I'm on a Night Train!!!!!!

This will be a short update as well. Today was our last full day in Paris and we did the obligatory climb of the Eiffel Tower. I am so glad the weather was cool with a steady breeze b/c it was tough, after everything we have climbed during this trip I now have calves of steel. After the decent we made our way to the Cathedral of Notre Dame, did the tour, took the photos, stopped by Subway for some good food, grabbed our bags and now we are in the train station waiting to catch our next leg to Munich. As the title alludes to we are on a night train for this next leg, kind of looking forward to it, should be fun. I’ll put the pictures up from today here shortly. Tomorrow in Munich we are going to tour the BMW factory to watch how the cars are made and then it is pure R&R afterward at the hotel. It has a Romanesque pool, rooftop sunbathing terrace and a sauna, a much needed recovery before our flight home on Saturday and return to the real world. A couple of things from today, a bottle of wine is cheaper than a bottle of water and a dude on a moped collided with a tourist lady crossing the street right next to us, pretty intense but I did not have my camera ready so no footage of that, the girl got up and walked away, she was alright. Ciao.

Mona Lisa is one famous chick!!!

Perfect day for sightseeing today in Paris, slightly overcast and about 70 degrees made it very pleasant to work around and of course our primary destination was the Louvre. As with every other sight we have visited this trip, there were a million people joining us on our adventure and we took Bob's advice, once we got inside we headed straight for the Mona Lisa, the pictures tell the story. After we stood in the mob to get a close up picture, we made our way through the rest of gallery and saw what I consider to be the best of all of the museums we visited on this trip. The next gallery was artifacts from 3000 BC and then the Egyptian wing and more items than you could fathom. Our Louvre visit was a couple hours long and after we made our way up the Champs-Elysees where they were setting up for the final stage of the Tour de France that ends here on Saturday. The Champs-Elysees was pretty cool, a ton of people and high end shops set up the scene. After a break, we grabbed dinner and then went to the Eiffel Tower to see what it looks like at night, all of the pictures from today are posted. Tomorrow we are going to the Cathedral of Notre Dame and Bastille and then we are taking a night train to Munich to conclude this adventure on Saturday. Ciao.

Hey pilot, take us to Paris!

Today was a planned travel day to Paris, we got out of Naples pretty early this morning and flew north to Paris. The view of the snow capped Alps and the lakes in the valleys was pretty cool, gave me some ideas for the next trip. We made it to Paris, had the best cab driver ever who was playing chess on his iPhone while driving down the highway and then sang along to every song. We checked in, ate lunch, rested for a bit and then walked a couple blocks to the Eiffel Tower, which is 5 minutes from the hotel. This place is a world different from what we left in Italy, people drive the speed limit, stop for pedestrians, the streets are clean and overall more of in line with what we imagined it would be like. Tomorrow we are going to the Louvre to see the major items and then playing it by ear since it is supposed to rain so our outdoor plans may be limited. I’ll put up the few pictures I took today and hopefully many more tomorrow.

I guess if it has a "G" on it then it MUST be a real Gucci!

Sorry to disappoint, today was our lazy day. No alarm clocks, no schedule, no reservations, just take it easy and enjoy the sights. Of course that included some minor shopping and trying not to get hit by these crazy drivers! Tomorrow is an early day, we are flying up to Paris in the morning. Ciao.

Tour Pompeii-Check, Swim in the Mediterranean-Check, Wear a Speedo-NOPE!

Without any set plans or reservations, we thought it would be a great day to take the train out to Pompeii to visit the historical site buried almost 2000 years ago. Short story---it kicked our butt!!!! It was so hot, the archaeological site is MASSIVE! I thought it would be a little hole in the wall, NOPE! The long story-- the place amazing, how it was preserved for so long and looks so good even today. There are original frescos that are still on the walls decorating homes and the mosaics, especially on the floors are ridiculous, you'll see in the pictures. As I mentioned earlier, we toured the entire place, took a ton of photos, I have to start a new picture folder so they will be under the new folder. After Pompeii, we decided to take some time for RR, we went to a beach outside of Sorrento with black sand, old volcanic rocks, beautiful place! I don't have any photos of it because well....this is Europe and their beach attire is not suitable for pictures, especially to post on here, so I'm sorry! Tomorrow we are taking a boat out to the Island of Capri and hopefully go swimming in the Blue Grotto. Ciao.

How do you say "stupid cab driver" in Italian?!?!?!

Today was a travel day from Rome to Naples, after standing in line for almost 2 hours to get our train tickets, we made it to good ol' Napoli. This place is ridiculous! I called it the Myrtle Beach of Italy b/c it is swamped with tourists and looks a little run down. Not only was our cab driver a complete maniac while driving us to the hotel, he knowingly ripped us off. Oh well, now we know. This hotel is more of a resort hotel, it is up on a cliff overlooking the Bay of Naples and will be our jump off point for touring the surrounding area, tomorrow we are going to Pompeii and climbing Mt Vesuvius and then in the afternoon taking a boat to the Island of Capri to hopefully swim in the Blue Grotto. I did not put up any pictures today but should have plenty of them tomorrow. Ciao.

Popes, Gladiators and driving Nuns!

As promised it was hot as could be expected today, so to beat that we made it an early morning at the Vatican, we were there bright and early at 7am! The first stop was St Peter’s Basilica, luckily there wasn’t really anyone inside so it was nice being able to maneuver around without the huge crowds. Again I’ll leave the pictures to do the talking. After touring the inside of the basilica, we decided to climb the 400 stairs to the top of the dome for a great view of the city of Rome. The climb up was pretty taxing but well worth it. After the decent we toured the Vatican grottos that house the tombs of the Popes, the most popular being Pope John Paul II, the most recent Pope to pass away. Following that tour we made our way over to the Vatican Museums and since we were smart enough to make reservations, we were able to bypass the line that was over a mile long. The tour was amazing and somewhat spiritual and of the Sistine Chapel is everything that it is built up to be but they didn’t allow pictures so Google it if you want to see it. There are a ton of artifacts and items to view in there and it would take several trips to see it all, we stuck with the items from Antiquity that have been in the museum’s possession forever. Once we left the museums, it was around the time that the heat was unbearable so we hid out in the room for a bit then made our way to Ancient Rome. The first stop was the Coliseum, the enormous complex built to entertain thousands of Romans whether by reenacting famous battle scenes or gladiator spectacles. Again the pictures can do better describing it than I can. After the Coliseum, we were headed over to the Roman Forum, the grounds of Ancient Rome but it was closed! So we grabbed dinner, headed back and are packing to head down to Naples/Sorrento tomorrow. I’m putting the pictures up shortly. Ciao.

When in Rome......eat Roman noodles!

As planned, we arrived in Rome this morning, we caught the early train from Florence this morning and made it to our hotel before noon. That left us plenty of time to get some of the obligatory sights out of the way during our short stay. Before that, let me tell you that it is so dang hot here! Tomorrow is forecasted to be 97 and the humidity is basically the same as back home. With that out of the way, we jumped on the subway and started with the Piazza de Popolo and the twin sister churches, I took a ton of photos so you might be familiar with them. Then strolled down the shopping district that has every top name in fashion imaginable! I have never seen a pair a jeans that cost a $1,000 but they are here and everyone just clogs up the streets window shopping so we did the same. Eventually we made it to the Spanish Steps, did the obligatory climb to the top, snapped our photos and then continued our tour. The next stop was the Trevi fountain and the required toss of a coin over the shoulder to ensure you return. I am being rather short with our tour stops and description because the pictures do a better job than I do. After the fountain we strolled to the Pantheon and the 10 min walk was awesome in itself, obelisks that originated in Egypt and have been around for thousands of years were pretty cool to see. We found the Pantheon, which as expected was packed out but was still worth it. For something that is over 1,800 years old, it has weathered pretty well, not to mention the original doors are still on it. Next was the Piazza Navona and the Bernini fountains and street performers. Finally for the afternoon, we made it to the Castle Saint Angelo, which was originally built as a mausoleum for Hadrian and later was used as a refuge for the Popes when they were under attack and needed to hide. After a break during the late afternoon to let it cool down some, we grabbed some dinner and then walked over to the Vatican and St Peter’s square when it is not that crowded, the weather was great and there were maybe a hundred people there, so it was perfect. We actually have reservations to tour the Vatican museums in the morning and it helps that we are two blocks away, can see the top of the basilica from the hotel. So before the museum tour we are going to tour St Peter’s basilica when it isn’t that hot outside and we are supposed to wear long pants, keep in mind it is supposed to be 97 degrees! Wish us luck!!! Ciao.

I speak fluent Italian...Graci...Bon Giorno.

For our last full day in Florence we decided to take a side trip to Pisa and check out this leaning tower that gets so much hype. It wasn’t bad, a quick one hour train ride to Pisa and then about 30 mins worth of walking brought us to face to face with this massive tower that looks like it is about to fall over any second. My plan to drop kick this behemoth structure was thwarted by the fence and security guards surrounding the tower so maybe next time. We thought it would be cool to climb the tower and get a better view of the place but the 4 hour wait time also thwarted those plans too so basically we strolled around the area referred to as the Field of Miracles along with a MILLION other people!!! Not to mention it was a BILLION degrees too!! We hung out there for a little bit, people watching and taking a view photos before heading back to the train station. We spent the other half of the day shopping, well someone needed to find some shoes so I stay outside holding the pink backpack!! It was pretty cool walking through the outdoor market here in Florence, the vendors seemed to be from every corner of the globe selling ties, scarves, shoes, leather goods basically everything. We did alright, negotiated well and came out with some good stuff, then it was dinner which was alright and then back to pack for our early train to Rome tomorrow! I’ll put up the pictures from today. Ciao.

Score: Kevin-1.....Pickpocketer-0

Florence, Firenze, Florentine, no matter how you say the name it means the same thing, a beautiful city that was the birthplace of the Renaissance but still has the ability to capture the imagination. As planned, today was our day to tour Florence a little more in detail and experience what makes this place so magical. The morning was early, we had reservations for the Uffizi museum which meant we were able to skip the 4-hour wait to get in the door. Just a little background, the Uffizi museum was originally created in the 1581 to house the enormous collection of art owned by the ruling family of Florence, the Medici. Over time and even currently, art and sculptures are donated to the museum and the collection continues to grow. Once inside the tour begins with original marble busts of Roman nobles and socialites, from 1st and 2nd centuries AD, including Julius Caesar himself. The tour takes you through the periods of art collected in an almost chronological order, from pre-Renaissance items though more recently, the 18th century Flemish artists. So along the way we saw pieces of art from Donatello, Michelangelo, Botticelli, Rembrandt, Raphael, Da Vinci, Giotto, Caravaggio, Rubens and a host of other artists that I could not pronounce nor remember at this time. Some of the pieces are relatively mainstream, famous so to speak, like the Birth of Venus or Raphael’s self portrait. Neither one of us are real art connoisseurs but it is hard not to appreciate what is present in this museum. I thought it was interesting that the vast majority of the pieces were commissioned and used to adorn the facades or interiors of churches but everyone is naked, just a little weird to me. One really cool thing about the courtyard are the marble statues that pay honor famous Florentines: Da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, Machiavelli, Galileo, Dante and even Amerigo Vespucci (if you don’t know who he is, shame on you!) Anyways, after a couple of hours in there, we toured another church and grabbed lunch before breaking for a little bit to beat the heat and the gazillion people that are everywhere. The afternoon tour took us the Ponte Vecchio bridge to snap some cheesy photos over the Arno River like everyone else and then we made our way to the Duomo, the massive domed church that was the inspiration for the dome at St. Peter’s Basilica and our own capitol rotunda in D.C. Sooooo we had the genius idea to climb up to the top of the dome, all 463 steps, I was ready to puke after the first 100! Anyways, we made it to the top and we’re rewarded with an awesome view and a refreshing breeze. We stayed up there for a little bit, catching our breath and snapping photos and imaging what it would have been like to live here 500 years ago. The climb down wasn’t as bad, we made it back to the room, changed for dinner and had a meal that has topped anything we have had on this trip so far. As to the title, we stopped so I could give Linz a lesson on how to haggle with the sidewalk vendors, cheap bags and watches of course and as one dude showed us his inventory his partner swung around behind and tried to pick my pocket, he failed! Anyways, I’ll put the pictures up here shortly, tomorrow we are taking a short train to Pisa so I can drop kick this leaning tower I have always heard about and fix it. Ciao

So after taking the train through Tuscany today, we didn't see one Olive Garden! Weird!!!

Another travel day, took the train from Venice to Florence, relatively uneventful. The trip was smooth, no missed trains, scenary was great and this place (Florence) is a packed! We made it to our hotel, cranked the AC down to 60 and relaxed for a bit. Once it cooled off, we went out for dinner, which was decent and walked around to plot out our sightseeing adventure tomorrow. The plan for tomorrow is to hit up the Uffizzi, which is the greatest collection of Renassiance art, climb to Duomo to get a birds eye view of Florence, menu shop for the evening's dinner and see what else we can get ourselves into. Sorry for the short blog, other than my laptop completely crashing, today has been uneventful. I will put up some pictures tomorrow. Ciao.

I guess we can't swim in this water?

Sooooo today was the day to tour Venice, cool city I must admit. After arriving late last night, we were able to explore briefly in the vicinity of our hotel and it is definitely a tourist heavy attraction. This morning we had the hotel breakfast, took in the city from the rooftop terrace then laced up to set out for the major sights. I can't really explain in words how cool this place is to walk around, it is extremely easy to get lost around here and our tour guide, Rick Steves, suggested we do just that. First we navigated our way to the Rialto Bridge, probably the most famous bridge from Venice and it was packed at 9am. Not exactly what I thought it would be, lots of graffiti and souvenir shops actually on the bridge but it was a great way to take up space on the memory card and a nice photo op. Next we followed the herd of wandering tourists to the famous St Mark's Square, the patron Saint of Venice after his remains and relics found their way here. The square is massive, just larger than life and there were people everywhere! It was easy to get lost there and it was still in the morning and the real crowds had not arrived yet. We snapped a ton of photos which hopefully will be up soon and then climbed to the top of the tower to get a real birds eye view of the city from 300ft up and happened to be up there when the church bells struck on the hour, they were literally right above our heads, loud as could be! Afterward, we just strolled through the streets, soaking up all that this place has to offer, crossing a different canal every other minute, watching the gondolas go by, scoping out menus for dinner, we took a gondola to cross the Grand Canal, saw buildings that are older than the country we live in and the remnants of primitive water wells that have survived from 400 years, like I said awesome stuff. The heat was pretty bad, so we relaxed for a while at the hotel in the lounge or watching shows in Italian and pretending like we know what they are saying. Dinner was at this random restaurant where we could eat on the sidewalk, food was good, my lasagna is better and then we watched the World Cup final. That was about it for the day, tomorrow we have a short train ride to Florence, hopefully the trains are on time and we can have an easier traveling day. I'll put the pics from today up shortly. Ciao, bueno notte.

Wow.....175mph doesn't feel that fast!!!!

Well, not a whole lot to write about today, this morning we drove back to Munich from Salzburg to drop the car off to be shipped back to the states. During the drive I thought it would be productive to test out the wipers at 130mph....they work good at that speed. Anyways, we dropped it off and boy did the adventure start!!! We had to take a train to the main station in Munich to board the long distance train to Venice, of course we got on and off of the wrong train then stood in the wrong line and missed our train to Venice, we waited 2 hours to catch the next one and it was ridiculously slow, ended up being an hour behind schedule, we missed our connecting train to Venice and eventually made it almost 12 hours after we started. Then we got on the wrong water taxi, the bridges over here are steps, not ramps so carrying all that luggage was a blast and then finally made it. We took a couple pics all day and I'll put them up tomorrow, it is late and bedtime! Bueno Notte!
(Oh yeah and the last train we were on was going 175mph)

So how do you say "ice" in German????

Day 3 had us exploring Salzburg Austria in more detail and it is truly a remarkable city with a history rich in luxurious culture. After the breakfast buffet supplied by the hotel, it was off to the “old city” and to ultimately make our way to the monstrous fortress set on the hill overlooking the city. On our way there, we were able to stroll aside the river that cuts the town in half along with about a million people on bikes and roller blades, that is definitely something you would not see back in the states. The weather was about 80 degrees without any humidity so a nice day for us but apparently too hot for the locals. Anyways, on our way to the fortress, we were able to visit a church that has been around since the 15th Century that was actually bombed during WWII but rebuilt and has a 4,000 pipe organ, cool stuff. Finally made it to the fortress, this thing was massive and it is hard to put it into words the enormity of this thing. According to our tour guide, the Prince Archbishop had it built and each subsequent ruler added on to it and it just kept growing and growing. The tour was a very intimate and involved tour, allowing us to go in places that other castles wouldn’t allow, like the torture room/prison. You can see in the pictures that chains and torture devices that are still hanging from the wall and a grate in the floor prisoners were lowered through to live out their days. The view from the top was amazing, we could see everything around with a perspective that is hard to describe, I know I would’ve felt safe in there 500 years ago. One of the coolest things we saw there was a recently discovered chapel that was built in the 1100’s and the frescoes that used to decorate the walls and Roman archways as well as original remains of the first fortress walls built by the Romans in the 4th Century, I think that is so cool. Here is this church from the 1100’s that is 3 times as the country we call home. Afterward several hours exploring the fortress, we made our way down to the city center again, walked the streets, people watched for what seemed forever. After that we toured the Mirabell Gardens which was the summer home for the chief resident of the Fortress. I don’t understand the appeal of acres and acres of flowers but apparently everyone loves them so I took the obligatory pictures of them for you guys to enjoy. That pretty much was the touring for the day, we came back, took a breather, grabbed some authentic Austrian dishes for dinner and made it back to pack up and get ready for tomorrow. The plan for tomorrow is to drive back to Munich, drop the car off to be shipped back so it will get a head start on me and then we are going to board a train to take us to Venice! A long 7 hour train ride awaits us, so I’ll take some candid photos, what we can on the train and then some when we get to Venice, our hotel is on the Grand Canal so I should get some good pictures. I hope you all are doing well. Ciao.

Pictures are up...

The link for the pictures has been activated and updated, it is on the left hand side of this page labeled "pictures".

Take delivery and roll out.......

Well just a quick update, we arrived safely, the weather is perfect, 75 degrees, not a cloud in the sky and not a hint of humidity in the air. The process of getting off of the plane and through customs was a piece of cake, which was a welcome relief. We hailed a cab and headed towards the BMW Welt delivery center to see my new baby! The delivery center is like something from another planet, a multi-level building covered in curved glass and aluminum which was just a perfect setup for the actual delivery of the car. We were escorted up to an exclusive lounge, allowed to eat or drink anything we desired, which consisted of pretzels, pastries, fresh fruit, water, juice and even German beer, of course I didn’t partake of those. Next we met Bernhard, the delivery specialist, he led us to a lower level to view a presentation on the car, the features of it, how they function and then to a simulator that provided how those features work. Finally we went back to the upper level to walk down a staircase to see the new car rotating on a platform, pretty cool I must admit. I did the obligatory walk around, snapped some photos, was given some more hands on instruction on some of the new bells and whistles and then cranked it up. To leave the building, you have to take a lap on the upper level and then make your way out. It was a really cool experience, I will put the pictures and video of my victory lap up shortly. Once outside, we put in the address to the destination in Salzburg and headed out. A relatively short drive from Munich to Salzburg was made interesting by the views of the Alps and surrounding landscape, the Ferrari that blew the doors off of my car on the Autobahn, breaking in the new car with variable speeds between 60 and 125, yeah 125, I’ve got proof. We made it to Salzburg, checked in, power napped and just got back from a stroll through the city, stumbling upon Mozart’s birthplace and dinner one of the many beer gardens. Those of you know that know me well will be proud that I actually ate local cuisine and it wasn’t bad. Well it is close to 10 and we are both as tired as could be expected, tomorrow have a full day of sightseeing. Hope everyone is doing well!

On our way....

Planes, trains and automobiles is probably the most appropriate description to assign for this trip to Europe. Of course the primary reason for traveling across the Atlantic during the peak of summer season is to enjoy a well deserved vacations, the aforementioned elements all play a role during this trip. The timing of this trip revolves around taking delivery of a new car in Europe and driving it around the local area before dropping it off to be shipped back to the states, that is when the other two components come into play. Currently I am somewhere over the English Channel heading towards Munich Germany, the home base so to speak for this current adventure that will take us through 4 countries in 18 days following in the footsteps of Renaissance legends and standing in the shadows of historical empires. From the glory of Rome, the wealth of Venetian trade routes, the beauty that makes Paris the city of lights to the mouth of Mt Vesuvius, we plan to soak it all up as we crisscross the continent in every mode of transportation available. The journey begins in Munich then traveling to the birthplace of Mozart, Salzburg Austria. From Salzburg we will return to our jump-off point in Munich to hop on a train that will carry us to Venice then Florence, Rome and Naples. From Naples we will fly up to Paris before eventually taking the night train back to Munich to board our return flight back to the states. Well the captain said we are landing shortly so let me wrap this up and get this party started!!!!

Itinerary

7-W: CLT-MUC
8-R: Pick-up; travel to Salzburg
9-F: Salzburg
10-S: Salzburg to Munich to Venice
11-D: Venice
12-M: Venice to Florence
13-T: Florence
14-W: Florence
15-R: Florence to Rome
16-F: Rome
17-S: Rome to Naples
18-D: Naples
19-M: Naples
20-T: Naples to Paris
21-W: Paris
22-R: Paris ----- night train Paris to Munich
23-F: Munich
24-S: MUC to CLT