Italy 4

Teresa and the kids at the famous Villa Balbinello, Bellagio out of the picture on the right.


The Villa from the water.

Another ridiculously luxurious villa.

The Grimselpass as we left Italy. This is actually about an hour inside Switzerland after crossing out of Italy.

Italy 3

I walked over to the other side of Bellagio to the fishing port, and caught this nice older gentleman in his Speedo taking a quick dip in the rather cold water.


View of Bellagio from the Bellagio Water Taxi tour that we took.....

....with our quintessentially Italian tour guide Luca......

.....out to Villa Balbinello, otherwise known as the site for the Star Wars episode II film, as well as a scene in James Bond Casino Royale.

Italy 2

A few pics of the family lakeside with Bellagio in the near background.

With the roads being so small, and Bellagio being not very friendly towards car traffic, this pic is exemplary of the trend of mopeds and motorcycles and scooters in town. Also of the fact that most of the hotels are hard to get to by car and don't have their own parking.

These grapevines were on the terrace right outside our hotel window. We stayed at the Hotel Centrale, which had gotten good reviews on tripadvisor.com, which I always refer to when planning a trip.

Italy 1

At the border of Italy and Switzerland at the Splugenpass. Major difference between the roads of northern Europe and those of Italy. Italian roads are much narrower and the switchbacks are unbelievable.


Bellagio is the small town at the fork in the Y of Lake Como. It's a beautiful town made for walking....not much for sites, but great for ambiance.

Pic of the water taxi that we took the next day out to Villa Balbanello.

An evening view across Lake Como to Varenna.

Austria 4

A few years ago, a neighboring town dismantled one of their skilifts, which I guess was one of the first ones put up in the valley back in the 50s. Ingo was able to procure one and has set it up in his backyard.


Matthias was the Amann's son who we didn't get to say goodbye to the morning we left cause he was up early to go paragliding. He flew in just as we were getting ready to pull out. Cool way to say goodbye!

Simone and Ingo Amann.

This Ferrari was actually only going about 100 km/h (about 62 mph) so I was able to pass it and take a pic. This was just before we left Austria and crossed the border into Liechtenstein.

Austria 3

Another signpost, with a different skilift in the background. Constantin and the kids.

A view across the valley at some quaint Austrian hillside homes.

After 3 hours of hiking we were bigtime hungry and I had a hard time choosing what to have for lunch, so we chose everything: gulaschsuppe, schnitzel mit pommes, wurst. It was all good.

Sitting at the wheel of the Mercedes.

Austria 2

Two shots of the family at the top of the skilift overlooking Schruns, then a pic of Teresa, the kids, Constantin, and Susann.

There were quite a few paragliders taking off from this little nook in the mountain which had a nice updraft. Hiking is easy in Europe cause there's always signposts to help you, often with hiking times so you can choose.

Vandans, Austria 1

After leaving rainy Fussen and the castles, we headed over to Austria to meet up with our friend Constantin. Constantin lives in Stuttgart, and we were going to meet him and his mom Susann at Susann's sister's rental house/apartment in Vandans, Austria. The first pic is the Amann's house....Ingo and Simone were excellent hosts and we had a great time with all of them, and really appreciate their hospitality.


Although it rained on the drive over and that evening, the next morning it was completely clear, so we decided to take the lift up to the Hochjoch and do some hiking. Here's Mac on the skilift.

The view of the town of Schruns, with Vandans further on in the background.

Fussen 2

More pics of Katie and Mac at Neuschwanstein, as well as a quick stop at the border of Austria.

Fussen 1

We had a fairly fast drive from Rothenburg down to Fussen, which is near the castles, and near the border of Austria. This is the view from our hotel room, Hotel Hirsch.


There was a bike race going on that evening. Wasn't the Tour de France or anything of such importance, but they were sure flying through town.

Katie was very excited to get to the Princess Castle, aka Schloss Neuschwanstein. I've been to this castle 4 times now, and every time I've been, it has rained.

Rothenburg 3

Again, more window shopping, with some familiar books in German.

Taken early in the morning (hence no crowds and poor light) a view of the Rodergasse and Markusturmplatz.

This pic was taken for Brian. Marklin is the name of the model train manufacturer.

When we arrived in Frankfurt and went to get our rental car, we had reserved a compact car. Evidently they were all out of those, so they had to upgrade us to a midsize. We got this lousy brand-new Mercedes C190 Kompressor. More on the Mercedes later.....

Another pic for Brian, and the whole family really, cause they all appreciate the awesome fruhstuck you get every morning in German gasthofs. This was no exception. Great way to start your day.....Next up, a 2.5 hour drive south to Fussen and King Ludwigs' castles.