⛰️Innsbruck, Austria 🇦🇹

I’m glad everyone in the family watched The Sound of Music before we got here. That way, any one of us could break into 🎶”Edelweiss”🎶. 

From Lindau we took a train 🚞 to Innsbruck and rented a car for a few days. Innsbruck was a stop on the way to Italy, and it was a lovely one. We walked around the downtown, looking at the historic buildings, the most unique being the palace with the golden roof where queen and king looked over their square. The city was bustling with tourists and we met the first of many Swifties in the area for Taylor’s Munich shows. With beer and wine cheaper than water around here, it was tempting to start a drinking game… take a drink when you see someone with an Eras T-shirt or a sequined outfit. My liver couldn’t.😝

Austria hosted the Olympics three times, and it was fun to check out their ski jump in Innsbruck. I was pretty good at the Wii ski jump myself, if I do say. To our delight we learned that jumpers can practice all year. We bought tickets up to the look off tower and before we got into the funicular, we saw a fella getting into position, then he flew by! 🚀 

We went into the massive tower and took in the views of the mountains, forest, and storybook villages. We had cake and coffee in the restaurant and planned the rest of our day: swimming at the Völser Badl, another outdoor swimming complex with — you guessed it — stainless steel pools, my new obsession. Four pools, a long twisting slide, clean facilities for changing and storage lockers, a licensed canteen, beautiful surroundings — what a place to relax. The landscaping was impeccable with rolling terraces, tall trees and topiaries. It was a great deal too. 

Lindau & Bregenz 🇩🇪🇦🇹

We got a little muesli and stayed at the Hostelling International Jugendherberge Lindau for three nights. It took me back to residence life, with bunk beds, a shared bathroom, and a solid cafeteria. There was a lot of common space, with a courtyard pub, playrooms, reading rooms, and a big games room where we wiled out on slacklines, played pool, ping pong 🏓 and pinball. 🤩 

We walked to the Bodensee (Lake Constance) and took a swim. I was delighted when a blimp flew by. I had forgotten they were real. They look pretty whimsical. 🎈 The landscapes, trees, bike paths, architecture were stunning. We rented bikes and made our way to the picturesque island where the cobblestone streets led to the landmark lion & lighthouse, ornate churches, restaurants, museums, botanical gardens, and finally a huge lido with a cafe/pub. We swam in the choppy lake and sat in the sun with hundreds of people having fun. It was beautiful. 🌞

Dinner was a bit of a Bavarian bust. We went to a German restaurant and ended up with pretty pricy plates of pork, kraut, and potato dumplings. It was okay. 🐖 😬

The next day we took a 10-min train to Bregenz, Austria. We walked through their iconic opera, where stadium seats look out to the stage built on the lake. The set was a half sunken creepy moonlit village. Five minutes later we arrived at the Strandbad swimming complex with huge stainless steel pools! They were gorgeous. I splurged on a new swim mask and the water was so clear it was like they were prescription lenses. The water glimmered on the pool surface, and felt fresh and clean. 🧼 

That night, I ordered pizza and salad in German. 🍕🥗The waitress was so tickled that she gave us a tiramisu. My 200 days of learning German on Duo Lingo paid off. 🦉

24 hrs in Zurich, Switzerland 🇨🇭

From the plane to the train downtown, Zürich is more temperate than Athens. The train station is as opulent as the airport. We hop off downtown and walk a few blocks to Furdich Guest House & Kafi. The cafe is cozy and eclectic, chill folky music is playing. We leave our baggage in the office and set out to spend the couple hours before checking in.

🥨🧀🥖

I love going to grocery stores in other countries. They’re usually pretty cool (AC) and it’s fun to see the local snacks and differences in all the sections of the store. At Migros we bought baked pretzels, a loaf of soft sliced bread, a tube of mustard (genius), a little pack of salami and a cheese platter! We also got plums, yellow watermelon, hazelnut yogurt, and the cheapest Swiss chocolate bar, just to test it as a base line for our Lindt factory tour later that afternoon. 🍬

The park is big, green, and blessed with lots of enormous trees. There are couples, and people on their lunch breaks, families with kids and it looks idyllic. We sit in the grass about 6m from a tree and a black and white dog strolls by. We miss our dog so we’re watching him with tenderness. 🐶 He decides to “use the WC” halfway between us and the tree, which puts a damper on the picnic, but luckily his owner comes by to scoop. 🌳

No worries. The picnic is phenomenal. There are no sketchy ingredients allowed in this Swiss délice! We ppl watch a little more and notice that around the perimeter of the park, on benches, some characters are a little erratic, getting loud now and then. Not great vibes. A very sexy lady walks by very slowly. An older fellow follows her. Hmmm. Time for us to take a hike. 🗺️

We walk out to explore the neighborhood. We pass shops and cafes. There are a few people out and about. The architecture has story book details like curving iron balconies, and dormered roofs, in beiges and ochres. But the color palate shifts to black and red. Prints on the businesses look like 80s albums with cartoon lips and sultry eyes. The people outside seem to be wearing a lot of makeup on such a hot day. Ohhhhh… this is a district… 🛑

We head back to the neighborhood where we saw the funky record store, back to the more wholesome vibes. Our room at the Guesthouse is ready. We settle in, change and Uber to the Lindt factory! We get an interactive history-of-chocolate tour which culminates with a cloying amount of samples. In a word, decadent. Chocolate fountain, chocolate bark, chocolate bar dispenser, and the classic shiny spheres of all flavours. Now we’ve got about $40 worth of chocolate on us to keep from melting. Silly. 🍫

We walk to the waterfront and the locals are swimming and stand up paddle boarding. Some picnickers are even sipping champagne and a big fella does a backflip. Mike can’t resist a refreshing plunge in the stunning scene. 🏊‍♂️

We Uber back to relax. We have snacks on the balcony and listen to a live band playing in the park. It’s across the road. Mike and I check it out for a half hour. It’s a cool little band called Bandit Voyage. They rock out in French, German & English. The guitar player is in roller skates the whole time. 🛼🎸

And that’s that. We leave Zurich 24 hrs later by train. Off to Lindau via Bregenz. 🚞

Greece 2024 🇬🇷

🇬🇷 We thought we’d wait three years to return but we couldn’t do it. Tortuga Beach called us back to Greece. Getting to travel and hang out with friends and family was a special bonus! Labi, Jill, the girls, Aaron, Leigh, B, and Yvonne — what a crew. 💕 Our restaurant dinners for 12 were adventurous, with fantastic food every night and only mild chaos if the wasps showed up. They love souvlaki too. 

As soon as we arrived I forgot what day it was and sunk into a deep restorative relaxation. Daily swims in the warm ocean “set me up forever” (as Jane Austen put it in Pride & Prejudice). Drinking cheap Greek beers (Alpha for €2,50) and eating Oregano Lays in the afternoon, and reading a few chapters, lounging on a chaise is just dreamy. Catching up with folks is also a treat. 

Greece is foodie paradise of course: souvlaki, spanakopita, salad, perfect feta, sweet red onions and the peppers, cukes, tomatoes were exquisite. We tried something new — yemista but it’s in zucchini flower instead of veg. So good. In Athens I had a game changing dessert called chocolate mosaic! I’ve already done a preliminary Pinterest search for recipes. 

In the countryside it was sometimes quite windy and the sound of cicadas in the olive trees was loud. They’re intense. Like the waves in the distance, they swell and retreat. There are cacti and palms, mountains and valleys. The sky - light blue- meets the ocean - Med blue- and dry beige land  is speckled with green brush. There are rare pops of pink flowers. It’a a soothing colour palate. 

We returned to some special places — Plitra, Elafonisos, Monemvasia — and explored caves in Neapoli. Before leaving Greece, we visited the Acropolis, its museum, the agora, and walked around the neighborhoods in their shadows. 

It was all daxi. 🇬🇷