Paris in November

Once again I decided to was off to Paris to visit Lisa. This year was a little different however, because I wanted to actually visit with Lisa and maybe possibly see some of Paris. Unlike my previous two visits where Lisa was hosting a party and then Thanksgiving. So my time there was grocery shopping, cleaning, cooking and finally partying. Which I cannot complain, all of these experiences were fantastic but I still had not seen Paris.

This time was not much better. I was exhausted because basketball season had just started, I had been gone every weekend, and Lisa was just getting over being bed ridden with illness for a week. So we did the next best thing from sight seeing in Paris. We went shopping. Shoe shopping at that!

We hit up all the big stores, and Lisa very quickly made a nice purchase of high black boots. I took a little longer but I succeeded and purchased two pairs of shoes right before closing.

Lisa and I had grand plans of going out for appertivos, dinner and drinks at a posh club but, it didn't happen. We changed, beautified ourselves. Lisa sported her new boots and we took off for one of Lisa's colleagues. The family was moving in a couple of days and needed to clean out their wine cellar. We kindly offered to help by starting off with a nice bottle of champagne, followed by a couple bottles of red then white. The next thing we knew, we were eating baguette with salted butter and it was 12:30. Well past our dinner reservation and we had enough that drinks at a posh club did not seem appealing. So we grabbed a cab home and crashed.

Sunday morning we woke up early and Lisa wanted to make sure that I saw something so we went up to Montmarte for a pastry, coffee, and the best view of Paris.

Brits invade Lugano

A couple of weekends ago, or actually a month. Hayley's boyfriend, Eason, came into town and he brought a few friends with him. On Friday night Hayley and I made the trek to Malpensa to pick them up before heading back to her newly renovated and decorated apartment for a few drinks, blowing up the air mattress and getting to know each other.

Adam, Eason, and Eric

Eric modeling for the cover of the air mattress box

On Saturday morning the plan had been to go for a hike, but weather for the month of October was absolutely horrendous with torrential downpours daily. So we opted for a trip to Bellinzona and playing in the castles.
Outside the best of the three castles. They pulled up the chains that we use to hang on to pull the draw bridge down so this was the next best thing.

Of course we had to have a jumping picture

But it took two tries to get it right. No timing!

And Lizzie had to Star Fish

I convinced everyone it would be a good idea to scale the castle wall. Unfortunately I chose a really difficult and high place. We made it but the descent was even harder.

Hayley, Lizzie and I

Glamour shot!

Then we loaded back into the van to head to a little town in the north where there is an absolutely beautiful church sitting on the peak of a hill.

Eric and Eason marking our destination

The cemetery. It was beautifully decorated because of All Saints Day

Trying to be artsy

After all of our driving and sight seeing adventures we made our way back to Lugano to grab a bite to eat, change our clothes and get ready for the housewarming / Halloween party. I opted not to get dressed up so my evening was mainly spent at Hayley's party, while the costume baring people spent their time upstairs at Angie's shindig.

Dan and I enjoying some football

The evening consisted of a lot of wine, football, and good conversation. It ended with a solid round of karaoke, with the words being projected on the wall, finger microphones and Tim sliding across the floor demonstrating his dance moves.

Allyson and Eason belting out the songs

On Sunday we met up once again, a little later in the afternoon for lunch at Bellavista. Hayley and I had been talking up the pizza all weekend long, and for the first time since I have arrived, they were not serving pizza because the special of the day required cooking in the pizza oven. So it was chicken and potatoes all around. So sad!

Hayley, Allyson and I at the red bench

Munich and Berlin

Friday, October 24 - Wednesday, October 29

Friday night Allyson, Lizzie and I piled into Giuseppe for the 4 and a half hour drive from Lugano to Munich. We had my iPod going and there were many sing alongs throughout the drive. Once we arrived in Munich we found our hostel, and realized there was no parking so we wandered the streets until we found a place about two blocks down and then to find our room was a trip and a half. About thirty minutes later and trying our key in every door we finally let ourselves in rooms 39-40 and found our room 602. The hardest part was that we couldn't ask anyone for help because we had arrived after reception had closed so we had to pick up our keys at the pizzeria across the street from a man who just happened to be a friend of the owner.

Once we dropped off all of our stuff we grabbed our guide to the beer halls of Munich and took off to the center of town, riding the underground. Yeah, we are brave ladies.

The Town Hall at Night

Anyhow, we successfully found one of the famous halls the Augustiner Großgaststätte.

Where I was able to sample some white sausage with the skin on, which I later found out I was suppose to peal off. Oops.

Allyson and I after our delightful dinner

Saturday morning we woke up bright and early to grab breakfast and wander back to the main town hall to watch the Chillion perform, which are little statues that walk around a clock face at specific hours of the day. The one at the Munich town hall is the largest one still working in Europe.

Chillion at the Town Hall

Flower stand

Town Hall

Then we were off on our walking tour through Munich. We started with a stroll through the street market, full of the scents of fall and Christmas.

Christmas Cheer

May Pole in the center of the market

Watch out for that lobster!

From there we walked the path to what was considered the Fifth Avenue of Munich, with stores lining the streets. We didn't see too many things that caught our interest, we really saved the big shopping for Berlin.



Next stop was the English Garden where we took many autumn pictures.

The leaves were so beautiful we couldn't pass up playing in them and Allyson even attempted to jump into a rather large pile. However, her maturity got the best of her and she just hid behind them to give the appearance of frolicking.


We stopped at a bench along the way to enjoy the view of the river that flowed through the center of the garden.

Then we saw another pile of leaves and decided we needed some fun shots. It first started with each of us throwing piles in the air.

Allyson

Lizzie

Me

But then we set the timer. So much fun!!!

At the end of our walk before heading towards the Hofbrauhaus we passed a little refreshment stand specializing in milk and beer. I guess their target clientel are the children playing in the garden and the supervising parents. With that being said, their number one customer was sitting out front with her liter, enjoying the scenery.

Lizzie, Allyson and I all agree...we hope we are as content as her when we reach her age.











Finally we reached the most important destination in all of Munich the Hofbräuhaus.

We had many liters of beer, with the mug giving Lizzie and Allyson bruises on their drinking hands from the weight of the mug.

Enjoying our Beers

One of the locals

I think the atmosphere was the best. There was a traditional band playing, all of the tables were filled and the beer ladies you hear so much about where fighting the crowds carrying up to 6 liters of beer at a time, while wearing the traditional dress.

After two liters, a sausage and a couple of pretzels it was time to go back out into the city. By city I mean, we walked around finding a location for Lizzie to do her Star Jump.


Then went shopping. We all needed to purchase some gloves, because it was freezing and we had seen a couple pairs of boots that intrigued us at a store Called Molly's Shoes and More. So that was our final destination, with Allyson and I trying on shoes. My feet are so large, I had to go to another store to make my final decision and it resulted in my ownership of a pair of high grey boots, that I have sported many a times already.

With bags in hand we wandered to another beer hall to finish off the evening and a sampling of another local brew.

Setting back our clocks on Saturday night proved to be a godsend because it allowed us to get on the road bright and early for our drive to Berlin. The entire trip was cloudy and rainy so there wasn't much to see or distract me from the crazy drive. At one point I was going 140 kmph in the SLOW LANE and two cars flew by me, shaking little Giuseppe and scaring me half to death. I knew they drove fast on the autobahn but that was just crazy.

We arrived in Berlin in the early afternoon and checked into our hostel, The Three Little Pigs, which is housed in an old convent. It was a neat place to stay. We dropped off our stuff, grabbed our umbrellas and began walking and to my excitement we found multiple Dunkin Donuts. Definitely breakfast a couple of mornings.
Holocaust Memorial - to commemorate the murder of 6 million European Jews at the hands of Hiltler and his forces. Consists of 2,711 bear stone slabs containing no names, dates or markings.
Bradenburg Gate - the symbol of reunified Berlin. This was the site of the major celebration during the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989.

After much wandering and strolling through the streets of Berlin we found our dinner spot, Subway. Very tasty. Now that we were fully satisfied we took to the streets again to head towards the theatre district, where we partook in a lot of window shopping. Both Allyson and I fell in love with a beautiful black three quarter length jacket that only cost 464 euros. Throughout the rest of the trip we were trying to rationalize spending that amount of money on a coat. Luckily for us, it was gone when we went back to the store because I think I was successful in convincing myself, especially when Mom told me I am only young once and I mise well enjoy it.

Once we reached the square we knew we had found our favorite location. There were outdoor restaurants on all sides and the place was busy with people. We settled at a swanky version of Hagan Daz and had ice cream presented gourmet style.

The next morning brought us rain as well, but we decided to brave the elements after stopping at Dunkin Donuts for a cup of coffee and a bavarian cream. While walking the previous day we had noticed an audio walking tour that hit the major sights and we decided that would be the most educational way to see Berlin. So we grabbed our loaded GPS systems, put on our headphones, propped up our umbrellas and walked almost 9 miles around Berlin.

First stop, the Bradenburg gate, which we had already seen, but I learned a lot about it from the guide.

Longest stretch of Berlin Wall still preserved

Throughout the city their were sections of the wall that had been painted and preserved when the wall came down.

Checkpoint Charlie

Reconstructed checkpoint

Ruined by Hannah Montana

East Side Gallery

Faces made famous by an artist who walked outside of his home one day and decided he wanted to make the wall more appealing. He had to be quick about his work because he was not allowed to get that close to the wall so his strokes became simple and his designs easy to fill. He changed his methods of painting but the faces that resulted became famous images of the time period.

That evening we decided to rally just a little. We got decked out in Berlin clubbing attire, also known as sweaters, jeans, and boots. We treated ourselves to a tasty dinner at a Tapas restaurant at our favorite square. Then we walked and walked and walked till we came to the oldest brewery in Berlin. There was no one there and after one pint we closed the place down.

Next stop was a five story club that was open on Monday evenings. However, that club turned out to be having Kareoke night. A very amusing event to watch when all the Germans are singing English songs and not knowing really what they are saying. Allyson, Lizzie and I got a few looks when we broke out into song in between sets to things like the Beastie Boys.

Tuesday was a laid back day, waking up and getting around at about noon and wandering for a starbucks coffee and muffin before heading to the Checkpoint Charlie Museum so Allyson could get a gift for her father. Afterwards we went to Museum Island to see the Berliner Dome and the Pergamon Museum.

Berliner DomeAgain, Lizzie did her star jump.

That evening we decided to take in a little more American lifestyle and took in a movie at the Sony Center. The only difference here was that we had wine and pretzels at the theatre instead of coke and popcorn.

Wednesday was not as great. We had a nine hour drive to make back to Lugano. All was smooth until we left the San Bernadino pass and there was snow. A lot of snow, about five to six inches still on the grounds and the roads. Giuseppe had a lot of challenges during this trip, and I think this was the most difficult. It took about an hour to go 40 km down the mountain, but we made it and Giuseppe earned his flames.