Luzern/Lucerne, Switzerland

If you're looking to escape to the mountains there is no better place to do that then Switzerland. Everywhere you go in Switzerland there is a mountain, a lake, a river and a waterfall within sight. It is absolutely breathtaking. The city of Luzern is a wonderful place to see. The historic part of town is full of half timbered houses and even has a medieval wall with nine towers, three of which you can ascend (for free). The "chapel bridge" is Europe's oldest surviving wooden covered bridge built in 1333 with 17th century paintings in it depicting the history of Luzern.

The dying lion monument commemorates the hundreds of Swiss Gueards who were massacred in 1792 during the French Revolution, when the mob stormed the Tuileries Palace in Paris.

Interesting fact for you...in an attempt to maintain neutrality Switzerland long ago strategically placed explosives around the borders that when activated, because of all the mountain passes would make access to Switzerland impossible by road.

Next to Luzern are two major mountains, Mount Pilatus and Mount Rigi. They have a package deal that you can do where you take a boat ride to the base, ride a cogwheel up Mount Pilatus and then a Gondola back down but it's pretty pricey (80 Euro on the off season).

See the gondola?

We decided to hike to the top to avoid paying for the cogwheel/gondola. We wanted to do the toboggan ride at the top which they claim is Switzerland's longest summer toboggan ride. This hike is not for the faint of heart. It starts at the bottom of the gondola in Kleine and takes 3 hours of straight up the mountain to get there.

Love the sound of Swiss cow bells

Toboggan run on top of Mount Pilatus. Look at the view!

Be warned, everything in Switzerland is EXPENSIVE. The hotels can run you about $200 a night. We roughed it in a tent at a campground and paid $50 a night to do it. I never thought I would pay that much to camp! But what better place to camp then beautiful Switzerland.

Call the states for FREE!!!!!!!

I have always used Google voice to call home from here in Italy. It only charged me 1 cent a minute to call the states. I even use it to call landlines here in Italy because it's only 2 cents a minute as compared to the 12 cents a minute they charge me to call a land line from my cell phone. But it just got even better!

If you have a .mil email address you can add it to your google voice account info (if you have a gmail account log in with that info, if not, create a google account) and it emails you at the address to confirm and then you are signed up for FREE calling to the states from anywhere overseas! Thank you google voice! This would have been nice to have when my husband was deployed!

READ THIS

If you are an army wife in Europe, READ THIS.

I just found out today that your gas coupons EXPIRE at the end of every fiscal year (Sept 30th). So what you need to do is take any remaining gas coupons that you have on Sept 30th to the Px to get a refund and then buy your new coupons for the next fiscal year. They are a different color every year so it's pretty noticeable and you won't be able to use any coupons that you've bought before Sept 30th, so be sure you don't lose any money on this!

Good to know right??

Asiago...the town and the cheese

Asiago is beautiful little town in northern Italy that is famous for (can you guess??) Asiago cheese. They are also famous for honey and mushrooms. If you are looking for somewhere to escape the heat, it's a good place to go. It's up in the mountains to the temperature is cooler and the air is so fresh. I highly recommend checking out this town. The cheese and honey vendors will let you have samples, it's fun to taste the difference in a cheese at different ages. The honeys have very different flavors depending on what the bees were pollinating. I tried a "honey of the woods" that I can only describe as tasting very much like the woods, as opposed to a "honey of acacia" that was sweet like a flower.

The switchback road getting up to Asiago

Beautiful green hills of Asiago

A church in Asiago

Cheese!

Don't you love the colors of Italy?

WWI monument in Asiago where 30,000 soldiers are buried

Verona Opera season comes to a close...

The Arena in Verona (think mini Colliseum) has shows throughout the year, but summer is the opera season, I keep thinking I want to go to one, I just looked it up today and realized the season is coming to a close!

 If you have thought about going to an Opera in the Verona Arena, better do it quick. There are only a few shows left now. You can get nosebleed tickets for only 20 Euro! I think I might go to two this week....

Aug 30: La Boheme
Aug 31: Aida
Sep 1: Nabucco
Sep 2: La Boheme
Sep 3: Aida


http://www.ticketmi.it/programma/Arena-di-Verona-Festival-Lirico-2011-170

Gone Fishin'

Every weekend my husband and I have the same conversation.
"What do you want to do?"
"I dunno, what do you want to do?"
Reminds me of the movie the Jungle book when the vultures are sitting the tree saying that very thing over and over, "Hey, now don't start that again!"

I was checking out the outdoor rec website and I came upon some "self guided" day trip ideas. Click here for some awesome ideas!

I decided to head to Lago di Fimon, just south of Vicenza. It's not very far but it feels like you are way out in the country because it's up in the hills and it is beautiful. It didn't look like much of a swimming lake (lot's of stuff growing) but lot's of people were fishing. Also, there is a path that goes all the way around it (it's not a very big lake) and tons of people were biking. So if you're looking for a great place to fish or bike check it out!

To the Zoo!

Looking for something fun to do with kids? Italy has some awesome zoos. Check out Parco Faunistico Cappeller. It's close to Nove. They have all kinds of animals including camels, monkeys, flamingos, kangaroos, goats, penguins, turtles and lot's of birds. The park has a really nice flow to it, there are play areas and picnic areas throughout the park where you can stop to take a break. There is a lot of foliage that keeps the place pretty well shaded.

The cost is 10 Euro for adults, 7 for kids.
The address is:
Via Kimle
36050 Cartigliano

www.parcocapelleri.it
ph.: 0424.592513

I have heard there is a cool drive through safari zoo in Verona...I will be heading there sometime too!