the public and is privately owned.

June 3 Saturday
Road trip to Milan. It's about an hour and a half drive. We stopped at an "Auto Grill" for lunch. Nothing like our rest stops in the U.S. They actually have pretty good food.

Good thing Michael is a pro at figuring out the tolls in Italian and what to do especially when you have a line behind you and nowhere to go if you can't figure it out! 

We checked into our hotel and took the subway to the Cathedral di Duomo. It was the first thing you see when you walk up and out of the subway up the stairs. It was beautiful, huge, and very impressive!

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We walked around for awhile and went to the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele ll. It's beautiful.I think we had gelato a couple times everyday since we've been in Italy! It's like Starbucks on every corner in Seattle but it's gelato! Much better. We got tickets for the roof top of the Cathedral for tomorrow morning. We ate pizza at "Spontini" next to the Duomo.

One of the strangest traditions in Milan is spinning on the bull's balls in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele ll. The Galleria was built in 1877 by Giuseppe Mengoni. Unfortunately, Mengoni plummeted to his death from the scaffolding just weeks before the 14-year project was completed, So,to avoid similar bad luck tourists and locals alike head for the mosaic of the dancing bull (said to mark the spot where he fell) to grind their heels firmly into it's testicles. 

 You can see how worn the marble is where everyone spins on it!

Statue of  Leonardo da Vinci at the other end of the Galleria. Across the street is the opera house.

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June 4 Sunday

We went to the rooftop of the Cathedral. It was amazing! We walked over to the Milan castle. I love the cemeteries in Europe so we had to visit the Cimitero Monumentale in Milan. I loved it! So many beautiful statues and mausoleums. I loved the one in Paris and really wanted to see this one too. We went to China Town and had Chinese food. We did more shopping and I got a really pretty lace shirt. We went back over to Piazza di Duomo and walked around for awhile and of course got a gelato! 

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 Sforza Castle

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  Cimitero Monumental

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June 5, Monday 

Happy 83rd birthday mom! It rained this morning and a bit more later on, it's a lot cooler now which is nice! We were going to check out of our hotel and the guy at the front desk said you don't check out until tomorrow! We knew we were in Milan for three days but for some reason lost track of the days. Well we pretty much did everything we wanted to do in Milan but had a free day today. We decided to walk over to the train station. We stopped and got pizza at Spontin's again near the train station, it's so good. We went back to the hotel to regroup to decide what we wanted to see. We must have been enjoying ourselves we threw our itinerary out the window for today but that's ok.

We walked through the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II then over to the opera house. We walked around more and went over to the Duomo again. We ate dinner later in a cafe near the Duomo. As we were sitting and eating it totally downpoured. We were still eating thankfully we were covered. We got a gelato then headed back towards the Duomo. I called my mom in front of the Duomo to wish her a happy birthday. We headed back to the hotel. Tomorrow we are off to Lake Como.

Train Station in Milan

The train station is said to be one of the most beautiful European train stations. We've seen quite a few. (Michael loves train stations.) It was built in 1864. The station became more and more complex and majestic especially when Mussolini became Prime Minister. He wanted the station to represent the power of the Fascist regime. In other words to make the people feel small compared to his regime.

 Mosaics all over the walls

Opera House

Lunch next to the Duomo

It started to downpour.

 

 Talking to my mom on her birthday.

 June 6 Tuesday

Heading to Lake Como. We checked into the Sheraton in Lake Como then drove down into the city and went to the Cathedral. We walked around and ate at a cafe and of course we got a gelato. It started to rain then it stopped it was really pretty out. The rain cooled it down a bit from the last few days. We drove around Lake Como only about half way. That is one really narrow road and tons of turns. It makes the "Road to Hana" in Hawaii seem easy to drive. Tomorrow we will drive all the way around the lake to Bellagio and visit some villas. 

 Our hotel

 Lake Como

 June 7 Wednesday

We ate breakfast in the hotel then drove to Bellagio. The road was very narrow especially going through all the smaller towns. It was really beautiful. It took about an hour and a half. We walked around town and some of the shops. We took a boat across the river and went to Villa Charlotte.

WHY...does my camera automatically make your face softer on selfie mode??? It looks stupid it about erased my nose and Michael looks like a snowman! Hahaha  I hate it but don't know how to change it. 

We took the faster boat back across the lake to Bellagio. We had pizza at a sidewalk cafe and then walked a couple blocks along the river to Villa Melzi. We walked around the gardens. It was beautiful! We came back to the hotel about 4pm went to the pool and hung out there till about 7pm. We ate dinner at the pool. It was really nice to relax and the sun felt good. It was really a beautiful day today!

Villa Melzi d'Eril was created as the summer residence of Francesco Melzi d' Eril, VP of the Italian Republic that was founded by Napoleon in the early 1800's.

 

June 8th Thursday

We ate breakfast in the hotel then headed towards Zurich Switzerland.

We went north from Lake Como in Northern Italy and entered Southern Switzerland. What a beautiful drive. As usual Switzerland and the Swiss Alps did not disappoint.

Switzerland it so beautiful! We've been to Switzerland before but not coming in from this end. It was just one beautiful lake and village after another. Stunning!

 Our rental car.

 We stopped for lunch and walked around for a while then headed towards Meersburg, Germany.

 There's always a big police presence everywhere in Europe!

 Zurich Train Station

Back into Germany!

Boarding the ferry to Meersburg, Germany. Lake Constance is a long European lake that boarders Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

What a picturesque little city. Not to many tourist. This town is a vacation town for Europeans. I can imagine what it might be like at Christmas with Christmas markets. I would definitely come back here.  

 Meersburg Castle

 Goofy hat try on!

There are tons of shops and cafes. It's right up along the lake shore. It was a beautiful day again. I bought a dress and other things. We ate dinner at one of the cafes it was really good. Of course, we had to get a gelato. No self control!

 Grape fields. Not quite ripe yet!

 Now we're heading to Munich, Germany about 2 1/2-hour drive.

June 9 Friday
Happy Birthday dad! Miss you everyday! We ate lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe and walked around the Market in Marienplatz. It was beautiful weather again. As soon as we got to Munich I felt at home when it comes to Europe. We love Munich! We did some shopping and went to the spa in the evening.

 Everyone enjoying the weather at the beer gardens.

Every time we are going to the spa we pass this church. I think it's so cute. I think I take a picture of it EVERY time.

June 10 Saturday
We were going to spend the day at the spa but it looks a bit overcast, so we decided spur of the moment to go to Ingolstadt, Germany for a while. It was a very cute little town that we haven't seen and it is only 45 minutes away. We explored for a bit and ate lunch at a beer garden. Ingolstadt is Audi's headquarters. We went back to Erding to the spa for the rest of the day and evening. It turned out to be a nice day. We fly back to Seattle tomorrow morning early. 

 Erding spa

 Perfect way to end a trip!