Summer Vacation Part Three

We were using miles for our trip and because we changed plans a couple of times we ended up an extra week after leaving Capri.  We took the train to Milan and picked up a car and drove to Lugano.  We took advantage of the time we had to look at a small university in Lugano, Franklin University.  K decided that the school is too small for her.  Her high school class is over 300 and this school is only 500 people.  We drove from Lugano to Megeve, France to see a leg of the Tour de France.  I decided that we would drive over the mountains because I was nervous about going through the Mont Blanc tunnel.  It was a long day but the drive was spectacular.  We got stuck in Tour de France traffic-something I had not accounted for and a 5 hour drive turned into an 8 hour drive.  From Megeve and we drove to Lyon in search of paintings and then worked our way to Venice, via Turin,  for our flight home.

The top of the mountain.  Moments before we saw a sheepherder with beautiful long horn sheep.  Still kicking myself for not getting a picture.

Once we finally got to our hotel we were shocked to see that the team from Astana was staying in our hotel!  How cool is that???

I love the food in Europe but sometimes I get a tired of the lack of variety.  I was happily surprised to see fajitas on the menu.  The green beans and corn were interesting.  Overall, they were really good!

Lining up for the parade at the start of the Tour de France.

Love the Madeline pan and the guy standing in the bag of flour.

Staging area for the racers and their support teams.

Megeve is a very sweet little town.  And you know how I love a French pharmacy.

The people sitting on the ground are watching the Tour de France on a big screen.

Views from our hotel room in Venice. 

Views while having dinner

Water taxi on the way to the airport.  

Spring Break 2013

K likes the beach and I like Europe so we compromised and went skiing in Italy.  We flew in and out of Venice so we added a day in Venice after skiing.  Then we flew to Lyon for the weekend so I could shop for art.  We stayed in the small town of San Cassiano about 2 hours north of Venice in the Dolomites.

It snowed the night we arrived and this was our view when we woke up.

Loved the snack bar with the cows on the roof.

So pretty how the clouds moved in and out

The Dolomites are really rocky-they give the Rocky Mountains a run for their money

Love the sun flare in these pictures

We used to get adorable little gingerbread houses like this every Christmas from an Austrian bakery in Aspen

Another cow on a roof

K and her sweet ski instructor

Loved the van drivers from our hotel who took us skiing every day.  Could not figure out what was up with the green aprons.  They carried everything for us-loved that!

It snowed the night before we left San Cassiano.  We took a walk in the snow.

I did not age well on this trip!

And then we stopped in Venice.  This was the view from the restaurant in our hotel where we had lunch.

K and I waiting for the water taxi on the dock of our hotel.

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Love the view of the snow capped mountains from the water taxi on our way to the airport

Bye bye Venice

Photo from the plane window on our way to Lyon.