Wanderlust Journey

Martha and I like to think of ourselves are avid hikers. Nearly four years ago, we hiked to the top of Mt. Tallac near Lake Tahoe, a height of nearly 10,000 feet, and I proposed to her there (awwwww). It was a picturesque view of seven nearby lakes and one of our fondest memories. So, [...]

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After a late lunch, we decided it was best to take advantage of our time so we hopped on a train to Riomaggiore, the southeastern-most village in Cinque Terre. Riomaggiore Riomaggiore is even smaller than Vernazza. Once you get off the train, you walk through a mosaic-walled tunnel to the town. From there, you have [...]

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From Montreux, we took a six hour train down to Vernazza, by way of Milan, to spend the next day and a half (two nights) in an area known as Cinque Terre, or “five villages.” Cinque Terre is a UNESCO World Heritage site (#826), with the region known for anchovies, pesto, and, of course, olive [...]

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After our train ride through the Alps, we ended up in Montreux on the banks of Lake Geneva. We originally planned on taking a sleeper train from Montreux to Cinque Terra, Italy but it was completely booked! The sleeper trains, both the six and four to a cabin cars, and the regular train was full [...]

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Our original plan for Switzerland was to take the GoldenPass Line from Zürich to Montreux, passing through Luzern and Interlaken. The GoldenPass Line website bills the train ride as one of the most picturesque in Switzerland and I’d have to agree with that statement. I think the ideal way to experience the GoldenPass Line ride [...]

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After our exploration of the Deutsches Museum we had a few minutes before our 5:40pm train so we headed back to the Marienplatz and the Viktualienmarkt. Viktualienmarkt The Viktualienmarkt is a larger market where you can purchase everything from food to trinkets. It even has a biergarten! It was neat to walk around and see [...]

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Deutsches Museum After lunch at the Hofbräuhaus we headed to the Deutsches Museum (DM) for some education! The DM is the world’s largest science and technology museum. We had a great time wandering through the different exhibits including glass blowing, astronomy and space. I wanted to go to the Verkehrszentrum, which is comprised of exhibits [...]

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On our third day in Stuttgart we traveled to Munich. With our German Rail Passes we were able to hop on board any of the ICE/EC/IC trains that would take us to Munich. ICE, or inter city express trains, run at speeds up to 174mph but its very smooth even at the higher speeds. Munich [...]

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Rothenburg ob der Tauber (August 2, 2009) Rothenburg (pronounced Ro-ten-burg) ob der Tauber is a Renaissance town located about 1.5 hours from Stuttgart. Rothenburg escaped the bombing of WWII and therefore remains one of the well-preserved walled towns of Germany. It is listed as on Trip Advisor as one of the “Top 100 Destinations in [...]

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On our first day in Stuttgart we decided to go to Füssen to see Mad King Ludwig’s Castle, Neuschwanstein. Also located in Füssen is Hohenschwangau, the castle where King Ludwig lived while growing up. King Ludwig Friedrich Wilhelm II, aka Mad King Ludwig, lived from 1845 – 1886. King Ludwig was born in Munich at [...]

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