DAY 20: 9/21/18 PARIS

Well the trip is coming to an end which is bittersweet. At this point the sights are running together and it's becoming harder to appreciate everything. Today we have a two hour bus tour of the city and then we are being dropped off at the Louvre museum and are free with the museum pass until our last dinner at 7pm. I'm tired and ready to get back home on a normal routine.

The bus ride gave us a nice overview of the city and we saw some beautiful parks. We ended near the Louvre that was massive and overwhelming. The Mona Lisa was a joke, a million people taking pictures with their phones. We saw the rest of the highlights and moved on walking to the Rodin  Museum. This was a relaxing and gorgeous sculpture garden and museum. On the walk to the Army Museum we walked past Pont Alexandre III bridge and Fontaine dos Mers. The Army Museum took us thru WWI, WWII, and the history of the French army. Long day on our feet so we are enjoying Leffe Blonde in our hotel room.

Last dinner crew was the Gresl's, Don and Deanna, and Mike and Cheri. The crew had one last hurrah. Picked up three beers for the room on the walk back to the hotel (why the fuck not). Goodnight Europe, that was one amazing trip.

The Mona Lisa in all her glory

The Louvre

Take the frickin' selfie bro.

Back of the bus crew doing back of the bus crew things at our last dinner together

Thank you Andy and Angie for being wonderful tour guides!

DAY 19: 9/20/18 PARIS

Last bus ride of the trip. Heading out the door towards Paris at 7:50am. I hope this is a 1 rest stop trip.

At around 11:55am we are entering the city center of Paris. Busy traffic and tons of people everywhere.

Our room wasn't ready so we went to lunch at Le Roussillion that was a local hotspot. I had broasted chicken with fries and a side salad. Everything was excellent and so filling we never went out for dinner. While we waited for the rooms we had a glass of wine and scheduled our shuttle to the airport (sad times) in the lobby.

After re organizing our bags in the hotel we walked past Notre Dame cathedral, went into the Sistine Chapel (wow, the stained glass was beautiful), and then enjoyed a leisurely hour cruise on the Seine River. Took the Metro back to the hotel where we enjoyed a few bottles of wine instead of going out to dinner. We munched on peanuts and Simpsons crackers for dinner. We saw the Eiffel Tower lit up at night and saw the strobes at 10pm. A lot of locals were enjoying the view. Next time I am in Paris I will be doing the same. Last night in Europe tomorrow and it is going to be a good one, Chao!

10:58pm - Dad says he is going to climb the Eiffel Tower to get better cell phone service.

Lunch at Le Roussillion

Little bit of vino in the hotel room

Sistine Chapel

Eiffel tower at night

Brian and Dad watching the Eiffel Tower light show

DAY 18: 9/19/18 BEAUNE

8am departure leaving Switzerland and heading to France. Sitting in the back of the bus today for some peace and quiet.

10:30am - Crossed the border into France. 4 hours to the hotel.
Noon - Stop for lunch, I hope we power thru to the hotel after. Too much time on the bus some of these days.

Lunch was a burrito at NaChos, it definitely hit the spot. We also bought some cheap Rose and Cabernet wine for 3 Euros each for the bus ride. We arrived in Beaune around 2pm and did the Hotel Dieu Museum tour that was an old hospital. The audio guide rambled on and on... useless. We hit the local grocery store for some cheap wine for Paris. Pounded some wine in the hotel before our 6pm wine tasting.

Dinner was at Le Belena and was a great choice. I had a 3 course meal (summer bowl salad, pan fried steak, and a Paris-bret doughnut). Brian had the Filet, Mom the Beef Skewers, and Dad a cut of meat. The red wine complemented the meal. After dinner we went to Le Trente Trois, a beer bar, that was okay at best. The server made no attempt to speak English after we tried French. Waste of money, the beer was warm and kind of sucked. Take me back to Holland...

Cattle blocking the road leaving the Swiss Alps

Hotel Dieu

Wine tasting (let's get it)

Steak at Le Belena

DAY 17: 9/18/18 SWITZERLAND

Today is when we are supposed to ride the Gondola up to the Schiltorn Mountain. Forecast is cloudy and rainy so we find out at breakfast if we are doing the trip.

We ended up catching the 8:10am Gondola up the mountain for the first leg. We then took three more Gondolas up to the top of the Schiltorn Peak that is 9,744 feet high. We arrived very early and avoided the rush of Asian tour groups and had the place to ourselves for about an hour. It was really cold up at the top but that didn't stop Brian from wearing shorts and a t-shirt. There was a James Bond movie filmed on this mountain so we were also able to see the brand new 007 museum that had interactive displays. After we were done vieweing the clouds started rolling in and you couldn't see anything, so we made the correct decision leaving early to maximize our views.

On the way down we spent 45 minutes on Birg Park, 8,783 feet. This peak had a "Thrill Walk" with a tightrope, glass floor, and a chain link fence tunnel. I was trembling a bit because that was a little out of my comfort zone.

After making our way down the Gondola to Murren we had an hour and a half walk after lunch (sandwiches and peanuts from Coop grocery store) to Grotschap for the last Gondola down to Lauterbrunnen. We walked about 3 miles to Trummelbachfalle Falls that was a series of 10 indoor waterfalls. The shear power of the water was incredible to see and this was my favorite sight of the day. You can't even explain it without seeing it in person.

We ran out of Swiss Francs and had to borrow money from Mike and Cheri who walked with us to the waterfalls. Tonight we have some sort of music at 6pm for dinner.

The live music was BRUTAL and it went on forever. Everyone was done with it by 15 minutes in but we had to sit there bored out of our minds. At least the veal sausage dinner was good.

Dad's a little afraid of heights

Schilthorn Peak 9,744 feet

Clever entrance to the woman's restroom

Getting rained on during the hike down the mountain

Trummelbachfalle Falls

Brutal live music

DAY 16: 9/17/18 SWITZERLAND

Early start today as we have an 8 to 9 hour trip to the Swiss Alps. Hoping the rain in the forecast holds off the next two days. Out the door of Cinque Terre at 8am.

Crossed the border into Switzerland shortly after Noon. Long travel day still ahead of us. Lunch stop was at a Coop where we each had a sandwich. I had a chicken/tartar sauce on a pretzel bun. It hit the spot. We also pulled some Swiss Francs from the ATM. Our drive thru the Alps was absolutely breathtaking. Mountains, rivers, trains, waterfalls, farms, hydro power plants, small towns, and a whole lot more. We are about 30 minutes out from our hotel. Hopefully we have a great view in the Valley of the mountains and scenery.

Our hotel room is great. We are on the 2nd floor of the Chalet with Mom and Dad.  We share a balcony and a bathroom. The views of the Alps are killer! We can see about 270 degrees of views. I went for a short walk and found a hydroelectric dam, waterfall, chickens, cows, and a fresh spring fountain. I am so sick of eating after the fondue I had the vegetarian option for dinner. I don't think the Italians know what vegetables are so this was fucking awesome. Early morning for the gondola ride (weather pending) at am tomorrow.

Our hotel. We stayed in the Chalet on the left.

One view from the hotel balcony

Another view from the hotel balcony

River outside of our hotel

Fondue demonstration

DAY 15: 9/16/18 CINQUE TERRE

Woke up around 7:30am and went or a 4 mile run thru town. Dad and I are headed to the beach and Brian and Mom are off to Lovanto, one of the other towns in Cinque Terre.

It was foggy and very hot and humid so Brian and Mom stayed in Monterosso. Dad and I had a good time swimming and laying out on the beach. We came back around Noon to shower and then had cheese, sausage, and crackers plus a bottle of wine for lunch. We played cribbage on the patio of the hotel for two hours before we got hot and retreated to the air conditioned room.

After cooling off in the room I decided to go for a stroll and ended up climbing to the top of the cemetery. The views were incredible and it was worth the strenuous hike. After making my way back down I picked up a vodka lemonade slushie at the recommendation of Sue and Tom. it was crisp and refreshing and you could tell it was freshly squeezed. Tonight we have an optional happy hour at the Beach Bar and then we are doing a family dinner.

Happy hour was a nice spread of cheese, pizza, bruschetta, and wine. After that we went to Miky, a Michelan Star rated restaurant. MAMA MIA! Mom and I split the Risotto Acquerello that was a seafood rissto cooked in a wood fired oven covered in a bread lit on fire with olive oil. This was now the best trip of the meal so far (have I said that before)? Brian had a dual octopus pasta and Dad has prawn/mussel pasta (no surprise there). Everything was out of this world good. After dinner we finished off some leftover wine on Mom and Dad's hotel patio.

 Not a bad view for a morning jog

Cribbage time 

Hiking up to the cemetary

 Let's get it in. Vodka lemonade time.

 Happy hour at the beach bar

 Glamour shot of the seafood risotto at Miky

DAY 14: 9/15/18 CINQUE TERRE (Tax day - Hopefully my team filed the return! Ha!)

Early breakfast then an 8am departure leaving Rome and heading North to Cinque Terre. Really looking forward to two relaxing days on the water. It is around 10am and we are making a two hour stop in Umbrian that is a town on top of a hill. Sounds like there is some shopping, food, and a museum. I wish we were plowing straight through to Cinque Terre.

The 3 hour stop in Orvieto was totally useless and forgettable for me. We went to yet another church (Il Duomo di Orvieto). It was beautiful but I've had enough and am ready for the beach. Brian found some Simpsons crackers which we are going to try on the bus later this afternoon. I did enjoy the view from the Fort but I would rather have plowed through to the BEACH.

We arrived in Cinque Terre around 5pm. We had to get on a short train to get to our town Monterosso. We drove through very windy and hilly roads to get to the train station. After we got off the train we got our first view of the beach and cliffs surrounding both sides. Tomorrow I plan to rent a cabana and hang out most of the day by the water. Our hotel has no view which is what we expected, we are staying at Hotel Punta Mesco. Nice hotel and the AC works great! We are only a two minute walk to the beach. There is an optional group dinner of seafood, salad, wine, and desert for 25 Euros we are heading to at 6:40pm.

We had a fantastic dinner at Ristorante Belvedere. We were going to go here on our own tomorrow night so we took advantage of the group rate. Caprese salad, pesto pasta, lobster, prawn, octopus, squid, oyster, white fish, etc. for the main course in a seafood boil. Holy shit we might go back tomorrow. We are all pretty drunk from the AYCD wine. Chao.

 Logan doppleganger in Orvieto

Waiting to board the bus

Simpsons crackers (Thanks Brian!)

Our dinner location was located at the red overhang on the beach

Monterosso at dusk

Seafood boil

DAY 13: 9/14/18 ROME

Great night sleep. Today is one of the days I am really excited about since we get to see the Colosseum, Forum, and Pantheon. We have a free day this afternoon that we have not figured out yet.

The Colosseum was everything I expected and even more spectacular than pictures show. We spent about 2 and a half hours and had a special ticket to enter through the same arches the gladiators used. We started the tour at 9:30am and by the time we left to go to the Roman Forum the crowds were really picking up. The architecture of the Colosseum was really impressive and the scale was massive, much bigger than I expected.

After the Colosseum we meandered through the Roman Forum where the politicians spent their time working. This was interesting but it started to get very hot so it was hard to enjoy. We spent another hour walking the city seeing fountains, historical sights, modern buildings, and ended at the Pantheon. Long morning!

Lunch was leftover pizza from Mischellano, that hit the spot after begin on our feet for nearly 4 hours.The rest of the day is free so we are finding a spot for dinner.

Brian and I spent the afternoon at the National Roman Museum, the Baths of Diocletian, and the Museo Palazzo. We saw sculptures, beautiful big mosaics, ancient coins and artifacts, gardens, gravestones, monuments, and so much more. It was well worth the 12 Euro admission. At the sculpture garden there was a band doing a sound check but we never figured out what it was for.

We wandered to the Monti neighborhood for dinner at the recommendation of Andy Steves' guide book. We ended up at a cute little place called La Botegga del Caffe. Our server kind of knew a little bit of English and somehow we ended up with two bottles of Chianti wine. Oh well, we drank it (shocker). Dad had Pasta Carbonera, Brian had Gnocchi with cheese, Mom had lasagna that tasted like her homemade, and I had cheese and spinach ravioli. We also shared a sausage and walnut with olive appetizer. Delicioso! Back at the hotel sampling some local biere. Chao!

Family photo op at the Colosseum

Can you imagine watching a gladiator battle here?

Looking up inside the Pantheon

Sound check by the band at the National Roman Museum

Sausage and walnut appetizer at La Botegga del Caffe

Sampling some local brew in the hotel room

DAY 12: 9/13/18 ROME

Up early to start the trip to Rome. We are loading onto the bus at 7:45am so we make our assigned timed entry to the Vatican. We sat in the first 2 rows of the bus to get a better view heading into Rome. We are on a different bus so Peter can take his required 2 day break required by the Government.

Arrived in the heart of Rome a little before Noon and checked into Hotel Sonya. The room is very modern, with a nice updated bathroom. The drive went quick and now we have about 2 hours until we begin our planned activities. We are seeing the Vatican, Sistine Chapel, St Peters Basilica, a group dinner, and a few local squares.

Wow today was a packed day. We started with a Metro trip to Vatican city where we had a 4 hour visit of the museum and church. There were way too many people and it was totally overwhelming to see everything.

After the Museums we jumped on a city bus and then walked past the Pantheon to our dinner at a restaurant called Mischellano. We had bruschetta, two pastas (red and white), pizza, desert, plus endless red and white wine and Peroni beers. Good stuff! After dinner we stopped at Trevi Fountain and I gave a guy dressed up as a Cardinal one of the 6 leftover pizzas we were carrying home. We still had 3 pizzas left that we will be eating for lunch tomorrow. Holy shit am I exhausted.

Metro station to the Vatican

Sea of people at the Vatican

Exterior of the Vatican

Enjoying one of many Peroni's at Michellano resturant

Delivering pizzas in Rome

Brian's turn!

Trevi Fountain