Our Favorite Travel Memories

As I mentioned earlier, we're starting to plan a big trip for a few weeks in March and April (any ideas?!). We've already been lucky enough to have had some amazing travel experiences these past four years in Europe (and at home in the US!), so we compiled a few of our favorite moments:
 
From Ryan:

Florence. To me, Florence embodies everything Italian: it has culture, history, incredible food and great wine. Plus the city is so manageable - you can walk everywhere. I've only been once, for a few days, but it was my favorite trip we've taken in the past four years. When I walked into the Accademia and came face to face with The David, I was completely taken aback. Its size, the details, the beauty of it and the idea that a person could make that - the whole thing was incredible.

Moab/The Grand Canyon/Mesa Verde. This was an impromptu trip that we took in May of 2014. We were sitting at home in Colorado one day when I suggested that we go on a two-night camping and hiking trip in Moab (Sophie had never been). Sophie is more of a planner but to my surprise, she agreed to leave the next day. The hiking was great, the summer crowds weren't around yet and we were having so much fun that we decided to continue on to the Grand Canyon (where Sophie had also never been before). We did two nights there and and then went down to Mesa Verde for one more night before heading back to Steamboat. I loved showing my wife these amazing western landmarks that she had never seen and I loved taking her on a camping trip. Camping was a favorite activity of mine when I was young and it was fun to recreate that with her.

Lake Como. We went to Lake Como in January (!!) of 2012 for a weekend. It was one of those trips where sometimes you just need to get out of town and have a change of scenery. When we got there, it was completely empty and quiet and peaceful. We ate dinner in the same restaurant both nights (and had this amazing pasta dish with buckwheat noodles, sage, cabbage, potatoes and tons of butter), had coffee both mornings in the same cafe and stayed in the only hotel that was open. All we did was walk, play cards, nap and watch sunsets over the lake. It was perfect for re-charging and we got to see a side of Lake Como that only the true locals see.

From Sophie:

Siena. The first trip that we took together was to Siena in November of 2011. We figured out the train schedule (and got on the right train, which is half the battle), found the hotel easily and ate dinner in a tiny restaurant where we shared a table with two charming gay Frenchmen and ate an amazing pine nut cake for dessert. We arrived at night when it was already dark but when we woke up in the morning and opened the shutters, we were looking out over a sea of red tile roofs....not what you see in Cortina! It was so much fun to explore a new part of Italy together AND we learned that we're pretty good travel partners which is important for our lifestyle.

Prague. On our way to Prague, we made it to Innsbruck before we realized that our GPS didn't have maps of the Czech Republic and could only take us as far as Germany before we were on our own. The only thing we could do was buy a paper map and wing it. In a country that loves to put together as many consonants as possible, it's not a good idea to travel sans GPS! I don't know how this happened, but we drove around the city for a while before stumbling on our hotel by the side of the road. It was truly a travel miracle. And not only did we successfully find the hotel, we remained in good spirits which is half the battle. That was a time when I knew I had married the right person.

 Moab/The Grand Canyon/Mesa Verde. This impromptu camping trip was a huge learning experience for me. My previous self-imposed camping limit was two nights, max. When I ended up camping for five nights, voluntarily, I was really surprised. This trip really pushed my boundaries and I was happy to find that I LOVED it. I wasn't worried about my dirty hair (actually I brought dry shampoo with me, so I guess I cheated a little, but whatever) or lack of fresh vegetables and I felt healthy and strong from all the hiking. I proved to myself that I could do something that I thought I couldn't or didn't want to and I was really proud of myself (and Ryan was too).

We'd love to hear....what are your favorite travel memories?

Also coming up this week: how we travel, why we travel and favorite places to visit.

The Best and Worst Trip Ever

We debated for a while where to go for our second trip in December. Paris? Too expensive, especially for a month with two trips. Back to Florence? Been there, done that, and we have to go somewhere new! Switzerland? Too much like Cortina in the winter. So, we settled on...Prague!

Then we debated whether to fly (bad times, weird connections), take the train (making a long trip even longer) or drive. In the end, we packed up the car last Saturday morning and headed towards the Czech Republic, a country that neither of us had been to before. We were so excited to be in uncharted territory! We stopped in Innsbruck to fill up the car with gas and ourselves with coffee, and then turned on the GPS to navigate us the rest of the way.....only to find that of the 22 countries our GPS features, the Czech Republic is NOT one of them.

So we did it the old fashioned way. We stopped in Munich, took pictures of an atlas so we knew what roads to follow (highly frowned upon, I'm sure, but desperate times...), then stopped once we crossed the Czech boarder and bought a road map which was literally no help at all since we didn't know what direction we were coming into the city from (of course the map didn't cover that important part!) and every road was called something like "zvichk". In the end, we followed signs towards the center and then by some Christmas miracle, spotted our hotel on the side of the road. And trust me, it was NOT as easy as I'm making it sound!

Once we recovered from our driving mishap adventure, we LOVED Prague. The architecture was so beautiful, everyone was very friendly, the food was delicious and there was even a Christmas market!

We wandered around the Old Town Square, which was incredible, explored the Christmas market, listened to a jazz group, popped into the Cathedral, drank Czech beer, and saw the famous clock chime on the hour - it even has little people that come out of the clock and dance around!

On Sunday night we went to a KHL hockey game. The KHL (Kontinental Hockey League) is a Russian league that also has a few teams from other countries, so we got to watch Prague take on their biggest rival, Bratislava, Slovakia (and kill them, they won 7-0!). It was pretty fun to see - there were over 10,000 fans there - just a few more than we get in Cortina - and there was a couple who actually got married on the ice before the game, which was very odd.

We walked over the Charles Bridge, which was built in 1357 and is lined with statues of religious figures.

We visited the Prague Castle which is the largest ancient castle in the world, roughly the size of seven football fields! The complex includes museums and exhibits, gardens, and its own Cathedral with incredible stained glass windows.

One day we ate lunch right on the river and watched the boats and swans float by.

It was the perfect trip and we kept talking about how much we looooove Prague....and then I got food poisoning. Luckily it was the last night we were there so the only thing we missed doing was the Jazz Boat which we were supposed to be on that night. The good news is, since we both loved it so much, we can go back again! Thanks to my wonderful husband for taking care of me, driving the 7 hours back to Italy with no help, AND for reading the map and driving at the same time...next time we'll pick a country that our GPS covers!