The Long Day Pt. 2- AKA Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Dusseldorf to Zurich
As I mentioned, we had a quickie flight to Zurich. Once landing, we headed to the car rental spot. Although we planned to drive a cute little BMW, it wouldn't hold our luggage. So, we ended up with a Peougot( sp?) SUV. Much more my speed anyway. The destination at this point is a town outside of Vernazza @ 5+ hours away.

The Journey
I'm sure Zurich was lovely, but I fell asleep once we hit the road. I did awaken outside of Lucerne. The mountains were beautiful! One sleepy town after another. Even though this area was mountainous, we seldom climbed.

Lots of tunnels. Lots! The road map looked pretty straight but the roads winded and winded and winded. Reminds me if riding the Dragon Tail in the Smokey's. Only longer. And more motorcycles. They traversed in between lanes and cars like crazy.  We exited in what I thought was Levanto. Nope, Levante. Luckily, it was part of the train schedule to Vernazza. No car travel to Vernazza, so we parked our car and hopped the train.

Our first good peek at the Mediterranean Sea!

After switching trains and waiting, we finally arrived in Vernazza- one part of Cirque Terre. 

We walked along the streets to find our hotel. They let us drop off our luggage to grab a quick bite. Pasta for all! Kyle had spaghetti with mussels, Jim had spaghetti with bolognese, Katie and I had different pastas but both had pesto!  Yum!  Not sure if it was really good, as we were tired and hungry. You know how that goes. Time to get settled in for the night. More to follow on our stay. 

The Longest Day

We knew going in that our travel day would be long. Boy, howdy, was it!  Not to labor the point, I'll just log our day.

The Flight
Jim had prepared us for the fact we were flying a low rate airline. I'm thinking, "Great! Air Walmart!"  We ate before the flight, packed snacks and water. Prepared that we might not be fed. Air Berlin was awesome! Each seat had its own IPad-like device behind the seat. There were a series of movies, tv shows, games, etc to access once in the air.

We also were given a series of goodies in our seats. Blanket, pillow, goodie bag with toothbrush, tooth paste, mask, and socks.

I learned after the flight that I needed 2 pills, not one. I was fine!  Jim slept most if the flight, the kids did off and on. Not me, but I enjoyed 2 movies and lots of Big Bang Theory.
They served a meal at the beginning and beverage early in the flight, gave out bottled water later, nearing the end we had a European breakfast of sliced deli, bread, yogurt, muffin. Did I mention how good the coffee was? So good! Forget Starbucks. Oh yea, nice warm wet towelettes before our final meal to freshen up.

Dusseldorf
Surprise! Debbi, you get to land then fly again. Ugh. Really, it was fine. Quickie flight like from Hsv to Atlanta. The Air Berlin flight was just as nice. FYI: This was a nice hub of an airport. I would definitely land and connect again. Perhaps not Zurich unless we plan to be in Switzerland.

Passport Check
It's worth noting that we had to stand in line to leave our part of the airport to get to our connection. The line was to check passports. The German accent asking what brought us to Germany was a little intimidating! Chalk it up to too many WW2 movies, LOL! We stated our business and duration I'd stay, then moved on.

Well.......... This needs to be a stopping point for my WIFI checkpoint.  More to tell if our long day, but I'll give you a teaser for where we are now!
The view from our room in Vernazza.

Transition Time

Well, we headed out yesterday from Huntsville.  The first leg of our trip was to drive to Atlanta.

Next stop, parking the car at the Marta station. We are long term parking there. Then, we took the train straight to the airport. 

It was a late night arrival around midnight. As much as air travel scares me, the can ride from Ft. Lauderdale to our hotel in Miami was crazy!!!  Add another city to the list of where I would not want to drive regularly. 

One little goofy shot before we leave the hotel. 

Well, now we wait. Our flight leaves at 3:55. It will be 9:00am once we get to Zurich..... I think. Either way, hopefully we get some sleep!  Jim will drive from Zurich to Vernazza in our rental car.
At least well be in one spot for a few days. Touch base soon!

Welcome Friends!

I'm so excited to share our trip with you.  The first step is to share our itinerary that is PLANNED!  We'll see how closely we stick to it.  I've looked closely at our locales, and it looks like we'll have Wifi at each stop along the way.  Hoping there will be energy at the end of the day to share pictures and thoughts.  :-)

June 14th-16th

After landing in Zurich, we'll drive drive to Vernazza.  This is a peak into the terrain of this coastline city.

June 16-20

In the car once more towards our stay in Rome.  We may make a brief detour in Pisa for a photo-op. We'll be staying at this hotel.

June 20-22

Time to head north to Florence.  WE won't be staying IN Florence but 10 miles out of town in a farmhouse. I'm not sure HOW MUCH of this photo is where we'll be staying.  How cool to stay in a farmhouse in Italy though! 

June 22-25

Heading a bit more north, we will head to Venice.  This is my only iffy Wifi spot at the moment, so I may need to catch up in the next port.  No pictures of this spot yet, but I do know we're staying on a canal.

June 25-26

The toughest squeeze with driving, but we are headed to Munich for the quickest checks of the bucket list.  

June 26-30

Our final stop in our journey is Paris.  We're staying at the Hotel Campanile -Bastile.  We will depart on the 30th to Zurich to fly home.