The Hills Are Alive

For our second weekend with Perry and Linda, we decided to head to Salzburg, Austria. We made the drive through beautiful vistas, arriving in Salzburg in mid-afternoon. It didn’t take long into our trip to catch Dana in the act. We had been in Salzburg for approximately 7 minutes and 47 seconds when the following photo was taken.

It didn't take long for Dana to wander off...

The first day we primarily wandered the city taking in the major sites. One of the highlights is the Salzburg Cathedral because it provides a bit of a “Da Vinci Code” moment. Looking at the church, you’ll notice two cherubs holding a golden crown. At first they are a bit odd, but if you back up into just the right spot…

The Cherubs crown the Madonna statue

As you can see the cherubs are actually crowning the statue of the Madonna, which is set out in the courtyard in front of the church. Below is a closer shot.

A Close Up of the Coronation

The interior of the church is also very nice and the ceiling was pretty incredible. I was able to convince Perry to lay on his back in order to get this shot. He was promptly told to say 10 hail marys before being thrown out of the church by a fairly burly nun.

The Dome is like a Kaleidoscope

As we continued around to the backside of the church, we noticed this man. With the crowd gathered round, we thought he was a potential jumper. Shortly afterwards, we were informed that Salzburg is actually powered by a new technology. This man is required to run—much like a hamster in a  wheel—to power the city. He is allotted frequent breaks, and was in the middle of a break when I snapped this photo.

Don't JUMP!!

From this same square, we were able to view the castle and a historic car wash. We’d eventually walk to the top, and take in the incredible views of the city.

Ancient Car Wash (for horses)

Once atop the castle hill, the beauty abounds. We stopped for a good measure to take in the sites. Dana was able to wrestle the camera away from me just long enough to snap the following photo.

The beauty abounds!

As our panoramic continues around, we catch a glimpse  of Perry and Linda.

Taking in the sites

I’m not 100% certain, but I believe the following photo should seem familiar to all of those Sound of Mus-iacs out there. What I do know for 100%, is that I took this photo of Dana, Linda, and Perry and the castle is in the background.

The Calls take on Salzburg

Day two of our stop in Salzburg included a “Sound of Music” tour. Christian, our thrill seeking adrenaline junky tour guide, informed us that the water was emerald green because of all the minerals. We told him about the Chicago River being green on St. Pattys day because of all the dye. He told us Americans are crazy.

The emerald green water was such a sight

At some point during our tour, I busted Dana window shopping… yet again.

Busted her again

Our tour of the area was a great way to see some amazing sites. Our tour guide proved to be very knowledgeable and a fairly good driver. This is important to note because at one point we were driving on a two lane road that was just wide enough for one car with a sheer cliff on the side. I told Christian that Austrians are crazy.

Along our tour we stopped for some good ole slalom runs. Definitely one of Dana’s favorite activities. Predictably, one lap of the track wasn’t enough and she opted for a second lap round the track.

waaaaAAAAHOOOOOOOOO!

And Perry wasn’t too far behind her. After ribbing him for not being able to catch Dana, whose mass is less than his, he informed me that the starter had held him back, thus he was unable to catch and de-rail Dana.

Two hands? Hell no. FIST PUMP!

With our tour pretty much complete, we stopped for a quick snack and coffees. Our view was okay…

Our view during snack time

The following day we headed home, but stopped at a pretty awesome Salt Mine. Probably the funniest moment of the trip was seeing Perry in his coveralls. He elected to wear his “European-styled carry all” inside of his coveralls, making him look rather jolly. Despite this, the highlight of the salt mines were clearly the two wooden slides. Just sit together as a group, keep your feet up, and smile for the camera. Unfortunately, my large cranium blocked other faces within the photos—sorry guys.  At the end of the tour, we posed for a Beastie Boys inspired photo in our coveralls. Maybe Perry or Linda will email it to me so that I can post it here. All-in-all, a pretty great visit from the Call family.

Oh, and Perry, Katarina says, “Ciao!”

Cinque Terre with the In-Laws

My how time flies when you’re not blogging. Here it is nearly October, and I haven’t updated about things that happened in May. At first, I didn’t blog because I was busy. Recently, I’ve been putting it off because—if I’m honest—these trips are a bit of a blur. Here are the facts that I do remember:

1. Dana’s parents were here in Brescia after spending a few days in Rome
2. We went to Cinque Terre the first weekend they were here.
3. We stayed in a single room. The four of us. It was cozy.
4. We hiked what we could of the trail (one section was closed) in a single day.
5. Perry complained about his plantar fasciitis. A lot. But he sucked it up, and powered through the trail.
6. I tricked Dana into thinking a cat we’d seen several years before was in the same place we’d previously seen it. All it took were a couple of well placed meows. I’m pretty awesome at tricking Dana.
7. We ate great and drank lots of local wine.
8. Italians are crazy. There were people hauling luggage (and complaining about people not saying hello), babies, and baby strollers. Remember that the trail from end to end is over 6 miles, and is real hiking.
9. The boat ride between the villages is pretty awesome, and a great way to get a different perspective of Cinque Terre.

And with that summary, here are a few photos:

At the start of our hike from Vernazza

Looking back at Vernazza

Our first glimpse of Monterosso al Mare

Corniglia ... and Perry's elbow

Vernazza in the evening

After dinner in Vernazza

Pastaceria ... and Gelateria

Start of our boat ride looking at a Nazi pill bunker in Monterosso al Mare

A different look at Vernazza

Corniglia from the sea

Manarola

End of the line at Riomaggiore

Les Suisses / Das Schweizer

After visiting Amsterdam, Derek and Katie headed back to the States. The next weekend, Dana, my parents, and I headed up to Zurich, Switzerland. The drive to Zurich is pretty incredible (only outdone by the train ride—because you can look out the window). Along the way, we decided to stop at a place that had an okay view. Here Dana and I are post lunch.

Not a bad place to stop for lunch

After arriving in Zurich, we headed to a museum that had some post-impressionists’ works. I think. I’m not an art guy.

Afterwards, we toured the city, stopping at Spruengli. Spruengli makes the world’s most awesome chocolates. Unfortunately, it was the end of the day and most things were pretty picked over. But we were still able to get some good stuff. For the rest of our city tour, we walked with sweet, sweet chocolate euphoria. One of the great sites in Zurich is Europe’s largest clock face. As we made our way to view it, I spotted this beauty.

Dana offered to buy—er—take my photo.

Per the usual when visiting such a sought after European landmark, the clockface was overrun by tourists. I was just able to snap this photo over the crowd.

Tourists, tourists, everywhere!

With our city tour complete, we grabbed a few drinks and then dinner. The next day we headed to the zoo. Zoos in Europe are a bit different in the States. Some animals are left to roam free. For example, this peacock was just wandering around looking for something—what? I don’t know.

"Hey Mister. Where's the tiger exhibit?"

Second, you can get as close as you want to the tigers. Of course, my pants were soaked after taking this photo. From being in the water!! I swear!!

Who wants some Spruengli???

All-in-all, it was a good, albeit, short trip. After the zoo, we headed back to Brescia. Since my parents were flying out the next morning, we dropped them off in Milan. After having guests for two weeks, it was nice to have the flat to ourselves. But, we only had a few days before there was more family knocking at the door…

Amsterdam

Way, way back in May we had a lot of family visit us. Where I last left off with the blog, we had just attended our 3rd Mille Miglia with my parents, brother, and sister-in-law. The next day, we hopped on a plane heading to Amsterdam.

As you all know, Amsterdam is best known for the Red… er, marij… er, waterways and bicycles! Right out of the gate we started with a water canal tour. One of the first things pointed out to us was a bicycle parking deck with 2,000+ bicycles crammed into it. In fact, it was so overly crowded that they were in the process of expanding the parking deck. No joke. Bicyclists and bicycles are everywhere in Amsterdam.

Just a small example of the bicycle craze in Amsterdam

And I would venture to say that bicyclists in Amsterdam are more dangerous than an outbreak of the plague. There appears to be absolutely no rhyme or reason as to whom has the right-of-way. And should you hear a bicyclist hit the deck, you can be sure that person is from out of town. I think we all witnessed our fair share of wrecks by camera toting tourists. Oh, and the bells. You hear bicyclists dinging their bells every 5 seconds. It could drive a person mad. For me, it drove me to creativity.

Bikes and Canals... what Amsterdam is best known for???

After our boat tour, we headed to our flat for the weekend. Mom and Dad rented a pretty sweet place that was typical Amsterdam. Narrow with steep, steep steps connecting the floors—of which there were four. Because the stairways are so steep and narrow, it is pretty much impossible to carry furniture up them. So the front of the homes have huge windows and the gable has a pulley system. Have a new couch that needs to go on the 3rd floor? Open up your window, raise you couch to the 3rd floor, and pull it in.

Of course, I’ve been a bit coy in the article. I know that most don’t think of canals or bicycles when thinking of Amsterdam. You, of course, think of… the “I Amsterdam” sign! Here’s Dana with the D:

D is for Dana

And me with the M:

My favorite letter

After our photo shoot, we headed into the Van Gogh museum. We expected to spend no more than 30 minutes in the museum, but we were in there for hours! Of that time, only about 7 minutes were spent looking at art. When we arrived, there was an open bar, couches, and a “stage”. So we settled in for a few drinks, philosophizing, and some of the craziest music I’ve ever heard. There were two groups. The first were all stationed at keyboards, and made music by pecking away at the keys. Sounds weird, but here’s a sample:

By the end of the show, one of the guys was half naked and they were all soaked with sweat. They definitely put it all into the performance. Throughout the first show, I kept seeing this one guy wandering around while talking on his cell phone. He was acting a bit curious so I thought that maybe he was part of a second show. I was right.

This dude was NUTS!

And pretty darn funny to watch

The second group was even better than the first. Their instruments were made out of junk, but they made some incredible music. Here’s a sample:

After the show, we made a lap of the museum—literally finishing in about 7 minutes. Apparently, neither of us greatly appreciates art.

The following day was museum day for us. First we stopped at a museum of the city. Dana saw a bike and hopped on for a quick ride.

Pedal WOMAN!

Later that day, we visited the Anne Frank House with Derek and Katie. Having read her story, it was interesting to see the house that she so often referred to. Definitely a worth while stop, if just a short one.

On our final day, we spent the entire day together as a family. We started by visiting a number of museums—including the handbag museum (YEAH! ladies choice!). We also went to the Resistance Museum. This museum posed a basic question: Nazi Germany has invaded and now occupies your town. What do you do? Resist, leave, or assimilate? A rather simple question that isn’t very easy to answer. Dana was the most intrigued with the museum, and was several yards behind me when Katie came looking for us. I was almost finished, but Dana was only about 2/3 through the museum. The others were getting a bit impatient with us, as we had previously decided to get pancakes.

Here the family is all smiles because we’ve decided to get pancakes for lunch.

The Fam in Amsterdam (this is all smiles for my family)

Pancakes in Amsterdam are the quintessential stoner food. More like like crepe in thickness, they are piled high with whatever you can imagine (eggs, ham, onions, feta cheese, ice cream, pineapple, etc.); they sound strange, but are delicious. Derek and Katie loved them so much, they went 3 different times.

PANCAKE EUPHORIA!

But it wasn’t all smooth sailing in getting our pancakes. You know you are in trouble when there are two maps and Dana in play to determine the best route.

I don't think we're going to get pancakes.

I told Katie that she wasn’t going to get pancakes. She wasn’t happy.

No pancakes for YOU!

Dana saved the day by telling Katie she knew the way to the pancakes shop.

Pancake savior

After our pancakes, we took the long way to the flat. Big mistake! AJAX (the local pro FIFA team) had literally just won the Championship against their rival, and we had routed ourselves through the city’s celebratory grounds. Everywhere we turned was a screaming drunk carrying a half empty 6-er sporting an AJAX jersey. Normally, ecstatic fans don’t phase me, but when I saw the riot police and water cannons on standby, I began to worry. Luckily, we made it through untouched.

I would be remissed, if I didn’t at least mention coffee shops and the Red Light District. Dana and I were the only ones to venture into the Red Light District. Coffee shops (the kind that would be illegal in the US), however, were everywhere. I naïvely assumed that illicit activities were limited to the Red Light District. I was wrong. Walking down a quiet street in a peaceful neighborhood, and BAM! There’s an 80 year old woman with a walker smoking a doobie blowing her smoke every which way.

I will say that the Red Light District is pretty interesting. We saw women of all shapes, sizes, colors, and prettiness. Apparently, whatever your taste, they’ve got you covered. But, we all know the million dollar question: Did Dana proposition a prostitute? Well, I am not at liberty to say…