Lucerne

On our way in to town, we stopped for lunch once we hit the lake.


We tried to do a photo session before eating. Our mistake.

This is one of my favorite things about traveling with a toddler:
play happens anywhere.
In an old McDonald's or in the most gorgeous of lakeside gardens.

We spent the night in the town of Vitznau, but before we turned in for the night, we had fun wandering the lakefront.

Spontaneous fun is the best kind of fun.

Thank goodness for sleeping toddlers and balconies to continue enjoying the night.
Sleep tight, Switzerland!

Restful

Continuing north, we drove through the Alps and into Switzerland. Jeff loved driving the Alps, and I tried not to freak out every time he swerved the car while staring at the striking landscape.

All these gorgeous photos were taken during our rest stop on the way to Lucerne. We just kept laughing to each other at how picturesque our run-of-the-mill, side-of-the-road rest stop was. Jeff spent close to 30 minutes snapping pictures.

Our road trips up and down I-5 in California will not doubt feel even longer without scenery such as this to take in.
I've never seen anyone do a photo session in Coalinga, nor do we plan on doing one anytime soon.

Autos on a bench, courtesy of the Swiss Alps.

Lake Como

In an effort to extend our final Italian vacation, we stopped for an overnight at Lake Como on our drive home. Had we known how much we would fall in love this area of Italy, we would have planned to stay two nights!


We stayed in Cernobbio and, despite many closed shops on this quiet holiday weekend, had a wonderful time exploring our tiny, lakeside town.

Along the lake front promenade

A park with a beautiful lake view . . .

and a merry-go-round with fire engines and hats?!?!
Italian bambinos live the good life.

(And when Jeff and I had the best cappuccino of our lives here, Italian parents received our vote for living the good life as well!)

A beautiful river rushing down the mountainside.

Rustic paint color, fading walls, shutters, olive tree, and a Fiat.
This is forever Italy to me.

Bless you, Italy! Thank you for hosting us five times in our two years in Europe.
You will be with us forever!

Chianti am Greve

It was our last day in Tuscany (sniff, sniff). The Lees and Auntie Barb decided to venture off for a BIG day trip to the town of Lucca. Riding bikes atop the town's Medieval walls? Fun!
Alas, with an impending two-day drive home in front of us, Jeff and I decided to stay local in an effort to allow Will as much wiggle time as possible.


We thought we'd see if our brave toddler would want to swim some wiggles out. However, he is too smart for us and upon dipping a toe in the unheated pool, refused to go near it. The photo above is as close to my dream vision of splashing poolside as we got!

After nap time, Oma and Papa joined us in a short jaunt to Chianti am Greve.

We had fun shopping for souvenirs and tasting a bit of wine.

On the way home, needing a place to snack, we stopped at a restaurant with a beautiful veranda where Will could play trucks on the wall and we could sample a bit more wine.
I've always been pretty sure I was Italian in another life, but this afternoon solidified this belief.

Oh dear. I'm sensing a bit of jealousy, loyal blog reader.
Yes, two wine tastings in an afternoon. But what did you expect? We were in Chianti, right?
Does it help if we share that we didn't eat any gelato. Oh. Wait. I didn't eat any gelato. Can't say the same for the rest of the crew, sorry!

Probably the most scenic diaper change in this kiddo's life.

Ahhhh . . . .

This was the scene we passed daily to and from our villa. Power lines aside, we couldn't believe how picturesque our commute was.
On our last day, Jeff stopped the car to snap some pictures.

Farewell, dear Tuscany!

San Gimigiano

While we had lapsed into the leisurely mornings of breakfasting on our villa's patio and not venturing out before Will's nap, we definitely wanted to hit San Gimigiano before leaving dear Tuscany. So off we sprinted one afternoon to this quaint Medieval town.


San Gimigiano was a bustling Medieval town used as a stopping point for pilgrims on their way to Rome and the Vatican. Today it's known for its remaining 14 towers. It is one of the few towns in all of Italy to have so many towers not felled by war, modern progress, or catastrophe.

More gorgeous countryside!

Alas, the Tuscan countryside was not tantrum-free.



Yet again, we encountered a (much smaller) town square which served as a perfect meeting place for our Tuscan clan. The squares were so fun for our family socialization, no wonder it was great for city socialization!

There are those three cute George girls, again!

Our little, pretzel-eating man in front of a looming, Medieval tower.

Gelato: bringing families together for years.
We'd read about a renown gelato shop on the town's square, so naturally this was our first mission upon arrival in the city!
This gelato place was unassuming on the outside, small and tucked into a corner of the town square. However, it was so well-known for its unique flavors that they they had their menus rotating thru pages displayed on flat screen TVs! Just when you'd thought you made up your mind, another page would appear with numerous flavors trumping the previous page's offerings.

* A fun side note: As you can see in the picture above, my dad is the only one who still has gelato in hand . . . because it was his second . . . in ten minutes.
As he exited the gelato place the first time, savoring his chosen flavors I commented, "Wow! I thought for sure you'd choose Egg Nog!" (A notable Bill Milam favorite ice cream flavor)
"They have Egg Nog?????"
And back in he went for a second cup. :)

The Zabel 3 departed the town early for we'd chosen to be in charge of dinner that night.
We'd purchased pancetta in a local butcher in San Gimigiano, so we were excited for our virgin voyage in making one of our Italian faves: pasta carbonara. We were experts in ordering it in restaurants and had learned there's good carbonara and not-so-good carbonara. We HAD to learn how to make it ourselves before departing Europe. With great wine, we knew any result would be eaten, so why not try??
Plus, if we start the evening off with Campari and soda or Aperol spritzes, maybe everyone wouldn't remember if it turned out bad?

The chef working his magic.

Jeff's pasta carbonara was wonderful. Manga!

Siena

Another day in Tuscany = another fun day trip. Our entire Tuscan crew headed to Siena!
It was the cooooolest town!

The Piazza del Campo (the city square) just plain rocks. It is circular, but more like a dish in that the edges are higher than its gentle slope down to the center. It's rimmed with restaurants, cheesy souvenir shops, and a gorgeous clock tower.

What makes the piazza even more fabulous is to stand in the center of it and visualize it hosting the Palio di Siena: the town's horse race held twice during the summer. (Not on a weekend we were there. Bummer!)

According to Wikipedia:

The Palio di Siena (known locally simply as Il Palio) is a horse race that is held twice each year, on July 2 and August 16, in Siena, Italy. Ten horses and riders, bareback and dressed in the appropriate colours, represent ten of the seventeen contrade, or city wards. The Palio held on July 2 is named Palio di Provenzano, in honour of the Madonna of Provenzano, who has a church in Siena. The Palio held on August 16 is named Palio dell'Assunta, in honour of the Assumption of Mary.

The race itself, in which the jockeys ride bareback, circles the Piazza del Campo, on which a thick layer of dirt has been laid, three times and usually lasts no more than 90 seconds. It is not uncommon for a few of the jockeys to be thrown off their horses while making the treacherous turns in the piazza, and indeed, it is not unusual to see unmounted horses finishing the race without their jockeys.

Check it out!

While parking was a bear, the town square was a fun place to hang out and wait for everyone to park and re-assemble in order to gear up for the day. Uncle Dan and Will argued over which gelato shop to hit first.

Josh used Will to pick up on cute Italian girls.

Unfortunately for Josh, Will was more interested in chasing these "chicks".

Book time!

Once the crew finally assembled in the square, some chose to rest, sip a cappuccino, and dutifully stay with a nappy Will. The rest of of us headed straight for the clock tower. The top of it beckoned, for we'd fallen in love with Tuscan countryside, and if ever there was a place to really get spectacular views, it was up there!


We were warned (several times) about the serious side-effect of giddiness that could result from our climb. After much soul-searching, we were willing to take the risk.

Jeff, Chris, my 74-year-young dad, and I began our climb.

The view was amazing!
* A side note: For our day in Siena the household decided to go shower-free Euro style, not as an ode to Italy but because our water heater went out that morning! Jeff braved the cold shower, but not me. I'll take a bad hair day over a cold shower any day!

Uh-oh. Can you feel it? It creeps up on you . . . the climb, the exertion, the altitude . . .
Fight it off. Fight it.
Oh-no. Feeling . . .

GIDDY!!!!!

With the tower workout behind us, we decided to reward ourselves with a well-earned gelato treat.

The rest our day in Siena was spent visiting its large, outdoor market, shrugging off a few sprinkles from the sky, dining on pizza and wine in the city square while watching our toddler chase birds, and meandering the town's winding cobble-stoned streets as the Tuscan sun set on another beautiful day.