Vacation to EUROPE!
23 days-8 countries-5 boys-1 girl and we live to tell the tale!
(the first eleven days of the month were spent getting ready for this adventure:)
Tuesday June 11-Travel day-Las Vegas
Tuesday June 11-Travel day-Las Vegas
Matt, Nathan, and I left South Jordan at about 11 am we picked up Jaxon Kremser and James Chilton (our nephews) at their respective homes. We then drove down to Las Vegas where we stayed with my uncle Dennis. Jacob drove up from LA the same day and met us in Vegas. We were able to have dinner with Dennis and Mary then at about 10 pm Matt drove Jacob and I to the airport. At about 12:30 am out flight to Chicago left.
Wednesday June 12-Travel day-Chicago
Matt and the boys: At about 12:30 pm their flight to Vancouver took off. From there they had an over night flight to London.
Jacob and I arrived in Chicago early in the morning and had about 10 hours to explore the city. We were able to see "the Bean", go to the observation deck at the Willis Tower, and enjoy some deep dish pizza. At about 6:30 our overnight flight to Barcelona left.
Thursday June 13-Travel day-Barcelona/London
Today Jacob and I had about an 8 hour layover in Barcelona Spain. We took the metro to La Sagrada Familia--an AMAZING basilica in the heart of Barcelona. It was huge and beautiful! Amazing rainbow colored stain glass. My photos don't do it justice at all. This structure has such an interesting story to it. It's been under construction for over 100 years.
This photo will give you an idea of how large it really is:
Matt and the boys spent the day exploring London on their 10 hour layover. Sadly for them it was a pretty rainy day, but they still enjoyed it.
Jacob and I arrived in Venice at about 8:30 pm. Our hotel for this night was close to the airport. We were able to eat some yummy pizza for dinner before we collapsed--two nights on planes with little to no sleep. Matt and the boys did not arrive at the hotel until 1:30 am or so--late night for them.
Friday June 14-Venice
After waking up and getting breakfast we headed back to the airport to take our water taxi to the island of Venice. It was great to all be back together and starting our adventure. The first thing we did was get checked in to our Airbnb--by the way all of the places we stayed except for our first and last nights were at Airbnb's. Seriously THE BEST was to travel!! Especially if you're with family and want to have areas to relax/play games together and places to cook your own food--grocery stores are cheaper than restaurants. Our Venice Airbnb was right by the Rialto bridge and so close to everything. It was just a door in between two restaurants--then up three floors. Plenty of space for all of us, but it was a bit hot and hard to keep windows open at night because of the noise from the street below.
After getting things settled at the Airbnb we made our way to St Mark's square. It was SO Fun walking in Venice. So many twists and turns, shops, and bridges everywhere. We went up the Campanile Bell Tower and got an AMAZING view of the city and were able to see Leonardo's Vitruvian Man at the Accademia Gallery. We spent the rest of the day eating and exploring. Lucky us- we ended up in Europe during a heat wave...so the days were HOT.
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| In Piazza San Marco |
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| Matt eating the traditional sarde in saor--sardines and onions |
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| In front of the Rialto bridge |
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| Exhausted hot boys waiting for the crowded water bus |
From 8-10 pm we had a grand adventure...we were able to do a kayak tour on the canals. It was so nice to be on the canals when it was cooler and quieter. It was just the six of us and our tour guide--a 20 something local. He told us lots of history and tidbits about Venice. This was a great experience...even if some drunks cheered us on form the sidelines:)
Saturday June 15-Venice
To start the day off we we explored St Mark's Basilica. Wow! I wish we oculd have taken more photos inside. It was beautiful!
Then we spent most of the rest of the day doing a boat tour of the three islands Murano, Burano, and Torcello. Again ..such a cool adventure. On Murano we were able to see a glass blowing demonstration at a glass factory. Burano is an island that is famous for lace making and it's colorful houses/buildings, and Torcello was a grassy island with more green than any other we had been to.
That night we had dinner close to our apartment, spent time walking the streets, and,of course, eating gelato. There was a random concert in the plaza right by our apartment. The band was playing American 50's songs. Random, but fun. The boys really didn't want to participate in the dancing though :)
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| Matt and Jacob's crazy seafood pastas |
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| Hanging out in the apartment |
Sunday June 16-Travel to Florence
Today we took a train ride from Venice to Florence. It was so relaxing with beautiful scenery. The boys were all together and I think even spent time playing on their Nintendo Switches.
We got to Florence in the afternoon and after having a bit of trouble finding the right bus, made it to our Airbnb. Again excellent location and AIR CONDITIONING!!! This apartment also had a cool balcony inside and outside.
After getting settled at the Airbnb we quickly walked to the Uffizi to see some amazing paintings and sculptures. It was great to have Jacob there as our guide.
After the museum we had--what I think--was the best pizza in Italy. Probably because I ordered so well or maybe because by then we were starving :)
Monday June 17- Florence
Today was our only full day in Florence so we packed it full. Matt began the day early with a hike/walk up to Piazzele Michelangelo. It was up on the hill with some amazing views of the city.
All together we began the day with a bike tour. Such a great way to see lots of sights in a short amount of time. Our guide, Gabrielle, was a 20 something and was born and raised in Florence. He gave some great history and insight into Florence..like how to find the best gelato and at the end of the tour we all got some of his favorite. For the tour it was the six of us and one other couple.
After the bike tour and eating some late lunch we headed to the Duomo. We were unable to get tickets to climb the coupla, but we climbed the stairs..lots of them...in the heat...to the top of the bell tower. Great views of the city! We also went in the baptistery and the Museum Opera del Duomo.
After the Duomo we headed over to the Palazzo Pitti--a large palace with extensive grounds that they have turned into different museums. Goodness...we could have spent all day exploring there!
After Pitti we had dinner in the plaza in front of the church Michelangelo attended. On our bike tour our guide told us this was the door that the priest would leave unlocked so that 14 year old Michelangelo could sneak in at night to investigate cadavers. We decided our 14 year old traveler could do the same.
Tuesday June 18-Florence/drive to Croatia
We spent the first part of the day visiting the Gallery of Academy and getting to see the original David-sculpture by Michelangelo. It was just as impressive as you would expect.
Then it was off to the train station and heading back to Venice. Once in Venice we went back to the airport and got our rental car. The rest of the trip was spent driving this sweet minivan- a tight squeeze for all these tall people and their luggage.
We took the next few hours driving to Rijeka, Croatia. The driving wasn't too bad. We were on a freeway most of the time and the Slovenia/Croatian borders were not a problem to cross.However the steep narrow roads in Rijeka did pose a problem...especially when I navigated Matt past the turn for our Airbnb and we wound up on a dead end where we had to turn around on that narrow steep street. We only stayed one night in Rijeka--not much more than 12 hours. It was a nice airbnb with a great patio view. Probably would have been a great place to stay longer.
Wednesday June 19-Split, Croatia
Today was the day we were finally meeting up with Rich, Jen, and kids. We left Rijeka at about the same time they left Zagreb and we ended up meeting at a rest stop on the way to Split and caravanning from there. After eating lunch and getting settled in at our AMAZING airbnb we went to the beach. Most beaches in Croatia are pebble beaches instead of sand...great for cleanup, but not as friendly on the feet. The kids really enjoyed playing in the sea and it was such a beautiful area!
Our Arbnb in Split was great. It had a pool and plenty of space for the 10 of us. The kids loved spending the evenings playing in the pool and playing card games.
Thursday June 20-Split/boat tour
We woke up early and ended up getting a full 12 hours for our boat tour. The boat just had the 10 of us and our captain and skipper so it was like we had a boat of our own all day--they took us to whatever island we wanted to go to. It was an incredible day! First we went to the island Bisevo to see the Blue Cave. It took us about an hour and half to two hours to get there. It was so fun riding in the boat! The blue cave was spectacular!
The Blue Cave gets it light from a cave opening that is below the water. Sure wish we were able to get in the water...would have been pretty amazing to explore. After the blue cave we went to Vis island (the town where they filmed Momma Mia 2--across the water from where the blue cave was) and got Addie some pizza and the boys some snacks.
Then we went to the other side of Bisevo island to a small sandy beach. It was beautiful! We spent some time here swimming and exploring a small cave. It was so hot that is felt amazing to be in the water.
The next place we went was Carpe Diem Beach on Marinkovac Island. Beautiful! You could tell this was a spot where the rich and famous would go to hang out..needless to say, we didn't stay here long.
Our last stop was Hvar. We could see it across the waters when we were at the last island. I wish we could have stayed at Hvar for longer. It would have been so fun to explore and walk up to the castle. We ate dinner here and had gelato though. This is a place I could definitely go back to one day.
The ride back to Split was about 2 hours. The captain went quite fast for quite a bit of the way. Some liked the speed--others did not.
This was such a FANTASTIC day! We all had fun and got some sun...one got more sun than he wanted.Who's who?
Friday June 21- Plitvice Lakes/Zagreb
Today we left Split and made our way to Zagreb. On the way to Zagreb we stopped at Plitvice Lakes. It was hot and crowded, but completely beautiful!
It was nice to finally get to Rich and Jen's home in Zagreb. We were able to have some great down time here. Rich took us exploring downtown and to the old town part of Zagreb. We also had some traditional Croatian food. We had Cevapi and it was delicious!
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| We were lucky enough to stumble upon this "cave rave" |
Saturday June 22-Zagreb
After a relaxing and slow morning we headed up to Trakoscan to see the castle. This was just about the only rainy day we had on our trip. Lucky for us we were inside the castle most of the time. Unlucky for us, because it was raining we couldn't spend time exploring the grounds and lake by the castle. Actually having it pour down rain when you are in an old castle just added to the effect.
After the castle we went back to Zagreb, spent some time at the mall (looking for a soccer shirt for Matt and getting food for Addi) and then Rich and Jen took us out to this great restaurant and we stuffed ourselves with delicious Croatian food.
Sunday June 23- drive to Vienna
This morning we were able to go to church with Rich and Jen. As always, it was great to get a different perspective of church services. After church we said our goodbyes and started the trek to Vienna.
The drive to Vienna took a bit longer than expected because of all the traffic. Somehow we managed to be in Croatia during a "holiday" weekend and the roads were packed with people heading back to Austria and Slovenia. When we got to Vienna Jaxon's uncle, aunt, cousins and grandma were waiting to surprise him. They live an hour and half away from Vienna in Hungry and didn't want to miss the chance at seeing Jaxon. It was fun eating dinner with them and walking around, taking in our first city sights.
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| At the Opera House--they were broadcasting a live opera |
Monday June 24-Vienna
By this time the three younger boys were reaching their limit with art museums and Jacob was just getting started so we let Jacob go have a day at the galleries at his speed while we went in and saw the vital pieces and headed back out. We started the day at St. Stephen's Cathedral. More narrow cement stairs and another view that was worth it.
Then we went to the Albertina and Kunsthistorische Museum. We were able to see Monet's and Picasso's and some very beautiful buildings!
Then we put our hop on hop off us pass to work and headed over to the giant Ferris wheel. Much to our surprise it was in the middle of an amusement park.The boys couldn't resist trying at least one ride.
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| On the oldest Ferris Wheel |
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| View of UN Headquarters--where we walked to next...sadly it was closed for the day |
After walking by the UN buildings we headed back to our apartment so we could meet our friends Art and Marisol Sanders and Jacob for dinner. It was fun catching up with them. They live in Vienna --Art works at the US Embassy there.
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| Austrian Wiener Schnitzel--The boys ate a lot of this while we were in Austria. |
Tuesday June 25-Schonbrunn Palace/drive to Halstatt
Before leaving Vienna we made a visit to Schonbrunn Palace. Although it was blazing hot it was a very cool place to visit. It was HUGE and we could have easily stayed there a day or two. We spent time admiring the fountains, exploring the garden mazes and eating more gelato. The gardens were amazing. The whole time we were there it reminded me so much of Versailles in France. As we were going through the tour of the palace I figured out why..this is where Marie Antonette grew up! She was one of the eleven daughters of Maria Theresa and Francis 1. Crazy the history that was around every corner on this trip!
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| Jaxon getting a little over zealous with the sunscreen |
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| They even had finger mazes |
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| Do you see the courageous kitty? |
Wednesday June 26-Hallstatt
This was probably my favorite day of the whole trip--this day and the boat day in Croatia. We spent most of the day at the Schonbergalm Nature Park. They had a series of trams that would take to you different spots on the mountain.
We took the tram up to the first spot and visited the amazing ice caves. It was glorious to feel a bit chilly. This was the only time I put on my jacket for the whole trip. The cave was quite spectacular even if we did have a school field trip group with us. Parts of the tour were funny though as they tried to make it more entertaining with music, fake animatronic bears, and light shows...all to make it more memorable.
The next station was higher and included a bit of hiking to get to some AMAZING view points. We even got to watch paragliders take off and walk through a herd of sheep. 5 fingers was just as breathtaking as we expected it to be.
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| Can you see the boys out on one of the "fingers"? |
The next tram took us a bit further down elevation wise, but deeper into the alps. We hiked to a restaurant--more fanta, coke, and schnitzel. We broke apart from here. Matt, Jacob, and Jaxon decided they wanted to take the long way and hike back to Hallstatt--12 miles. Nathan, James, and I chose to take the trams and car back. We hung around by the first tram station for a bit looking at the museum but then went back to the apartment for a few hour for naps and food while the other boys trekked through the Alps.
We met back up with them in Hallstatt at about 8pm. They were exhausted but we met them with food and drinks. They said it was amazing but more difficult than they expected and they ran out of water--lots of downhill which was hard on the legs.
Thursday June 27- Hallstatt
Today was another great memory maker. We started the day slowly but then made our way back to Hallstatt to ride the funicular up to the salt mine Salzwelten--the oldest salt mine in the world-began 7000 years ago. We had to wear special clothes to go into the salt mine...these pajamas didn't not feel too great in the heat--especially when we were all cramped into a small waiting room, however once we got down into the mines it was nice to have some long sleeves on. One reason for wearing the special clothes might have been to protect us from the salt or to protect the salt from us, however the main purpose of the special clothes was the leather bum that made you go faster down the slides. Yep, we had to slide down two different wooden slides to get in to the mine. It was pretty fun and hilarious.
Close to the start of the Salt mine there was a restaurant and an amazing overlook spot. Seriously, Hallstatt is BEAUTIFUL!
We spent the rest of the day exploring Hallstatt. We even went on a boat ride around the lake and, of course, ate more schnitzel.
Since we stayed in Hallstatt for three nights the boys decided it was the perfect time to get ready for Toy Story 4--each night we were there they watched one of the Toy Story movies. This whole trip Jacob kept us all well stocked in movies.
Friday June 28-Formula 1
We woke up a little earlier this morning so we could hike before heading to Spielberg and Formula 1. We went to Lammerklamm Canyon which was so beautiful. We are glad we woke up early for it.
Saturday June 29-Formula 1
Matt and Jacob were not too exited about sitting in the hot sun again so they decided to just drop the rest of us off and head out to find a hike to go on. Today I came prepared and while the boys were in the grandstand I just sat in the shade and read my book. It worked out quite nicely.
Matt and Jacob met us later just in time to see the air show. The boys would have loved to stay for the final race on Sunday, but we had to make it back to Venice.
Meanwhile on Matt and Jacob's hike...
Sunday June 30-Slovenia/ drive back to Venice
Our Airbnb for the last two nights was in a small town called Mittertrixen which was in between Spielberg, Austria (where Formula 1 was) and Italy. It wasn't the best place and the wifi didn't work, but it was suitable. It was right by this cute little lake that we took a few minutes to see before heading out of town.
Then we headed back to Slovenia to catch a hike we weren't able to fit in earlier in trip. We drove through the town Bled--it was busy and we couldn't find a spot to park the car so we didn't stop, but it looked like a great place to go visit with a great lake to play in. After Bled we went to the Rilke trail. It was a short hike that followed the coastline and overlooked Trieste, Italy. Again hot, bit worth it.
Then it was time to head back to Venice where we had another hotel booked close to the airport. We had our last Italian meal...at the same restaurant Jacob and I had our first Italian meal. Kind of crazy that the trip was close to over. We got in another game of Skull King and then headed to bed. Jacob and I had to start early the next day.
Monday July 1-Head back home and Verona
At about 5am Matt woke up and drove Jacob and I to the airport. We were about to experience the longest day..the sun just wouldn't go down :) We left Venice just before 7am flew to London, then to Hailfax, then to Toranto, then to Vegas where we landed at 10:30 pm--which felt like 6:30 am the next morning to us. LONG LONG DAY with little to no sleep on the plane too. Needless to say by the time we reached Dennis's house we were beat.
Meanwhile, Matt and the boys had one more day of vacation. After trading in the minivan for a smaller car they drove to Verona, They were able to see the Colosseum and Juliet's balcony. The day was yet again hot and the boys were dragging a bit, but they enjoyed it. They were also able to drive around Lake Garda before heading back to the airport in Venice.
Their flight to Paris that was supposed to leave at 9:30 got delayed by about 3 hours so they didn't end up getting to Paris until 3am. Sadly that nixed the idea they had of waking up at 6am to hurry and go see the Eiffel Tower before they flew back out.
Tuesday July 2-Getting home
Plan A-Our first plan was to be driving back to Utah today since originally we were all getting back at 10:30 on the 1st. The day before our trip began one of the return flights got canceled and they (Kiwi.com) booked Matt and the boys going through Paris and coming home a day later. So, that put us on to plan B.
Plan B-The boys fly from Venice to Paris, stay the night then fly to Oakland CA and then on to Las Vegas arriving at about 6:30 pm on the 2nd. Jacob heads on back to LA and Lindy spends the day hanging out with Dennis. We all spend the night and head home first thing on July 3rd. Well, as you might have guessed, plan B didn't go as planned, so we went on to plan C.
Plan C- Jacob and I are in Vegas. Even though the boys flight from Venice to Paris got delayed and they missed out on seeing the Eiffel Tower, they still made it on to their flight to Oakland. However that flight got delayed and they landed in Oakland 20 minutes before their flight to Vegas was supposed to take off. Needless to say, they missed it. They were still on one plane when the other took off. Phone calls,texts, and hours later and the best Kiwi could do for them was to get them to Vegas sometime on later on the 3rd. Matt needed to get back to work on the 3rd so we looked and found flights on our own on Southwest that got the boys home to Utah by about 1:30 am. Paula was nice enough of pick them up at the airport. Jacob and I spent one more night in Vegas at Dennis's house.
Wednesday July 3-Home
Like I said, Matt and the boys got home just after 1 in the morning. Jacob and I woke up early and were both on the road, by ourselves-heading opposite directions, by about 7:30 am.
Whew! and that's that! This vacation took just about the whole month of June but it was completely amazing. A memory maker for sure! The boys were so easy to travel with. We felt blessed to be able to have our two nephews with us. When we were first planning this trip we told our three adult children that if they paid for airfare we would pay the rest. Jacob was the only one that took us up on the offer. We were sad to not have Tyler and Miranda with this, but maybe next time they will be able to make it work.
And now...on to the next adventure!
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