Chauffer Casey

Remember the post, "Germany: +340 euro, Alex: -$340euro?" Well, that's not all Alexander has lost to the Germans. As he also just found out, he will be losing his license for a month as even further punishment. Really? Yes! Germans take their tailgating seriously (and for future reference, talking on the cell phone while driving).

I do expect some sort of tip for driving Mr. Daisy around :)

Third Time's a Charm?

And it very well could be.. but I don't think I'll be visiting Ibiza for a third time to find out.

Let's think back. First Ibiza trip - we got stuck (for the first night at least) in a crappy, ghetto hotel with no locks on the door or hotel security (yes, we switched hotels and wound up having a great time). But I got back up on the horse and just returned from my second Ibiza trip. Second Ibiza trip - first night, we got robbed in our NOT ghetto, NOT crappy hotel.

This trip, I went to Ibiza with two girlfriends, Mary & Meredith, and we met Matt and his two friends, recently back from their deployment. We stayed right on the beach, Playa den Bossa, in a pretty nice hotel turned into an apartment style deal. Our first night out, we came back to the hotel around 5am, went to bed, and set our alarm for 10am - waking up, only to go back to sleep on the beach. Around 8:30am, I heard Meredith, who was sleeping on the pull-out in the living room scream. Turns out, a man broke into our room, but accidentally woke up Meredith in the midst of his burglarizing. Because of her screams, he luckily only got to my wallet, filled with credit cards AND 320 euros. Sweet.

While Ibiza is a very fun, very beautiful place, I will not be returning. My Ibiza luck has officially run out.

Cinque Terre: Travel Recommendation

While I don't want Cinque Terre to get TOO packed with tourists, I'll let you all in on a little secret.. Cinque Terre is a great, I mean the best, place to go for a holiday. In fact, it's gotten Alex and I's stamp of "favorite European city." Yes, it's that good.

Summer is a hot time in Cinque Terre, but it's nice to be able to get in the water and swim. I would never recommend going to Italy in the summer, especially since the apartments are NOT air conditioned, but do go when you can enjoy the water (it's very, very warm).

* I would recommend purchasing the Cinque Terre card while you're there. It includes free train rides between the towns and the walks between the towns.

* Cinque Terre cuisine: You MUST MUST MUST eat the local anchovies (even if you don't usually like them), pesto (would recommend cooking a pesto pasta dish at home -

skip at night at the restaurant), stuffed mussels (a local specialty), wine (of course),

focaccia for lunch (another local specialty - topped with whatever you could ever want,

probably the best thing I've ever eaten ever!)

* Cinque Terre National Park: there are walks between each town. While we haven't done the walk between every town, we did walk between 3 towns. Riomaggiore to Manarola is called Via dell' Amore (the walk of love), the shortest of the walks with the greatest views.

* There are very few hotels, but lots of holiday apartments to rent. This way you have more room, can stay with multiple people if you'd like, and can buy local food and wine to eat in a night or two.

Riomaggiore: the first of the five towns. I stayed there on my first visit. Plenty of holiday apartments to rent, but as with the rest of Cinque Terre, expect a steep walk up hills/stairs. Gorgeous marina, buildings, and a fabulous restaurant, Il Grotto, with the best stuffed mussels I've EVER had!

Manarola: the second town that we stayed in on our latest visit. It has great deep-water swimming, great Italian seafood dishes, and a very local feel. After visiting all five of the towns, I think we made the best decision to stay here. There are plenty of holiday apartments to rent and lots to do - both night and day. Alex's 'favorite gelato ever' was had here - double chocolate... eaten multiples times a day!

Corniglia: Adorable town, but would not recommend staying here. In order to get to get to the town, you have to walk up about 300 stairs.. with luggage. Thanks, but I'll pass. Definitely worth an afternoon visit. The walk from Manarola to Corniglia is about an hour and gorgeous - great views

Vernazza: beautiful town with a small beach for swimming. The walk from here to Monterosso is the hardest of all the walks, but the views are well worth it.

Monterosso: more of a typical beach resort town, but LOADED with study-abroad college students. A bit too crowded (mainly with Americans) for my taste. While I think everyone should see all five of the towns, if you wind up missing Monterosso, no biggie.

the Local Cuisine

gelato, of course

dinner at the apartment - fresh pesto from the local deli & table wine

focaccia - my favorite one

Anchovy al limone, a local, amazing cuisine - we had every day, sometimes multiple times a day

Local, fresh focaccia - deliciousness

Pisa, Italy

Pisa - Yet another city that gets a bad reputation. Everyone I know that has been to Pisa says something along the lines of, "only a tower there, nothing else to see," or "DON'T stay there, nothing to see/do." Wrong and wrong again. While I would never recommend going in the heat of the summer and tourist season (ahem, July), we found it to be a cute, typical Italian town with lots to offer.. and we were only there for the afternoon.

The Leaning Tower itself, not incredibly impressive.. and, like most European monuments, UNDER CONSTRUCTION, of course (see the scaffolding?)! But we got to see it, mark it off our list, and explore the town (in 100F degrees- - eesh), in between our stays in Verona and Cinque Terre. While the Tower itself was only so-so, it was quite an entertaining people-watching scene - all those tourists pretending to hold up the tower with their hands, feet, bum, or anything else you can think of. Imagine, hundreds of people on a green lawn, right in front of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, posed in some comical position to take a goofy picture. One person, not so funny. Hundreds = hilarious.

Of course, the only picture we got of ourselves in Pisa is above, with the tiniest portion of the actual tower in it. I guess that's what you get when you ask a half-blind, 80 year old Italian woman who doesn't speak English to take your picture! But seriously, who takes a picture of the tower horizontally?! Oh well.

Is the Tower in there anywhere?

the Leaning Tower of Pisa: Under Construction

Verona, Italy

Verona was our first stop on our anniversary trip to Northern Italy. We stayed for the night to see the outdoor opera, Madame Butterfly, in the Arena. Who ever heard of a B.Y.O.B opera? Well, this was.. your own drinks and food! So we loaded up... on wine of course, which made the experience even more enjoyable.

Verona is nice. A cute little town, but a bit pricey and not too much to see other than the outdoor opera. Not sure if I would recommend going, unless of course to see the show.

As for the opera.. It was enjoyable, but a bit long for us opera-newbies. We really enjoyed the first half, but half-way through the second half we were about done. The set-up was gorgeous, the weather was perfect, we had wine and pizza (and of course good company), but 3+ hours of opera is, well, a lot.

Outdoor Opera - Madame Butterfly

Verona by Day

Two and Counting

Happy 2 Year Anniversary to us.. Well, not until July 25, but we'll still be in Italy!

We've decided to travel somewhere each year on our anniversary. Last year, we went to Bodensee. This year, Northern Italy. We will be seeing the outdoor opera in the Verona colosseum (Madame Butterfly), training to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa, then training to the Italian Riviera/Cinque Terre to spend 4 days in the Italian sunshine!

Schönes Jubiläum!

How to Spot a German: Gym Edition

1. Always carrying a glass (recyclable) bottle of sparkling water around. Bubbles after working out? Not so refreshing to me.

2. Men: wearing capris. WHY WHY WHY!?!

3. Women: Do not own sports bras. They work out in regular bras only.. and on top of that, ALWAYS have it showing. When will one learn, that is just not cute?!

4. Women: hair down, no ponies.

5. Odor. Enough said.

6. Here's what kills me. You see people working out REALLY hard, covered in sweat, and on their lunch break. Then you see them hit the 'showers,' (which costs .50 euro cents/2 minutes... maybe it should be free?). They emerge, about 2 minutes later, shower-less, back in their work clothes, and back to work. There again, odor.