5 Weeks.

With all the traveling, it has been 5 weeks since Chris has spent more than a couple of hours with the girls.  And the girls were definitely missing their daddy.  So this weekend Chris packed us all up and took us to the mountains (well more into the mountains than we already are) for some quality camping time.

I love how well Presley sleeps--anywhere!  These were taken just as the girls woke up, but before we braved to cold morning.

With all the new excitement, this little bug had trouble settling down for the night.  But not as bad as Roxy, who just couldn't get comfortable all night.

Everyone did well.  Cheese dogs and chips for dinner with s'mores for dessert and pancakes for breakfast.  After camping we drove the long way home--over the mountains and through Salt Lake--with a stop at REI and Cabela's for much needed/updated camping gear.

Swimming Lessons.

This was our second summer of swimming lessons, and with all the traveling we were only able to get in one session.  Next year we will need to do at least two sessions.  My girls of course loved the water!

Stella with her teacher Scott.

Presley perfecting her back float with her teacher Travis (we finally learned his name on the last day!).

She could not be happier than when she is at the pool.

Stella working on her glide (rocket!).

Presley loves jumping off the diving board.  After a few failed (belly flops) attempts to dive off, we decided to stick with jumping.  She can do a great kneeling dive of the edge of the pool.

I love bringing the girls to this pool--thank you Carl and Susan!  I am as tan as I have been in a while--one week at the beach, two weeks in Europe, and another week at the pool for swimming lessons.  It sure feels like summer!  One month left--we are filling it up with camping, a visit from my sister and her boys, and getting ready for school.

Souvenirs.

Welcome home!  I sure missed these two (and Roxy too).  It was so wonderful that my parents could watch them for so long.

The girls in their carnival masks from Venice, Italy.  We are so happy to be home--Presley was so over come, she cried as she hugged us.  What a wonderful welcome home.  Now back to the grind--swimming lessons, Chris traveling (more) for work, friends . . . .

Paris, France.

Brrrrr.  The last time I was in Paris, it was August and so hot I thought I would melt.  I expected the same for this trip but instead we got chilly, cloudy, and just as we finished seeing the sights rainy.  We flew into Paris from Geneva and then hopped on a bus to our hotel on the other side of the city near the airport we would be departing from.  We spent the next day seeing everything we could squeeze into our one day of sight seeing.  Definitely get the day pass for the subways--worth every penny.



Musee du Lourve, as we are waiting in line to go through security and then purchase tickets.  We made it inside just as it started to pour rain.

Mona Lisa.  Under glass and a chained off area.  It was a pushing match to get close enough to look at her.

My favorite painting at the Lourve.

Chris in front of Notre Dame.

A pair of massive and ornate front doors--I meant to get a photo of the back of the church, but forgot.

Looking up at all the detail.

Paris was busy setting up the Champs-Elyees for the finish of the Tour de France.  Bleachers and grand stands were being set up all along the street and flags everywhere.

Arc de Triomphe.

This picture was for my girls--they are always on the look out for the pink car that they will drive someday.

Presley is so excited about the Eiffel Tower, and I promised her a picture.  Built in 1889 it is the tallest building in Paris.

This family offered to take our picture and the teenager was so excited about knowing how to use my camera--but her mom wouldn't let her hold it because it looked to expensive, so we got a kind of blurry photo.

We missed a museum that Chris really would have liked to see--it had all the Monet and Van Gogh paintings.  But we really loved everything we saw and we really went all around the city.  For future travels I recommend traveling in and out of a smaller airport--CDG was the busiest I have ever been too and I don't know if it was worth the hassle for the direct flight home.

Liechtenstiein.

When I was a kid, Liechtenstien was the smallest country in the world (61.7 square miles)--not so any more.  However, it still is so small that we could see pretty much the whole country from our hotel balcony.  It was cool and foggy the days we were here, but it was so green and pretty.  We stayed up on the mountain side in a newly remodeled hotel that was once owned by Hanni Wenzel, she won the small country its first medal in the 1976 Winter Olympics.  We found the hotel after driving the steepest and curviest roads up the mountain and past the prince's castle.

One of the views from our room's balcony.

We hiked around this little lake and through a small village of "cabins" in the mountains just behind our hotel.

The view of the church bell tower from our balcony--the only downside was this bells went chimed on the hour from 6 AM to 11 PM.

The most beautiful cemetery I have seen.  I love the personal flower beds with each headstone.

After closer inspection, nearly half of the headstones were for people with the last name Beck--my great grandmother's last name (on my dad's side, she was from neighboring Switzerland).  I bet we are some how related to these Becks.

This was a charming place to stay and highly recommend visiting if you have a chance!  I loved the hotel and the owners--they also ran the restaurant on the hotel's first floor.  Hotel Oberland (meaning the overland, or overlooking--up on the mountain).

Salzburg, Austria.

I have been to Salzburg before, and it is a beautiful place.  This being Chris's first time, and the fact that the "Sound of Music" is his favorite movie, we had to go on the tour!  It was nice to be on a bus with someone else driving and a guide (who happened to be a Welsh/Spanish Austrian, what an accent) telling us about all the placing we were touring.   But be warned--you will get the real story, and filming secrets that might ruin it for you!

Now owned by Harvard, this is the mansion used for the scenes facing the lake in the movie--a man-made shallow lake that during filming was freezing (it was early spring).

The gazebo.  Now locked up tight and moved to a beautiful park--no dancing and singing inside any more.

Chris is 42 and I am going on 35--can you believe it!

Gates to the grounds where the gazebo now stands.

In the pretty mountain town of Mondsee, is the cathedral used in the filming on the movie--in reality the Captain and Maria got married in the abbey where she was studying to be a nun in Salzbug.

The ornate inside of the cathedral.

Old town Salzburg.

Hohensalzburg Castle, one of the largest in Europe.

More old town buildings.

We also saw the Red Bull world headquarters, a giant, glass building way up in the mountains, castles, and old town.  Oh, and you must not forget that Salzburg is the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.  This is a place I could live--it was really beautiful.

Bled, Slovenia.

Despite a rocky start to our time in Slovenia (we got a ticket $150 euros) for not having a freeway pass allowing us to drive on the roads (who knew???), we had a lovely time time in the mountain/lake town of Bled.

Again the lake was an amazing blue color and the mountains and scenery surrounding the town were beautiful.  We took the afternoon and made the walk around the whole lake--along the way were different areas to swim, boat, lounge, alpine slide.  The town in general reminded me of Estes Park, Colorado.  It was amazing to see the town on a weekend (Sunday), so full of people who had come with their families for the day--the traffic leaving that night was incredible and I was glad that we were staying.



Chris with the Bled Castle in the background--over 900 years old.




A restaurant on the lake.



At all the lakes we went to in Europe there were swans.

Me with the blue lake.

Love the water lilies!



Chris said he might like church a bit more if the chapel were on an island in a beautiful lake.



Famous for its cream cakes (kremna rezina, cream slice), the dessert definitely lived up to all the hype.  Yum.

Despite the scenery, it was probably one of the hottest places we visited (there must have been some weird heat wave going on all over Europe).  We drove through the rest of the country and headed to Austria.

Venice, Italy.

I remember my sister-in-law Amber telling us to avoid Venice Thursday through Sunday, but with the weather and all the stops we wanted to make, we ended up in Venice on a Saturday.  Along with 4 cruise ships!  I had been to Venice before and it was crowded then, but it was really crowded this time.

We stayed in Mestre and took a 2 minute bus ride to Venice.  We spent the day wandering around crowded shopping streets and empty alleys.  We saw all the big sights--Saint Mark's Basilica, took a water taxi through the Grand Canal, and tried to find shade in the Piazza San Marco.  I loved just taking pictures of the smaller waterways and homes.

Gondolas.

An alley.

Busy waterways--I am not sure if there were any "rules of the road" between boats.

One of many little bridges.

Not sure which building this is . . . . opposite the water from Piazza San Marco.

We picked up two venetian carnival masks for the girls (their souvenir from Europe) and Chris found a new wallet--so despite the crowds we had a fun time.

The best thing about Venice this time was the food.  On our way out of the city we stopped at what looked like an Irish pub and had the most fantastic lasagna I have ever eaten!  It may be worth a return trip to Venice some day.

Marina di Massa, Italy.

Now for the beachy part of our vacation--the north western coast of Italy, Tuscany.  I think Chris was pretty excited about this stop because it meant going on a hike (Cinque Terre) between 5 towns along the coast--stopping at eachone for snacks, a swim, or a rest.

It was a beautiful hike, but so unbelievably hot hot hot (and humid).  I wasn't working too hard, but I have never sweat so much in my life, even in Costa Rica.  We loved the small, colorful towns and of course watching all the different people hiking the trails (or taking the water ferry or trains between the little villages).

Looking back at the first town on the hike, Riomaggiore (this hike was wheelchair friendly).

Overlooking the rest of our hike from the second town--we will end up at the last town along the coast in this picture.

Coming into Chris's favorite town, Vernazza.  Here we jumped in the ocean and took a nice swim.

Leaving Vernazza--the next leg of the hike was long--but isn't that a great view?

This is our final stop!  I was so ready to get an ice cream and cool off.

My reward--renting a set of beach chairs, taking a nap and a swim in the ocean.

We also spent an afternoon at the Marina di Massa beach where we rented beach chairs and an umbrella and spent time swimming in the ocean.  I loved all the topless little girls--only bottoms until about age 10.  My girls would have loved it.  Relaxing, but on to Venice next!