Travel

I treasure the luxury of living so close to my most of my family. I love that my children have such close contact with their grandparents and all the other relatives who come home to visit. My brother, L, his wife M, and my 2 year old niece are not in such fortunate close proximity. So, last summer when they visited, we hatched a plan for a trip to Germany to visit and vacation. L and M kindly found a vacation destination and itineraries were formed. We decided to fly to Germany, pick up our European family, then drive through the Swiss alps to Cannibio, a small town perched on the northern shores of Lago Maggiore in Italy. Lovely!

Because of L's school break, we missed the last few days of school. K was unwilling to miss the fun filled finale and so she and S stayed home. s has never been to visit Europe, so we were quite excited about the trip.

Day 1 was an uneventful day of travel to Frankfurt. s enjoyed his first McDonalds in the Dallas airport. He decided the food was definitely worth all the hype. After landing in Frankfurt, we took the train two hours south the Freiburg, the beautiful town where L and M live. After sleeping the afternoon away we took a quick trip to the park and had dinner with two of L's friends. German salads are some of the best I've ever had, grated beets, yum!

Waiting for the train. Silly sweet super s.

L came to meet us.

Cousins, getting reacquainted.

s plays for us...

...and takes a bow. With such musically talented parents, I think the are many more bows in her future!

Day 2 was our day to travel to Italy. We loaded the big van and took off through Switzerland, through Zurich and finally through the Swiss Alps. The views were stunning and almost unbelievable; snow covered mountains melting into dramatic waterfalls descending to a pale green river, the landscape dotted with ancient castles, rustic barns and brown cattle.

s and Nana, ready to go!

Our FEARLESS driver!

We arrived at our vacation home, driving up hairpin turns to a mountain side house overlooking town, cathedral, lake and mountains.

investigating.

super silliness sometimes rubs off.

We had dinner in a lovely ristorante, bathed in golden light, listening to old Rolling Stones and David Bowie. Debate ensued over the difference between panna cota and creme brule. The verdict, not much.