Cinque Terre

I left my heart in Cinque Terre.  It was quite the adventure to get there, but one that I would do all over again to go back.  It was breathtaking.  We decided to rent a car.  The map said 5 hours by car and 7 by train and the car was cheaper.  They drive on the same side of the road as the US in Switzerland and Italy so, can't be that bad right?  Oh so wrong.  We started off noticing the car was a manual, not an automatic which made for only one poor driver option, me.  Okay, we can do this, no big deal.  It only took about 30 minutes to be driving up and down a mountain.  But let me explain.  It's not steep like straight up because that would be too steep to drive, so you wind up and down one mountain and then another, and then another, you get the point.  Finally after my poor amazing sister in law to be was a bit nauseated we were on the highway.  All was good until we got close.  Then the windiness started again.  Cinque Terre is made up of 5 tiny towns that for the most part do not have any cars, so the roads aren't in the best shape.  Not only that, but news flash for us, it was an Italian Holiday in August so everything was packed!  Every lot we tried to park in was full, then the gas light came on, then we had to pay a parking meter that was in Italian, etc.  but we made it, and it was so worth it.  

We stayed in Vernazza, the harbor town and in our opinion the most picturesque of all the towns.  We stayed in a place called Gianni Franzi, that was so incredible as long as you are able to hike all of the stairs to get to your room.  Our favorite part was breakfast every morning.  With a traditional italian breakfast, you are tucked into the side of a cliff and overlooking the Ligurian Sea.  I could not have painted a better picture.  

We spent our days visiting 4 of the 5 towns by boat, laying on the beaches, shopping and trying to fit in with the few locals that are around.  We went to Monterosso for the beaches, bars and restaurants, Manarola to explore and Riomaggiore to lay out and watch the cliff jumpers.  We climbed to the top of Vernazza, we drank some fantastic Italian wine and enjoyed one of the best vacation spots I could have ever imagined.  I could 

Venice and Milan

My mom came to town with two of her friends for two whole weeks! I feel so lucky. Let the planning begin.  We started off with our first weekend in Italy since it was the end of July and everything seems to close in Italy in August.  What better way to spend your time in Milan than wedding dress shopping?  

I really enjoyed Milan, but it is really known for the shopping.  I'm sure if you are there longer you find other things, but in a nutshell, it's shopping.  No complaints here.

Next stop was Venice.  Ahhhh Venice.  I loved this city.  You know it's a city on water, but you don't really realize the miracle that is Venice until you're there.  We shopped a bit, visited the basilica, St. Mark's Square, toured around the town and even took a water taxi ride around Venice.  Way better and cheaper route than a gondola.  Our driver took us all through the canals and he had actually grown up in Venice so he was able to give us all sorts of history.  This may have been one of my favorites of Italy, I would highly recommend going if you can, absolutely beautiful.

Running/Watching with the bulls - Madrid, Pamplona, Bilbao

Early on I my trip over here, I met a travel buddy. She suggested to go to the San Fermin Festival. This was made famous by Ernest Hemingway in a book called "The Sun Also Rises" and takes places in Pamplona, Spain every year. I had never really considered going, but it seemed to be one of those bucket list opportunities, so why not?!

Pamplona isn't exactly a straight shot from Geneva so the first stop of the journey was Madrid. Gosh, I loved Madrid, I want to go back and experience so much more of it than a Thursday evening and Friday afternoon. We stayed at the most beautiful hostel ever, I would even pick it over a lot of other places I've stayed! They host tapas tours, flamenco dance lessons, etc. thursday evening we enjoyed the weather, some yummy tapas and hit a few local bars. Then on Saturday we set off on a 3 mile journey over to the Real Madrid Futbol stadium. Obviously the soccer roots don't come from me, but this was incredibly impressive. We did a guided tour and got to see locker rooms, field level and even  received full on explanations of the history of Real Madrid, which was incredibly interesting. Unfortunately that was all the time we had in Madrid so after some delicious tapas, amazing churros and chocolate, we headed to the train station for the 3 hour train ride to Pamplona...clearly not knowing what we were in for!

This Pamplona trip took the most amount of planning of anything so far.  Tens of thousands of people attend the San Fermin festival every year, so accommodations, balcony reservations and bull fight tickets were not exactly, easy to come by.  We stayed in the middle of the madness, we had bull run balcony tickets at "Dead man's corner" and our bull fight tickets were far enough away to not see EVERYTHING that was going on, thank goodness!

It's funny, because if someone asked me to go back, I would say absolutely not, but the stories I have to tell are rare.  For example, when they say people party in the streets all night long, you don't really take that literally, but I'm here to tell you, that is so very true.  We would go to bed at 1ish, with ear plugs, and wake up at 6, still with ear plugs in, but literally parades happening right outside our windows. You have no choice but to buy a giant bottle of sangria for 2 euros and join in the celebrations. Pamplona itself, seems like it has potential, but the poor town is just destroyed for the two weeks of San Fermin. 

Probably the craziest part of our trip was watching the running with the bulls.  These people have been partying all night long and then line up to run with wild animals.  We rented the balcony of this sweet Spanish woman who made us coffee and a spanish breakfast.  We waited there starting at 6:30 am for the festivities to start and then come 8:05 the run was over in just 5 minutes.  But then the real drama began.  We heard our little spanish woman yelling at the TV, so we went and looked.  Apparently, there were so many people running that day, that in the entry way of the stadium where the run ends, the entrance became jammed.  People were trampling, stuck and had no where to go, which in turn became a disaster when the bulls had no where to go.  The bulls ran into the jam of people, and then more people piled on from there.  People were swimming over others, being trampled, or ducking into crawl spaces to get away from the madness.  At the end of the day, 23 people went to the hospital, but thankfully, no deaths occurred.

The whole experience, was just crazy.  It is officially checked off my bucket list.

Paris, everything it was made out to be and more.

It has been two months already and the fiancé is back in Europe! He landed in town at about 7:30 am and we were jet setting to Paris at 6pm the same day. Saturday started bright and early, which apparently is rare for Parisians because we seemed to be the only ones out and about. 

We started with the highly recommended Angelina's for breakfast. It lived up to the hype with the macaroons and hot chocolate, oh my goodness the hot chocolate. Picture this - melting 10 chocolate bars, adding a little bit of milk and then topped with homemade whipped cream = perfection. 

Next we headed to the louvre. We walked along the gates until we found the entrance. Waking into that plaza was incredible. The louvre and all that surrounds it is definitely a site to see. Naturally we went in and saw the main attractions (Mona Lisa and Aphrodites). We could have spent days inside but we had a lot left to accomplish in a short amount of time.

We left the louvre, had an ice cream near the gardens while looking up at the Eiffel Tower and then decided to keep on walking.  Next we covered the Bridge of Art (I'm not much of a romantic, but this would get anyone), San Luis and Notre Dame. I wish we would've have Pre purchased tickets to go into Notre dame, it was breathtaking from the outside, I can't imagine the inside.

We ended Saturday with a great recommendation from a friend. We took a boat tour around the water at sunset. We were served a 5 course meal, with great wine and fantastic photo opportunities. I know this is the typical tourist thing, but it was really impressive, and I would highly recommend. We took a quick metro ride over to St. Germaine and ended with a great nightcap with wonderful friends who happened to be in town. Talk about a fun filled Saturday!

Sunday had to be quick so we could catch the 4 hour train ride back to Switzerland. I was unable to get tickets to the top of the Eiffel Tower but seeing it over the weekend from afar was still satisfying. We ended up going to Mont Parnasse which is actually an office building in town. You can take an elevator to the very top (3000 m) and see the entire city of Paris. Then you will feel like you need 2 more weeks to experience it all, but a beautiful view nonetheless. 

Until next time Paris!

Lake Como...Amazing, even without George.

Lake Como is another one that is only 5 hours away.  I left Switzerland at about 75 degrees and showed up to Italy at about 85, which led to a large intake of gelato.  We rented a boat the first day and toured around the lake which was beautiful.  We stayed in Olcio which is a bit off the typical path but it was still gorgeous.  We toured Bellagio and Varenna, which were just absolutely breathtaking.  On Sunday we walked to a small town by us after croissants and cappuccino and then took a ferry ride around the lake.  We went back to Varenna, walked around, ate and ate some more, and then relaxed on the beach for a bit before heading home.  I officially could live off of the gelato and Prosciutto and Melon, it is amazing!!!  I couldn't choose just a few photos, so I am going to leave you with one big photo dump.  I highly recommend Lake Como, I didn't find George Clooney who has a place here, but I am sure going back to try :)