Getting to know Slovenia

A long drive up into Slovenia brought us our first bit of bad luck. With two of us down with gastro we took a quiet day. After resting for the morning we took the ten minute drive to Lake Bled. The town had a summer resort feel with lots of people getting out on the water. 

The water was crystal turquoise!

As not everyone was feeling great we took a traditional boat across the lake to the church on the island. 

Luckily, the next day everyone was back to full health. we drove to Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. The kids enjoyed the fun little installation where they "created" rain. It was a nice reprieve from the hot weather!

Ljubljana is known for its dragons; said to be built on the site of a dragon's home. In the castle there was an exhibit about dragons in global culture. Calvin was proud that he knew every one of the mythological and folk tale references in these paintings. 

The next day Emily got her birthday gift: horseback riding. Calvin made friends with the barn kitten. 

A two hour ride took us up into the mountains, through streams and even a visit to a local bear cub who was orphaned and adopted by a restaurant. 

During and after the ride we were treated to homemade blueberry schnapps, with whole blueberries in the bottle. And, of course, a very famous Slovenian on the bottle. 

As Cal helped unsaddle the horses and Emily and Sam played with the kitten, the sun set over the mountains. 

Swimmingly good

On the road again and this time our stop was in Croatia. We stayed on the Istrian peninsula in the town of Porec. This stop was about taking a break from the car at out halfway point. The kids dove into the Adriatic and, snorkeling gear on, explored the underwater world. 

Dinners were easy overlooking the sea and the sunset. A little prosceco didn't hurt either. 

These southern countries love their traditional liqueurs - here it was schnapps. The restaurant didn't ask IF we wanted our free shot but rather WHICH type we wanted. They even have "kinderschnapps" which the kids loved. 

The next day we took a lunch boat cruise to visit two other places along the coast. Rovnij was the first stop. 

Boat cruises were big business there are many different companies operated similar routes, but it didn't feel too crowded. This was our boat. 

The water was so clear. the kids enjoyed watching the seagulls feet paddling away under the water, and the fish circling just below (all hoping for hand outs from the lunch cruises).

For the last bit of the trip the kids all scrambled up to the bow to watch the harbour as we pulled in. 

And, as if trying to out do herself, Mother Nature gave us an even more spectacular sunset for dinner that night. 

Italian sampler

The next leg of our journey took us east across Italy. Lunch was in Lago da Garda, Italy's largest lake. It was a great little vacation town filled with locals escaping the heat.

From there we drove to Verona, made famous by Shakespear's Romeo and Juliette. The city has embraced this and dedicated an appropriately aged house and balcony as Juliette's. Aside from the play to tourism, Verona was a very pretty city with a beautiful old square. 

From there we drove to our apartment. It was a restored Italian villa, complete with full wall murals, from the 1600s.

The next day we woke up early and drove to Venice for a boat tour. The city was beyond our expectations and we stayed on to walk around after our tour ended.

The next day we took the Italian sports car tour. Starting with a trip to Ferrari. We chose the museum in Modena, where the original offices of Ferrari were. 

Then on to Lamborghini. A smaller museum but the kids were impressed by the cars and the movies they have been featured in. 

To round it all off, dinner of pasta bolognaise in Bologna. 

Fashion and football

Leaving Lichtenstein, through the Alps gifted us with stunning vistas. It is very humbling to travel the valleys between the towering peaks. 

Lunch found us in Milan for a quick visit and a treat for Emily. Emily's birthday would happen while we were on the road so she had a very special opportunity to spend some of her birthday money: shopping in Milan.

She was so excited she wore her new outfit out of the store. She then led us on a little fashion photo shoot.

After our GPS let us down, we ended up on a service road amongst vines, and we pulled over twice to ask directions, we finally found our airBNB. It was on a winery in the Gavi region of Piemont. Eating dinner watching the sunset over the vines, our frustrations quickly melted. 

The region is known for many foodie delights, including agnolotti, so the next day we ventured out to find ourselves some, preferably in a picturesque Italian town. 

And we did! The town of Neive provided the perfect location...however, it was siesta and nearly nothing was open! But we found a restaurant that was open AND had homemade pasta including Agnolotti. 

Back at the vineyard the kids burned off some energy running amongst the vines. 

The next day we hot the road and drive to Turin to visit the Juventus stadium and museum. This was a football day and Sammy was in heaven. 

We ended the day with dinner and a gorgeous sunset, yet again, 

Llama love in Lichtenstein

Our next stop was the tiny country of Lichtenstein. In fact, road signs often looked like this, indicating the next town along the road was in another country. 

We stopped in Vaduz, the capital, for lunch before moving on the surprise for the kids. Vaduz was a nice little town, watched over by the castle, which is still inhabited by the royal family. 

After lunch, we pulled in to Treissenberg and the kids quickly started to piece together the surprise. We would spend the night in a teepee. But that wasn't all. 

Before dinner we would hike an alpine valley with llamas. The kids loved the llamas and enjoyed taking them "off road".  Back at the teepee, the young llamas were penned and the kids enjoyed feeding one particularly greedy llama named Karl. 

Then dinner. Cheese fondue made over a campfire, with the sun setting over the alps in the background. The camp provided handy little fondue aprons with two pockets: one for our drink and one for your bread. 

After dinner, as the sun had set, the grasshoppers came out and the kids stayed out late chasing and catching them. 

While mom and dad enjoyed a mug of wine and the spectacular view. 

Back to Black.

The first stop on the trip was just outside Stuttgart, Germany.

After a long drive we made it to Stuttgart with enough time to visit the Porche Museum. The boys were every excited to see the various models, both historic and future releases, as well as all the race-winning cars from F1 to off-road desert rally.

Emily was not so excited. 

The next day we ventured into the Black Forest to Triberg. This is the home of Germany's highest waterfall. We hiked to the top and enjoyed the shady cool of the Black Forest. 

Of course, in the Black Forest one must have Black Forest cake. We learned that this cake is not actually from the region but uses a cherry liqueur from the region. Doesn't stop them from selling it there though. 

Another attraction in Triberg is the world's largest cuckoo clock. While this is a tourist attraction, cuckoo clocks are traditional to the area, carved by the local farmers and woodsmen to supplement income. Originally even the clockworks were carved from wood.