Florence Update

We just arrived back at our hotel room overlooking the Florence Duomo
with full stomachs from the very best meal we have eaten while in
Europe.

The spot was Il Latini. The night began with running into a man with a
NDSU t shirt turns out his dad went there too....small world mom and
Erica!!! A hole in the wall establishment known world wide for their
family seating, one price fits all cost, amazing 4 course feast, and
homey Italian feel.

This was a favorite of the gonzaga in Florence students...Andrea it
hasn't changed a bit. The restaraunt is a classic italian joint with
meat hanging from the ceilings and wine wherever we looked. As it was
family seating we were sat with a wonderful couple originally from
Texas who were teaching abroad in Dubai. They were a fantastic pair
to exchange stories, recommendations, and to enjoy the glorious food
with.

Our dinner:
Antipasta: caprese salad, proscuioto with canteloupe, cous cous ( we
think) and liver pate on a crustini

First course:
Cheese ravioli ( to die for) in a tomato sauce
Vegetables with pasta

Second course:
Two ENORMOUS servings of veal and Beef in a light gravy with roasted
potatos ad spinach

Desert:
Asti wine
Dark chocolate sauce with a cream puff without the cream (dad you
would have loved it!!!)
Strawberries with vanilla gelato
Port wine and biscotti

Two hours later we finished our meal and now here we are looking at
the duomo from our bedroom window!! What a night! Panche felice!!

Tomorrow we tour the Duomo and are headed to Pisa.

Update on gelato: we found the best gelato in Florence if not in
Italy. Gelletaria grom is the best. To our old list we add: dark
chocolate, raspberry, and hazelnut. Yumm!

Love you all!

Allyn and Richelle

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No Clooney Sitings, but...

We had a wonderful time sitting on the beach in Varenna, Lake Como.  The sun was out the entire time with the temp easily hitting 90 each day.  Thankfully the lake was extremely refreshing and there were two gelaterias right next door to our apartment.  

Speaking of our apartment.  We once again got very lucky.  We rented a quaint Italian style apartment with high celings and exposed brick. It sat 30 yards from our favorite beach, a very tasty restraunt, and one of the gelaterias.We spent much of our time reading, laying in the sun, and taking dips in the lake to cool off.  

On our second day we took advantage of the ferry system and wandered over to Menaggio and Bellagio.  Bellagio was definitely our favorite.  It had great shops, good food, a nice waterfront, and was just a gorgeous setting.  We don't think we could afford to stay there, but it was fun to visit.  Maybe in another life we can return to really shop in the cute boutiques and stay at the fancy resorts. 

On our final night in Varenna we decided that we wanted to take advantage of the kitchen in our apartment.  Varenna's downfall was a lack of a serious grocery store which we found in Bellagio.  Unfortunately, with everything in Italian we were left to shop by pictures.  Needless to say our vegetable cream sauce ended up to be a tasty vegetable soup ladled over our pasta.  A little salt and pepper and we both were able to enjoy every last bite.  

Today we are spending our first full day in Florence.  We have walked all through town already and are enjoying the sites.  Richelle is loving all of the memories that come flashing back to her as we walk.

 
And now what you all have been waiting for a tally on the flavors of gelato we've tried! Let's just say that we've eaten enough gelato to make the Thiel family proud!

Coffee

Chocolate

Mixed berry

Pineapple

Sour cherry

Strawberry

Mint 

Cookie

Chocate chip

Ciao!

Love,

Allyn and Richelle 

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Venice: city of Gondolas and so many tour groups

Our trip from Salzburg was one for the memory banks. After days of 90
degree weather and late night thunderstorms, it finally caught up to
us. On Sunday we planned for a late night in Salzburg so that we
could catch a night train to Venice. As we marched across town to
grab our bags and head towards the train station the rain began to
come down. We made it to the hotel relatively unscathed and sat in
the lobby for an hour waiting for a break. When we saw it lighten up
we grabbed everything and quickly left for the station. As we sat
waiting for our 1 am train the rain came down harder and harder. Once
again we were on the right side of the weather gods.

The train was smooth and comfortable. Not much sleep for either of
us, but at least we were both able to stretch out.

At 8:30 we were in Venice and ready for our quick day and a half
exploration. As we walked to our hotel on the other side of Venice it
became very clear we were not the only ones traveling to Venezia.
With our bags on our backs we plowed through other tourists and rather
large groups of guided tourists which always stop at the skinniest
intersections available.

We spent our day wandering the maze of streets, watching the water
traffic move swiftly through the canals, eating sandwiches in Venices
only public park, and finished with a dinner in a quaint little piazza
where we were given our first bit of lemencello.

After dinner the tour groups and cruise ships left and Venice was a
delight to walk through. We watched the sunset over the bay and
enjoyed some more Italian vino.

Once again our hotel was remarkable. It was a Rick steves find that
was small and family run. It was in a perfect location and the people
were remarkable. I have to say, we have stayed at some great little
places so far.

On to lake como and Varenna for three days of beach life.

Love you all,

Allyn and Richelle

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Donner kabobs and radler

Our two favorite things in Salzburg donner kabobs are kind of like gyros only much better! And radler is an interesting combo of stiegl beer and 7 up sounds pretty bad but it's delicious on a 90 degree day!

We've had a great two days in Salzburg. We hiked throughtout the city checking out all of the major sites and have been reminded how beautiful this place really is. We've conclude both of our days at the Augistiner Brewery where we have both learned how to say "zwei eine liter". The beer is good and the garden is a great place to people watch.

Tonight we have our first night train or "schlafwagen" from Salzburg to Venice. Only problem is that we don't leave until 1 in the morning so we have some time to kill. Hence we are currently residing in the Mcdonalds in old Salzburg where we can get free wifi and a screaming deal (50 cents) for use of the bathrooms ( the only thing we bougth at mcdonalds was a bathroom run!!)

Note to erica: why is it that every church rings all of their bells at 3 pm? It sounds like a grand orchestra warming up.

That's all for now. We hope everyone is doing great!

Love Allyn and Richelle

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The Alps

We are about to conclude a quick stop in Interlaken, Switzerland. We
only had one full day to get a taste for what the Swiss Alps are all
about and from the soreness that we are both feeling in our knees and
muscles, we did a pretty good job.

We found an amazing bed and breakfast in the heart of town with one of
the nicest and most knowledgeable managers. If you ever want to
venture to Interlaken you should really think about staying at the
rugenpark b and b. Our room was on the top floor with two great
windows looking out at the hills of Switzerland. Last night we
watched dozens of paragliders floating down from the hills above from
the cushiness of our own bed. This was followed by a long lasting
thunderstorm that closely rivaled the one we got in Paris.

Earlier in the day we traveled up into the valley and did an amazing
hike. Without a cloud in the sky we hiked between gondola rides,
marched around rather large Swiss cows, and enjoyed seeing small
villages like gindlewald. I know that Richelle mentioned to me that
it was one of the most beautiful hikes she had ever been on.

Five hours later we were back, showered up, and ready to enjoy an
evening in Interlaken. We found a delicious bar/restraunt that had
tasty local beers and good food. We sat outside under a large
umbrella and watched a terrential down pour come through the town as
we ate. As it was still 80 degrees out, we enjoyed it.

Today is another stint on the train. We travel to Salzburg, Austria.
We are looking forward to beer gardens and donerkabobs. With all of
the suggestions from Erica we are destined to have a great stay.

We love you all!

Allyn and Richelle

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Ahhh.... Paris

A quick run down on our adventures in Paris! Here are the
highlights......
We clinbed the Eiffel tower at night...incredible ( if was allyns
favorite part of Paris), saw some wonderful art in the louvre and a
Monet museum, saw nepolians tomb, tried on some dresses (Richelle
did!) on the champs elysees, saw Woody Allen making a movie, watched
the madness of the worldcup final with thousands of Spanish Parisians
in a park, enjoyed our fare share of chocolate croissants and
baguettes, climbed the arch d triumph, and witnessed the most intense
thunderstorm allyn and I have ever been in! Our trip to Paris was
fantastic we loved all of it!! Em G. We said on many occassions that
we wished you were with us to decipher what the store clerks were
really saying about us! :)

We are know in Interlaken pretty tired but enjoying Swiss chocolate
and french boxed wine in bed ( yep that's right Sara we bought the box
for you!)

More to come tomorrow!

Love,
Allyn and Richelle
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And now Paris..

Our three beach filled days at Ibiza have come to an end! The beaches
here are beautiful and the blue green waters of the bays are breath
taking! We came across our first round of topless beaches and we both
agree that we have seen more than enough of old woman boobies :)
direct quote from Allyn "it's always the ones that you don't want to
see that you see!"

I introduced allyn to sangria which is becoming a favorite so far on
this trip! We were able to watch the soccer game at a local bar... If
was really fun to be among locals after the big win. Though we
haven't watched Holland play, spain looked amazing on Tuesday. We
will be looking for a friendly bar in Paris for the final. Should be
fun.

We spent our last morning at the beach and are now waiting to catch a
flight to Paris. We have both burned through a couple of our books
while being lazy on the beach. Needless to say one of our stops in
Paris will need to be a bookstore with books in English.

We hope to see a few of the major sites of Paris during our quick
stay. We are thinking versailles, louvre,notre dame, Eiffel tower,
but also some time to wander through the shops, eat a few crepe, and
get a feel for being Parisian.

All for now. We hope everyone is finally enjoying some summer
weather. Feel free to email as we believe we will have wifi in our
room.

Ciao!
Love,
Allyn and Richelle

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Sick bags

Sick bags is a great description of our very long days worth of flights to Europe.  None of the flights were terrible, but our second flight from Washington DC to Madrid had the longest duration of turbulence that Richelle and I have ever encountered (3 hours!). So long that the flight attendants were passing out sick bags like they do with bags of pretzels.

But, we made it into Madrid without losing our airline lunches and on very little sleep.  Once in Madrid we spent 4 hours roaming around the airport waiting for our final flight of the day to Ibiza.

We got into Ibiza around 3 and we had more or less been awake for more than 24 hours. All we wanted to do was eat and hit the sack, which is what we did around 6:30.  We were able to bypass the jet lag by sleeping for almost thirteen hours the first night!! 

All in all it was a very long initial travel day, but we are so excited to finally be in Europe that it really didn't bug us.   We've enjoyed our first two days in Ibiza with lots of beach time, lemon fanta, and paprika flavored pringles :)   No major sunburns yet either pretty impressive for two  Seattleites who haven't seem the sun in months! More to come about our first few days in Ibiza.

Adios!

Love,

Allyn and Richelle

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