OK. Blog post #2. It's only 2 1/2 days before we leave. A couple of people have asked me for our itinerary for the trip, so I'll post it here. If you click on the different color/underlined location, it will link you to the actual place we are staying.
May 27 Depart SLC, UT for Geneva, Switzerland with lay-overs in Chicago and Brussels, Belgium.
May 28 Arrive in Geneva, Switzerland in the afternoon, pick up car and drive to Bern, Switzerland and stay the night.
May 29 Drive from Bern, Switzerland to Oy-Germany. Not sure of the drive route yet. If we are feeling good, we might take a more lengthy drive, if we are hung over with jet-lag, maybe the direct route. Stay in Oy-Germany for 7 nights. May 29-June 5.
June 5 Drive to chalet we'll be staying in near Filzmoos, Austria . We'll be staying there for 7 nights from June 5-12.
June 12 Drive from Austria to Venice, Italy. We'll be driving through Slovenia and stopping at Lake Bled. In Venice, we'll actually be staying on the Lido, which is the outer island that is long and skinny and has a beach about a 2 minute walk from where we'll be staying. Staying in Venice 7 nights from June 12 to June 24.
June 24 Drive from Venice to Fara in Sabina, Italy which is about a 30 minute drive to Rome. On our way from Venice, we'll probably stop and see Florence or Sienna or both depending on time. We'll be staying outside of Rome for 7 nights from June 19-26 and exploring Rome and some of Tuscany and Umbria.
June 26 Drive to Vargo, Italy. Vargo is a small town not quite 1/2 way from Genoa to Milan. On the way to Vargo, we'll probably be able to see Pisa and some other sites along the way. From Vargo we'll be able to visit the Cinque Terre, Portofino, Milan, Genoa, and maybe even up to Lake Como. We'll be staying 7 nights in Vargo from June 26-July 3.
July 3 Drive from Vargo to Annecy, France. In Annecy we'll be doing a home-exchange with a French family for 2 weeks. My mom will be flying into Geneva Switzerland and spending almost the full 2 weeks we'll be at Lake Annecy. Here we'll be able to visit alot of the French Alps. And for me, that means cycling over the famous Cols of the Tour de France. We'll also coincidentally be there when the Tour de France comes through this area this year. Watch for me on the climb up to Avoriaz on the first mountain stage of this year's Tour July 11th, as well as on the Col de la Madeleine July 13th. We'll be at Annecy for 14 nights from July 3-17.
July 17 Drive to Blaru, France. We'll be staying outside of Paris 7 night from July 17-24. Besides taking a couple of day-trips into Paris, we are hoping to take a trip down to Normandy and see Mont Saint Michel the famous monestary.
July 24 Drive up and catch a ferry to England arriving in Dover. Then drive to Stonehenge and stay the night near Bath. We'll be in England 3 nights visiting Bath, Stonehenge, Castle Combe, Windsor Castle, and probably only 1 day in London. Would like to spend more time, but the schedule just didn't work out that way.
July 28 Catch ferry back to France, and drive through Belgium up to the Netherlands. Stay 5 nights in a small town near Gouda and not far from Amsterdam and The Hague.
August 2 Drive to Frankfurt, Germany and spend 1 night near the Frankfurt Temple. Probably see Burg Eltz on the way.
August 3 Drive to Sarreyer, Switzerland a small vacation area with lots of challets near Verbier, Switzerland. We'll stay here our last 13 nights from August 3-16.
August 16 Fly home from Geneva, Switzerland.
Probably boring reading for most everyone, but at least people will know where we'll be for the next 12 weeks.