Our Tin Can Cruise...

On Saturday, we caught a water taxi to the harbor at Split where we boarded the Labrador for a 7-day cruise with the Katrina Line. We booked a little late, so we had below deck rooms with twin beds and no porthole. The bathroom was so tiny that you could sit on the toilet while showering. Luckily we weren’t planning on spending much time in our room. The vintage ship was built in 1967 and had lovely wooden decks for relaxing. While I’m not sure the waiter ever understood that bacon qualified as meat, the chef caught on quickly and gladly went spear fishing to catch my lunch.

Happy 45th!

My birthday was quite special this year as we left that day for the start of a two week vacation in Croatia (don’t feel bad if you don’t know where it is, we didn’t really know either). My close friend Darlene and her husband Mike joined us for the first week. We spent our first night in a charming hotel in the walled city of Trogir.
We enjoyed shopping for snorkel fins and sampling the local brandy and seafood. We ended the night with drinks on the top of one of the old palace turrets.

Valuable Lessons Learned in Switzerland...

* The family car on the train should be off limits to anyone over 10. Of course, that didn’t stop my crazy kids from going down the slide just to say they did.

* There’s obviously more demand for cooked fish than raw--all you can eat sushi costs $70 per person, which needless to say, we refused to pay.



* Swiss cows are in better shape than me as demonstrated by their ability to climb up into the mountains effortlessly.

Getting Rocked to Sleep...

After not getting any sleep on the Heidelberg to Paris overnight train in 2004, I swore I’d never spend another night on a train. Jimmy used strong logic to get me to change my mind -- last time we were in 3rd class on a dumpy train and this time we’d be in 2nd on a premier train, which made a huge difference. Granted, I still didn’t sleep straight through the night, but it was a very nice train and an interesting way to travel. And there was some drama when one of our fellow passengers managed to leave his teenager on the platform when we departed Zurich. At least we were smart enough to bring both our girls all the way home.

Another Beautiful Day in Switzerland...

I must admit my first impression of Zurich, the largest Swiss city, wasn’t good. Central Station is an absolute madhouse. While we liked our hotel and the nearby restaurants, it was in the financial district which lacks charm. It wasn’t until the next day, after visiting the Swiss National Museum, that we hopped on a water taxi and saw how pretty the historic district is with the Limmat River cutting through the center until it meets Lake Zurich. It was great walking along the water and people watching on a beautiful Sunday. The views from the giant ferris wheel were awesome.
The historic restaurant we chose for our final Swiss meal was touristy, but the food was delicious. Ashlynn especially liked the Swiss beer, I mean the apple juice.

A Stopover in Bern...

As our tour through Switzerland was coming to an end, we stopped in Bern, the Swiss capital, for an afternoon en route to Zurich. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed walking by the Aare River in search for lunch. The girls really enjoyed feeding the town’s mascot, a brown bear leading a lonely existence with a full belly in a beautiful city. We look forward to coming back to explore more some day.

Time to Head Up...

Jimmy is clearly a glutton for punishment since after dinner we went on another hike, this time to the restaurant above Murren at 6,250 feet. We got soaked after stopping for margaritas at a restaurant owned by a former Santa Cruz hippie. We took the girls back the next day for lunch and to watch the Olympics opening ceremony. The highlight for the girls was feeding the cows.