Vivacious Venice, Vicenza, Verona.... and Lake Garda

Over Labor Day we had the opportunity to travel for another 4 day weekend, but Ryan was unfortunately in a class that entire weekend and unable to travel.  Luckily, our great friends over in Vilseck were able to travel and my friend's mom was in town visiting Europe.  We decided to hit up some of northern Italy on this trip and overall, I think it was a relaxing and fun trip!!

We drove from Vilseck area to Vicenza, which was about a 6.5 hour drive.  We found a nice, clean apartment through VRBO in the Vicenza area, and it was super cheap! If you want a nice central place, this is a great spot to hunker down and do some day trips from this location.

The first day we took on Venice!  This was my first time to Italy and I was excited to see what it was all about.  We parked near the bus and train station and found a water taxi down to the San Marco Square area.  These boats are really pricey, but split amongst a group are cheaper.  If you are going to be traveling around Venice for a day, it is much cheaper to buy a water bus ticket and then you can get to different locations for a cheaper price.

 Me and Tasneem on the water taxi 

 Some sites along our water taxi ride to San Marco Square

Venice is a pretty big place and definitely crowded.  I do recommend making San Marco Square your starting point for site seeing.  It is probably one of the bigger site seeing areas in Venice and from there you can make your way North to more sites.  In this square we saw Doge Palace, Saint Mark's Cathedral, and the St. Mark's Campanile.  We did not pay to enter any of these locations because lines were long.  When the hubs and I come back here in October we will likely do a few of of these sites, especially the Campanile for great views over Venice!

From the square, look for the Clock Tower! From here you walk through to lots of food, trinket shopping, and the coveted fancy designer shopping.  I definitely wanted to take home some Gucci and Dolce, but let's be honest, that just is not going to happen.  

Along these tiny little roads, you will find gorgeous little parts of the canals, homes, churches, and clean laundry hung.  Seriously, that was my favorite part of Venice, just exploring all the little hidden parts and beautiful bridges.  You can follow the signs to the Rialto Bridge and they easily get you to that next big landmark of Venice.

The Rialto Bridge 

 We were hungry and decided to get something to eat near the bridge.  This wasn't a great idea.  It is not really a good idea to eat anywhere near big attractions in any city, but especially in Venice.  The price mark up is insane and you don't even get that great of food.  You are much better off eating a little food stands or small trattorias you find along the way.  I guarantee you will have a better experience, better food, and it will be lighter on the wallet.

Once you pass the bridge you come to the San Polo market district.  This was fun for me because of all the purse shopping!! Leather bags here were so beautiful and reasonable! This is definitely a place to pick up gifts for friends and family!

The next day was shopping day!! Near Vicenza there are several designer purse outlets as well as Nove the city where fancy pottery is made!  We first made a stop at Nicoli for their new Fall Line Introductory party! They had Prosecco, pastries, and food while we could shop around for some gorgeous bags!! I may have gone a little crazy, but the quality, style, and prices were too good to not go a bit crazy!!!

 In the afternoon we hit up Nove for some pottery shopping.  Most of the pottery made here is sent to the states and sold in high end department stores for much more.  Here, at VBC you can get amazing pieces for amazing prices!! I did buy myself some goodies, but mostly, I bought gifts for other people!  Tasneem's mom and I also wanted to hit up the Camisano market, since it was going on that day.  We spent a few hours meandering through all the tents ands booths! Luckily, it was just down the street from our friend's house so it wasn't super out of the way to get there and spend some time shopping!

The next day on the trip was Verona!  The city of Romeo and Juiliet!  It is a very manageable day trip and pretty city!  We bought a cheap map near the Collesium parking to help us navigate the city.  We started off by entering the city wall/gates and landing in the central plaza.  From here, we made a circle starting at the Castle.  Apparently the real Juliet is buried in this area as well, but we did not check that out.

  The Castle 

 City Gate 

 View from the Castle 

We walked around through different streets and saw a few churches.  The architecture in Italy is very different from Germany, so it was interesting to see the differences.  We also found a place to get some yummy canoli's!  

Juliet's Balcony 

We made our way to some more amazing squares and views to finally found Juliet's home and balcony.  The real Romeo and Juliet lived in Verona, however, Shakespere's story was not completely true to history.  After some site seeing and people watching, we were starving!! We found a quaint trattoria where we founds some amazing wine and pasta!

The last day of our trip was spent on Lake Garda at Sirmione.  This area is a huge honeymoon and vacation spot and seriously I can now see why.  The scenery is gorgeous with mountains surrounding the blue lake.  We went through the castle, ate gelato, caprese, and just enjoyed the views!! 

This was such a relaxing and beautiful trip! Not the mention a fun time with great friends, who I hadn't seen in so long! I got to spend time with their little munchkin too and I have to say that little one loves me!! These are some gorgeous places, easy to drive to, and all have something different to offer!  I just may be back some time, especially to buy more purses! 

Burg Eltz Castle and Cochem: One Of The Best Preserved Castles In Europe!

We had a Saturday free and my girl Courtney and I decided we should all take a day trip somewhere. We had both wanted to go check out the Burg Eltz Castle because according to Rick Steves it was one of the best castles in all of Europe.  Not to mention it was only about one and a half hours away from Kaiserslautern.   We ambitiously also wanted to check out Cochem and their castle also.

We got to the Burg Eltz parking lot and from there you can take a shuttle to the castle or a 10-15 walk through the woods on a well marked trail.  It was about 9 Euro to get in and that included an English tour.  We also got to explore the treasury, which had some pretty incredible artifacts from the medieval times.

 Inside the castle 

 Me and my Sweetie Pea!

Unfortunately, the tour did not allow us to take pictures of the inside of the castle.  It was gorgeous, however, you only see about 7 or 8 rooms that have been furnished.  Most of the castle is empty.  The other cool thing about this castle is it is still in the hands of the Eltz family and continues to be passed on.  

After a nice little castle tour, we had some lunch and hit the road to Cochem.  This village is only about 20 minutes from Burg Eltz and sits along the beautiful Mosel River.  We had every intention of going up to the castle, but due to it being later in the day we had to book it up the 20 minute hike or take the bus.  Of course, Germany weather set in and it began to pour thus ruining our plan to check out the Cochem castle.  We had time to walk around for a little a bit and stop for some coffee and dessert.  Since it was later in the day, most of the wine tasting was also closing.  

Overall, we loved Cochem, but vowed we would go back from a night and stay up there so we could check out the cute local pubs, shopping, the castle, and some great restaurants! Hopefully, the next time we go the weather will cooperate with us.  Luckily, Courtney knew of an amazing little German restaurant in the Sembach area that was truly amazing!!!  Can't wait to get back up there and see more of that cute little town!