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 :)

Rhine Falls - The Biggest in Europe

Hi Everyone!  I know I have been slacking on the blog lately, so tonight is going to be a two post kind of night.

First off, I want to tell everyone about my visit to Rhine Falls two weeks ago.  Rhine Falls is located in the small town of Schaffhausen which is in the German speaking part of Switzerland.  It was absolutely gorgeous!  I can't believe in a quick two hour train ride, this is what is waiting.  I may go back on August 1st which is National Day in Switzerland.  You can take boats out by the falls and they do a fireworks show at night.  I'll keep you posted.

Not only did we visit the waterfalls, but we decided to be adventurous and do a ropes course and zip lines with a view of the falls throughout.  I will spare you the pictures with a look of terror in my eyes, but it was so much fun!  I was sore for days, but it was totally worth it!

Work Preview - Dat II

I know I talk a lot about my worldly travels, but I must not forget why I am actually here.

Work has been taking up most of my time, but I can't complain, because it has been truly an amazing experience so far.

The program I am in, is eight months.  They take around 12ish people from all over the world and put them in the Centre for 8 month missions.  I am in the third wave, since this program started.  The goal is that I take all of my learnings, experiences and new knowledge home with me in January and implement a large portion back into my home market - Nestle Purina US.

Here is a video that was just released from the Wave 2 of the Digital Acceleration Team.  Good preview to give some insight of what I am doing every day.

Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2KjwoxhvAs

1 Month In! Wine festivals, work space and more...

This last week has been pretty uneventful in the sense that I have not traveled to another country or gotten lost on a train ride.  That being said it has been great that work is starting to pick up, our group is getting closer and we've gotten to know Vevey just a little bit better.

This week in pictures:

My new "office" - trust me it's super quiet with the 10 girls on my team :)

We took the funicular train up to a little town called Chardon in Vevey for a wine tasting event.  Yes, those are wine wearing necklaces = amazing! 

Interesting display of music.

These pictures above were from my run today.  It has been quite rainy so far, which everyone says is unusual for this time of year.  I was pretty down about it this weekend, but then when you have days like this, it makes up for the rain 100%!

Lastly, I had to go into Lausanne, (which is a city that is about a 20 minute train ride from Vevey), to get my fingerprints, etc. taken for my work permit.  I have been wanting to take the double decker train to see what kind of view I could get, and this is it!  It was a quick 20 minutes but so mesmerizing the whole time.

I hope everyone back home has a wonderful 4 day week!

First trip to Italy, but definitely not the last.

Florence is a quick 5 hour train ride from "home" so made sense to book a trip ASAP.

We did a good deal of reading up on what to do, took many suggestions and a friend planned the majority of our days, which was great because we enjoyed every minute. We pulled into town around lunch, went straight to our hotel to drop off our bags and got started.

We toured the market place full of "leather" handbags, ate lunch at Trattoria Za-Za (pasta of course), passed by Santa Maroa Novella, Piazza Duomo and climbed to the very top of Piazzale Michelangelo, all truly spectacular.

On Sunday we decided to grab some quick but delicious cappuccinos and head straight to the train station. We took the train to Pisa which is a quaint but fun little town and of course we then tested out our photography skills with the Tower of Pisa. We returned to Florence and browsed through the market again, then we headed to this little place called I'Mangiarino, and discovered the true meaning of slow food and tiramisu.

We decided to end the night heading to the local nightlife hotspots - Piazza Santo Spirito, where we of course stuck out given our lack of Italian, but we did experience some of the amazing sights on that side of the bridge. Then we took a stroll back over the world famous Ponte Vecchio bridge and discovered gellaterias and even live music. The bridge was incredible! The views, the locks of love story (see here if interested ) and the ambiance were breathtaking.

On Monday, I only had a few hours before my train departed at 1:00pm. I also learned through a lot of reading that many of the most famous museums are closed on Mondays. Come to find out, that was perfectly fine, I chose two things that turned out to be amazing!

First, I climbed 463 stairs to the very top of the Duomo.  The Duomo according to my reading, means the most important cathedral in the area and this one is particularly well known in Florence.  All of the paintings have been removed from the building, except for one...at the very top! This was so incredible. You can see the entire city and all its' beauty! My favorite part of the trip.

Before heading to the train station, I stopped at the Bargello.  An art museum that is only open on Mondays and is said to hold Michelangelo's first piece. It was remarkable, the whole experience, unlike one I have ever had.

I can't wait for my next trip to fill you in on! Uncle Tom, I hope you enjoy these few other photos, I hear Florence is your favorite!

Town of Cheese and Boat Ride to France

I'm three weeks in and so far, so good.

Last weekend, the weather was still a bit dicey so we decided to stick close to Vevey and take in the Swiss sights.  We had figured out most of Vevey so we decided to take some suggestions from others and visit the town of Gruyeres and also take a boat ride over to Evian France.

Gruyeres is about a 1.5 hour train ride.  The trains in Switzerland, I have decided are the best things ever.  They're never a minute early and never a minute late.  When you have an hour and a half train ride where you switch train rides, it flies by.  The views are just incredible, you could become mesmerized by the sights and miss your stop if you don't think about it!

Gruyeres, was okay, not sure if I would go back, but there are a few sights to see.  There of course is the house of cheese (which smells terrible, even though the cheese is delish!) and then the coolest part is to hike up a bit and see the medieval town.  You can see everything from the cows with their big cowbells to the cobblestone roads, castles, little shops and of course lovely food with fondue!  We tried authentic fondue for the first time at this little place and discovered they have the best macaroni and cheese we had EVER tasted.

the famous mac & cheese

first taste of fodue

my photographer snapping pics outside the castle

beer break while doding the rain

Another tip we received, was to take a 25 minute boat ride over to France.  Crazy that you can just hop over that quickly.  The boat ride itself was awesome!  Just being on Lake Geneva on a sunny day is enough to make me content.  Once we got to Evian, there's not a whole lot to do.  You can go see the Evian "spout" where the water is bottled, visit a few shops, grab some crepes and take in the sites.  

from the back of our boat

gorgeous flowers...EVERYWHERE

bye bye France

Hardest part about the weekend ending was this guy leaving.  Can't wait until July fiance!

I'll leave you with this video...

Running along Lake Geneva on a regular basis, is not going to be a problem.