Finally, we're getting Europe pics posted!
Last month over Thanksgiving we headed to Germany, Austria, Italy, and Switzerland for 2 weeks. Absolutely amazing and beautiful. There is an insane amount of pics ahead...captions are below each pic. ENJOY! (And this is only a small portion of the pics!)
One of our favorite pics. This is us at the top of the Fortress in Salzburg. The fortress sits up high on a hill, higher than anything else in the city.
OK, back to the order of our trip- we flew into Frankfurt and then spent the first weekend in Salzburg, Austria. This was our hotel- it was so awesome!
Another view of our room. The hotel even had a huge solarium, sauna, and steam bath on the top floor- so cozy and we put them to good use!
Our first day in Austria. We stopped for a snack- here's Greg with some frankfurters, a fresh roll, and cappucino- DELICIOUS.
The Christmas markets were going on in Austria- here's one of the booths in Salzburg.
Greg in the Christmas market. It rained and thunderstormed this first day, and then they had their first snow of the season the next day and everything turned all white and gorgeous!
The next day after it snowed- this garden was in The Sound of Music (one of Nicole's all-time favorite movies!).
Nicole in the garden...these statues were used in the movie when they sang "Do Re Mi"
Greg and Nicole in another part of the garden
Of course, we had to take The Sound of Music tour which was fabulous. They took us everywhere. The house and lake behind us were used as the back of the Von Trapp house in the movie, where they fell out of the canoes.
The gazebo from the Sound of Music! "I am 16 going on 17...." Apparently they built the gazebo just for the movie, and they had to move it to this park from the house that it was at because people kept coming onto the homeowners' property in the middle of the night and singing and dancing.
Christmas pic or what? A horse carriage in the same park as the gazebo outside of Salzburg.
The building with the red top behind Greg is the abbey (still an abbey) used in the movie.
Our tour guide drove us further outside of Salzburg up into the mountains- beautiful and snowing! This was overlooking a village- not sure of the name.
Mondsee, Austria- another small village in the mountains. The church behind Nicole was the church Maria and Captain Von Trapp got married in in the movie.
Inside the church- beautiful.
Another view of Mondsee, Austria- the snow just made everything so pretty! We also stopped and had some strudel here..mmmmmmm!!!
Nicole and Mozart...ha
These were the Christmas decorations they had out in our hotel...it was so fun to be in Europe at Christmas time.
Our last day in Salzburg. We took this little tram up to the Fortress overlooking the city.
The view of Salzburg from the Fortress.
Nicole at the Fortress- the Fortress was huge! It's all museums now, but they had signs everywhere indicating what the different rooms used to be used for.
Greg peeking around a corner at the Fortress.
Greg and a cannon at the Fortress.
At the marionette museum in the Fortress.
Nicole and a torture chair...ouch..
Greg and various torture devices!
Nicole and a view over Salzburg
Greg and a life-sized chess board
We also went to Mozart's birth home! This was an upside-down room...it was supposed to represent the upside-down way that Mozart viewed the world of music.
The outside of Mozart's birth house. This bright yellow was used on a lot of buildings- way back in the day it was the color of royalty.
Nicole at the Christmas markets with some loaded potatoes...SO GOOD
The sun came out and we had this beautiful view of one of the mountains in Salzburg.
A skating rink! It was so cute- they gave the really little kids these animals that they could hang onto and skate with to help them keep their balance.
Greg (nice) and the Salzach river in Salzburg.
We then took a train and headed to Milan, Italy! (The most beautiful train ride ever, in and out of the mountains.) This was our hotel room...TV in the bathroom!! Sweet!
All of the showers/bathtubs in Europe had alarms with a string you could pull in case you fell or something. We thought that was hilarious. Must be the law there...
Nicole in front of the Duomo in Milan. Amazing gothic architecture!
Greg and a sign from the Milan marathon, which had just been that weekend (we missed it)!
Nicole and the Beatles
Inside the Duomo in Milan- it was just absolutely huge.
We got to go to the top of the Duomo! The view of Milan
Nicole at the "almost to the top" point
The sculptures at the Duomo were so cool and detailed...and so many of them
Greg on the roof of the Duomo. They were doing some renovating while we were there.
You don't see billboards like this in the U.S.! ha
Greg at the Sforza Castle in Milan
Just thought this was a cool pic- in the Sforza Castle
We had to stop for some Gelato and cappucino...SO GOOD, there is just nothing like it.
Some artwork in Milan- what a cool carving!
This was in a shopping area called the Galleria Vittorio. It was supposedly good luck to put your heel on this bull's n*ts and turn around in a circle.
Greg and his favorite, gnocchi. Wow, we really miss the fresh, authentic, Italian food.
Then we were off to VERNAZZA, ITALY! It is a tiny little village on Tuscany on the Mediterranean. For the winter, they had all of the fishing boats up on the square..and there were CATS everywhere!! They liked to sit in the boats (see the cat?).
This was the view from our room. Gorgeous or what?
Our quaint little room that we rented.
A view of Vernazza while the sun was setting.
Greg and Nicole with the cliffs and the Mediterranean behind us.
We went and explored the residential area up in the hills, and watched the beautiful sunset.
Gorgeous sunset with palm tree.
The next morning we ate some awesome food before our hike. Vernazza is known as the origin of Foccacia bread, Pesto, and for their sardines. Here's Nicole with a Foccacia bread sandwich w/salami...unbelievable!! We also ate tons of pasta with Pesto in Vernazza.
Looking up the street in Vernazza. We loved how everybody hung their clothes out the windows to dry in Italy.
They built the buildings right into the cliffs!
The hike to the next village North. Nicole overlooking Vernazza- aren't the colors of the buildings so cool? This was how we spent Thanksgiving Day!!
Looking towards Monterosso. Gorgeous blue water!
On our hike we discovered a little cat hideout and this bucket with cat food!
We fed the kitties. They appeared to be quite well-fed though!
Awwww...
Monterosso, Italy.
Greg and our descent down to Monterosso.
A church in Monterosso. All of the churches in these little villages had black and white stripes like this (apparently "Ligurian Gothic Fashion"
Nicole climbing the rocks in Monterosso.
We took a stroll down the street, enjoying the beach views.
My (Nicole) view for that moment...kicked my feet up, enjoyed some gelato, and enjoyed the gorgeous Mediterranean. The weather was also perfect that day- 65 and sunny!
Greg enjoying his cappicino and the view. Doesn't get much better than this!
We climbed a peak where they had a statue of St. Francis...here's Greg above Monterosso.
Beautiful- Monterosso.
more Monterosso
Back in Vernazza- we found this little Trattoria and loved it so much we ate there twice. The region is also known for their white wine (vineyards everywhere!) and we drank our fair share of that. :)
This cute little cat kept sneaking in the door when people would come in to the trattoria! He even sat at the chairs at people's tables waiting for a bite!
Our next stop: FLORENCE, ITALY! Nicole and the Arno River.
Greg and the Duomo in Florence- spectacular!
Inside the Duomo.
Artwork and sculptures everywhere in Florence. Nice butt!
Nicole and a fountain in Florence.
The famous Uffizi Gallery at night! We went in and saw all of the famous artwork.
Markets in Florence, on the Ponte Vecchio bridge.
We then took an overnight train to ZURICH, SWITZERLAND! We had never slept on a train before- it actually was fine. The train did stop a lot and you almost rolled out of bed, but we were so dang tired we slept great!
Zurich! They were renovating this building and we thought it was so weird that they had this huge picture of a pink poodle up...
Nicole in Zurich on the river.
Greg in Zurich. Man, were things expensive here! It was beautiful, but just to give you and idea- 2 value meals at McDonald's (the absolute cheapest place you could eat there) were about $30 (American dollars)!!!
The view from a cathedral in Zurich. Gorgeous. We climbed up tons of tiny, claustrophobic steps to get this view- ha!
Another view of Zurich from the cathedral.
Greg on the lake in Zurich. It was Sunday and even though most of the stores and restaurants were closed, there were TONS of people out walking everywhere and hanging out by the lake.
A guy making balloon animals for the kids.
Of course, we had to get some Toblerone bars!
Our final stop in Europe- MUNICH, GERMANY! Our room- kinda crazy! We felt like royalty with this bed!
The Christmas markets at Marienplatz in Munich. SO much fun- we did tons of shopping, and there was fun music and food everywhere.
Greg at Marienplatz.
Nicole with some yummy warm punch stuff- it was basically hot red wine with we think cider and cinnamon mixed in. It sure warmed you up!
The Hofbrauhaus in Munich! It was one big party. You sit at big picnic tables with a bunch of people and there's a polka band playing.
Had to get the liters of beer!!
The food was unbelievable- sausage, sourkraut, mashed potatoes, turkey...mmmmmmm
Nicole and our waiter. He asked where we were from, and when we told him the U.S. he yelled, "OBAMA!!!"
Munich at night. Such a cool city.
A skating rink in Munich.
Nicole and some more amazing food- these were basically like cream cheese and potato toppings on really good pita bread.
A part of Munich near the Hofbrauhaus.
Would you like to try my Shwetty balls?
Nicole outside the Hofbrauhaus.
Another view of Munich from the top of a cathedral.
Marienplatz and the Glockenspeil. Gorgeous.
What a trip of a lifetime!!! We miss it so much already- it was so amazing. We feel so fulfilled to be able to have experienced so much of Europe!
Hopefully we will get some videos posted soon- we are having trouble uploading them on here. Hope you enjoyed the pics!!!
