On to Germany

A couple of shots of when we took off to Siena last week for the Palio (horse race) We never stayed for the race, the crowds were too intense.

Siena

Siena

Siena

On Satuday morning I even managed to get up at 4:00 am to start off for Germany! We left about 5:40 am and didn't get to Heidelberg until about 10:30 that evening. the drive should have taken 10 hours, I added on another 2 for us stopping, but it took about 15 to get there because of a traffic jam in Switzerland. Everyone was coming home from their vacations. There is a loooooong tunnel in Switzerland when the road goes form 2 lanes into 1. That was what hung us up for two hours.

I really hated that tunnel because it pretty much cuts right through the Alps, so we missed seeing so much, though I am sure I would love it if I had to travel through Switzerland in the middle of winter when it was snowing like crazy.

Below is a picture of the border of Italy and Switzerland. They pretty much waved everything through. Of course when it came to our turn they waved us off to the side.. I swear, if there is any kind of security check, they see me and grin.

Luckily it wasn't a security check (though I had nothing to hide). Unluckily we had to buy a 30 euro sticker to to put on the windshield to allow to drive through Switzerland.

We were also mad because not ONE border stamped our passports. We were going to ask them to do that on the way home, but neither the German or Austrian border even had people there. Grrrr.

The border between Italy and Switzerland.

I could barely stand it once we got into Switzerland. I had been dying to see the Alps since I first started planning the trip to Italy. I was even considering flying into Zurich so that we could drive or take the train down into Italy when we first arrived in Europe. No wishy washy hills for me, I wanted to see MOUNTAINS!

One of our first glimpses of the Alps

A peek at some of the higher mountains in the distance


I love how the clouds hang

You would be driving and suddenly there would be littles waterfalls coming down the sides of the mountains!

As luck would have it, all of the peaks were covered by clouds that day, no sun or anything.. I missed the ALPS!! *LOL* I never used to feel like an unlucky person, but I have to tell you, I am starting to wonder if I left my luck in the US.

Unfortunately the day we went (and came back) All the peaks were covered in clouds. I was so mad!

A little village at the bottom of one of the mountains

We passed by an amazing lake, the water was green like you would see in the Caribbean. I would love to see it when it was sunny out.

It is starting to get late tonight, so I am going to just leave you with some pictures for now. I will get more into the adventure tomorrow. Enjoy!

What I am assuming was a glacial lake along the way. Unfortunately with the long drive we really didn't get a chance to stop and find out about any of these places. Next time!!

Any kind of open area was beatiful and green. This was the same in Germany. The color doesn't even begin to show how bright and green it really was.

I know this is blurry, but each one of the rectangular shapes was actually a window box shaped planter actually embedded in the side of the highway with plants or flowers growing it it. This was in Germany.

A sign in Germany.

Jess caught an amazing German sunset on film!

The view from the window of our hotel in Heidelberg, Germany. This was on the Neckar river.

Again, the view from our hotel window.

Amazing view!

A shot of our hotel room (for mom to see)

We saw several groups of people rowing against the current on the Neckar river.

A view of the front of our hotel. Our room was a floor highter, which was made up of soffets (sp?)

The view to one side of our hotel .Beautiful! Cobblestone streets everywhere in the town.

The street on the right side of our hotel

We were laughing when setting this picture up. You have the beautiful architecture and then this "Sex Shop" sign!

A beautiful hotel.

I took this picture to also show the flowers the run along the mid section of this. They don't show up here, but were bright red and looked wonderful!

Looking down the main street. If you like to shop, this place is for you. It is FULL of great shops.

This building had a lot more gold on the upper part, but I was shooting into light and if I tried to get more of it, the picture would black out.


From a Christmas store. Mom, maybe you know of this person? There were so MANY beautiful things, but these were all I could afford, they cost .75 euros each!


A picture across the square from where we sat and ate lunch.

A slightly different view. Mom, they all ride bikes here, you'd love it!

The castle up on the hill. We didn't have time to visit it. Next time.



Jess loved that the radio stations in Switzerland would show the name of the song and the artist. Pretty slick!