End of Day two in Porec.

We had a great dinner tonight..Fresh caught Sea bass cooked in salt and fileted(sp?) tableside. It was delicious. Stopped and bought my first anniversary gift a nice gold and citrine ring.

We found a casino down the steet so we stopped in and I actually carried Wayne this time. He only lost 20 Euro but I won 290 Euro!! Lucky number 7. I was kind of bummed that after I hit with 5 euro on 7 I cashed out and then 7 came out again!!! but we walked away winners!

I am feeling the sun as the day goes on. I fell asleep a little too long and got a little too much sun on the back of my legs. Tomorrow we are off for a drive to see the Collisieum which is older that the one in Rome and still in use.

Good Night!

WE DO COOL STUFF..

WE DO COOL STUFF..is pretty much our slogan when we have the opportunity to experience all of the amazing things that we do..Next stop on our list of COOL STUFF..Porec Croatia!

We arrived in Croatia on July 4th about 130. and My friend Jackie's father and his girlfriend who lives here arrived about 2pm..He has been an amazing help in planning our whole trip and especially our time in Croatia!

He gave us a great overview of the area ..things to do etc and we took a short walk around town. Then we headed inland up a mountain for a little wine tasting. It was a really nice winery and we brought a bottle to enjoy later. Back to Porec for an amazing dinner on the waterfron. We have had some great Istrian proscuitto - which is differnt than italian- I think I liked it more. For our entree we has very very fresh fish..great wine..all aroung amazing meal..Branko left to drive home and we headed to bed. Great 1st day in Croatia.

The town we are in in a waterfront peninsula town..with a long promenade with all kinds of shops and crazy things to buy..It seems to be getting more crowded and crazy as we get closer to the weekend..There are a few clubs aound us and a place for all of the luxury yachts and sailboats to dock.

Today we were up early for breakfast at the hotel and took a nice long walk. At 9am we were already sweating. I hear the US is breaking all kinds of heat records. Europe is too and we are still in the middle of an unusual heat wave.

We hopped on a boat to the neighboring Fortuna Island where we could rent beach chairs and relax. We spent most of the day between the chairs, water and napping. Very relaxing day. The water of the Adriatic is very clear but all rocks. We were glad Jackie told us to be sure we had water shoes. There is no way we would have been able to go in the water without them. Even the "beach" area is all pebbles and small stones so the beach shoes were a must have.

A little lunch break and another nap.. which we know is not going to be good when we have to go back to work and cannot take afternoon naps.

All caught up! Looking foward to 5 more days in Croatia!

Venice

We ended our time in venice with a wonderful gondola ride and a nice dinner...off to Croatia tomorrow!

Venice!

We arrived in Venice yesterday early afternoon. We did a good job of figuring out where to park and then pick up our 2 day water bus tickets and on the water bus to our hotel. Luckily they give very specic and great directions...

> They say Venice is the city to get lost in and that is definately true! We wandered around for a bit in the afternoon then rested for about 30 minutes and back out for dinner. We headed to meet Alessandro for our pub tour but I obviously did not have the meeting spot right so we are going to try agin tonight to see if we can join his tour.

We came back to the hotel for a dinner recommendation and headed to Rosa Rosso..I amnot srue how we found it the first time and I hae not idea if we couldfindit agin butit was very good. We sat outside but at least in the shade. It was still about 90 degrees out..you cannot even stand still without sweating..

We had a nice dinner and headed to bed about 10...The heat and walking wear you out..

We thought about getting a pedometer before our trip and now are thinking we definately should have..It would be interesting to know how many miles we have walked...again definately rethinking the time of year we take these walking, hiking sightseeing vacations....

The hotel we are in is very nice and today while sitting at a little bistro out front we were able to direct new arriving guests. You have to go though this large iron gate which looks like someplace you should not be going..The hotel staff is extremely friendly and helpful..We locked ourselves out of the safe in the room and let then know. When we came back in the afternoon they - knew that we needed help and came right up to open the safe and walk us through setting it...

We had breakfast at the hotel this morning where they have a nice buffet and make eggs to order..then off to the Doges Palace secret itineraries tour..It was a very intersting tour and I am glad we had booked it a few months in advance. It was were Casanova was held and supposedly escaped from. Quick stop back at the hotel to drop off the Tripod..At least I can saw we used it..and took a few pictures together. We headed to the water bus to Murano and wandered around..had lunch and saw a glass blowing demonstration..very cool..

Back on the water bus St Marcos Square and here we are...rest time in the nice cool AC..

I did make my first purchase..which Wayne is very surprised by( the fact that this was my first purchase)..bought a nice leather venice made handbag... Tomorrow we are off to Croatia for 6 days of relaxation!

Milan - Football and the Last Supper

Ok I am not sure that Football should come before the last supper in the heading... We left Luzern early and headed to Milan. The driving in Milan was not as bad as we expected. We took the metro to the Duomo which is aboslutley amazing! walked around the inside and then took the elevator to the roof! Yes it is the actual roof! Amazing view of the city and great close of view of the church spires..we headed to Maria Della Grazie to see the last supper..we had pre-purchsed tickets and had a tour in English. You are only allowed to stay in the room for 15 minutes and the guide does a great description of the scene and the messages.. We headed back to the Duomo and found a place for cocktails on a roof top..we had a few cocktails and then some sushi and headed to the square...where we spent the next few hours with thousands of people cheering on Italy in the world cup finale. They had a big screen and Italians do love their football..it was a crazy atmosphere and still very hot - we last until about half time and jumped in a cab back ot the hotel and watched the rest of the game in the hotel lounge..We are thinking maybe we are bad luck..we were in Germany and they lost and now in Italy and they lost...Sorry Germany and Italy... Ok now we are all caught up..It is Monday morning and we are headed to breakfast an off to Venice for 2 nights. We are looking forward to 2 nights in the same place!

On to Luzern!

We were up bright an early once again..but we were to the first to breakfat today..ok we were 2nd..Nice bfst.. Then on the road once agin. We headed to the Car ferry over Lake Konstanz to the Town of Konstance and then drove to Luzern..the gps in the car was not as cooperative today..we missed about 3 differnt exits on the highway and our turn in town..but finally ended up at the Renaissance in Luzern! We headed right ot the visitor center to get our golden Ticket for the Mount Pilatus tour. We took a 90 minute boat ride on the lake..in about 100 degrees...of course there is a heat wave in europe right now...we really need to rethink the time of year we do these type of vacations...We forgot to put sunscreen on so were trying our best to not get burnt...after 90 minutes we come to the cog wheel train..the steepest one in the world! They thought there were two seats for us but since there were not they put us in the conductor cabin on the back of the train..great views on the way up the mountain..It is about a 30 minute ride to the top of the mountain and absolutley amazing!! At the top there were different performances going on and we did a quick 10 minute hike to a top look out point...It was a little hazy but not enougth to dappen the beautiful view of the alps and the lake! We had lunch wandered around little more and came across a guy getting ready to jump off the mountain! He had a parachute type contraption and got all set and just ran off the mountian and flew around for a while. Very Cool!! We headed back down on the Cable car which was REALLY high and quite scary for me! I could not even look out the front window...We had to take a cable car that held about 25 people and then a gondola on our own...The gondola was not as bad.. Then to the bus and back to town.. Once again time for a nap! We love our vacation naps! We headed out for dinner and there was a huge music festival goign on and the crowds were insane!! We tried to find a place for dinner and ended up back a the hotel in their mexican cantina...not bad but not great...we talked to a girl sitting next to us who is coming to Phila in a few week and DC, NYC and AC! Small world! We had a few more cocktais at the bar next to the restaurant and headed to bed..which was right above the nighclub and the AC did not seem to work very well...I guess the Friends and family rate is who you put in this room on a sold out Saturday night.. Until Tomorrow!

Day 2 Tubingen - Burg Hozenhollern- Meersburg

We woke up at 6am..still getting used to the time change. Since it was too early for breakfast we headed out for a walk around town to take some pictures...beautiful quiet morning. We ended up at the town square where eveyone was very busy settign up for the morning market. Flowers, meats ..cheeses..Back tot he otel for a quick bfst them we hit the road. We drove about 30 minutes to Burg Hozenhollern - very old castle way up on a mountain. I thought it opened at 930 but found out when we got there that it did not open until 1000..so we parked in lot which was about half way up and hiked the rest of the steep climb up...it was quite the work out and showed us just how out of shape we are! it took about 30 minutes to get to the top and we just wandered around waiting for someone to kick us out but noone ever did!! So we hiked back down - which was much easier..on the way down we came across a group of about 10 germans probably in their 60 hiking their way up ..and as we passed them they broke out into song..very surreal hiking throught the black forest and song breaking out..they were really good too! We drove about 1 more hour to Meesburg..beautiful lake town on Lake Konstanz. We checked into the Hotel Baren right in the center of town and wandered areound..found a nice spot for lunch on the lake..another menu we could not read so just picked soemthing and both ended up with nice salads..It was about 90 degrees and like an oven..I had to give in and buy a hat before my scalp got burnt..It was a very good call! We also did the tour of the Old Castle( There is a new one too) ..then back to the room for a nap..we headed out for dinner and ended up back on the lake front and ended the night at a small wine bar! Great little town... We were kept up pretty late by the bar across the street..I can't imagine what it would have been like if Germany had won...I am sure much lounder..Although we were rooting for Germany while in Germany we wll now be rooting for Italy while in Milan for the final game of the world cup!! Until Tomottow!