Innsbruck

A magical city to visit at Christmas time.  I had the best Gleuwein ever here.  During the Christmas Market, they have these huge characters from story books all over the old city.

Krakow

A trip to Krakow is definitely a must do while in Europe.  It's a great city, inexpensive hotels, restaurants and fantastic shopping.  Rick Steves says it's the new Prague and I agree.  There is a cool cloth market in the center of town.  Amber is the thing to buy in Krakow.  The Jewish district is great to walk around, get a delish bagel, and visit the synagogues.  While in Krakow, take a walk up to the Wawel Castle.  The seventh chakra is said to reside in the north west corner of Wawel's courtyard,  While in Krakow, we did two side trips..one to the Wieliczka Salt Mine and one to Auschwitz & Birkenau Concentration camps.  You can get a bus to either place.  But allow a full day to do the camps and another day for the Salt Mine.

Liechtenstein

Liechtenstein is the smallest German-speaking country in the world and the only alpine country to lie entirely within the Alps.  It is another micro country.  You can get your passport stamped at the city hall downtown for a small fee.  You can also visit the castle, which we did not have time to do.

Stein Am Rhein

Stein Am Rhein is one of our favorite Swiss towns.  It's quite close to Lake Konstanz and definetly deserves a visit if you're in the area.  It's great to just park and then walk around.  Beautifully painted buildings and little shops line the pedestrian streets.

Lake Konstanz

We spent a long weekend in Lake Konstanz.  We actually stayed right in Konstanz and took the car out to explore the surrounding areas.  It's beautiful!  You can also head over to Mineau Island, the flower island.  We went in October and although it was beautiful, not many flowers/trees were in bloom.  I'd suggest heading there in the Spring/Summer when you have a better chance of enjoying the flowers and their smell.

Lake Konstanz


Mineau Island in October

If you're in the area, I would recommend a stop at Stein Am Rhein in neighboring Switzerland.  See my post for more info.

Naples and the Amalfi Coast

We flew into Naples and rented a car.  A few nights in Naples is worth it for the food and shopping alone.  Naples is not a pretty city, but my goodness, the food is amazing!  You have to get a Caprese Salad while you are in this area.  You can catch a city bus if you are near the airport really cheap.  I would be scared to drive downtown Naples, but you'll want a car to do the drive south.


The Amalfi Coast is beautiful.  Crazy driving and highly stressful as the cliff is on one side and oncoming buses are on the other.  Chill out and concentrate and have someone there to take pics of all the things you're missing cause you're driving!  Shots like this..


We stayed along the way in Sorrento.  Visit the lemon groves and taste Lemoncello everywhere!  We went to the beach and stayed right downtown.  There is a bus that goes from Naples to Sorrento too, but you miss all the sights along the way.
We stopped here in Positano for a walk, some shopping, and some picture taking.  There's no parking here, you have to find a spot on the top of the cliff and walk down stairs to the town of Positano.

Zurich

Zurich is a big city and requires not only a full day, but also a full tank of energy.  It's a lovely city, although having been to Lake Konstanz in Germany, Brian and I both like that better.


But, if you're in Zurich, there's one thing you need to do.  Stop at the Confiserie Sprüngli for some  Luxembourgers, a delish confection that melts in your mouth.  We go there every time we're in Zurich.