Jonathan and I are safe and sound, back from the very cold, super fun, and very active ski trip to Whistler.

It was freezing (literally) in Canada, and it was a nice change from the always 80 degree weather in Hawaii.  We were gone only for a few days, but we definitely made the most out of our time in the snow.   We spent a couple of days skiing, spent a few hours at the the tube park, took a  snowmobile ride, and my favorite, dog sledding!

I found our videos of the cows in Lauterbrunnen, so in my final Europe post, here are a couple of videos of the best, most beautiful place in the entire world.

Jonathan and I wandered into a couple of farmers walking their cows down the street.  It was super cool.

A video of our hike in the valley.  I dig the bells.

My penultimate Europe post!  I wanted to finish our Europe vacation before the new year, and before I get behind on my Christmas pictures.  Lots of pictures of Rome, Venice and Florence.

Venice

The first set of pictures are of Venice.    I really loved Venice- the gondolas, water ways, winding roads, and little shops.   It was all very beautiful and very, very magical, especially at night.   Since we were museum-ed out after Rome, we skipped the museums and tours, and spent most of our time getting lost on the canals and enjoying the view from the gondola and water bus.  We especially enjoyed our special water taxi over the Island of Murano, where some of the most famous Venetian glass is made.  Overall, two thumbs up for Venice.

Rome

There are so, so many sites in Rome!  We spent our first full day in Italy touring “Ancient Rome” (lower three photos), and went to the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, Pantheon, and Trevi Fountain.  It was all very overwhelming, especially since we were jet lagged after our trip in from Hawaii.  On our second day in Italy, we went to Vatican City (upper three photos), visiting the Sistine Chapel, Vatican museum, and St. Peter’s Basilica.  Jonathan and I decided to climb the claustrophobic, hot, and humid 320 steps to the top of the basilica.  Although the climb was a bit rough (and I would think it would be a ton lot harder during the summer months), the view was beautiful, and well worth the effort.

Florence

And Florence!  Our last city on our Italian trip, we spent most of our time in museums, visiting Michelangelo’s “David” at the Accademia, the Uffizi Gallery, and the Duomo.  We were lucky enough to nab a great rate at a really fancy hotel, and stayed at the Hotel Loggiato dei Serviti, a converted monestary, a few blocks from the Duomo, and my most favorite Italian gelataria, Grom!

First, Julie’s newest WDW update:  http://www.mouseplanet.com/9450/Walt_Disney_World_Resort_Update

Next, more Europe pictures!  I took a ba-jillion pictures, so it’s going to take me a while to organize them, but today, I’m posting Florence day trip photos- Sienna, Pisa and Luca.  We did all of the  Rick Steve’s “must do” attractions in each city- the Leaning Tower in Pisa, biking the ramparts in Lucca, and sitting in the town square in Sienna.

Our first day trip was to Pisa and Lucca.  We stopped in Pisa on our way to Florence from the Cinque Terra and checked out the tower, took a couple of pictures of us holding up the tower, climbed the tower, took pictures at the top and with the bells, and then took a bus to Luca, a thirty minute ride away.  Not much else in Pisa, as it was really touristy.  The tower itself was really cool, but I was underwhelmed by the city itself.

On the other hand, we really loved Lucca.  Lucca is also a city in Tuscany, but smaller, and much less touristy.  It’s famous for it’s completely intact medieval town wall.   In the 1800′s Napoleon’s sister turned the ramparts into a beautiful garden and Jonathan and I took advantage of the paved ramparts, rented bikes and biked along the ramparts.

And lastly, we visited Sienna.  Also a Tuscan city, it was a prettier, less crowded cousin of Florence. Sienna is famous for its large, pedestrian only town square.  The square is super famous, but I personally loved Sienna because we found my most favorite gelato shop in Italy there. It’s called Grom and it uses natural ingredients to make a really high quality gelato.  My favorite favors were a caramel with fleur de sel and organic pear.  It was so awesome, that I went there THREE times in one day- once before lunch, once after lunch, and one hour after that.  Yumm… Grom actually opened a shop in NYC, and I’m tempted to go to NYC just for the gelato.  It was that good.

We’re off to Vegas for Thanksgiving with Mom and Dad Ping, Crystal and Danny and Aunty Helen.  I’m falling behind and I’ll need to catch up with Vegas AND Europe pictures when I get back!  Ciao!

My new hard drive hasn’t come in the mail yet and we have yet to resurrect my old computer, but thankfully, I didn’t delete the photos off our memory cards.  I decided to download all of our Europe pictures to Jonathan’s Macbook, and I’m back to blogging.  Three cheers for technology!

There were a lot of places in Italy and Switzerland that we liked, but my very favorite place is Lauterbrunnen.  Lauterbrunnen is a valley in the Swiss Alps, and it is surrounded by beautiful waterfalls and the mountains.  We stayed at Hotel Staubbach and every morning, we woke up to the view of the Staubbach waterfalls and the sound of cowbells.  Check out the view from our room:

Totally amazing.  It was just so, so beautiful.  Unlike Rome or Florence, there are no “must see sights” in Lauterbrunnen, so it felt like a vacation inside of a vacation.   We spent three days in the Alps, and enjoyed hiking into the Valley and exploring Trummelbach Falls, a waterfall draining the glaciers inside of the mountains.

We also took the cogwheel train up to the Jungfrau, one of the highest mountains in the swiss alps.  The views were stunning, and although cold, Jonathan and I loved the snow.  No snow in Hawaii, so it was a nice change in climate. 

We also got a huge kick out of the “Ice Palace”.  It’s an entire “palace” carved out of Aletsch Glacier, Europe’s longest glacier, and has carved animals, people and rooms.  Everything is ice, including the floor and it was totally fun.

And, of course, we ate a ton of Swiss cheese, sausage and fondue.  Here’s a picture of a little mountain hut, where we bought cheese made from the cows in the village. Mmm… stinky cheese and sausage picnic.  Yum.