Summer Roadie Overview

Here's the quick itinerary (2118 miles - with only 20EU spent on gas in Austria and the rest using NATO coupons):

July 3, Naples to Florence
July 4, Florence to Milan
July 5, Milan to Lake Como (Bellagio)
July 6, Bellagio (via ferry) to Castelrotto (Castelruth - Austrian name) (gateway to Dolomites)
July 7, Castelrotto
July 8, Innsbruck, Austria
July 9-10, Garmish-Partenkirchen (GAP), Germany
July 11, Salzburg, Austria
July 12, Villach (lake district), Austria
July 13, Venice, Italy
July 14, Bari (via Rimini Beach for a 5 hour play stop)
July 15, back home after Bari Safari adventure

Morgan was a champ! Very impressive. She adjusted her nap times during drives even if it was morning, afternoon or evening. Very flexible. She also learned to use showers and would ask for "more coffee please" at breakfast for us! Her vocabulary is incredible - though at times embarrassing. Like in Bellagio which has older tourists she kept seeing the profile of gray-haired men with glasses and called them"grandpa" until we'd have to make him turn around to show her it wasn't. And in Venice in places where the water canals are a little stagnant she was sure either Mommy or Daddy, depending on who she was closer to, had gone poo-poo and to check it! We also got similar questions near non-deodorant using tourists - which is quite common.

She also loves to say - Ciao Bella, Buona Sera, Uscoot (German for "hi") or even I love you to random people. It's funny!

I'm going to try to remember some of the highlights and add pictures - overall it was a very fun and memorable trip. Love all 4 of us!

Rimini Beach to Bari

This was a long driving day of about 500 miles down the eastern coast of Italy. We stopped at Rimini Beach which is supposedly by Rick Steve's opinion, one of the best beaches in all of Italy. While it's not the prettiest beach (it is gorgeous, but not like the Amalfi coast) it was warm, calm and shallow. Perfect for Morgan who just ran in and started playing, and was not even phased by the crashing waves. She would either brace herself, or if it knocked her over she would get back up and continue playing.

After a few hours of beach play and lunch we were back on the road heading south. Near Bari at about 10 PM we thought we'd ask our GPS for a nearby hotel. She picked out the biggest dives in the worst part of town! At one point she even said, "when possible, u-turn" and kept saying it until we figured out how to do that! After about an hour of exploring Bari by night - more of a Port city than a tourist destination - we decided to head toward the Zoosafari hoping for a hotel enroute. We were lucky to find a nice 4 star, priced moderately, right off the freeway.

The next morning we had a short 20 minute drive to the Zoosafari where the animals literally stick their heads in your car looking for food. Part of it was a little scary - like the overly aggressive ostrich that was packing at the glass and side mirror and a camel that wanted to put his head through the sunroof. The best was the giraffe that spit all over Jeff! We patiently waited for our turn to pull up to this one giraffe after the car in front of us had fed him for about 10 minutes and snapped a bunch of photos. When we pulled up - all windows down - all I could see was his 6" long black tongue and about 1/2 a cup of spit land on Jeff side and bare leg before he hit the gas forward. Ha!

The Zoosafari was neat - we got to see a lot of animals. Even scary ones where we had to roll the windows up like lions, tigers and bears! Afterward we walked around a more traditional zoo part - with monkeys, hippos, rhinos, flamingos, and amusement park rides.

Morgan loved it and it was really neat since her favorite book has been Barney goes to the Zoo so she even knew many of the animals before we got there.

Venice, Italy

We drove back to Italy and found the Holiday Inn just outside the Island. We arrived around mid-day and headed into the city to explore in early afternoon. Venice is a great city with lots to see and it's easy to get lost walking down the narrow streets. There are no motorized vehicles in the city - just water taxis and gondolas - and lots of tourists!

We walked a lot - and saw San Marcos cathedral and square, and many of the other churches and outsides of museums. We looked at a lot of the beautiful glass that the area is known for and bought a theater mask for our living room.

At about 9 PM we felt we had seen most of the city and decided to head back to our hotel to sleep.

Villach (lake district), Austria

From Salzburg we headed back towards the Alps and the Italian border to Villach in the state of Carinithia. Actually we ended up staying in Ossiach right on a lake. We spent the day playing in the lake and Morgan had a blast! Morgan was really brave and walked all the way into the lake up to her neck and put her face down! She really is becoming confident in the water.

Salzburg, Austria

From Germany we headed to Mozart's birthplace - Salzburg, Austria. We found a hotel really close to the pedestrian walkway - bridge to the old part of town. Morgan has become great at looking for "o-tels" for us too. Though she always insists, "no o-tel, PARK first!"

And Morgan has also been great about sleeping in her pack-n-play! We were all able to really sleep well on this trip.

We had a nice walk through Salzburg and looking for the horses which Morgan loves, but gets scared of when they snort. We saw many of the main attractions and took photos.

GAP Germany

From Innsbruck we drove about 45 minutes north into Germany to Garmisch-Partenkirchen (GAP as all the license plates say) to the Edelweiss Armed Forces Resort. We had heard great things about it and wanted to check it out - and we agree - it's a beautiful spot! Unfortunately the hotel was booked, but we did find a small B&B in the heart of town that was fun as well and cheaper! Actually this is a B&B I'd love to go back to. The couple that ran it were really nice and can you believe this - the man ran the NYC marathon in 2:21!!! His fastest marathon time however was 2:17! Wowzers!!

Both days there we enjoyed the buffet lunch at the Edelweiss resort with typical American food - burgers, big salad bar, and ice cream for $10 and Mo who eats a lot and tries everything, eats free!

Our 2nd day there we hiked the gorge which was beautiful. The trail started near the Olympic stadium for ski jumping where we actually got to see them practicing on grass. The hike ended up being a little more difficult than we had anticipated as in many areas we had to duck through tunnels while we followed the gorge and rushing water. Jeff had to really squat not only being tall, but also with Mo on his back. The scenery was spectacular. At the end it opened up to a river and we opted to take the longer loop back which ended up having a long up-hill segment. Again - it was gorgeous with views of the snow covered alps and wide open grass lands.

After our hike we decided to check out a popular swim area in a man-made lake. It was busy with tons of people - sunbathers, kids, infants - all playing. There were high dives, slides, and special baby areas. Morgan loved it!

We have also been following the World Cup soccer games and our 2nd night there Germany played Uruguay and won for 3rd place. Who would have thought the Germans who have so many strict rules about noise pollution would be so loud and crazy! Morgan who slept through the Naples New Year's Eve fireworks bombing woke up!!!

Of course, no trip to a military base would be complete without a trip to the PX. I bought a sweatshirt and pants, and got Morgan some shoes and a bigger Sesame Street helmet for her new bike. I also bought some crocs - have finally been converted! :-)

Innsbruck, Austria

Unlike Castelrotto where we were the only tourists in our hotel, we had a really hard time finding place in Innsbruck to stay because of the Dance Festival going on, but were fortunate to find something as we were driving out of town. It turned out to be a really cute B&B, but was only available for 1 night. Whereas we had thought we might want to stay 2, we had to cram in our sightseeing and walking into 2 days and 1 night. We arrived around noon the first day and walked around that evening, and then again explored the next morning.

Innsbruck is a great city with a beautiful mountain back-drop. There are a lot of pedestrian only streets with outside cafes. We were happy to find Morgan's balance-bike without pedals/training wheels. This one is really cute similar to the Skut, but also has a small bag/basket, flag, and bell. She was really excited to get a bike!