Sirmione and the wedding day

-Adam

It was bittersweet to leave Roma. On the one hand there is so much more to explore and learn, but on the other hand we were headed to beautiful Sirmione and Russell and Julia's castle wedding. 

We all caught an early train to Sirmione which took about 3hrs with taxi to the hotel. Once in sight of the lake we realized it was much bigger than anyone had anticipated. Our hotel was on a peninsula that juts out from the south end of this inside down "Y" shaped lake. 

We were greeted by Sergio, the hotel owner and manager. I don't think we have had any hotel experience more inviting and personal. Sergio treated us all like guests to his house and was always ready to make you a coffee. 

We also met up with Russell, Julia, and the rest of the wedding party. It was great to see everyone and get to meet the other guests. Everyone was kind and a lot of fun during our stay. Now we were surrounded by Ukrainian, Russian, and Italian language. Not to mention the area is a hot spot for German tourists. We were probably the only unilingual people there..

Day 1 in Sirmione we grabbed some amazing pizza, hit up the old castle at the end of our peninsula which was full of shops and restaurants, and went for a swim. The swim was particularly interesting as the "beaches" are all rock. Right on shore they are little polished pebbles but into the water you find huge slabs of natural stone that create the lake bed. The stones were mostly covered with moss and extremely slippery. It was a hilarious ordeal to slide your way into the deeper parts of the shore line. The day ended with a nice dinner at the castle with most of the wedding party group. Lots of fun and lots of great food and wine. 

Day 2 was the big day for Russell and Julia. We set sail from our peninsula around 8:30am for the ceremony which was at yet another castle on the northern part of the lake. It was about a 2hr cruise up the lake which provided amazing views of the mountains and small villages along the way. The ceremony was on the balcony of an old castle which also had incredible views. The ceremony was beautiful and it was great to be a witness to these two lovebirds getting hitched. We had a post ceremony lunch and back on the boat for the return trip. Dinner and drinks were at a modern restaurant just up the road Fromm the hotel. The night was fun of great food, drink, and dancing. We were very lucky to have been a part of the whole day. Congratulations Russell and Julia!!

Day 3 no one wanted to leave. We blew off our train in favor of sleeping in and more amazing pizza from the place next door. Colin and Adam had one last dip in the lake. We sadly packed our bags and said our goodbyes to everyone and headed for Milan and home. 

Holiday in Roma!

We got to Rome on Friday and met up with some friends of ours from the states who are also attending the wedding next week. Rome was one of our favorite places last time and it's been no different this time around.  Rome has so much to offer in unbelievable things to see, experience, eat, and drink. :) Wine sometimes is cheaper than water and naturally is a place we would love. While we were here in Rone most of the locals were away in their August Holiday so surpringly the city hasn't been as crazy busy as we had prepared ourselves for.

On Friday we checked into our hotel afternoon. The hotel is very Italian and cute with small rooms (very common in Rome) and with the standard Italian hotel hair dryer which looks like an old vacuum on the wall. I can't believe I forgot from last time! One thing I love about most Italian hotels is that they serve a delicious breakfast that is included and usually have cute little sitting/common areas. Friday night we walked around our neighborhood looking for a custom shoe maker that Colin had heard of. Unfortunately it was closed upon our arrival so we decided it was time to eat. We stopped at a really cute little neighborhood restaurant and basically had the place to ourselves. The food and wine was delicious, and the company even better! Afterward we headed to Trevi fountain for some great pics and to make some wishes. On our way to Trevi fountain we passed the US embassy and wanted to take a quick picture in front of it.  Afterwards we learned very quickly from the embassy police that this is not allowed. Whoops! 

Saturday we had arranged for a private tour of Rome. Our driver, Roberto, picked us up at our hotel in the morning and took us all over the city. We saw the capuchin crypt, the "key hole", the pantheon, the colosseum/forums, the Spanish steps, altare della patria, and much more. He took us to both the big tourist places as well as the small of the beaten path places, including what he labeled as the best cappuccino in the city.  We couldn't have agreed more! After a busy morning he took us to his Vatican city neighborhood where he had arranged a fabulous traditional Italian lunch for us consisting of unlimited wine, bread/ olive oil, antipasti's, margarita pizza, gnocchi, handmade ravioli, tiramisu and of course limoncello. Needless to say we didn't go hungry and to be honest it probably was our best meal in Italy!  After lunch he dropped us off to meet his guide partner at the Vatican. Maria then took us on a 3 hour tour of the Vatican, Sistene chapel, and St. peters basilica. It was absolutely incredible. Adam and I had walked through ourselves when we were here last time but gained so much more information with Maria leading us.

Last night we took Taxi's to an area of the city that Roberto suggested we go to dinner at. Upon arriving at the square we loved it. The squares they have in Europe and especially Italy that are surrounded by great indoor/outdoor restaurants, fountains, entertainers, and lots of people are just something we don't really have in the States. Each of the restaurants had a host that is there to essentially sell you on eating at their restaurant. The one we selected said he would build us a table right out in the front and would treat us to some champagne for the group. Definitely not something you see At home, and it worked for me. After having yet another delicious meal of fresh pastas we stopped at a gelato place on the square for dessert. Once arriving back at the hotel we got some beer and wine and sat up on the rooftop terrace that they use for breakfast until shortly after 1am just chatting and enjoying the great summer weather.

Today we went to the colosseum and the roman forums all day. It's so unbelievable to think and see all of the things that the Romans were able to build long before our country even existed. It's so neat that so much of it is still here today for us to see. You can really get a sense of what it was like so long ago for the people here. Most of the things here also would be very difficult for someone to build today, yet so long ago and without any of our resources they were able to do amazing things. Some of which almost seem impossible.

Tomorrow morning we will hop a train to head north to Sirmione as our friends are getting married on Tuesday. We are very excited to see what small town Italy is like around lake Garda. 

Ciao ciao!

Shelby

Bonne soirée de la belle Paris

Hello everyone, what a few days it has been.  We have just wrapped up our last night in Paris and we are heading off to Rome tomorrow morning.  I must say Paris has really been a great experience, much better than I had anticipated.  The city is absolutely beautiful, we wrapped up our final night with a trip to the top of the Eiffel Tower, its quite the view from up top!

We arrived here Tuesday afternoon after a quick flight down from Edinburgh.  After taking the train to our hotel and getting settled in it was about time for dinner.  We were lucky enough to find a great restaurant called L'Ogre.  It is a meat lovers paradise.  We all had fantastic meals surrounded by the locals.  We were lucky that our hostess spoke decent english and she was able to describe everything to us.  After dinner we headed out to a local bar and had a night cap and called it a night, we had a busy next day.

We had a nice breakfast the following morning at the hotel before heading out on the town for the day.  We took one of the double decker tour busses around all day that let you get on and off all throughout the city.  We learned a lot about the city and saw all of the big attractions (Notre Dame, The Louvre, Eiffel Tower).  Towards the end of the trip we got off and walked around the shopping district.  We ended up being out around the city for a good 7-8 hours.  After the long day we came back to the hotel for a quick rest and then out for dinner to the Beer Academy in the Latin District.  This was one heck of a good meal.  Shelby and Adam had been here last time they came and were talking about it since we left.  Its a Belgian bar with tons of great beers and good food.  Shelby and Adam had muscles in curry and frites, I had a hamburger steak and frites.  Everything was amazing, I even had a few muscles and was pleasantly surprised.  We finished the night by getting a couple delicious crepes from one of the street vendors and headed back to the hotel.  

This morning we caught the train downtown and met up with a small group for a bike tour around the city.  We did the tour called "Hidden Paris" which takes you around to lots of places off the beaten path a bit.  We had a nice French girl named Claire for our guide, she took us all over the place showing you the real culture of the city.  Lots of really neat little neighborhoods with all kinds of different shops and restaurants.  This was my favorite part of the trip as I really felt like we got to see lots of the city and really see what day to day life is here for the locals.  This evening we found another great restaurant on our walk down to the Eiffel tower, had an amazing meal that was kind of a French/Italian fusion.  Following dinner we walked down to the Eiffel Tower and headed all the way up to the top.  Took us a while to get all the way to the top but it was worth it for the view.  Overall it was a great trip to Paris and I would be happy to come back here again some day.

We're off to Rome in the morning to meet up with Adam, Mark, and Ashley.  I can't wait to see what Italy has to offer.  Here are some pics from Paris.  Bonsoir!

Edinburgh days 1 and 2

--Adam

It was a quick fight from AMS to EDI and KLM has to be one of the best airlines. The Dutch are the best!

Day 1 Edinburgh we had a quick breakfast of coffee and porridge, Colin had a bacon roll which is nothing like amazing American bacon. We then explored Edinburgh castle which was a lot of fun. I haven't been here since 2007 so it was great to come back with family. High street and the castle were super fun. We just missed the Scotland military tattoo but there is another festival going all month which has the city bustling. We found a nice Italian place for dinner where we all had a great 6 wine flight. A few pub stops and some local music and it was time for bed. 

Day 2 (today) Colin played 18 holes at a local golf course. Shelby and I hiked Arthur's seat which gave us amazing 360 views of the city. It was about a 3 hour hike to the top and back but well worth it for the views. After the hike we hit up Brew Dog brewery in Edinburgh. I felt right at home with Scotland's response to the craft brew revolution.

Tonight we are doing the platinum whiskey experience tour. Should be fantastic!