Vegas Vacay

About a week ago, I was on my way home from an end-of-the-summer vacation to Vegas.  I had a great time visiting my aunt and spending time with my fam (minus my boyfriend-he had to work.)  Needless to say, I was exhausted from the go-go-go mentality of the city, but I felt like I got to see quite a bit for my first time in Vegas.

Flying (first class I might add) over the desert and mountains

Yorkie Jack was happy to see me

Relaxing in my aunt's gorgeous backyard pool after a busy day of traveling

Little White Chapel.  Don't worry, Luke and Hannah didn't get hitched in Vegas

Outside of Pawn Stars. All the guys were on vacation and we "just missed" the old man.

 Hannah outside of Pawn Stars shop

Wouldn't be a trip to Vegas without a stop at the famous "Welcome" Sign.

 Drinks at the Luxor

Reunited with the guys after their 105 degree day of golfing

 Stop at Margaritaville

Inside the Luxor Hotel

More tasty treats at Margaritaville

Bobby Flay's MESA Grill Restaurant

One of Gordon Ramsey's pub restaurants

Outside Caesar's Palace (don't worry we were inside also.)

Overall this trip was a great way to end the summer!

Euro Trip Part 4: (Finally!) The Finale

Summer is over and I'm just now getting around to the final installment of our Euro Trip. Goodness!

Remember back to my last post, we spent Thursday evening in Florence.  We went to an awesome outdoor market the next morning (where I scored a GORGEOUS cobalt leather across-the-body bag) before departing.  Luckily Pisa was on the way to the Cinque Terre!

Just beyond those walls you can see the leaning tower and the Duomo Pisa.

Beautiful buildings in Pisa

Magnificent architecture and decor inside the Duomo

The famous leaning tower.  Everywhere you go, people were doing the "leaning pose." (See girl in our background.)

Jodie at the tower.  It almost appears fake.

After an afternoon in Pisa (and a coffee/cannoli stop) we continued on to the Cinque Terre.  Here's a picture from our hotel balcony.

We stayed in Porto Venere.  Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous!

My cell phone pictures just cannot do this justice.

Taking a boat ride to the different towns of the Cinque Terre.  Holy sunburn, Batman!

Exploring the different towns

Delicious Caprice salad at dinner

Mmm pizza

On Sunday we made the trek back to Milan to try a departing flight home.  Unfortunately (or maybe not) the flight was full and we couldn't get on.  So the only logical thing to do was take a train to Zurich, Switzerland!

In the Milan train station.  Magnificent building, but somewhat sketchy. (Side note, doesn't my boyfriend cute in his uniform?!  Also, there are McDonald's everywhere.)

We were able to board our train later in the afternoon.  To say that it was hot would be the understatement of the year.  The air on that train was so thick that you could cut it with a knife!  It's truly a miracle that I didn't lose my lunch.  About an hour after the train got going it seemed to cool down a tad, which allowed us to enjoy the awesome scenery as we rode through the Alps.

Our arrival to Zurich was a bit late in the day, so we didn't have much time to do any site-seeing.  This picture was taken at about 9 pm in the "Old Towne" part of Zurich.  Ironically, we ended up eating at an Italian restaurant for dinner. Ha!

Before we left Switzerland, we had to visit a chocolate shop to bring home lots of Toblerone.

On the way through the airport, one of the security people started talking to me and addressed me as "Frau Meyer" (woah!)  I of course had to tell him that I was of Swiss decent.  He liked me that much more after that.

Overall, the trip was so much better and so much more than we thought it could be.  We definitely got the "sampler platter" of Italy, which is a great jumping off point to see what we enjoyed and would want to do again.  I give this trip two thumbs up!

Euro Trip Part 3: Bologna, Ferrari, & Florence Oh My!

Prepare yourself to witness (in pictures, that is) the most delicious meal we ate on the trip. 

It was that good.  

That's what she said, ha.

Anyways, we hit the road from Venice with the intent to stop in the Bologna area for lunch en route to Florence.  There's all kinds of good stuff going on in the vicinity of Bologna.  Bolognese sauce originated in Bologna, Parma (aka home of parmesan cheese) is near, and Modena which is famous for balsamic vinegar is also close.  Cured meats like prosciutto and salami are a big part of their local food industry.  

We drove up to this place toward the end of lunch time and it was totally empty.  As we wondered if this would be a good (i.e. edible, safe, etc.) place to eat, a guy appeared shirtless from a top floor window and waved us in.  Oh boy, what were we getting ourselves into?!?

A mighty good meal, that's what!  

Our hosts did not speak English, but it still worked out just fine.  They were kind enough to prepare us a sampler of homemade pastas and customize several things on their menu for us.  

But first, the bread.  Mmmmmmmm the bread!

The meats, nom nom nom.

And finally the pasta!  Everything was just delicious!

They loved Eric because he finished everything on his plate and then some.  This action merited a good old fashioned back slap and man hug from our waiter.

Our next stop on the way to Florence was the Ferrari Museum.  Not my favorite, but it was still interesting nonetheless.  Eric loved it.

I can just imagine him thinking "ooh they're all so pretty!"

Interestingly enough, you could pay to test drive Ferrari's around town for varying amounts of time or around a race track for an exorbitant amount of money.  Eric saw the prices and was like "no thank you very much."

We arrived in Florence after some mountainous and crazy city driving.  Our hotel had a great view of the Duomo.

 

We walked around until it got dark.  The Duomo was gorgeous!

Euro Trip Part 2: Venezia

VENICE

Reason # 56094509 we were glad to have Jodie with us for our trip: we would have skipped Venice.  

During the planning of the trip, I came across several internet reviews of people saying that Venice was "over rated," "the food is not good," "blah blah I hate puppies blah blah."

Buffoons.

Lies! All lies!

Do not skip Venice.  I repeat DO NOT SKIP VENICE!

Anyways, we departed from Verona after a sufficient amount of sleep and checked into our hotel just outside of Venice (after battling road construction setbacks.)  

Another thing we'd have never known without Jodie is that cars/buses/trains do not happen in Venice.  You either drive or are dropped off at specific locations and if you've booked a room in the actual city of Venice, you're forced to lug your clunky rolling suitcase quite a distance.  We did not have to do that.  Score for us!

Mmm pastries.

Here we are in front of St. Mark's Basilica and in the surrounding square.

Loved the details of all the buildings.

Venice was my favorite part of our trip.  Everywhere you looked there was beauty.  It also felt safe.

I was also able to check a life-long dream off of my bucket list.  

Gondola ride.  

Oh yah baby!

Make note though, not all gondola drivers sing.  Our driver apparently was not of the singing variety.  

Maybe he was shy.  

Perhaps if he'd known that we were going to pepper him with a million and one questions, he would have chose singing instead.

Riding on the gondola, it felt like we were being let in on a  secret about Venice.  A secret that you'd never know unless you rode through those tiny canals.

And here's the Rialto Bridge.  We actually have several photos of it via land, but it was crowded up there.  Our water pictures turned out much better.

We literally walked around all afternoon and evening.  I think Venice was the latest that we stayed out over the course of the trip.

  

Jodie showed us a pizzeria that she frequented during her days as a student in Venice. We ended up eating pizza on a little bench in the middle of square filled with locals, off the beaten path if you will.

  

I can still close my eyes and picture it.

Next: Bologna, the Ferrari Factory, and Florence!