Beautiful Switzerland!!!!!!

Switzerland!!!!

I wish that I could have stayed in Switzerland ALOT longer than we did...it is SO beautiful and clean! Also the atmosphere is just AWESOME! The city we stayed in is Lucerne, to get there we drove through the Swiss Alps and took St Gotthards Pass which is 6,935 ft high! WOW! We passed Lake Como where George Clooney owns a villa! Then we stopped for about an hour in a beautiful city called Lugano. Then back on the coach for the remainder of our journey into Lucerne. Once we got to Lucerne we started sightseeing right away, we went and visited the Lion Monument, which is a memorial for fallen Swiss Soldiers! That night we went to a Swiss Folklore Party where we probably had one of our 1st good meals on this trip! Funny story about dinner, they started us off with some cheese fondue...really tasty. We ate some, then but were thinking we were gonna have it on our table throughout the entire meal and the fabulous entertainment! Well all of a sudden someone, not our waitress comes and tries to clear our fondue...so we ask to keep it a little longer, they give us a funny look and walk away. So then a few minutes pass by and another waitress comes and tries to clear our fondue again, once again we ask to keep it longer, and they walk away. A few more minutes pass and lo and behold yet ANOTHER waiter comes by where of course we ask if we can still keep it! Well this guy didn't quite get that all we wanted to do is keep it at our table longer, so he YELLS at us in broken English of course, "NO YOU CANNOT KEEP IT, IT IS FORBIDDEN, NOT A SOUVENIR!!!" Needless to say, we didn't get to keep our fondue, but we sure did get a laugh out of it!!! So for the rest of the evening we enjoyed some very cool yodeling,

alphorn blowing,

a broom being used as a musical instrument,

and many other really neat local instruments. Oh and I must tell you that this Swiss Folklore party was an "optional excursion" offered by our tour company, and when I read in my little itinerary booklet that this was an option...I was EXTREMELY excited, but to my dismay, I was the ONLY one that was excited :( HOWEVER, everyone else decided, WHY NOT!!! YAY!!! And let's just say that everyone is STILL talking about how much fun we had that night and how cool the entertainment was!!! Good call Monica!!!! WOOOO! The next day we went up Mt Pilatus, the top is 7,000 ft high, we got there via the world's steepest cogwheel railway (48 degree inclination). Unfortunately the weather that day was rainy and foggy and of course the higher we got the foggier it was, so we didn't get to see the awesome views for what they were, but trust me, we still got the feel for how high we were and it was still an experience. At the top we had some yummy authentic Swiss hot chocolate and then we too a gondola back down the mountain! The rest of the day was our to do whatever we wanted, bet you can't guess what we did? We shopped until we dropped!!! Ever since I was a little girl and my parents friends brought them back a cuckoo clock from Germany, I have always wanted one of my own...so since we weren't going to Germany, Switzerland is the next best place to get one!!! I was SO excited I just couldn't stand it, but these things aren't cheap so for the amount of money that I was spending I wasn't just gonna buy the 1st one that I saw...so we looked and looked and looked some more for just the right cuckoo clock @ the right price! We walked up and down the streets of Lucerne like 3 times and visited the same stores 2-3 times comparing and deciding! I felt bad to drag everyone around like that, but they were shopping in the meantime too and they were SO patient and helpful with me while I was on my hunt! Thanks guys for being so awesome, I really appreciate it! So finally I found it...THE ONE! Well ok the 2nd...cause the one that I REALLY wanted was SUPER expensive and I mean like RIDICULOUSLY expensive, so I compromised and got the 2nd best! Plus this one has a little bit more of a manly touch to it so that Tom will like it! The little birdie cuckoos on the hour and 1/2 hour and while he cuckoos the little wood chopper guy chops wood, then the people dance to Edelweiss and some other song and while they do that the water wheel moves! Really cute!

Oh the memories!!!

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Lava Hot Springs, ID

Ok so I don't know if any of you have been to Lava Hot Springs, ID, but it is alot of fun! We went there on Sat with a couple of friends and we had a blast! For those of you that don't know about Lava...they are outdoor mineral hot pools that range from approximately 102˚ to 112˚ degrees. It is VERY relaxing and lots of fun. Plus they have an outdoor olympic pool with 33 ft high diving towers and 2 water slides! For more information on Lava Hot Springs visit http://www.lavahotsprings.com/. Well we try to go to the hot pools 2-4 times a year(they are open 363 days a year) and the outdoor pools at least once. Tom loves to show off on the diving towers and boards and he is feeling left out on this blog since all I've blogged about so far is my European vacation that he didn't get to go on! So I am including pics and video of Lava! We went with our friends Jason & Tami! Enjoy!

Tom & Jason jumping off the top platform!

Tom doing a back flip off the high dive!

Tom doing a front flip!

My cutie in the pool!

Tom + I at the pool!

Jason being a goof and blocking our pic!

Tami & Jason

The boys being silly!

Tom's pocket on his swimsuit fell right off after doing the platforms & diving boards!! HeHe!

Tom @ dinner with his boot shaped glass!

Tom & I in the hot pools!

Tom & I in Lava!

Venice, Italy

Venice, Italy

Here we are on to Venice! We had fun in Venice, it is very pretty and clean, including the air because they don't have cars on the island...only boats!!! Venice is mostly a place to go and relax and enjoy the scenery...we went to/saw St Mark's Square, the Clock Tower, Doges' Palace, and the Bridge of Sighs. We also got to watch an awesome glassblowing demo!!! I could kick myself now for not taking pics because it was SOO cool, but I was too busy watching the guy show us how it is done(he did it all VERY fast), that I didn't even get a chance to think of taking a picture until it was over....if any of my fellow travellers happened to get a pic I will share, until then you will have to imagine it in your mind!!! We also got to go on a cool gondola ride, that was fun and the highlight of Venice for me....Venice was SO beautiful and EXACTLY what we all imagined it to be...I would like to go back there someday for sure! Stay tuned...next up is the exciting and never dull Switzerland!!!!

Florence, Italy

Florence, Italy

Our second stop on our Essential Europe tour was Florence, Italy and I'm not going to lie...this was probably my least favorite place. There just isn't a whole lot to do or see here. Of course the highlight was going to the Academy of Fine Arts and admiring Michelangelo's statue David. Did you know that this David is the David and Goliath David? I knew that, cause I learned it in an Art class in High School, but apparently ALOT of people don't know this fact. And in one hand he holds a rock and in the other a slingshot!! Kinda cool right? So this statue was amazing...unreal in person!!! HUGE!!! Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pics inside...but have no fear...they had much smaller replicas of this statue outside...and I came to the rescue and snapped a shot! You are welcome!!! So look for the pic in my Florence slide show...coming soon to a blog near you! jk! Ok so speaking of naked statues...we saw ALOT of naked statues in Europe...they we EVERYWHERE!!! It sure is a different world over there! Anywho back to Florence and what we saw/visited there. The "Magnificent" Cathedral, Giotto's Bell Tower, the Baptistry's heavy bronze "Gates of Paradise", and Signoria Square. For those of you that don't know...Florence is mostly "famous" for their fine leather goods and gold jewelry and after our little guided tour we were delighted to spend time in a shop specializing in each of these for a little demo and in the leather shop they had my sister in law, Laurel be a model for a fine leather jacket!!! She was SOOOO happy to oblige!!!! ;) We also found some REALLY cute purses!!! They were made out of leather...but they were KNOCK OFFS of Chanel and other BIG name brands and the designer was asking anywhere from the equivalent of 140-600 US dollars...and I am sorry...but that is just not worth it for a KNOCK OFF! Of course the one that I fell in love with was pink...and the most expensive one, I tried talking him down but only got him to like $400 US dollars...still WAY too much especially since I already knew that I would be making a BIG purchase in Switzerland (find out more about that in my Switzerland post...soon to come!!!) So needless to say I left Florence without my gorgeous pink bag!!!! BUT once again my awesome mother in law came to the rescue and for my birthday she found me an even cuter leather purse right here in our home town!!!! Imagine that!!! I'll have to get a pic of it on here...SO cute! Next up is Venice, Italy!

Rome, Italy

Rome, Italy

So we started our adventure in Rome, Italy. We were there for 2 nights, we saw alot, but I'm sure there was alot more we could have seen. Rome is a very old city with LOTS of history! I don't remember most of the history and I'm not ambitious enough to look it all up, so if you wanna know more about anything mentioned, you are on your own to research it! lol sorry! So things we saw/visited in Rome: Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel, St Peters Square, Colosseum, Roman Forum, Spanish Steps, Via Condotti, Piazza Navona, Parliament, & Pantheon! We also ran into Tom Hanks and Ron Howard while they were filming Angels & Demons! We weren't supposed to take pics, but I turned my flash off and snapped every chance I got...only got one decent pics where you can only see Mr. Hanks profile, but you can tell it is him and you can see Ron Howard's face!!!

Europe!

I recently got back from a FABULOUS vacation in Europe, courtesy of my wonderful mother in law! It was her, myself, and my 3 sister in laws for 2 whole weeks!! We had such a blast and I feel like we really bonded and got to know each other better on a different level. Our trip consisted of Rome, Italy; Florence, Italy; Venice, Italy; Lucerne, Switzerland; Paris, France; London, England; & Edinburgh, Scotland! My absolute favorite place was Switzerland...it is SO pretty and very clean and just an all around fun environment! Venice was awesome as well being that it is built entirely on water, which means there are NO cars! It also was very pretty and just a fun place to be. I will be providing more pics soon!