Bellinzona, Switzerland (Day 9)

Bellinzona is the capital of Ticino and the home to three stunning castles: Castelgrande, Montebello, and Sasso Corbaro (their official web-site has some 360 degree tours). We drove home on a cloudless fall day using the eastern route of driving tour 19 from the AA Best Drives in Switzerland book. Our day ended with blog entries and laundry - the natural end to each and every vacation we've taken. See the pictures of Bellinzona here.

Locarno Switzerland (Day 8)

After a few days of cloudy weather we were so lucky to get two days of blue skies and sun in Ticino. We started with the art trail in Lavertezzo - complete with a medieval bridge. It was stunning with the river, rocks, waterfalls, mountains and fall foliage. This area is also popular for divers due to the water-filled gorges caused by the Verzasca Dam (a James Bond film sight). Afterwards we had our sights aimed a little higher: Cardada. We were able to take a cable car and then a chairlift up to Cimetta to start our stunning hike where we could see the highest mountain in Switzerland, Mount Rosa. Somewhere along the way we took a wrong turn and got far enough along a steep, unauthorized trail that we had to continue down - the sights were stunning, but most of our concentration was focused on the matter at hand. Once safely back on the trail we enjoyed our traditional beer before heading back down. At the bottom we opted for a short driving tour which led us ultimately to Mogno, the sight of a Mario Botta designed church which was absolutely stunning. See the Lavertezzo, Cardada and Mogno pictures here.

San Gimignano/Verona Italy (Day 7)

We arrived at our picturesque bed and breakfast in the middle of Tuscany and enjoyed walking around nearby San Gimignano in the evening. This town is everything you imagine a smalled, walled Tuscan village to be. Its claim to fame are its 14 towers, but it used to have 70+ towers in days gone by. After enjoying a great night in our spacious room with the perfect view we ventured into town to take some pictures in the daylight before moving on to Verona. Verona was several hours away by car, but we were able to enjoy a couple of hours visiting the famed Romeo and Juliet city which we both found charming. The town square, roman amphitheatre and other medieval architecture made it well worth the visit. See the pictures of San Gimignano and Verona here.

Assisi/Siena Italy (Day 6)

Today we journeyed to Assisi, the home of the famed St. Francis. It's a lovely walled town filled with tourist and monks in traditional robes. We were able to enjoy the basilica with all of it's famed frescoes by Giotto (among others) which led the art world into its most famous period of art period: Italian Renaissance. Just down the road a piece is Siena with its terrific town square (Piazza del Campo) which includes the Fountain of Joy (Fonte Gaia). A dangerous horse race is held in the square twice a year, but we were able to enjoy some nice shopping streets and other ancient buildings before our parking meter expired. See the great pictures of Assisi and Siena.

Robert Turns 40

Robert turned 40 while in Italy. We stopped at different times during his special day to take his picture with the cards he received. Thanks to everyone for sending them. Take a look here!

Alberobello/Tivoli Italy (Day 5)

We decided to put Alberobello on the list of things to see from the picture in the guidebook. Its stunning houses with their conical stone roofs looked really intriguing and they did not disappoint. There are over 1400 stone roofs in the city and clustered together. They are a treat for the eyes. After a REALLY long drive, we arrived in Tivoli which is only 15 miles outside of Rome. There are several things to see here, but the most recommended sight is Villa Adriana. This complex was built by Hadrian in the early second century to represent the best that he had seen in his travels across the Roman empire. Stunning does not even come close to describing this place - we were both amazed at the size, scope and luxury that would even today be considered jaw dropping. After dark we picked our way through the traffic and darkness to arrive at the small village of Anticoli Corrado where our hotel was located. We weren't exactly sure where to find the hotel, but a local restaurant owner saw that we needed help and came to our rescue - in spades: he had a local move his car so we had a space to park, he closed his restaurant so he could show us to the hotel and then he carried one of our bags for us! The hotel owner didn't speak English so he contacted someone else from the village to come to the hotel to translate everything we needed to know...talk about hospitality! See the pictures of Alberobello, Villa Adriana and Anticoli Corrado here.

Croatia/Montenegro (Day 4)

Our first adventure of the day was to visit Kotor, Montenegro. There were two main reasons to visit this town: 1) it is located on the southern-most fjord and 2) it is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is a walled city that has a castle that sits 4.5km above the city. It was the perfect destination for a nice fall day. Next up was Dubrovnik which is said to be the best and most well preserved medieval city in the world. The entire city is surrounded by a wall that you can walk completely around. It gives you the ability to see the town as well as the Adriatic Sea and surrounding countryside with a birds-eye-view. We took a short guided city tour in the evening to learn more about its history before having a traditional Bosnian dinner. Afterwards, we embarked onto the ferry which took us and our car 9 hours overnight to Bari, Italy. See the pictures of Kotor and Dubrovnik here.

Croatia (Day 3)

Today we visited Split. This walled city in Croatia has a lot to offer: history, the coastline and narrow passages. We took a self-guided tour though the city and enjoyed a nice breakfast overlooking the boardwalk. A few minutes up with road we took some time to visit Solin, an ancient roman city complete with a forum and two theatres. See the pictures of Split and Solin here.

Croatia (Day 2)

Plitvice Lakes are a remarkable natural phenomenon. There are a series of 16 lakes that cascade one into another via stunning waterfalls with crystal clear blue green water. The park is remarkably accessible with walkways over the water and close to the falls and even include trams, ferries and boat rides to make the experience truly remarkable. If we had known that it took up to 6hrs to see everything we would have scheduled the time - it was really incredible! Since the navigation system in our car didn't include Croatia we had to make our way from town to town with maps (this is not as easy as it sounds). After several missed turns Nancy saw a sign referring to Nicola Tesla. We saw several more signs and discovered that our wrong turns has taken us to the birthplace of the famed inventor, Smiljan! We made a quick stop in Zadar - an ancient walled city located on the coast before heading to Trogir. We enjoyed a nice evening there and had a great time looking at all the sail boats in the harbor for a recent race. See pictures of Plitvice Lakes, Zadar and Trogir.

Dolamiti, Italy (Day 1)

Our first vacation day took us through the Italian Dolomites. There are some spectacular drives through this area and we took the most famed of them all: Bozen to Cortina (where the 1956 winter Olympics were held). This was a beautiful drive that we could have dedicated a lot more time to as there are hundreds of hiking trails and lots more routes to explore. Check out driving pictures from Italy here.

Trier/Wierschem, Germany

This weekend we planned to visit some friends next to Mannheim on Sunday, but that gave us an opportunity to visit some additional places in Germany on Saturday. First we went to historic Trier which is said to be the oldest town in Germany. Lots of Roman ruins (imperial bath and porta nigra) and holy buildings (the Cathedral of Trier and the Basilica) made it a very rich visit because they are all UNESCO World Heritage sites. Afterwards we went further north to Wierschem to visit Eltz Castle. This castle has been in the family Eltz for 33 generations and still is today! The drive thru the countryside was terrific as all the fall colors are still hanging on the trees. On Sunday we visited our friends in Biblis and took in some nearby cities: Bensheim and Worms. Check out the pictures from Bensheim, Trier and Elzt Castle.

Alsace, France

Alsace, the region of France that is right over the border and stretches north of Strasbourg, is world famous for its wine and vineyards. It's grape harvesting time so we thought we'd take in the area just north of Colmar that has a nice walking path Sentier Viticole des Grand Crus. We walked through several small towns: Mittelwihr, Bennwihr, Beblenheim, Zellenberg, but Riquewihr was a tourist's dream. A walled medieval city undamaged by the war with tons of great old buildings and lots of shops, restaurants and bakeries all open for business on Sunday! We could tell we were in for a treat as soon as we saw the line of buses outside the city wall. In between the cities are field after field of beautiful grape vineyards to enjoy, especially on a mild, sunny, autumn day. Some of the wine from this area include: Sporen, Schoenenbourg, Rosacker, Sonnenglanz, Mandelberg. See the pictures here.

Tour 16 & 17 Bernina & the Engadine

Sunday we embarked on an ambitious driving tour with our handy Best Drives of Switzerland book. Starting in Davos we ventured to Guarda, Scuol, Mustair and then through a maze of FABULOUS mountain scenery in Switzerland, Austria and Italy on the best weather day imaginable. We ended up in St. Moritz before heading home. Guarda and Scuol have terrific buildings with preserved sgraffiti and tons of charm. Munstair is home to a UNESCO site: Church of the Benedictine Abbey of St. Johann. St. Moritz is a super swanky ski resort and is included in several James Bond movies. Check out the pictures: Guarda, Scuol, Mustair, Swiss car tour, Italy car tour...enjoy!

Swiss National Park

We had a terrific forecast for the weekend and thought we'd make the most of it by exploring a part of Switzerland that's a bit out of the way. The Swiss National Park is in the southeast part of the country and is the only national park in Switzerland. It was created in the early 1900's to protect the chamois that inhabit the area (they make an incredible noise and dry your car with no streaks). We did two separate hikes: number 2 and number 17. Trail 2 offered the best possibility to see animals (it's almost impossible to see any wildlife in Europe besides birds) and it didn't disappoint: 3 red deer (they were VERY far away) and 2 marmots! Trail 17 offered a history lesson about the surrounding area in 5 languages and had some terrific views. It's a beautiful park and we're all ready to come back to visit again. See the pictures here.

Nancy, France

Nancy, France is about 2.5 hrs NW of Basel in the Lorraine region and on this rainy day we decided to skip the cloudy mountain views and take in some French culture. The city is best known for its 18C architecture (recognized by UNESCO) and we could see why immediately. The main area consists of three squares: Stanislas (a palace square), La Carriere (originally designed for jousting matches) and Alliance (where the Habsburgs and the French met minds). The city is full of small squares, great parks and a fine collection of art nouveau buildings. Quiche Lorraine and macaroons both were invented in Nancy and they are also know for their bergamot oranges and bouchees a la reine. We were both sorry we weren't able to see it on a nice, sunny day considering that it was pretty fantastic even in the rain. On the way back we drove through Saint-Dié-des-Vosges where the first globe was produced with 'America' represented. Check out the photos!

Scottish Highlands

First up was a drive through whiskey country: Speyside malt whisky trail. It was great to see the different distilleries and unique chimneys that give them their flavor (along with the barrels they are stored in). What's a visit to Scotland without seeing Loch Ness? Robert claimed to see 'Nessie' several times as we drove along the famous lake, but you'll have to check the pictures for yourself. Next we drove across the country looking at many different lochs (lakes) and great landscapes (see this video)on the way to the Isle of Skye (the great glen and glen sheil were terrific). Skye is a beautiful area with lots of one lane roads, coastline views and cute sheep, but we didn't see Dolly. The next day we drove on the Road to the Isles and enjoyed the craggy landscapes and wastelands of the Scottish interior at Ben Nevis and Glencoe - it was really beautiful.

Along the way we learned many things about Scotland. The history of Scottish clans, their tartans and kilts - Thompson has several - were very interesting (although we got no firsthand insight into what they wear under those kilts). We learned about haggis, tatties (potatoes) and neeps (turnips), thistles, Shetland ponies, Scotch Ale and Scottish highland cattle too. No information was forthcoming about Scottish Terriers or Scotch eggs or our favorite Scottish beer, Gordon's which apparently doesn't exist in Scotland because we couldn't find it anywhere. Did I forget to say something about golf? Yeah, they invented that too - St. Andrews was really the only thing we wanted to see, but just didn't have the time. See all the great pictures here.

Scottish Midlands

We had never heard of it before, but decided to visit The Falkirk Wheel, the world's first rotating boat lift, linking the Union, Forth and Clyde Canals. As an engineering marvel the wheel was super interesting to experience firsthand - the site even contains remains of the Antonine Wall!

Next, a bit of history: Stirling Castle and the Wallace Monument. Stirling Castle has been around for over 900 years and is surrounded by many battle grounds. In fact, Mary Queen of Scots was crowned here. We learned all about the Jacobites and Bonnie Prince Charlie. The Wallace Monument commemorates William Wallace who was portrayed by Mel Gibson in Braveheart.

We definitely wanted to take in a distillery tour so we chose Glenturret, the oldest distillery in Scotland. We were able to learn about how scotch whisky is made and enjoyed several wee drams of different types of single malt and blended whiskeys (Famous Grouse, Highland Park, Macallan, – we had a great time. That evening we stayed in Dalwhinnie which also has a terrific distillery. Robert took lots of great photos!

Edinburgh, Scotland

We started our visit at the Edinburgh Castle, part of which dates from the 12th Century. The Castle contains the Crown Jewels of Scotland, the Stone of Destiny, and Scottish Military Museums along with a great view over the city. Next we walked around the gardens and enjoyed a pub lunch in the ‘New Town’ which was designed and built in the 18th century. Afternoon brought lots of rain and wind but we took a guided tour through the Old Town and the Royal Mile, which connects the Castle and Holyroodhouse Palace (where the queen lives while she’s in Edinburgh). Afterwards we ducked in and out of the shops, and finally found a warm place for dinner.

The Edinburgh Literary Pub Tour was a terrific end to the evening (Edinburgh is the only UNESCO city of literature...J.K. Rowling even lives here now). Two actors walked us through the city wynds, courtyards, and closes of Edinburgh’s Old and New Town and we visited 4 great pubs along the way. 300 years of great writing and colorful characters of Robert Burns and Robert Louis Stevenson (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) among others. We stayed in Leith Links, the home of The Royal Yacht Britannia and the home of the Royal family.

On the last day we had some more time in town and took in the Firth of Forth bridge, Calton Hill and did a terrific ghost walking tour in the evening that visited the South Bridge vaults. Check out the pictures here.

Glasgow, Scotland

Glasgow was home to Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928) who heralded an outstanding architect and designer who pioneered the Modern Movement. He was famous for designing every aspect of a project down to such details as cutlery, furniture and light fittings. We were able to visit several of his buildings: Hill House, Glasgow School of Art, The Lighthouse, and one of the Willow Tea Rooms. We had a good time visiting the sites and seeing what Glasgow had to offer even though we were only there for less than one day and found a very unique restaurant, Waxy O'Connor's. See the pictures here.

Liechtenstein

We're making the most of every weekend now and decided to spend some quality time in Liechtenstein. The country was founded in 1806, has a population of 35,000 people and is only 62 square miles. We stayed in Steg which is on a crazy windy, twisty road up into mountains. On Saturday we had perfect weather and hiked over 6 hours on breathtakingly beautiful mountain trails. The hotel had a terrific chef and we ate like kings after enjoying the view from our private sun terrace. See all the pictures here.