Steph and Wade's European Adventure

Everyone can relax, we're still alive. As evidence I am posting (finally) pictures from Steph and Wade's European Adventure. S&W came over at the end of September. We spent a couple days in Hanau and then headed out on a road trip to Munich and northern Italy.
















Here are Shelly and Steph at the Heidelberg castle. Our weather during the first couple of days wasn't very good - light rain and foggy.

















Again, Steph and Shelly as they enjoy a Radler after we ducked into the Beer Bretzel to get out of the increasing rain. After the first two days the weather got MUCH better; I don't think we had a cloud the rest of the trip. Notice the Stephie-sized beer :) It was early in the trip; later Stephie would super size. Shelly has obviously been in Germany for a while.






Here's Stephanie standing by the brass monkey at the old bridge in Heidelberg. Rubbing the mirror brings luck or money or both; you would think I would remember since we've been there a dozen times. Oh well, all you really need to know is that Steph and Wade rubbed the mirror so if you need some cash give them a call.

We took other day-trips to Rudesheim, where we all discovered New Wine - a first press wine, sort of like a bubbly wine with mild alcohol content, and Rothenberg ADT before we left for Oktoberfest.

Oktoberfest 2006

Our first stop on the trip was in Munich for Oktoberfest. We pretty much skipped the sites - well, the sites in Munich anyway - and went straight to the beer tents.


This is one of many beer wagons we saw; I think we need at least a dozen of these along University Avenue on Florida football gamedays. This was actually pretty cool, no metal kegs, the beer is brought in real wooden kegs on horse-drawn wagons. Every tent/beer vendor had wagons coming and going (at an increasing rate as the day turned to night). It was neat to see for sure.



We tried to get reservations - as a side note we actually did, but the notice came to our physical address and we only open the mailbox at our house maybe once a month and since we never "received" the reservation, we didn't call to confirm.


Anyway, since we were there early in the day (we're parents now and even though we exposed Madison to Oktoberfest we did go early; we're not complete lowlifes) we didn't have any trouble finding tables. The only issue really is that most of the tables are reserved in the evening so it is likely that if you're at a table during the day you're going to have to move along around 5 PM when the reservations kick in.
We checked out a few tents, the Hippodrom (this is where we had the unconfirmed reservations), Hofbrauhaus, Augustiner and Lowenbrau. All the tents are cool, and they all redifine 'tent', but we spent the majority of our time at Lowenbrau where most of their tables are not reserved during the day.

You can see here that Madison and Shelly are ready for a beer as we check out the scene around the Lowenbrau tent.





Here's the inside of the Lowenbrau tent. All the tents are essentially the same - lots of tables, a band and stuff hanging from the roof. The only difference is the brand of beer served, the location of the band and the colors inside. As I said before we were there early, and left around 5 PM so we didn't see Oktoberfest at its full strength, but I guess they get pretty rowdy later in the evening. While we were there, the scene was fairly tame; the coolest part was when after a certain song, sung about every 20 minutes, a member of the band chugged his liter of beer. In this shot you can see the crowd toasting the soon to be chugging memeber of the band standing on the edge of the podium.



Speaking of chugging, check out Stephie getting ready to pound a liter of beer; I'm sure Wade is only helping to lift the beer not drink it. The other two at the table are Kristen and Kasey, friends of Steph and Wade that just happened to be in Germany during O'fest. Imagine that.

This crew stayed around for a few hours after Shelly, Madison and I headed back to the hotel. Word has it that the place got pretty lively (lots of prosting, standing on tables and singing) as day turned to night. You'll have to check out Steph and Wade's blog for any evidence, that is if they ever update it. Maybe next year Shelly and I can make a second trip before we make the big move home. Anyone up for baby sitting in late September of 2007?

Venice

We packed up the car (a challenge with all of our stuff - it was like a game of Tetris where every piece has to go in just the right spot for everything to fit) on a Friday morning and left Munich on our drive through Austria and northern Italy for Venice, stopping along the way in Fussen so Steph and Wade could check out King Ludwig's castles. We knew we wouldn't make it all the way to Venice, about a 6-8 hour drive from Munich, so our plan was to go as far as we could until Madison's night time timer went off and we needed to stop. We had our eye on a small village in the Dolomite mountains in Italy and as it turns out we ran across a nice guest house about 20 km short of our goal. Not bad. The place we stayed was newly renovated and one of the nicer and larger rooms we've stayed in Europe. I had a card from the hotel, but I can't find it. I do know that it is in Saint Sigmond, located right off the main east-west road that connects the towns with the autobahn; there's a large well lit 'Hotel' sign and a pizzeria next door up the hill. Just in case you're ever driving through the Dolomites on your way to Venice you'll know where to go. Beware, there's no eating in the rooms. So don't pull a Wade and try to sneak pizza and wine up or you'll feel the wrath of the owner.

We made it! Woo-hoo!!! And look, more great weather. The travel season in Europe runs from June through August, this is when the prices are the highest and the crowds the largest.
However, we've been to Italy twice in October, note - well past "travel season", and it seems the whole country is overrun with tourists year round. Granted we hit Rome last year with Regan and Cheri, and Venice, Florence and Pisa this year and those are all major attractions, but the flood of people really does get annoying. Tourists!!!!

So here we are doing our tourist thing; this was taken on the wooden bridge that spans the Grand Canal and connects Dorsoduro with San Marco. Personally I liked the areas we saw in Dorsoduro and San Polo better than San Marco just because San Marco was wall-to-wall people. The crowding was made even worse by the fact that we were toting Madison's stuff around too.

Another view of the Grand Canal, this time from Ponte de Rialto on our way to a pizza joint in San Polo. The area from Ponte de Rialto to Piazza San Marco was really crowded and difficult to enjoy. Once we crossed over a couple of blocks into San Polo the crowds pretty much dispersed.

After lunch at Ae Oche we made our way back towards Piazza San Marco and perused the art vendors along the way. The best looking paintings to my eye, admittedly not a very discerning eye, were being hawked by a guy on the walkway near where the gondolas launch in this picture. By the time we made our way through the rest of the "artists" in San Marco it was late and we didn't have time to work across the island to the guy we liked. Oh well.






It appears Madison and I have the same interest level in shopping for paintings - all originals of course, despite the fact they all look so similar.

Madison really was a trooper throughout the entire trip. I had visions of hauling a screaming baby all over Italy, but she just hung out and took it all in. Out only issue was the same one we have every day - when anywhere between 6 and 7 PM Madison turns into a pumpkin and we need to get her night time routine going. We did our best to reward Madison's good behavior during the day by getting her back to the hotel, get her a bath, fed and put to bed.









After a full day of sightseeing, shopping for "art" and Jamaican Prada handbags everyone needed a break; especially Wade and I.

One note - none of our group took part in a gondola ride. I can imagine that during the off season a gondola ride would be pretty romantic, I'd imagine that since off season is during the winter it would be pretty cold too. However, while we were in Venice the gondolas were making their way through the canals stacked back to front like rush hour traffic. It looked very NOT romantic.


Never fear, Stephanie and Wade got their share of tourist moments in too. This is on the same bridge as the photo of Shelly and I, but facing the opposite direction back towards the mouth of the Grand Canal.

S&W hadn't had enough so when Shelly and I took Madison back to the hotel they stayed back for a little Venice at night. Ohh la la.

Shelly and I actually had a decent dinner back at the hotel. The rooms were average, but the bar and restaurant were pretty good. I actually had one of the best pours from a bar tender ever at the bar in the lobby. Generally in Europe a liquor drink (in this instance Scotch) you get a one-finger pour and pay 10 Euro. But this was one of those times when the guy went past the normal (U.S. normal, not European splash normal) cut off and kept going and going, I almost started cheering. Shelly had a nice house red and we had few moments of relaxation - that is during the 3 or 4 minutes between sprints up to the room to make sure Madison was still sound asleep.

Florence

Where was I? Oh yeah, we just finished up with Venice. From Venice we headed across Italy to Pisa, stopping along the way in Bologna so that Wade could check out the Ducati factory - I guess he wanted to either drop off a resume or steal a few industrial secrets. Once we arrived on the coast we stayed at Camp Darby - a U.S. Army facility that accommodates U.S. service members on leave in the area. The rooms at Camp Darby were very U.S. Government issue; which means they weren't bad, but they weren't exactly the Ritz, or even a decent Holiday Inn. What they were was cheap, and decently located for trips into Florence and Pisa.

A word of advice if you're ever traveling to Florence, or pretty much anywhere in Italy - don't drive, it puts the whole experience into a negative light from the start. Driving in Florence was like being caught in a game of highway chicken with 1,000 scooters, and finding parking was difficult and expensive.

I think Shelly and I have seen too many European cities. Another square, and another cathedral. The usual glut of people pushing and shoving. And more overpriced average food sold to visitors as "authentic." The problem is that I think we fall into a trap of thinking that the next place we go is going to be different, somehow prettier, and less crowded with helpful locals that are glad you visited their fine city. This leads to heightened expectations that generally come crashing down to reality. Our experience in Florence was no different. I do feel like I should cut Florence a break since we had heard so many good things about the city, and read countless blurbs about how it is the most beautiful city in Italy. As a result our expectations were higher than they should have been. Generally Florence is a great city, there are many squares with fabulous statues and grand cathedrals, as well as abundant shopping. I'm sure if the Italians bothered to clean the squares, cathedrals and statues - not to mention the streets - Florence would have impressed more than it did. The picture here of Shelly, Steph and Wade is taken in Piazza del Doumo with Il Duomo, one of the worlds largest churches, in the background. After viewing the inside and outside (the green and pinkish colored exterior was pretty cool) of Il Duomo, we headed off to Piazza della Signoria. We walked around Piazza della Signoria for a while, taking in the statues and other monuments in what is considered one of Italy's prettiest squares.


Personally, the coolest thing about the plaza is the disk in the ground that marks the spot where a zealot monk was executed in 1498. The friar preached about the fate of sinners and railed against the pope (Alexander IV); for a time the monk struck a chord with the masses but in time his views fell from favor and he was hanged. These are the sorts of things you just don't see in the States.


Sorry, no pictures of the square but here's a shot of Madison relaxing at an Irish pub just off Piazza Signoria. After a couple beverages we ambled over to Galleria dell'Accademia to see the statue of David. One word: L-I-N-E. We were confronted with a line rivaling the lines at the Vatican, and this line wasn't moving.

So we rolled...

Pisa

...to Pisa. We didn't spend much time in Pisa, just enough to check out the Leaning Tower. I had thought the tower was just another tower in the city, or perhaps I hadn't paid attention. The tower is part of a pretty plaza, Piazza del Duomo, which consists of the Duomo (church), the Bapistry and the campanile - the famous Leaning Tower.



Here you can see the tower and the Duomo on the left. Construction of the campanile was begun in 1174 as a bell tower for the Duomo and began to lean after the completion of the 3rd story; it was at this time that builders discovered the ground under the site was clay. The tower leans 14 feet from perpendicular and is kept "stable" with lead counterweights placed at the bottom.

Il Duomo was designed in 1063 and completed in 1310, but was heavily damaged by fire in 1595. Many of Galileo's tools used during his experiments are housed here in the museum.

We had to stand here for 15 minutes holding up the tower before some other idiot tourists came along to take our place.

Cinqua Terra

We spent our final day of exploration on the Cinqua Terra (five lands); a string of five villages overlooking the Gulf of Genoa. The villages (Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore) can only be accessed on foot or rail, and of course by boat. The hike between the towns takes about a day and is difficult in some areas. This was, by far, our favorite day of the trip.


Here we are just getting under way in Monterosso, the northernmost village and the only town of the five that can be accessed by car. From Monterosso you can set out on foot, hop a train or take a boat to explore the rest of the Cinqua Terra. We set out on foot (of course) and planned to enjoy the view from the sea on a boat ride back to Monterosso.


The trail ranges from well maintained pavement like you see above, to smooth dirt single-track, to unmaintained rocky hiking paths. Walking the entire trail is a day's worth of work, especially if you're carrying 10 pounds of baby.

The walk was fun, and Madison did great - just bobbing along in the Bjorn taking in the sights. When Madison got tired she would just pass out in the Bjorn. We would try to time our arrival to a village with Madison's feeding time and had fairly good success. The other hikers on the trail thought it was great that we had Madison along; of course they weren't carrying her either.


This is the view of Vernazza from the trail as you approach the village. The Cinqua Terra has views like this around every turn.














Here is our group setting out from Vernazza on the way to Corniglia.














The view across the cove approaching Manarola

















Sunset in Manarola




We grabbed a bite to eat in Manarola and by the time we were done Madison was turning into a pumpkin so we passed on Riomaggiore and the boat ride and hopped a train back up to Monterosso. We tried to spend the night in Monterosso but there were no rooms to be had so we drove out to the highway and up the coast a bit and were able to find accommodations for the night. The following day was all driving, not so bad considering we were all pretty worn out from the hike. We made it out of Italy, through Switzerland and into the Black Forest where we found a great Gasthaus. We spent the night and had one of the better meals we've had in Europe then made our way back to Hanau the following day.