Between Rhine River floats, travel, mountaineering, and our jobs, there’s been little time to put pen to paper lately.  Please forgive the delayed nature of this post – it’s long overdue.

A few weeks ago, we were lucky enough to host both of our parents for a 16-day European adventure.  As you can imagine, a little over 2-weeks of travel yielded a lot of content, but we will try to keep it short.  Here are our highs (and a few lows) from the trip:

 Paris

• Highs:

  • Family – It’s hard to believe, but we haven’t seen Sarah’s brother, Matt, since moving across the pond nearly two years ago!  As such, we were thrilled to learn that he had to be in Italy for business and would be able to swing a quick weekend trip to Paris to join the family fun.  We were still missing a few important members of our family, but Paris was the first time in a year that we’ve (almost)all been together.  It was honestly the best part of the whole trip.

• • Normandy Day Trip – This was a long and emotionally heavy day, but we were thankful to have seen and learned about the history of the D-Day invasions.  We first stopped at the Caen WWII museum where we got a full history refresher.  It was honestly such a good museum, that when it came time to board the bus, we were all a little reluctant to leave.  The afternoon was spent moving between important D-Day landing zones.  We saw Pointe du Hoc (with its impressive 100-feet cliffs and views of Utah and Omaha beaches), The American Cemetery (a peaceful 170-acres that could easily convince one that they were in America instead of 4,000 miles away in France), and Juno Beach (where ghosts of the floating port which offloaded nearly 10,000 tons of equipment can still be seen).  We never really understood the magnitude of the D-Day invasions until we stood on the sand and tried to imagine 150,000 young men charging the beaches.  In reality, it’s impossible to fully understand, but we were reminded to be thankful for the people who not only fought for our country’s freedom but for the world’s freedom as well.

Juno Beach

Ponte du Hoc

American Cemetery

American Cemetery

• • Walking Tour of the city: We’ve been on this same tour at least 2 other times, but this most recent tour was, hands-down, the best.  Our guide was extremely friendly and provided a plethora of fun facts about the city.  Did you know, Napoleon III completely demolished the city only to rebuild it in a more modern, open plan?  Or that the Eiffel Tower was only meant to be a temporary installation for the world fair of 1889, but because the engineer placed a radio tower on the top, it still standing some 120 years later?
  • Veuve Tasting – In the words of our dear friend, Charles Dickens, “Champagne is one of the elegant extras in life,” and we are certainly not ones to deprive ourselves of such indulgences.  As such, when Sarah learned that the house and cellars of our favorite après-ski champagne, Veuve Cliquot, were a quick train ride from Paris, she quickly set about planning a visit.  Deep in the cellars which house nearly 40 million bottles (yes, you read that correctly), we learned about the history of the champagne house, were inspired by the feminine power of Madame Cliquot, and came to better understand the process behind our favorite bubbly drink.  And because no visit to a famous champagne house would be complete without tasting its products, we finished off the day with a few (too many?) glasses of champagne.  The group all seemed to have different opinions on their favorite variety, but we all agreed on one thing: no matter the time of day or occasion, champagne is always appropriate.

• Lows:

  • Some like it hot: But no one in our group does.  As a rule, Europe does not believe in air conditioning.  Typically, this isn’t a problem as there are usually only one or two weeks were the temperatures reach unbearable levels.  Unfortunately, those two weeks happened to have coincided with our parents’ trip.  Our apartment in Le Marais was absolutely stunning and in a perfect location, but the lack of air-conditioning coupled with a 4^th-floor walk-up made for a few grumpy travelers.
  • Lost wallets: We always joke that are dads are just alike – they are both big guys with big hearts, and they both enjoy a fine glass of whiskey and a good nap (often together).  Twins in life, this trip was no exception – they both lost their wallets.  Thankfully, some monopoly money (euros) and a few long distance phone calls to credit card companies were the extent of the damage.

• Final Thoughts:

Most of our group had been to Paris before, and everyone had mixed reviews and memories.  Man Kim remembered it from his years as a Marine as a place filled with trash and rude Parisians while Mama Milne remembered it from her summer in high school as a far-away, possibly over-romanticised escape from home.  Everyone seemed to remember it as a big, dirty city that smelled of overwhelming urine (Sarah and Chris’s unformed grunge rock band name).  Though that is still half true, we hope that having shown them some of our favorite spots helped to reconceptualize the city in their memories.

Switzerland

• Highs:

  • Mountains: When in the Swiss Alps, everything is quite literally a high. We only had two days in Switzerland, and because of the hot weather in Basel, we decided to spend the bulk of our time in the mountains.  On the first day, we headed to Luzern and ventured up to Mount Pilatus.  We’ve been up Mount Pilatus many times before with varied success – lucky the parents caught it on a clear day and had some magnificent views of the Bernese Oberland mountains.  On the second day, we headed to Kandersteg to hang out with Swiss cows around one of the most spectacular mountain lakes imaginable.
  • Swiss National Day Celebrations: Swiss National Day is the Swiss equivalent of Independence Day.  There are a few obvious differences (raclette instead of hotdogs, crosses instead of stars and bars, etc.) but there are a lot of similarities as well.  Much like the Fourth of July, Swiss National Day is a day to be outside, a day to spend time with loved ones, and a day to embrace the inner pyromaniac in us all.  America will always be number one in our hearts, but we have to admit, the Swiss give America a run for her money when it comes to firework displays.

Child-like Joy

Rhine River Float

Mount Pilatus

Swiss National Day

• Lows:

  • Honestly, our time in Switzerland was pretty perfect, but if we had to choose a low it would be the weather.  The heat wave that we experienced in Paris followed us to Basel, and while in Kandersteg we got caught in a pretty violent thunderstorm.  All in all, though, there isn’t too much to complain about.

Kandersteg Village

Getting Chased by Cows

Cheesing Hard

Swiss Cows

Santorini, Greece

• Highs:

  • Boat Day: If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it a thousand times – we’re boat people now, and Greece was no different.  We found ourselves onto a chartered yacht for the day and had a fabulous time touring the caldera side of the island, swimming in the Mediterranean, and eating and drinking like kings.
    

    “I am the captain now”

    

    Lunch on board

    

    We’re boat people

     

  • ATVs: Santorini is an extremely small island (only about 29 square miles), and we decided to stay in one of the main towns, Fira, due to its proximity to restaurants and bars.  While we stand by that decision, one of our favorite parts of the trip was exploring other parts of the island by ATVs (one of the easiest and most popular ways to get around).  We drove to beach clubs, stopped along the caldera for views, ventured over to the picturesque town of Oia, and explored areas of the island which would have been unreachable without ATVs.
    

    ATV fun

    

    Northern most tip of the island – only reachable by ATV
  • Scenery: The caldera views wowed us at every turn in the road and the sunset views were a perfect way to end each day.  We will let the pictures speak for themselves – nature was really showing off for us.
    

    Oia Views

    

    Caldera Views

    

    Sunset Views

• Lows:

  • Beaches: We certainly knew this going in, but Santorini is not known for their beaches.  They are either 1) non-existent due to the cliffs 2) full of rocks 3) comprised of black (and extremely hot) sand or 4) some combination thereof.  We still managed to have a few relaxing days at beach clubs and we definitely enjoyed the beautiful Mediterranean waters, but the walk between beach chair and water was punctuated by a brisk, barefooted run.  First world problems, we suppose.

Athens, Greece

• Highs:

  • Ferry Ride: Blue Star Ferries are the cheapest way to get from Santorini to Athens, and we were initially concerned that the low price would result in an unfavorable travel experience; however, we could not have been more wrong.  Santorini was the first stop of the morning ferry route, so we had plenty of room to spread out.  The boat got progressively busier as the ferry made more stops throughout the day,  but we were able to escape to our business class seats for a little peace a quite.  All in all, the ferry ride was an enjoyable way to travel and allowed us to see a few other islands along the way.
  • Acropolis: We had less than 24-hours in Athens, and so we decided to focus on the must-see sights.  Obviously, the Acropolis was at the top of this list (and the hill).  The hike up to the Parthenon was a bit sweaty (probably a low for a few of our travelers), but seeing a building that is over 2,000 years old was simply incredible.
    

    Crazy guy, crazy hair

    

    boys pic

    

    ladies pic

• Lows:

  • Confusion with luggage: On our last morning, we had a little miscommunication with our Airbnb host.  We had asked for a late checkout, to which he replied “no problem – just make sure you’re packed up so the cleaning lady can come in.”  No problem we thought!  You can imagine how surprised we were when we went back to the apartment for a bathroom break and found that our luggage was not only missing but that 4 people were sleeping in our beds.   It was awkward … and confusing.  Luckily, our host had just moved our luggage for the next guests’ early check-in, so all was well.

• Final Thoughts on Greece:

For everyone in our group, this was the first time to Santorini (and the first time to Greece for a few of us).  We were initially surprised by the arid climate, but we quickly learned that this has shaped the culture and identity of the island.  From the way they build homes to the way they grow grapes, being resourceful and flexible [read: slower] is an important aspect of Santorini life.   We certainly stayed busy but found ourselves being lulled to a slower pace by the easy-going island vibes.  It was an excellent way to end an already fabulous trip.

Athens, we have to admit, surprised us.  We had been told by countless people that the city was nothing more than a big, polluted tourist trap; however, we were really pleasantly surprised.  Athens is certainly a sprawling city, but in our short, over-night stay we found that the streets were cleaner and the food was more sophisticated than other tourist cities we’ve visited.  I doubt we will return, but we are glad we saw it.

In other news, we recently received some exciting information.  We’re expecting … to stay in Switzerland for another year! Huzzah! Last week, we found out that our visas have been approved at the local level.  We are still technically waiting for approval at the federal level (we’ve been told that is a mere formality), but we are both tickled by the prospect of another adventurous year.