River Rafting the Lütschine - Switzerland

June 2 - Since we finally had a weekend in Zurich for once, we decided to do something locally. Local meaning 2.5 hours away in Interlaken but you get the point. Braden, Anna, Moritz (who Shannon works with at PwC) his sister Francie and friend Emily, set out for a Swiss river rafting adventure. The river wasn't big compared to anything either of us had ever rafted. However, what it lacked in size, it made up for in freezing cold-ness.

Above: Us getting soaked with freezing glacier water!

Rhine River Valley - Germany

May 26 - 28: Yet another three day weekend in Switzerland...Our friends Braden and Josh (who are making a lot of appearances in this blog so far!) had a work event in Germany for the week. So on the weekend, we trained to the town of Bacharach which sits along the banks of the Rhine River. Anna (Braden's wife) had already arrived, so we were welcomed by the three of them drinking Bavarian sized beers and enjoying some Brats and Sauerkraut!

We decided to explore the small wine towns along the river, so we hopped a boat and meandered through St. Goar and Ruddesheim. We did yet some more wine tasting in Ruddesheim (where they are famous for their Rieslings) and followed it up with dinner at a traditional German restaurant, met some other travelers and danced the night away to what one could only call a polka band.
(Top deck of our Rhine River cruiser)

We then spent Sunday and Monday in the Black Forest area (Freiberg and Staufen) but as the weather had gone belly up on us, our plans to hike the forest and rent bikes to visit the wineries were foiled. Some day we'll make it back!

Salema & Algarve Coast - Portugal

May 17 - 21: We know, we know...another 4 day weekend in Switzerland?! Yep, that's right. This time, we took off for Lisbon, Portugal with our final destination being the Algarve Coast, specifically Salema (a favorite of none other than Rick Steves). Anna and Braden had flown a day ahead of us, so it was Josh, Erin, Andy and Shannon arriving in Lisbon around 11pm on Thursday. We rented a car (Andy's choice, a convertible which unfortunately didn't have much of a backseat and the four of us were crammed in for the three hour drive ahead!) We arrived in Salema (a small fishing village right on the Atlantic Ocean) around 2am. Thankfully Braden & Anna had already found us accommodations, this time another Croatian style "Sobe" (though it's called a "Quarto" in Portugal) owned by an older local man who didn't speak a lick of English. Braden was able to communicate in his best Portuguese to make sure we got a good deal ;-)

It's hard to say exactly what we did in Portugal day to day...Four fun-filled days at the beach, playing in the ocean and sipping on margaritas, followed by dinners with fantastic seafood and trips to the local bars started to run together after a while! I think it's best at this point just to attach some pictures and explain it this way (this time we all had our cameras!)

(Above: Anna, Andy, Shannon & Braden playing in the Atlantic)

(Above: The group having dinner ocean-side)

(Above: You guessed it, no trip is complete without a boat trip!)
(Above: Walking down the cliff to our grotto-ride)
(Above: Inside the grotto!)
(Above: One of our many stops to indulge in great food and some sangria!)
(Above: Cheers to another successful trip...more to come!)
Unfortunately, on our way home Andy, Josh, Erin and I had been booked on an oversold flight, and wound up sleeping in the airport for most of the night only to be put on a flight at 6am the next day! TAP airlines is supposed to be giving us "compensation" in the form of cash...but we've yet to see it. We'll keep you posted ;-)

Paris & Burgundy - France

Above: View of Paris from top of Notre Dame
May 3 - 6: Almost as soon as "Team Croatia" had returned to Zurich, Julie and Shannon set out for a girls-only tour of Paris. We got off to a somewhat rusty start when Shannon mistakenly read the sign for the train....Luzern, Lausanne...who's counting?! A couple of trains and a couple of hours later, we got straightened out and were cruising the TGV to the City of Light.

We arrived just after 4pm and found our way to the Hotel du Amelie right near the Eiffel Tower. It seemed appropriate that we make that our first stop, so we grabbed some cheese, wine (plus our portable camping wine glasses) and spread out on the lawn in front of the tower for a picnic. I had never been to the top, so around 9pm when it was all lit up and glowing bright, we got in line for the Tower. Little did we know it would take us nearly and hour and a half to reach the top!
Above: Eiffel Tower at nightAbove: Best picture we could get of us at the top!
The next day we decided to take the topless red tour bus around the city. It was a great day to really see Paris and since you're able to get off anywhere it stops (the Louvre, Notre Dame etc.) you can easily see the sights and then get back on the bus at any point. We took full advantage and swung through about every major attraction you can imagine (saw the Mona Lisa and the Louvre, Monets at the Musee de Orsay, climed to the top of Notre Dame, saw the famous Paris Opera House and traveled down Champs-Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe and rounded out the trip with some shopping). >Above: Riding our red bus...
Above: Top of Notre Dame - long hike up!
Above: A gargoyle on top of the Notre Dame
After our whirlwind sight-seeing, we set off the next day by train to Beaune, France to meet up with Andy. Beaune is in the Burgundy wine region of France and is famous for not only their wine, but their delicious Beouf Burgogne (Burgundy Beef). We spent two days wine tasting, wine touring and enjoying the food. The best part of the trip was probably that Andy had rented a car for us, so we were able to travel around the lesser traveled region of Cote de Beaune and stopped into a few wineries to taste their wine and wound up buying a couple of cases (still not sure if Julie got hers home okay in her suitcase!). On our last night (May 5) it was Andy and my 3rd anniversary. We made reservations and the three of us had a great dinner in a small hole in the wall with great wine, great Coq Au Vin (another beef / wine dish) and great company...Very appropriate given the fact that Julie was with us 3 years prior when we first met on Cinco de Mayo :-)
(Beaune at night)

Split, Hvar, Korcula & Dubrovnik - Croatia

Split, Croatia - April 27 thru May 2: Julie flew into Zurich, and we didn't give her much time to recover from the jet lag, because the next day a group of 7 of us (Shannon, Andy, Julie, Josh, Erin, Braden & Anna) flew to Split, Croatia. We had no car, no hotel and no plan but set out on a ferry a few hours after arriving for an island called Hvar.
(Above: Split as we are leaving for Hvar)
We arrived in Hvar just before midnight and were at once greeted by a bunch of locals who rent their homes out to tourists (Called "Sobe"s as we learned quickly from Rick Steves - Braden & Anna's favorite Euro-Guide). Within minutes we had one big room in a local's house that fit all 7 of us and had a fairly clean bathroom (some would say otherwise...) We spent two nights in Hvar, rented a (very) small motor boat for the day and traveled over to one of the smaller islands - and to a great restaurant called Toto's where we spent the entire day mixing our own "Jean Spritzers" (basically a white wine spritzer, Swiss style) and ordering platter after platter of sauteed prawns, clams and various other sea foods. The food was amazing, the drinks were cold, sun was hot...Couldn't have been a better day. Around sunset we set off on our motor boat (The El Bosco 6 - named after the El Bosco 5 which was an enormous multi-million dollar yacht in the harbor in Hvar) back to Hvar.
(Above: The El Bosco 6)
(Above: The group at Toto's)
(Above: Late night out in Hvar)
We spent our last two nights first in Korcula and then Dubrovnik. Korcula was quieter, and more relaxed, which was welcoming after our crazy times in Hvar. We had a laid back dinner (more great seafood) and stayed again in a local "Sobe" - this time with multiple bedrooms so we weren't all in the same room.

The next morning, we were off to Dubrovnik at the crack of dawn. One extremely scary 4 hour cab ride later (think winding roads, ocean side cliffs and on-coming passing lanes), and we were there! Dubrovnik was definitely the bigger "city" of Croatia and here we mostly shopped around and checked out the city. We were all in agreement that either Hvar or Korcula had been our favorite, but Dubrovnik had its charms as well. All in all, it was an extremely relaxing and adventure filled holiday....One of many to come!
(Above: Dubrovnik city)