Back at Base Camp

Whew! We´re finally back at the Zängerling´s in Germany and catching up on sleep and lebkuchen. Prior to our arrival, we visited Ljubljana and Venice, along with a quick stopover at the Lanfranchi´s farm in Ticino, Switzerland.

Ljubljana (oft misspelled by Pete) was great! We had a nice warm B&B room in the heart of the old town right across from a thriving open-air market. The city feels like an energetic college town, despite its being the capitol as well! Lots of great stores, restaurants and architecture - and people who speak english better than we do. We celebrated Pete´s birthday with a Plecnik architecture tour (you would have loved it Chupp) and a tour of the castle atop the hill in the center of town.

From there it was on to Venice in a train filled with hacking, coughing and sneezing travelers - whoohoo! But Venezia was all we could have hoped for -- we loved it. Lots of walks around the canals, a ride on the vaporetto, tea at the famous (and ridiculously pricey) Cafe Florian and visits to San Marco Square and Cathedral as well as Ducale´s Palace. Even lucked into a last minute deal on a hotel to boot.

A long day of travel deposited us back in Wolfsburg before midnight on Thanksgiving Eve - no turkey this year, but we did manage to have our most expensive McDonald´s meal to-date in Basel ($25 for two value meals) - look out Tokyo!

Back in Germany, we are looking for change under couch cushions and planning the next two weeks of side trips. Ingrid is off to Brazil, so we even have a Fiat Punto at our disposal - Arctic Circle here we come!

New photos available...