Yes, the Rottweiler was named after this town.
My sweet Shauna smiling big during the brewery tour
Mighty Dave bending to peer pressure to take all the shots
Lisa's parents were in town for a few days!
And, Shauna's Dad was also here! Lots of family visits!
I like how excited Magnus is here. :D
Oh Sigi, don't cry. We just appreciate you so!
The Romantic Flooded Rhine
It rained and it rained and then it rained a lot more. Many parts of Europe were experiencing flooding including the beautiful River Rhine. The Rhine River is lined with medieval villages, vineyards, and so many castles! Mike was in Estonia, Lisa's husband was in Belgium so I talked her into heading up to Bacharach for an overnight trip to bike down the Rhine. Too bad I didn't consider the Rhine could possibly be flooded. And it was. Fortunately, our precious little town of Bacharach was minimally affected but all of the bike paths along the Rhine were under water. No biking but we still had a great time!
This is Lisa demonstrating how we will swim to our hotel if the water keeps rising. See the water behind her? It came all the way up to our hotel door, on the right hand corner.
Bacharach is postcard-precious (I say that a lot don't I?)
I just love these old buildings
Enjoying a little regional wine
Neat placed used by the Knights of the Templar
Sankt Goar
Unfortunately, the next village over was not so lucky. Sankt Goar's city center was under water. It is very saddening since these little villages with their wineries and vineyards rely on tourism for much of their economy and for this right in the middle of their high season...
The Rheinfels Castle- Definitely the creepiest castle I've ever visited!
It's still in ruins.. Never restored. And, there are no guides. You are given free reign to explore small, pitch black tunnels and hidden holes and creepy steps to secret areas inside. I read you should bring a torch or a flashlight. Yep. It's true. Oh, and the flash on your camera will not be adequate.
Of course I was scared - I'm afraid of everything. This area was actually black but fortunately the flash gives you an idea of what you're walking into...
Good place for a Thinking Man Lisa Statue
While we were in Bacharach, Mike was in Tallinn, Estonia for work. I really, really wanted to go and found tickets for $105 round trip. Went back a week or so later and they were gone. Sigh.. Of course, they happened to be having their annual medieval tower festival. Oh well!
It's funny because I always ask Mike to take pictures when he's somewhere interesting
and this is what I get:
I feel like there is a lot more to Estonia but I guess we'll never know.
okOk, he did give me a few more...
Mike had a conference in Frankfurt so I tagged along because he said it was a fancy hotel. It was. Like a resort. I felt guilty because he was working and I sat on the lake and drank wine and hit their spa/pool area. I suppose I earned my keep though because I drove both ways.
Space-A Woes
.....and one excellent DiGioia family visit!
Space-A is great. If you haven't learned how to utilize it, you should! So far, my sister and her family and Alicia have made both of their trips here via' Space A. But, it's not always a perfect way to travel and really requires flexibility and a back-up plan. Unfortunately, due to so many cancelled and moved flights--just bad timing-- it was becoming evident it wasn't going to work this time for Kerry and Scott so they booked a last minute flight into Zurich. It was about 8PM our time when I knew they would be in Zurich the next day. I went into an excited planning frenzy. Zurich is a quick 2 hour drive from our house. I loaded up the car with blankets and pillows for anyone suffering from jetlag to nap. Zurich was almost halfway to Lake Como and Mike had a 3-day weekend so it really worked out perfectly. Of course the area was almost completely booked so we took a flat down in Cadenabbia, a little village 2km from Menaggio. It was facing Bellagio and absolutely fantastic.
This is one of the reasons I'm not a fan of self-catering places. The Italian coffee contraption they provided was mysterious and it took sweat and brawn (and a lot of time!) to figure out how to make coffee the next morning. Minor complaint as this place was really fantastic.
Villa Niccolo, Cadenabbia-3/3 with large upstairs loft and a huge jacuzzi tub. Huge wrap around balconies with covered breakfast area. Really fantastic place with a very helpful owner who lives in the lower flat.
Want to see the happiest Cooney on Como? Rent a boat. So that's what we did. You don't need a license for these boats and it was pretty reasonable to do so!
Panini lunch in Menaggio
A little stop for olive oil
How often do you see a boxer on a pet sign? Never! Thanks Italy!
Driving home from Como through Switzerland
See Mike waving?
Cowbells and chimes. Doesn't get much more magical than this.
This is just a stop off the side of the road.
Mike had to work so we spent the first few days around our area. We visited a castle, markets, and our downtown area. Would you believe it was 100+ degrees for their first few days? Ironic since I had just told Kerry to bring lots of cardigans and jeans for the cooler weather... Hard to believe the lows were in the 30's not even three weeks ago. As I write this today, our high is 61. The weather here is wildly unpredictable.
Mike came home on Tuesday evening with a surprise..
He was able to take the rest of the week off. We did not think it would happen so this was huge! They went to the Porsche museum the next day and we met them at the bier garten later.
the Gruner Baum
The Porsche Museum
To celebrate the Carrera 911's 50th Anniversary, the museum had 50 different Carreras on display each listed with fun facts.
We headed to Nuremberg on Thursday.
Nuremberg downtown area
You just never know when you will see a good pair of shiny pleather pants..
Neither one of us had been to Nuremberg and we were most interested in seeing the Reichsparteigelande Nazi Party Rally Grounds. There was a museum and you could drive a short distance to see the Rally Grounds where they held the parades and speeches. The stadium is huge. It's a dull and sad looking area but very interesting to see the actual place we've seen in so many videos and pictures.
I see you.
Kerry found a hoe in the oddest place!
It's Friday...And we are headed back towards Zurich but going the long way through the Alsace wine route. It's a beautiful area- picturesque in every way. We spent the day in Strasbourg and then down the wine route to a few villages before staying in Riquewhir for the night.
See that sweet doggie taking a bath break?
When we took this picture we didn't realize we were being swallowed whole by the rose bush. It makes me laugh.
Listen while Mike explains the different variations of wine. No, actually we have learned quite a bit on a few wine tours and he is explaining the turning of the bottles.
Colmar France Statue of Liberty replica built to commemorate the 100th anniversary
of the man's death who created the original. Colmar was Bartholdi's birthplace.
Check out this guy's mustache!
Hey, you match the cute building!
Mike charmed all the ladies at the fish pond.
We are inside eating our croissants and watching the wooing.
Saturday we tooled around the wine route a little more before heading to Grafenhausen in the Black Forest. The Black Forest is used as the backdrop for the Grimm Fairy Tales. It is a beautiful area with distinct architecture and it really does look like a fairy tale.
Leaving the vineyards and headed to the forests...
Things like this baffle me... Good thing we didn't try to drive through... There's no light or any alert.
Looking for dead bodies?
Driving through the little towns, Scott spotted a rodelbahn from a distance.. What is that?! Rodelbahns are common in ski areas around Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. During the summer they use the ski lifts for a really long self-braking mountain coaster ride. I pulled out the mighty iPhone, used the Google and found the Totdnau rodelbahn online and we headed to grab parking. Spontaneous stop for the day!
Everyone enjoyed their safety instruction in all German. :D
Love how excited they were..
Recognize these guys?
On to our final destination... The Tannenmuhl. I did not expect this place to be what it was. It was ...a farm resort. I don't know how else to describe it. Amazing place. Animals everywhere! Ostritches, llamas, mules, Shetlands, horses, roosters, bunnies, a full trout farm--that's not even half of it! The grounds, the guest houses, the restaurant, the playground areas, the museum--all of it, like a postcard. (there I go again with the postcard reference) Such a neat place.
Enjoying their Cubans on our last night!
Early breakfast
In love with this fireplace. I see these around quite a bit.. And, for sale in antique stores. I really want to bring one of these back.
The little museum on premises
And, back to Zurich. The End to an awesome chapter. It was a fantastic visit and we look forward to resuming our joint Caribbean vacations when we return.
~~~~~~~
Thanks to our soon-to-be newest villager, Amy and her family, we were able to check out a really neat tradition this week. She and her husband are building a home in the new section of our village and before the roof goes on, they had a Richtfest ceremony. The builders climb on the house, read a nice poem blessing the family and the house while drinking a glass of wine, and then smash the glass on the top. I liked this very much! Of course food and bier is served afterwards. I really enjoy learning different traditions such as this and really appreciated the invite!
The builders on the top with the decorated tree
Amy and her cute family- Congratulations! We are excited you guys are here.
