2010 Germany

We stayed in Fussen, Germany - a charming tourist town in southern Germany on the German/Austrian border, (in the old Bavarian region). Fussen is built around an old castle, and part of it falls within the old walled city. Businesses and homes are brightly painted, along with some added exterior painted scenes on buildings.

Pharmacy door detail.

Painted church. You'll find all kinds of painted buildings throughout the region.

Photographer's sign.

Neuschwanstein Castle, near Fussen. This was the castle that Walt Disney modeled for the Cinderella castle for his animated movies and for Disneyland. It was built around 1868, by King Ludwig II of Bavaria. The king was enamored with reviving the look of medieval castles, and had an Italian architect design this castle. Though it looks practically new on the exterior, the interior was amazing! It was the most gorgeously decorated castle I've ever seen. Painted murals of scenes from Richard Wagner's operas, ornate carved furniture and woodwork, intricate patterns and designs were throughout the castle, with gold leaf accents. There were also new features that other castles did not have -- running water, flushing toilets, and central heat! If I had a castle - this would be my kind of castle!

King Ludwig had great plans to build 2 more castles following his fantasy themes. However, the governing council didn't appreciate this, as there were some wars to fight and budgets to meet -- so they had him declared insane and replaced by his uncle. In order to avoid being locked up by them, King Ludwig fled the castle to escape, and was found 2 days later, dead in a nearby lake.

Sounds like a conspiracy to me...

No photography allowed inside -- I guess you'll have to come and see for yourself! The tour takes 300 steps up and down throughout the castle!

A rainy day in Fussen - somber and gray. We took this opportunity to hit the laundromat, with a huge pile of dirty clothes. We asked the hotel desk clerk and she directed us to a service that does laundry. We traipsed through town, with our dirty laundry, and found that they took several days and charged a lot (6 euros to do 1 pair of jeans)! The man there told us to check local camping grounds, where they might have a washer/dryer for campers to use, but no luck in finding one... Then we asked the Tourist Information desk, and was directed to the next big town, 30 minutes away, and drove off there, only to find a dry cleaner. After asking at least a half dozen more people who gave us vague directions -- the last one sounding really positive, which led us to: the same dry cleaners! We were ready to shoot someone, but couldn't decide who. We drove back, with dirty clothes, and ended up hand washing 3 days worth of clothes to hold us till we could find another laundromat.

(We never did find a laundromat in Germany, by the way...)

Sad flower girl

A real child, playing by the fountain in the square.

We had grown tired of eating ham and cheese throughout Europe. Ham and cheese for breakfast, ham and cheese sandwiches, ham and cheese on pizza and pasta, ham or cheese on almost everything you can think of.... So we were happy to see German food: weinerschnitzel, bratworst, spaetzle, pretzels, putensteak, potato salad, and many other dishes. One of our first meals, Kevin ordered a curry wurst, thinking it would be some exotic sausage...

and he got a deep fried hot dog with brown gravy and curry powder sprinkled on top. Not sure if it should have been titled, wurst curry instead.

2010 Italian Alps

We had to escape the heat of Venice, so we headed north, looking for a cooler climate, towards Cortina, Italy. As we drove closer and closer, the countryside changed, and soon, we were looking at the mighty Dolomites, a mountain range at the northern end of Italy, which make up the Italian Alps.

These rugged mountains are awe-inspiring, and the photos, unfortunately, don't do justice. This is a view from our hotel balcony. We stayed in a little town just outside of Cortina, called San Vito de Cadore. The first evening, we were greeted with a brief lightning and thunder storm - our 4th of July celebration! No hot dogs, though.

The area is lined with clumps of rocky spires, with rolling green hills below. There were a handful of roads that you could drive up to get to the passes, to reach the highest elevation possible. We were surprised to find not only the passes to be filled with cars, campers, and motorcycles....

but also filled with bicyclists!!! Can you imagine riding a bike up these windy roads, up towards 8,000 - 10,000 feet on a bicycle? There are bicycle vacations that are advertised here - for those hearty souls who feel the need to challenge themselves up the mountain. On the day we chose to drive up the pass, there was a bicycle race going on, which closed some of the roads for hours.

The hills are alive... ok, so this is another corny picture - and couldn't resist. Where's my nun's habit?

We found this mountain lake and town nearby. The color of mountain lakes are always surprising to me -- unreal colors, created by the mineral deposits in the lake.

The entire area is dotted with Tyrolean style houses and buildings. Close to the border of Austria, this area was once Austrian. After losing to Italy during WWII, it was given over and has remained as part of Italy since then. Today, it's a favorite vacation spot for Italians and Austrians, alike.

Market day at Cortina.

Cortina is a beautiful little Tyrolian style town, and was featured in the James Bond film, For Your Eyes Only, and also in the original Pink Panther.

2010 Venice

Dreamy Venice, a place so unreal, where the past dictates how the present live.

Built on wooden piles, Venice appears to be floating - surrounded by the sea. The canals are the roadways of this city, with the many boats that transport people and provide commerce.

At the peak of power, Venice was ruled by the doges during the mid-1200s to 1400s. Venice has retained the history with the architecture and culture.

Ornate window grill

The Venetian lifestyle - enjoying a lazy afternoon overlooking the canal.

One of the many water taxis available, but it can be expensive. We were lucky that our hotel provided us with a water taxi to visit Murano, the glass-blowing island. Murano is known for it's fine glassworks, and was set up there with glass-blowing kilns, solely, to prevent any fires from spreading to the main island of Venice. The water taxi ride was kick - I enjoyed pretending to be one of the privileged few racing off with the the cool ocean breezes and the wind in my hair.

This is our hotel, the Hotel Al Sole. We had a great room, the one with the 4 arched windows at the top. We could see the gondolas and water taxis from our windows, and hear someone singing classic Italian love songs from below, every morning.

Looking from the bridge in front of our hotel - at sunset.

Assortment of windows on the corner.

The Grande Canal, the main waterway that divides Venice. In the background is the bus boat, which has several stops up and down the canal, as well as to the neighboring islands of Murano and Burano. Most Venetians and tourists take the bus. The cost is 6.50 euros ($8.00). The water taxis, in the middle, can run 55 euros per trip ($65.oo), and the gondolas, are 80 euros ($100) for a 1 hour joyride! We ended up walking a lot!

Gondola detail

Throughout Venice, there are churches at every turn. Some have elaborate exteriors,

while others are much simpler, but just as meaningful. We witnessed a funeral procession on Murano, where the casket was carried out in front of the procession, to a waiting boat. Apparently, there's an island that is strictly a cemetery island. Where do you bury the dead, when there's so little land?

Venice was hot and humid by day - and by night, it was... hot and humid. A shopkeeper told me, Venice typically has 15 days of extreme heat yearly, scattered over the summer, and we were experiencing 3 days of it -- lucky us! Out and about in the morning, by mid-afternoon, we would have to collapse in our air-conditioned rooms to recover and cool off. After that, we'd go exploring into the Venetian night.

We found a wonderful jazz trio playing the most relaxing and enjoyable music right in St. Mark's Square one evening. We paid astronomical prices for having drinks there, but the entertainment value of being mesmerized by the music and the location, it was well worth it! It will be something I'll never forget!

2010 France to Italy

Ah, the Riviera! We made a point to drive to the French Riviera, and be reminded of how blue that water can be, and how the other half live. We were not disappointed! The start of summer encouraged many to come to the beaches. It seemed like half were on the beach and half were driving with us at a snail's pace looking for parking!

These beaches are somewhere near St. Raphael, north of St. Tropez, France.

The water looked so inviting... but we had to move on.

Heading east, we drove along the Ligurian coast of Italy and found more beach scenes...now, the Italian Riviera. This is the town of Santa Marghareta, just north of Portofino. We stopped and had lunch, and I had some of the best linguine alla vongole (linguine with clams) ever!

Next down the coast was Portofino! This looked exactly the same as we had seen before, but only the number of boats and yachts have changed. A tiny harbor for the rich and shameless, this little hamlet nestled in the coast is always a treat for the eyes.

While the tourists admire the architecture, the scenic beauty, and the boats in the harbor - the locals all gathered around the flat screen tv to watch, what else, the World Cup Soccer match.

2010 Dordogne Region

The Dordogne Region is in the south-western part of France. We had expected a hot, dry, rocky area, and was pleasantly surprised at the greenery. It's a slightly hilly region, with rivers that curve around the countryside, popular with kayak and canoe riders.

We stayed at Les Bressettes, a B&B in the Dordogne region, south of Perigeux. It turned out to be a restored 300 year old farmhouse in the countryside, owned by a charming British couple. We noted that most of the houses here had the distinctive tall tiled roofs, like this one.

We were in the heart of the Perigord region, known for fois gras, truffles, and wine - amazingly great food. Also, this area is known for the discovery of the cave paintings of Lascoux. While we did not visit the cave paintings, we did enjoy the fois gras and the wine. We had more duck than ever before, in duck confit, duck gizzards (quite tasty), and the fois gras. We ate Huey, Louie, and Dewey, and enjoyed it!

Nearby is the castle of Beynac, originally built in the 12th century. It's situated on top of a high cliff, with the town built around it. The town is pretty ancient, all stone, and quite preserved. To visit the castle, you can either drive up the back roads and park near the castle drawbridge, or, walk up through the town, up steep paths. Yes, I actually climbed the path up - and made it!

It's pretty hard to believe that people lived here, survived here, 900 years ago, and walked these steps as I have here. It makes me wonder how their lives were back then?

Though we did not visit the cave paintings of Lascoux, which were the work of Cro-Magnon man, we believe he did survive, and here he is - having a glass of wine.

The streets of Sarlat - another medieval town in the Dordogne.

They say, "bigger is better," but this is ridiculous! Check out these doors - that's me next to the door! Inside, a farmer's market of local products: fois gras, truffles, cheeses, mushrooms. Sarlat, France.

Found this interesting poster in a shop window.

A picnic - chicken or sausage?

We discovered rotisserie chickens for sale at a charcuterie (butcher shop) and decided to have a picnic. After picking up some bread, water, fruit, and our chicken, we drove off to find a nice spot in the countryside to have our picnic. Unfortunately, the roads in France don't have much of a shoulder to stop and park off the side of the road, the fields were private property, nor were there parks to stop and rest. We did find a back road, eventually, which led to what looked like a camping ground, but for trailers and RVs. We didn't want to pay for overnight camping, so we parked a little farther away and found a small area near the crossroads with a little shade and a spot of grass to sit on. As we spread out the food, and began to eat, we heard someone walking towards us on the gravel road... I looked up and saw a man with tennis shoes and a shoulder bag, and nothing else on! He stopped and said hello, and then walked a little farther, then turned and went back where he came from. We realized we had set up our picnic at a nudist camp! We ate our lunch and then skedaddled out of there!