From Europe to the Starrs

May 11, 2016
Pre-Family Trip: Day 1
My family (the Starr family) and I had planned a trip through Europe while I was living in Germany but when my husband was offered a teaching position at West Point, New York, we had to postpone it for a year.  Finally it was time!  I flew in to Munich a couple days early so I could spend some time with my friend, Orienna, who was still living in Germany and my friend, Elaine, who was living in England.  We spent that first night just catching up!

Me, Elaine & Orienna

Caution!  Jet lag can lead to Snapchat silliness!

More silliness...

...and one Meeowr!

May 12, 2016
Pre-Family Trip: Day 2
The next day we decided to go to a neat castle ruins and take a hike.  Exploring is one of my favorite things to do and it certainly doesn't need to be a well know tourist place either! We went to the little town of Kallmünz.  

My lovely Orienna as we head out

Me & Orienna

Elaine & Orienna

Me & my sweet Elaine

You can see Kallmünz Castle coming up

Orienna, Elaine and me waiting for a pre-hike beer and snacks!

Looking up towards Kallmünz Castle

Elaine, me and Orienna at the beginning of our hike

Kallmünz is such a nice little town.  This is the River Naab.

Pretty neat house built into the side of the mountain

Even the trees had charm!

Coming up to the castle

Cool statues

No idea what these were about but I really liked them

Orienna & Elaine

Me, Elaine & Orienna

Kallmünz Castle ruins

The ladies

Overlooking Kallmünz

The castle walls were built in the 900's while the castle itself was built in the 1300's but was destroyed in 1504, rebuilt and then pillaged in the 1600's.

Such a cute little town

...you know it's gotta happen

...yep!  It happened!

What a fun afternoon!

When we were done with our hike we went home to get ready for dinner.  Of course of whole day was built around delicious food and even better beverages!

Orienna, me & Elaine heading out for dinner

Cheesy posing pre-dinner

Oh how I miss German wine!!!

Me, Orienna & Elaine

Orienna & Elaine

After dinner we went home, had some tea and went to bed.  Our plan was to go explore Regensburg and the Walhalla Memorial the next day.

May 13, 2016
Pre-Family Trip: Day 3

Regensburg.  I love European outdoor cafes.

Elaine, me & Orienna at breakfast

After breakfast we found a cute cafe for hot cocoa and something sweet

Elaine & Orienna at the bakery

Just look at those sweet treats!

After breakfast and our delectable drinks, we went to the Walhalla Memorial.  Walhalla is a Norse mythological hall in Asgard and is ruled by the Norse God, Oden.  The Walhalla Memorial is a physical recreation of the Pantheon in Athens but holds busts of famous Germans, built by the Crown Prince Ludwig and completed in 1842...it's confusing and weird but the view is amazing and very impressive!

Walhalla Memorial

The Parthenon in Athens (from our trip to Greece)

Elaine, me & Orienna in front of Walhalla

Me, Orienna & Elaine

Orienna & Elaine

Me & Elaine

Me & Orienna

View of the Danube from Walhalla

Elaine, me & Orienna in front of the Danube

It may not look very high but you would be WRONG!

Same location, different view!

After all our exploring we went home and just spent some time together until we had to say goodbye the next day.

May 14, 2017
First Day of Starr Family European Adventure!
Munich, Germany: Day 1
Finally it was time to say goodbye to my amazing friends and hello to my family.  Orienna was incredibly generous and drove me to Munich to my airport then drove to Nuremberg to drop off Elaine to her airport!

It took a little bit for my family to get to me but it was so worth the wait!

Karla & Randy on the plane

Dad & Mom on the plane with drinks!

They arrived!

Once we were all at the Munich airport, we got our car rentals and drove to our hotel, the Bold Hotel.  It was clean, comfortable and had good food and affordable drinks!  Look for the Bold Hotel on Booking.com too for possibly better prices!

The front of the Bold Hotel

Lounge/Breakfast area

My cozy, clean and simple room that didn't cost me and arm and a leg!

Jet lagged family!

My family that was able to come for the European adventure was my Mom and Dad, Stan and Rita; my brother Randy and his wife, Karla; my brother Brian and his wife Kristie.  My sister Annette and my brother-in-law, Jason could make is since they were getting ready to move to the Big Island in Hawaii, so we forgave them for missing this trip!  Hopefully we can all go visit them in Hawaii some time!  After a nice night catching up and talking about all our fun upcoming adventures we all went to sleep to shake off the jet lag and get ready for it all to begin.

May 15, 2017
Innsbruck, Austria: Day 2
Our first super fun location was Valdobbiadene, otherwise known as the Prosecco region of Italy in Trento.  I have been there many times so I was pretty excited about being able to share that experience with my family.  Before we got there though, I thought we should stop in Innsbruck, Austria since it was on our way.  Besides, the views are spectacular.  It started out pretty sunny and dry and ended up being a little cloudy and rainy.

Kristie, Karla and Mama

Kristie, Brian, Karla, Randy, Mama & Dad (Rita & Stan)

Randy & Karla

Brian & Kristie

These crazy kids!

Our lunch spot!

I do love Innsbruck!

When we were done having lunch and walking around Austria, we continued our drive to Trento.

 May 15, 2017
Trento, Italy: Day 2 Continued
We stayed at Il Follo, which I had stayed at a couple times and really loved.  It is such an amazing place.  It's not only a Bed & Breakfast but has their own vineyard in the heart of the Prosecco wine region. You may find specials or better prices through Booking.com again here.

Il Follo

Our balcony

So full of Italian charm!

Our room had a small kitchen and dining area

The sun shone in perfectly every morning

The bedroom

They had a great space to sit and have a glass of wine too

Another rest area with my brothers balcony above

Karla waving out at us

Just look at that view of Valdobbiadene!

As the sun goes down

Kristie, Randy, Karla, Rita (Mama), Stan (Dad) and me

Toasting to Italy

The family

Karla & Randy

Once we settled in, Brian and I went to go get pizza at Pizzeria Belvedere.  Again, this was a tried and true place to eat.  They have amazing pizza and great local beer.  All for reasonable prices!

Pizzeria Belvedere

They baked your pizza as the order came in

It was a traditional wood fire pizza oven

The view from Pizzeria Belvedere

After all our traveling and pizza we were ready to call it a night.

May 16, 2017
Valdobbiadene, Italy: Day 3
The next morning, Il Follo had a beautiful complimentary breakfast before we all took a hike around our area, before we went on our wine tours and wine tastings.

This was the breakfast building across from the room building

The door to the breakfast room

The breakfast set up

Eating breakfast

After breakfast, we went for a hike in the heart of the Prosecco wine region.

Kristie & Brian

Karla, me & Kristie on our hike

Kristie, me & Brian on our hike

There were vineyards everywhere

Of course seeing all the bikers, Randy NEEDED to find a bike to rent!

Randy is a huge cyclist and just loved this area!

Mama was happy with all the little religious areas throughout Europe

These silly chics needed to look at what this fellow was so interested in!

After our hike, it was finally time for our tours and tastings!  Our first stop was my all time favorite vineyard!  L'Antica Quercia, or the ancient oak tree vineyard is a completely organic vineyard, which is unheard of in Italy, but very cool.

Driving up to L'Antica Quercia

View of the tower and ancient oak

The vineyards

They have an old wine barrel that has been made into a B&B!

View of the ancient oak from the B&B barrel

They also made a wine tasting room from a wine barrel

The inside of the wine tasting room

The ancient oak up close

Randy & Karla in front of the oak tree

Stan & Rita in front of the oak tree

Kristie & Brian

They put flowers/roses at the front and back of each row of grapes to foresee any molds or illnesses are happening

After our walking tour, we went to the wine tasting with our hostess.

Our wine tasting

Their break room with the new Logo on the wall

This table was made from actual pillars that hold up Venice!  I'm so in love of this table.

The break room leading into the store front area

The store front area where you purchase wine and olive oil

More of the store front area

Then we went to another wine tasting. We went to Torre Zecchei.  I had gone many times to this winery but our hostess Illenia had stopped working there and they no longer had an English speaking hostess so it was not as fun...not to say the wine wasn't amazing.  We of course bought a bunch of wine from them!

Karla & me in front of Torre Zecchi

After the wine tastings, we went back to Il Follo to relax a little while Randy went for his bike ride.

Randy taking off for his ride

What we did while he was riding

Also, while Randy was riding his bike, we did a mini tour of Il Follo's wine tasting.  They have a very nice full set up and very delicious DOCG quality Prosecco award winning wine!  The prices are roughly $7 per bottle which makes me crazy since in America, the same bottle would be no less than $40...

They have a small dinning area in the tasting room as well

Wine tasting area

Randy after conquering the Italian hills!

Later on that evening we went out to dinner to a truly wonderful pizza place called Pizzeria Caravaggio.  They even gave us free wine for the table!  You just have to love Italian hospitality!

Pizzeria Caravaggio

Their upstairs dinning area

Kristie & Mama toasting to the day

Randy & Karla waiting for the pizza

Kristie pouring another glass of wine for the Mama

...she didn't entirely make the glass

Yep, only family can throw you under the bus like this!

After dinner we called it a night so we could be ready to travel to Bologna!

May 17, 2017
Bologna, Italy: Day 4
We got up in the morning and began our drive to Bologna.  It was a quick 3 hour and 13 minutes so not a bad day of driving.  This way we had plenty of time to explore Bologna!  We stayed at the Suite Hotel Elite, which was very modern, clean and comfortable enough.

The entrance to Suite Hotel Elite

The sitting area in the lobby

The breakfast room for the complimentary breakfast

The rooftop deck where we sat and had wine at the end of the evening

Once we were settled in at the hotel, we set out to find lunch.  Since it wasn't during normal lunch hours (between lunch and dinner), we had a very difficult time.  In Europe, restaurants are not all open when it isn't breakfast, lunch or dinner time specifically.

The first place was closed

The second place was full and didn't have room for us

Finally, a quiet place with delicious food!

Then we found gelato!!!

We had one happy Kristie!

We walked around bit.  My husband's fraternity was founded in Bologna and the University of Bologna and so I was tasked to find him a shirt and/or some gifts that were Kappa Sigma related but our first stop after food was the Basilica of San Francesco.  The Basilica was built in 1263.  This is one of the many reasons why I giggle when someone in the US talks about how old their 110 year old house is...this is seriously old history!  I love the ancient architecture.

Basilica of San Francesco

Randy, Karla, me, Stan, Rita, and Kristie in front of Basilica of San Francesco

The back of the Basilica of San Francesco

Dad taking a moment to be thankful

After this stop, my Mom and I struck out on our own to go to the University of Bologna to get Jack his Kappa Sigma memorabilia.  Strangely, the University bookstore didn't have any.  My husband was under the impression that his fraternity was founded here around 1395 or 1400.  Which it was, but not as it's know today.  It was once called Kirjath Sepher, the modern day version of Kappa Sigma was actually founded in 1869 in Charlottesville, VA.  No wonder they didn't know what I was talking about!

Regardless, it was pretty cool to see the first University created.  The University of Bologna was founded in 1088!

The University of Bologna

When we were done there we met back up with our family, went back to the hotel and had some great wine and just relaxed before going to bed.  Rome was on the agenda for the next day!


May 18, 2017
Rome, Italy: Day 5
Driving in Rome would have been total madness.  Instead, we drove to Fiumicino Airport outside of Rome and parked.  From there we took a car service into Rome.  We stayed at an amazing little apartment that I found on Booking.com.  The name was silly but the place was great!  We stayed at Granny's House Colosseum, located kind of in the middle of everywhere.

We spent our first day just walking around, grabbing a bite to eat and relaxing.  Day two and three in Rome were going to be jam packed with adventure so we needed a day to decompress.

Granny's House Colosseum

It was in a very cool, old building that luckily had an elevator!

Room #1

Room #2

Room #3/Dining Room

Dining Room

Entry way

Kitchen with balcony

Cute little balcony

I don't remember why Kristie was showing us her food but her laugh is awesome and I just love this face!

Just ignore all those bottles and empty cups...no judgment!

May 19, 2017
Rome, Italy: Day 6
Our day two in Rome started early.  We had an early morning Skip the Line Early Morning Vatican Tour that started at 7:10am so we were actually up and leaving around 5:30am so we could grab some breakfast and get to where we needed to be!

The Vatican

Arial view of the Vatican (pic from web)

Our pre-tour selfie

The inner area of the Vatican

                                               

These two....ha ha ha ha

She makes me giggle

                                                   

Our guide was wonderful and had to much information to share

We are loving this tour

Back out to Vatican City

Our Vatican selfie

Dad & Mom

Brian & Kristie

At some point, I lost a bunch of my pictures and had actually almost completed this blog posting back in November but somehow all of it was deleted so I am missing some really great pictures and I didn't have access to Randy/Karla or Mom/Dad's pictures so these are what I could recover or could find in Brian/Kristie's pics.

After our Vatican tour, we went on to our Coliseum/Roman Forum/Palatine Hill tour!  I had done this one before with Michael so I was pretty excited for my family to be able to experience it!  We stopped for lunch a short walk from the Vatican then grabbed an Uber to the meet up point for the next tour.

I can't remember what this building is but it had fun statues!

Of course my brothers had to get in on the fun statues

This is also why I like traveling with them!

We did Palatine Hill first!

Kristie & Brian

Randy, Kristie, me, Dad, Karla, & Mom

All the learning!!!

Once we toured Palatine Hill then the Roman Forum, we headed to the Coliseum.  If you want to know more about all these areas, I went very in depth in my Roman Holiday post.

The Roman Coliseum

Randy, Kristie, Brian & Dad

Coliseum selfie

The Mama

Oh how I love her!

Our Karla!

Me at the coliseum

When we were done with that tour, we started walking around Rome.  We did finally find our way to the Roman

On our walk

The Pantheon built in 126 AD!

Here are more random pics from our walk on our way back to our rooms.

Being silly

Karla & Randy

At the end of our day we got something to eat and headed to bed.  Day three in Rome was going to be another doozey!

May 20, 2017
Rome, Italy: Day 7
For day three we had set up an underground tour of the Ufficio Scavi (Excavation) or the Tomb of Saint Peter and the Necropolis under the Vatican Basilica.  This was an amazing tour.  These were more of the pictures that I no longer have but thanks to the internet, I do have a few to share!

Heading into the Excavation Office area

The Excavation Office

Map of where we were going

Heading out of the underground tour

When we completed this tour we made our way to the Bone Church.  The real name is the Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini is a Roman Church built between 1626 and 1631.  We were most interested in the Capuchin Crypt though underneath.  Here is what Wikipedia has to say about the crypt, "The crypt, or ossuary, now contains the remains of 4,000 friars buried between 1500 and 1870, during which time the Roman Catholic Church permitted burial in and under churches. The underground crypt is divided into five chapels, lit only by dim natural light seeping in through cracks, and small fluorescent lamps. The crypt walls are decorated with the remains in elaborate fashion, making this crypt a macabre work of art. Some of the skeletons are intact and draped with Franciscan habits, but for the most part, individual bones are used to create elaborate ornamental designs."

It was a little morbid but still interesting.  It wasn't as beautiful as the Bone Church in Kunta Hora in the Czech Republic but it still had it's own kind of beauty.


May 21, 2017
Florence, Italy: Day 8
Once we completely explored Rome, we began our journey back to the Airport to get our car's and carry on to Florence.  Here we stayed at a wonderful little place called B&B Centrale which was within walking distance to absolutely everything.

At first it seemed a bit sketch but no, it was great!

The common area kitchen

The breakfast set up was pretty great too

Breakfast!

Our sweet hostess

Room #1

Room #2

Room #3

Once we got settled in to our place, we walked down to the main shopping area of Florence.  This city was small but one of our favorites.  It just had the neatest atmosphere!  We found the "food court" and had some drinks and lunch before doing a little shopping.  The Mercato Centrale Florence has flea market type shopping in the surrounding area but inside the Mercato, you can find ready made meals, pizza, fresh fruits and veggies, meats, cheeses and lots of wine and beer.  It was such a perfect place!

Mercato Centrale Florence

It had just about everything!

It had cool wallpaper in the food court too!

and amazing wine!

Most of these pics are off the internet since, much to my shattered heart, I don't have many pics due to the loss on my phone.

We all pitched in and bought our Dad the most amazing Italian leather jacket!

Our guys!

Florence Baptistery

The Basilica of Santa Croce

Heading towards the RICH shopping area

 We did not go to the Ponte Vecchio bridge since it was swarming with tourists and we just wanted a quiet moment to enjoy the view.

The Ponte Santa Trinita Bridge

Brian with the Ponte Vecchio in the background

I wish we had pictures of the restaurant we went for dinner.  It was this neat place in a outdoor area inside a restaurant.  It was quiet and the food was really delicious.  Of course the wine was pretty amazing too!


May 22, 2017
Pisa, Italy: Day 9
After we woke up and got moving, we drove to Pisa before leaving Italy and driving to France.  I have been all over Italy and for some reason, up to this point I hadn't gotten myself to Pisa.  Not that Pisa is a place to spend a whole day, it's definitely worth an hour or two!

Now you know what happens next....every....single....time....

We just have to get it out of our system

Still not done...

Even the Mama got in to it!

Here's one that isn't campy!

Still not quite done...

This is my favorite!

Pisa selfie, now we're done!

Once we did every possible cheesy thing in Pisa, we grabbed lunch and headed to France!  We drove through Genoa, Monaco and we were going to stop in Cannes for lunch but the Cannes Film Festival was going on and we really didn't want to fight that traffic so we just had lunch on the road and made our way to Méounes-lès-Montrieux.

Mama checking out where we are and where we are going

Our lunch spot on the road

Baby tea...BIG ol'tea

Genoa!

May 22, 2017
Méounes-lès-Montrieux, France: Day 9 Continued
We stayed at the cutest possible 17th century French country house in the Provence region called Auberge de Pachoquin.  The rooms were seriously too cute to explain.  I was so excited that it was even better than the website showed.  I am hoping to take some of her decor ideas and create them when I have a forever home!  Once we settled in we went out looking for dinner.

17th Century country house

Room #1

Room #2

Room #3

Now, to say that it is difficult to find a meal when you are hungry in Europe is an understatement...unless you are in a huge city like Paris, London, or Rome, you eat at only certain times of the day and most places close between lunch and dinner.  We were in a VERY small town and we were incredibly lucky to find a place that was willing to serve us when we wanted to eat.  Americans eat dinner between 6:00pm and 8:00pm.  Europeans for the most part eat dinner between 9:00pm and 11:00pm.  They think we are strange for eating so early.

We had to drive to a close town called Belgentier and we got to eat at the Le Mouline du Gapeau Restaurant.  It had very expensive but super delicious food and the whole restaurant was so cute and has been recommended by the Michelin Bib Gourmand!!!  It was once an oil mill and still has the set up inside.

Just a really cool tree on our way to dinner

Part of this cute little town

Really such a picturesque place

Karla and me awaiting our food

I think this was some sort of cold tomato soup

I believe this was stuffed chicken and potato bits

This was chocolate, some sort of creme and sorbet

Lil miss cutie patootie!

After a very good dinner we went back to the hotel, had some wine and went to sleep.  The breakfast in the morning was delicious and it got us ready for our next adventure!


May 23, 2017
Monteux, France: Day 10
When we woke up, we started the day in the cutest kitchen to fill up with breads, meats, cheeses and yogurt.  It was a great start to a great day!

Even the kitchen was adorable!

Very delicious!

Really cute details

Even the crockery was adorable!

Me, Dad, Mom, and Kristie fueling up for the day

On our way to Monteux, our next destination, we stopped in Toulon for lunch.  It was such a good idea to stop here.  They had restaurants by the harbor and a Navy park a little further down.  This was the French Riviera region of France.

There was lots of shopping before you get to the water

It was a beautiful city

On our walk towards the bay area and park

Brian & Kristie

Me

It was so peaceful!

There were actually a lot of people fishing around this area

Mom, Kristie & me

I could have stayed here all day!

Brian checking out the view

Romantically kissing by the Mediterranean Sea

Oh love....

Wait for it...

There it is!

Just one of the many times I wished Jack was here...

After one of my fondest memories of our walk and just being by the water, we carried on to Monteux!

We stayed at a donkey farm called L'ostau Safr'ane in Monteux.  Karla has a HUGE love for these furry faced critters and this place was exactly what I was hoping for.  Actually it was so much more than I could have hoped for!

Ostau Safr'ane

The natural beauty combined with this french farm house was a great combination

Little pool house and a pool!

This outdoor dining area was super cute too!

We made great use of the outdoor dining area

Me & Mama

Common area

Common area dinning room

The common area living room

Room#1

Room #2

Room #3 with upstairs Room #4

Room #4

Once we got settled in we went to the grocery store and stocked up on food.  We were cutting down on some of our costs and eating at the house just made sense.  Day two in Monteaux was going to be a nice relaxed day where we could just sight-see.

Getting dinner ready

May 24, 2017
Monteux, France: Day 11
So day two was a more relaxed day.  My brother Randy was able to find a bicycle place nearby so he got to do another European ride!  The ladies and I got to watch Laure milk one of her donkies and then make soap right in front of us.  It was very cool, then we got to purchase a bunch of her amazing wares.  This was one of the coolest places we got to stay!

Randy getting ready to ride

Randy after his epic French ride!

Laure even had a little shop in one of the buildings for her donkey milk soaps

She offered jellies and other random products that she made herself

They also did various plants and even harvest saffron!

More beautifulness around the farm

 Laure was such a sweet lady and the soap making class was pretty cool.  In addition to the soap, she made the absolute BEST yogurt I've had in my entire life.  All with donkey milk!  Seriously, it's really mild and so delicious!

Getting the donkey milk for the soap

Full and empty soap molds

Curing area for the soap

The final product!

After the soap, Karla did a little donkey bonding!  She was allowed to help groom these sweet little fellas.  We all actually got into helping a little!  It was cooler than just seeing or petting the animals!

Karla with her beloved donkies!

We all got to get in on helping with these fur faces!

She is sooooo happy!

They all wanted her attention

The Mama brushing a baby

I just scratched their little heads...

Llamas too!

And goats!

Baby goats even!

It was a lot of fun to help with the animals but we had a little laundry to do also so we took a trip into the local town while Randy was out riding.

I loved the artchitecture in Monteaux

 

This was a little open area that was just so pretty.  Those are remaining Roman walls.

 The city of Monteux was a part of the Papal States in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of France and was began in the 11th century! While we waited for our laundry to be done we checked out some of the historical stuff.  This little courtyard was so pretty and very cool.

We took a little shelter from the sun

Kristie, me & Mama

When we were done with laundry and Randy was done with his ride, we got in the pool then had dinner and went to bed.  I had been to Lorraine before with Mike and his family the summer before and I COULD NOT WAIT to take my family!


May 25, 2017
Lorraine, France: Day 12
Once we got up and had breakfast we started our journey to Lorraine, France and the Chateau.

Saying farwell to Laure, Pascal. Me, Brian, Kristie, Mama, Karla, Dad and Laure's son.

The chateau that we were staying at in Lorraine was once a castle built by one of Napoleon's captains, Baron De Mesny in the beginning of the 19th century.  It's a very impressive building but still quaint and cozy!

The entrance courtyard

Below was the right wing guest house where Mama, Dad and I stayed.  It had it's own bathroom, dinning room and kitchen.

The front hall of the guesthouse

The front hall and the blue staircase that goes to a room upstairs

Room #1 in the guesthouse

the sitting area in Room #1

The lobby area between the rooms and the bathroom

Room #2

Dinning room in the guesthouse

Kitchen in the guesthouse

We were also give all access to the rest of the castle/chateau.  It was absolutely amazing.  Randy, Karla, Brian and Kristie stayed in the main part of the castle.

The hallway from the guesthouse to the main castle

It's decorated with appropriate time period furnishings

The billiards room

The formal dinning room

The main salon

We made VERY good use of the main salon

We loved the salon

The kitchen in the castle

...and the lovely fireplace in the kitchen...

The bedrooms were upstairs.

Bedroom #1 in the castle

The hallway between the rooms

Room #2

The castle bathroom with that claw foot tub!

The outside was even more wonderful.  The weather was very warm and we ate outside as much as we could!

The back of the Chateau

The land was pretty spectacular as well.  Flowers everywhere.  On the property there is also a building that is used as a small chapel.  It's well hidden but kind of cool.

What you see out there buddy?

We spent a lot of our time outside soaking in the sun and the land.  It was such a great day to relax and decompress.

The lovers

Kristie & Brian playing around

For dinner we drove to Toul to try La Table de Victor.  One word...UNBELIEVABLE!  The prices were a little steep but could not have been more worth it.  We had the most stunning wine, the food was top gourmet and the dessert was the most decadent plum souffle with plum ice cream...I still dream of that dessert!

This is a pic from a French magazine but this was actually our waiter.  He was so funny and very sweet.

Dreamy souffle!

Day two was going to be some shopping and touring around Nancy, France so when we got back to the chateau we had some wine and went to bed.


May 26, 2017
Lorraine, France: Day 13
Our morning started with breakfast outside.  It was so nice and relaxing.  We had meats, cheeses, bread and LOTS of coffee.

After we fueled up, we drove to Nancy.  It was a super cute town with lots and lots of shopping.  We got some really delicious chocolate too!

There were all sorts of pretty areas on our walk into the town

The town was so clean and had cute areas all over

...and the shopping!!!

Toul Cathedral

I just thought this door was adorable!

There were fresh flowers planted everywhere!

We had a very full day of walking, exploring and shopping.  On our final night, our hostess, Catherine made us a three course meal of Quiche Lorraine, roasted chicken with fried potato cakes with white wine gravy and a decadent apple pie.  It was the perfect ending to a perfect day!

May 27, 2017
Leon, France: Day 14
We woke up, had another wonderful breakfast and then made our way to Leon.  We were supposed to meet up with family in Switzerland but plans fell apart so we decided to go to Leon.  Unfortunately it was crazy crowded and we couldn't find good parking so we continued on back to Germany.

Bits of Leon

Driving in this city was very scary

May 27, 2017
Munich, Germany: Day 14 Continued
Our hotel wasn't exactly what I was expecting.  Mike and I had stayed at the B&B Hotel Munchen Airport before and it was a great experience with clean comfortable rooms but this time, they booked us in smoking rooms and it was difficult to even breath in there.  They refused to switch rooms for us so we were just stuck...ah well, we spent most of our time out exploring anyway.

B&B Hotel Munchen Airport

The breakfast area

My room

This was a recovery day so we pretty much just got something to eat, sat outside and drank wine and just relaxed until bed time.  The next two days back in Germany were going to be very busy with Castles!

Eating our dinner outside the hotel

May 28, 2017
Munich, Germany: Day 15
This day was all about castles.  We went first to New Schwanstein, better known as the Disney castle.  There are no pictures allowed inside but I did extensive research for pics the first time I visited the castles so if you would like to see the inside you can check out my blog from my first visit here.

Driving up towards the castles there is a little church

It's so picturesque!

You can see New Schwanstein in the distance

Me, Kristie & Brian on the horse drawn carriage up to New Schwanstein

Some of us wanted to take the horse drawn carriage up to the castle, while the others wanted to walk.  Since I had been here many times, I chose to take the easy way up!

Inside the courtyard of New Schwanstein

I never get tired on this view!

View of Hohenschwangau from New Schwanstein

New Schwanstein from St. Mary's bridge

Brian & Kristie on the St. Mary's bridge

We walked down from New Schwanstein, across the road and to Hohenschwangau Castle, which used to be the Winter/Summer Hunting Castle back in the day.

Another pic of Hohenschwangau from New Schwanstein

View of the valley from the Hohenschwangau Castle

Kristie in the gift shop with her crown

After we explored the castles, we walked around the town, ate and then went back to the hotel to relax until the next day.  More castles!

The view of Hohenschwangau from the little town

One of the funniest memories that I have of our trip (and there were almost too many to recall) was this night when my brothers, sister's-in-law and myself were outside having a few drinks before bed.  My Mom is a bit of a funny woman and her bedroom window was right above the area where we were sitting.  She started throwing out Baby Bell Cheese...unfortunately for my older brother, Randy, they hit him directly in the face! It almost took out his eye!  She came down and appologised but I could hardly breath from laughing so hard!  Here is a re-creation of the direct hit!

Randy innocently sitting and talking with us

Direct shot!

Poor guy!

May 29, 2017
Munich, Germany: Day 16
On our last day in Germany, we decided to go to Linderhof Palace and then the Zugspitze.  I had been to the Zugspitze on the German side but this time we went to the Austrian side.

On our walk to the palace

Beautiful swans

Quick Linderhof selfie

It's very beautiful but much smaller than I was expecting

Brian and Kristie in front of Linderhof

I don't think he knows how to keep his hands to himself...

They were cleaning the water Parterre while we were there

This is what it looks like when it's full

This is very reminiscent of Versailles

While there were no pictures allowed inside the palace, I went to the website and got the pics of what we saw.

Map of the inside.  We started in the Western Tapestry Chamber.

The vestibule or entry way

Western Tapestry Chamber

Yellow Cabinet or Hallway

This is covered in silver

Audience room or office

Lilac Chamber

Bedroom

WAY too opulent

Pink Cabinet

Dinning Room

Blue Cabinet

Very beautiful

Eastern Tapestry Chamber

Hall of Mirrors, another copy of Versaille

King Ludwig II tore down the original building and began reconstruction in 1874.  It was completed in 1886.  When we were done with the tour, we checked out the surrounding gardens.

The Terrace Gardens as seen from the palace

When they turned on the fountain

They were doing work on the Neptune Fountain while we were there, sadly but I have included pics of what it looks like when it is open.

They had beautiful and intricate floral designs in front of the fountain

The Neptune Fountain behind the palace

Looking at the palace from the Terrace Gardens

Linderhof selfie!

The Temple of Venus.  This is another copy of Versaille

The Western Parterre

When we were done with the palace we drove to Triol, Austria and took the cable car up to the top of the Zugspitze.  I could not wait to wow my family with this one.  I am so in love with that place!

On our way up

Randy & Karla

Oh that view!!!

Summit post

 

Brian, me & Kristie

The ladies

Little push?

Nah, I actually really love him!

Family selfie!

The top of the world!

When we were done we went back to our hotel so we could get some sleep before we all had to head back home.  This was the most amazing trip and we really wished my sister, brother-in-law and husband could have been there but we made the most of our time and it was a once in a lifetime experience filled with 16 days of joy, laughter and love!