Girls' Weekend!

This past weekend, four of my friends and I headed to Nancy, France.  This pretty city is just about 3 hours away from Stuttgart.  Although we got stuck in some awful traffic on the way there, yummy treats, fun conversations, and just being with friends helped the four plus hour drive go by quickly.  Our hotel, although budget, was in a great location.  We went out to dinner for our first night at a brasserie I had found online.  I had salmon because I love the way the French cook salmon.  I was not disappointed.  Crème brûlée for dessert and dinner was a success!  The next morning after breakfast, we walked around the city.  The center of Nancy is said to be the most beautiful in all of Europe.  It was lovely.  We had found a spa right around the corner from our hotel and booked treatments before our arrival.  I had a prenatal skin treatment/massage.  It was amazing.  We had dinner at a bistro, very yummy, and headed home the following morning.  The weekend was just perfect, fun time spent with friends, good food, and an afternoon spent at the spa!  Thanks Kristen, Stacie, Jennifer, and Lindsey for a wonderful weekend!

Edinburgh

The view of the city from the Castle

This Columbus Day weekend, we headed to Edinburgh, Scotland.  What an amazing city!  The people were so friendly and I loved the ease that comes when traveling in an English speaking country.  Of course, I could still barely understand what they were saying, with their Scottish accents and all!  Their trams are nonexistent, but they have a great bus system.  The people were just so friendly and helpful.  Each time they saw us with a map or my guide book, they would stop and ask us if we needed directions or help.  Most of the time, I was just looking up where to eat!  :)

Street performer on the Royal Mile

Our B&B was quaint, serving a lovely Scottish breakfast to us each morning, complete with decaf Scottish tea...I couldn't have been more happy!  I chose our B&B based on the fact that the reviews said that Jill, the owner, made fresh scones for breakfast.  She did and they were amazing!  We spent the first night just wandering around the city and stumbling upon the most amazing restaurant..I had mussels and a rhubarb something for dessert.  HEAVEN, I tell you!  The next day, we toured the castle, complete with a live guide for the first part.  Bagpipes playing, rain sprinkling, it was a great day.  We also toured the Britannia, the royal yacht.  Very exciting for me, but I'm sure Brian was not as into it as I was!  The next day we decided to do some bus tours, with live guides, they were awesome!  We did some shopping and more eating of course!  I've listed restaurants and the B&B info in the Travel Planner section, so be sure to check those out if you find yourself on the way to this wonderful city! 

Celebrating our 4th anniversary on the Italian Riviera

This year for our anniversary we headed south for a week on the Italian Riviera.  We stayed high in the hills in a small town called Uscio.  Every morning we would take the bus down the long winding road to the bottom of the hills by the sea.  We spent a few days on different beaches swimming in the Ligurian Sea.  Although their beaches are nothing like the ones in New England, we enjoyed our time in the sunshine!  We sunbathed on big flat rocks jutting out into the sea and could jump in and out of the water quite easily.  I had gone grocery shopping before our long drive to Italy and so we were able to bring a little piece of home with us..what's better than eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at the beach!  Especially in a country where you can't find peanut butter!  One morning, we decided to take the ferry boat to a secluded cove called San Fruttuoso.  There's not much there, but an abbey, but it was a great way to spend the day.  

Cinque Terre

One day we took the train to the explore the Cinque Terre.  We did some hiking of course, along the coast, a must if you find yourself in this area.  Now, Brian and I have been to the Amalfi Coast south of Naples, and we did find that to be much prettier..although people do really rave about the Cinque Terre, we prefer Amalfi.  Having said that, we did enjoy the lovely towns and 
the harbors in each of the five lands.  We took the train home to our B&B after a long day.




We also took a day to explore Portofino and Santa Margherita Ligure.  We caught a boat from  the port near us and took a lovely ride on the water to both of these towns, getting off at each and walking around.  Some gelato and shopping and seafood later, we hopped on the train for the short ride back.  Then onto the bus for the zig zagging ride up the hills to our little B&B!


The dogs enjoyed their time in Italy as well.  The B&B had a nice little garden that they could play in while we ate dinner.  We chose to grill here a few nights and opted for pizza in the little town a couple nights as well.  There was a really nice couple from Sweden staying at the B&B the time we were and we spent almost every day together, going to the beach and exploring the area.  They left Italy a day before us and along their drive up to Sweden, they drove through Germany and came to stay with us for a night.  We had a fun time going out to dinner at our favorite German restaurant!  


All in all, it was a great way to celebrate our 4 years of marriage and 13 years together!  It appears celebrating our anniversary in Italy is getting to be a tradition..three of the four have been in Italy!  Perhaps Sicily next year?  :)

Stockholm

Stockholm

 We ended our cruise here in Stockholm.  So we hopped on a bus from the port and made our way to the City Bus Terminal downtown.  We found a locker, stored our suitcases, and then went out to see the sites!  We stopped in a few churches, of course.  We saw the Royal Palace and explored the old town.  We ate lunch at the most amazing little place right outside the Nobel Museum.  If you visit Stockholm, it's the little restaurant on the corner.  There's not much seating inside, but tables aplenty outside.  I think I had the most amazing dessert I've ever eaten in my life here.  It was made out of caramel and hazelnuts..that's it..what else do you need/?  We took a guided tour of the City Hall, where the Nobel Prize dinners are held.  Definitely worth a stop!

The City Hall, the room where the Nobel Prize Dinners are held.

The City Hall

Helsinki

The full moon rises on one side of the ship..

We enjoyed the land of the White Nights while we sailed through the Baltic Sea.

While the sun sets on the other side..

Helsinki was another favorite city of ours!  We spent the day here walking around the small, beautiful city.  We did take the bus to the Church in the Rock.  This was worth a stop.  Then we went to see the Lutheran Church as well as the lovely Finnish Orthodox church.  Both of these were great, but the Finnish church was amazing.  Finland is known for their coffee apparently, so we had to partake.  We found a great little coffee shop where we sat, read books, and drank the best cappuccino ever!  We stumbled upon an open air market selling not only great looking produce, but fur hats too!  Now, I have wanted a fur hat for some time and didn't really like the ones we saw in Russia.  But here, I found a beautiful black rabbit hat!  I can't wait for winter!

St. Petersburg

St. Isaac's Cathedral

In order to get past border control, you must either secure your own visa prior to visiting or be part of a tour that has your visa as part of the tour price.  We chose a tour that would give us a city tour in the morning and then we visited St. Isaac's Cathedral, one of the largest cathedrals in the world.  It was amazing inside.  Then we went to the Hermatage Museum, which is the largest museum in the world! It's made up of four buildings, one being the Winter Palace.  That one was my favorite.

Hermatage Museum

Riga

Riga

Riga was one of those places I couldn't picture in my mind.  I was so excited to visit this part of Europe though.  We spent the morning visiting all the must do's in Riga.  That took about 2 hours to do.  :)  We then headed to the shops where I picked up a really pretty bracelet.  We stopped for coffee and enjoyed some people watching.  The people here speak better English than where we live in Germany.  And credit cards are excepted everywhere, which is nice since a lot of places where we live do not accept them and we are not cash carrying types of people!  I was just glad we    
                                                                                       didn't have to exchange money!

The view from the top of the church