Entries Tagged as “Trips”
Last Swiss Days
We are almost out of here. Only a few days until we hop back on the plane and head for home. Sorry for the lack of updates but we do not have an internet connection so we have to share a computer. It's not as easy to make updates to the site this way. I thought about waiting until we returned home but decided to post any way. We have a small surplus of posts to add so we will post them at once hope you do not mind. We are back in Switzerland now and enjoy it much more than Rome. Rome is too busy, too smokey, and too expensive for my taste. It reminds me of New York, only dirtier. I thought some US cities were dirty, but Rome has them beat hands down.
We took a train to Pompeii our last day. We got to see a different side of Italy, and do not think all of Italy can be judged by Rome. We saw some nice areas from the train. Pompeii Was interesting. We spent only 5-6 hours there and it was not enough time. You really need a full day to explore all that there is to see. Although we did not see everything, we saw enough to go home happy. The train from Pompeii was sketchy. When we boarded the train I was approached by a guy asking me about my camera, I took as if he was interested in photography and talked openly to him. He asked me how much it costs and foolishly I told him the real value. After the man left, some very suspicious activity between him and three other men started unfolding infront of us. We all felt uncomfortable and felt that there was a plot to relieve me of my camera. We knew that if something were to happen it would be just before the next stop so they could make a quick exit. We made preparations for the worst and blocked the entrance with the baby stroller. The plan worked and we were able to exit the train without incident. Apparently robery is pretty comon near Naples especially for tourists. A leasson learned I suppose. Well, I guess thats it for now. Check out the new photos. See you soon!
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We have touchdown
Welcome from the land of cheese and chocolate. Mark and I arrived in Switzerland at 3:55pm on Friday the 13th. It was a long flight from Los Angeles to Zurich, but we're glad we were able to re-route, otherwise we wouldn't have arrived here until 10:15 today. (Our bags should arrive today *fingers crossed*) You see, we were able to change our flight – but our luggage went to Chicago then Zurich. All I can say is, we are happy to be here. The weather is beautiful around 60 degrees. And last night was clear skies. Zurich has one of the cleanest airports I have ever seen in my life. The design element of the airport was very modern and minimalist. We had to take a shuttle from the international terminal to the main airport. The shuttle went through a tunnel at one point and I told Mark it felt like we were in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. There was a travel advertisement showing on the side of the tunnel and cow bells and mooing and yodeling sound effects on the shuttle. I wish I would have taken out my video camera. I definitely will on the way back home. We took the train from Zurich to Bern. It was nice going through the countryside and seeing all of the little farming villages. And Shasta pointed out one of Switzerland's nuclear power plants (of which there are 5). It was warm and toasty on the train. Everything is automated here, so even though yesterday wasn't particularly cold, the heat is scheduled to come on in October. Poor Lucca was burning up on the train. And Mark and I were in some serious need of a shower. LOL. That's it for now. We will keep you all updated as often as we can.
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Going Nowhere Fast
It's already 1 PM and we are still in sacramento. We were supposed to leave this morning at 10:30AM however Chicago airport was closed to high winds, snow and AirForce One. AirForce One???? Yeah our blasted president is screwing us up. The Weather only delayed the flight by one hour, but when Airforce One comes to town they close down a whole section of the airport. I mean, who would want to kill our president that we need to close down the airport for? haha! Couldn't resist the jab. Anyway, We are diverting our flight to LAX then to Zurich Switzerland. As long as there are no SNAFU's in the meantime our flight will arrive in Switzerland the same day, just a few hours late. Our luggage is already going on a different flight since we could not make changes quick enough. So we will be without luggage for X number of days. We hope it will get to Zurich on the next flight to Zurich the following day. We will keep you informed.
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Crossing The Pond
In our quest for another stamp in our passport, Heather and I are off to Europe. Our real motivation is to visit our good friends Jonathan & Shasta and their two children Shannon and Lucca. we have two weeks at our disposal and we intend to make the most of it. The first week will be spent in Switzerland catching up and going on day trips. I hope to reach the town of Interlaken and take the train to the glaciers. Something I find interesting. We shall see how the rest of the group feels about that. After a week in Switzerland we will take an Easy Jet flight to Rome Italy. There we will spend a few days taking "ABC" tours (another blasted church) and a short trip to Pompeii. I am really looking forward to that. So stand by for photos, video and more great stories from the road. We will be updating the site as often as we can.
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1st Anniversary
This past weekend Mark and I celebrated our 1st anniversary. It's hard to believe that a year has already passed. We left for Monterey on Saturday the 16th at 7:30 in the morning. After days of trying to secure a hotel room, I finally was able to book a room close to the downtown Monterey area. We weren't aware when we decided to go to Monterey that the weekend of the 17th was their annual Jazz Festival. It was pure madness!
We arrived at 10:15, just a little after the aquarium opened. We mostly went to see the young great white shark in the outer reef tank. I guess everyone and their brother had the same idea. It was way too crowded for our liking. We stayed until 4pm and then set off for the 17 mile drive. The 17-Mile Drive is a scenic road through Pacific Grove and Pebble Beach, much of which hugs the coastline and passes famous golf courses and mansions. It was pretty cool. Mark got to take a few pictures of the Lone Cypress tree and various wildlife. I took some video of the adventure. It would be really cool to go back some time in October, which is when the Monarch butterflies make their yearly pit-stop in Monterey on the way to Mexico.
Sunday was a lazy day. We enjoyed a complimentary breakfast of pastries in the lobby of our hotel room and then we meandered to the fisherman's wharf. It was a gorgeous day. The weather on the coast can sometimes be unpredictable, but this past weekend was nothing but clear skies. We decided to take the long way home and traveled up Highway 1 for a change. It literally took us 5 hours to get home. We stopped for lunch in Pacifica and hit major gridlock in San Francisco. Poor Mark was sick of driving, and I don't blame him a bit. It was nice to finally get home and eat a slice of our defrosted wedding cake. (Which tasted pretty good, I might add.) I'll have to get Mark to post a picture of it. Thanks Mom for taking care of our cake for a year!
Check out the photos in the photo gallery.
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