We spent 3 nights in Cinque Terre. On Tuesday, we spent the day with Susy and Rhonda. It was great to see a couple familiar faces. We spent the afternoon at the beach. It was great to spend the day in the Sea. We went out for dinner at a pasta place my sister, Barb had been to. It was quite good. We then hung out on these huge rocks on the shoreline, talked and ate gelato. It doesn't get much better than that. Wednesday morning, I am pleased to announce, we slept in. It was great! We hiked for a bit in the afternoon and finished the day with a swim. Evenings are quite interesting in these towns and cities. Families all gather in the 'main' square and the kids all play together. You see ... read more

(If you are ever in Venice and have the option, canal view or air conditioning, AC is the answer.) Saturday morning we awoke excited for our free breakfast. (Sometimes, at real hotels, breakfast is included.) Considering the amount of peanut butter sandwiches we have been eating, free breakfast sounded great. (We bought a small jar of peanut butter in Salzburg. We have ate it daily since. It is cheap, easy and does not require refrigeration.) To make a long story shorter, we realize that crusty buns with packages of butter and jam = breakfast. Hmm. And a very sweet lady serving coffee, unsweetened hot chocolate and grapefruit juice. On the plus side, it is so bloody hot right now in Italy that the butter spread easily. Not exactly the breakfast we were looking for. We did ... read more

(We have added some pictures to a few previous entries. Hopefully we will get caught up tonight or tomorrow.) We left Salzburg yesterday and got our train to Ljubljana, Slovenia. It was only a 4 hr train ride, which seemed much shorter than the one we took from Zurich. I must admit, I really miss the Swiss trains. In Switzerland, all the trains were spotless and extremely punctual. You get spoiled by that. It was a nice enough train and at least there was a window that opened. A really nice couple from the States (who are currently living in Prague) sat with us for part of the journey. When we were planning the trip, many questioned why we were going to Slovenia. Both of us have really enjoyed it. Things here are cheap, everyone is ... read more

Yesterday, we sadly left the mountains. We decided to spend a night in Zurich to shorten our trip today to Salzburg. Sherrie had been to Zurich before and I was excited to go. We arrived in the afternoon and checked into a hotel. The backpackers we had been sent to was full so we found a reasonably priced hotel around the corner. It was a cute little room, with two twin beds and a great view of the river. You did want to focus on the view out the window because the view of the carpet was much less enjoyable. We went window shopping since apparently other parts of the world still close on Sundays. Then we ended up by the lake/harbour which was quite nice. We went out for dinner and then for another walk ... read more

Today Sherrie had the great idea to do the most challenging hike - Schilthorn. I should have been suspicious when Karrie Gregson recommended it and said it was tough. It was a great challenge. The weather was beautiful and the views were amazing. It almost made you forget how tough it was. I ended up going as high as Birg and Sherrie went all the way to the top - Schilthorn. I took the cable car up one stop and met her there. Thankfully, daylight hours are limited and Sherrie did not think we had enough time to walk down. Little did she realize I had NO INTENTION of walking down. I was all for the cable car ride, regardless of the cost. We then toured the little town of Murren. It was lovely. The good ... read more