Cinque Terre/Munich - Road Trip with the Bellgraph - Wk of 23 July

On Kyle and Sam arrived Sunday at 1pm to start their Eurotrip for the next two weeks and I picked them up at the airport.  This was my 2nd time at the airport that day as I arrived from a work trip in Istanbul earlier that morning (11am) after spending an extra day to sightsee.  Quite a whirlwind Sunday!

Cinque Terre

Upon arrival, we quickly stopped by my apartment and then started our road trip to Cinque Terre (about 4.5 to 5 hours); specifically, we were staying in Monterosso al Mare.  We arrived near 9 and grabbed pizza near our AirBnB, which was right on the beach near the train station.  Finding parking was a bit of a challenge at first as the cities of Cinque Terre are connected by hiking trails and trains, but none offer the best automobile access; we found a local lot a few minute walk away, but all-in-all a great location.

View from our apt.

For our first day, we grabbed croissants at the Wonderland bakery and then coffee at a nearby wine bar before taking the train to the furthest city (Riomaggiore) where we had planned to hike back to our apartment.  We quickly learned that trains were not the most timely as we boarded the train at the correct platform and time; however, the train that we boarded was actually a previous train that was arriving late.  When the conductor asked for tickets after departure, we quickly learned we were on a regional train and in the words of the conductor "No stop Cinque Terre."  Luckily, it travelled only 10 minutes past our planned destination and we were not pressed on time so could then grab the next train to our intended destination.  Once in Riomaggiore, I grabbed a quick lemon crepe before starting the day's hikes.

Pre-hike Crepe

To travel from Riomaggiore to Manarola, we took a "more difficult" hike as the coastal route was closed.  The hike was up-and-down the hills of wine vineyards, so very pretty, but tiring (1.5 hours).  We grabbed a seafood in Manarola and then took a train to the 3rd city (Corniglia) to get gelato.  From Corniglia, we took an easier hike to Vernazza (2 hours) where we had planned a wine tasting that was on the edge of the mountainside and recommended by the Bellgraph parents.  We then took the train home and did a wine tasting at the same wine bar we had coffee at that morning and had dinner.

View from the hike

The following morning, we did an identical breakfast to the prior day and hiked from Monterosso to Vernazza (1.5 hours); this was the prettiest of our hikes as there were many views of the ocean, cliff sides, and vineyards.  Both of the hikes were filled with the noises of an insect similar to a cicada.  The weather was also much nicer as it was sunny and hot; good for views, but definitely made the hiked more difficult.  When reaching to Vernazza we quickly changed as we brought our swimming suits and went for a swim in the bay to cool off.  Following the swim, we did a mini bar crawl of Monterosso and tried the local specialty (lemon, salted anchovies) and grabbed dinner at the same pizza place where we had eaten the first night (Lapos).  Highly recommend that restaurant for anyone going to the area.

Piemonte

The following morning was early as we needed to get to Geneva and had planned 3 wine tastings in Piemonte to break up the drive; l had travelled here in the past, but lost the wine when my basement was broken into so it was good to get back.  Once in Geneva, we returned the car and I took everyone for a Swiss fondue for dinner.

Munich

Next morning, we had an easy morning and went to the airport to head to Munich for the next leg of our trip; we started the trip on the Cinque Terry sunny coast hiking and the next leg would be quite different in Bavaria with strong WWII history and a beer culture.

Upon reaching Munich, we took the train directly to Marienplatz to see the old town and grabbed beers and pretzels at Hofbrauhaus while waiting for the keys to our AirBnB.  Our Airbnb was basically an art gallery with very interesting decor.  We then grabbed dinner at one of my favorite restaurants since my first trip to Munich in 2011, Zum Alten Kreuz.  The trip this time was more difficult as the menu was in German and our waitress spoke no English where as on previous trips we had had someone help translate.  All of us ordered versions of weinerschnitzel for dinner (grilled vs. normal vs. Munchner style).  Following dinner, we grabbed a few drinks from bars on the way home as it was down pouring!  We ended up taking the bus home even though it would have been very walkable if dry.

On our first full day in Munich, we grabbed breakfast pastries at a nearby bakery and did a walking tour; this was my 4th time taking this same tour, but always a fun way to see the city.  For lunch, we had sausages and Munich schnitzel at the Weisses Brauhaus; this was one of the oldest wheat beer breweries in Munich and somewhere that I went when in Munich following the Berlin marathon the previous year.  We then found Sam and Kyle some Bavarian clothes (Liederhosen and Dirndl) before going for a walk through the English Garden.  We had a light dinner of first grabbing beers, a cheese platter, and apple strudel at Hackerhaus followed by sausages and drinks at the Viktualienmarkt before calling it a night.

Our next day was early as we had an early morning tour of Neuschwenstein castle where we had to pick up a rental car and then drive to the castle.  We grabbed pastries quickly at the Viktualienmarkt and then grabbed our Ford Fiesta for the drive.  The castle was very pretty with very diverse decorations throughout; following the tour, we grabbed sausages in the small town and drove to the Andechs brewery.  At Andechs, we walked around the abbey, into a wedding service, and then grabbed one beer before continuing our drive back to Munich.  In Munich, I went for a quick run to see the Eisbachwelle in the English Garden; this is a permanent wave on the river where people are able to surf.  We then grabbed drinks at Der Pschorr biergarten before dinner where we all had Pork Knuckle at the Haxenbauer and then had drinks at the HB.

With our 3rd day, we grabbed a large American sized breakfast at Kochspielhaus.  I then caught up on work and went for a run while the Bellgraphs went to Dachau.  When they returned, we grabbed dinner at the Paulaner Im Tal (Sauage Platter, Spatzle, and Pork Belly) before going to a walk to show the crew the Eisbachwelle.

For the final day in Munich, we had breakfast as the same location of the previous day and then went and did a BMW factory tour.  I've tried to do this in the past and it is quite interesting as it's a combined engine and assembly plant; if interested in going then book early as it fills 2-3 months in advance!  We then headed back to Geneva as I was returning to the US the following day while the Bellgraphs were to fly onwards to Amsterdam and continue their journey.

4th of July and Provence

The 4th of July is not quite the same in Switzerland, or Europe, compared to traditions of the US.  For one, everyone works, but there are also no fireworks.  The Americans in the area still celebrated and I BBQ'ed with some friends at a local park where we all brought food to pass and we had a fun experience celebrating with one another.  I tried to be festive and carved my first bowl from a watermelon to serve a fruit salad.

On Friday, two friends that ran the Berlin Marathon Lisa and Josh) came to Geneva for the evening before we started a small France road trip over the weekend.

On Saturday, we started our drive mid morning to Les Rousses to see the 8th leg of the Tour de France.  We over estimated slightly and had about 2 hours to kill prior to when the racers arrived although the caravan of cars and small parade prior to the riders is quite large!  When originally planning a trip we had misinterpreted the route thinking the start was the end and vice versa leading to a later start following the race than expected.

During our drive, we stopped and had dinner in Avignon; a random stop, but a very pretty city with a huge old town and castle within the original city walls.  Following dinner, we continued the drive and finally arrived in Nice at 2am!

While in Nice, we toured around the city our first day visiting the promenade, beach, and hiking the old city fort.  Pretty city with very blue water!

Notice the beach can be rocky!

On our second day, we visited Monaco; the country and city did feel slightly different from Nice as the architecture differed.  We walked around the city (and country as it's only 2.5 miles large), had lunch near the palace and attempted to enter the casino; however, the dress code was no open-toed shoes, no shorts after 7, and required suit and tie after 10.  Needless to say we were unsuccessful...

The 3rd day, Josh flew home and Lisa and I spent the day in Cannes seeing the red carpet of the film festival and walking the promenade before heading back to Nice for the night and one last meal before she flew out the next day and I then drove home.  During my drive home, I took the long, scenic route and was able to drive through the lavender fields of Provence.

Great long weekend trip and would recommend going back for the blue water and great seafood although will definitely dress up next time to be able to experience all of Monaco!

June - Month of Travel

So....June was been a busy month of travel that initially started with a 25 May trip and concluded with a return trip from Bratislava on 29 June with only 5 nights sleeping in my Geneva apartment during that time frame...

Luxembourg

The day after landing from the Norway ski trip, I flew to Luxembourg for a one week internal firm review, back to Geneva for the weekend in between and then back for a 2nd week of review.  Luxembourg was a very pretty city with large city walls from its historic city center and was very hilly so running was not the easiest!

Crans-Montana

After spending one night at home, the Romandie office year-end party was in Crans-Montana, which is a mountain town about 2.5 hours from Geneva.  The year-end party is a weekend long event with a different site each year to get the office together and celebrate the end of the busy season with team building activity (mud run in the current year), large dinner, and a night out.

Dubai

The same day returning from Crans-Montana, I swapped my weekend bag for already packed bags to fly to Dubai for a work site visit.  We landed in Dubai and 11:30pm and it was hot (11:30pm)!

The city itself is quite modern with many sky scrapers and large infrastructure projects everywhere.  Our hotel was located on the mainland near one of the artificial palm islands and the entire area was quite nice.

Our first day at the plant featured a unique twist. Most foreign companies operate in the free trade zone (FTZ), which is a tax free area with gated entry.  Once at the gate, we had obtain pre-approval; however, our taxi driver was not licensed to drive in the FTZ so we had to walk from the border to the plant offices.  This was not far (~300 meters), but it was quite funny as the team wandered the desert.  That evening, I went for a short indoor run and we ate dinner near our hotel at a Benihana, which none of the European team members had been to or heard of the restaurant concept as this is a fairly common chain in the US.

The following day, we had the same issue at the FTZ entrance only this time our taxi driver must have been more persuasive as the driver didn't have the pass, but convinced security to let us drive to our drop off point.  After work that day, we went for a team swim in the pool.  Note that this is an outdoor pool that is cooled rather than heated.  We then had an Iftar dinner with our local contact; this was quite good as there was tons of food and we were able to try many types of the local cuisine.

The next morning was my final day so I woke early to jump in the ocean (5 min.) walk from the hotel.  The sand here was white sand and quite nice and the seawater was warmer than the pool!

For work that day, we successfully entered the FTZ with no issues and I worked a half day and headed to the airport for the first stop of the multisite journey before returning back to Geneva.

Greece

I flew from Dubai to Athens and stayed the night before boarding an early morning ferry to Mykonos for a friend's 30th birthday weekend (7am).

Day 1 Dinner - Greek Salad and Octopus

The birthday party weekend was 5 days long and about 20 people where we rented a villa in the city center.  Each day we went to a different beach club to enjoy the Mediterranean and then dinners were typically souvlaki within the city after watching the sunsets from the mountain restaurants.  For the actual birthday dinner, we had a family style dinner at the villa that was catered with many different types of Greek food; it was quite fun as we even had a bartender for the dinner!  I really enjoyed my 2nd trip to the Greek isles; the weather is always great and the food is amazing!

Mykonos Beach Club

Birthday Dinner at the Villa

PwC Crew

Following Greece, I then had two work trips back to back.  The first to Amsterdam for 1.5 days to see a plant visit and the 2nd to Bratislava.  Coincidentally, Bratislava was the first international location that I ever visited for work back in 2012.

It was quite a relief to get home after these trips after spending the past 5-6 weeks out of town; I flew home on Thursday and then on Friday I had my first visitors for the summer.

Weather wasn't great for their trip, but we visited the Olympic museum in Lausanne; this was actually quite interesting as the museum has medals from all of the Olympics as well as the torches that are carried around the world to then light the flame at the open ceremony.  We then had a glass of wine in the vineyards at Le Deck, saw a concert at the Montreux Jazz Fest, and on Sunday did a day trip to Yvoire for filet-de-perche before my friends returned home.

Montreux Jazz Fest