When you are stationed overseas, the Army decides you should get a break. Being stationed in a cool place isn't enough, the Army is apparently worried you'll get homesick and it instead wants to keep you distracted, so Big R gets a four-day weekend every month of the year (and sometimes two, but who's counting?). Many of the other officers take advantage of what we call the "four-days" and take an adventure, something we plan on taking full liberty of as well. Having a home base in Germany makes so many other European destinations incredibly accessible, and more importantly, affordable.
This past weekend was our first big four-day. As a surprise for our anniversary, Big R planned a trip to take the family to Italy, the Cinque Terre to be exact. Wanting initially for us all to pile into the car and head south, Big R decided the trip would be just as special if I knew about it first. Being that the logistics would probably require some of my input, the surprise quickly became something to look forward to. Not only were we going to Cinque Terre with a toddler, but we were also taking the pup and we were driving there. The fact that we are a day's drive away from the Italian Riviera is still baffling to me...
Much to our surprise, it is pretty easy to travel by car in Europe. We hadn't heard many people complain much about driving in Germany or even Austria, but we had heard nightmares of driving in Italy. Either we were in all the right parts of Italy or we are crazy drivers because we really didn't have much trouble at all. If you have a general idea of where you are going, navigating from town to town on the autobahn or autostrade is a piece of cake. The catch here is you need to have a "general idea" and this is on the major roadways. Once you enter a town or city, all bets are out the window. I haven't had to do much navigating here in Germany, but I got a lifetime of experience navigating in Italy in one single solitary weekend. Wow, talk about an adventure.
Although we could have easily done the drive in one day, other logistics prevented Big R from reserving three nights at our hotel near Cinque Terre. Instead, we made reservations at a hotel in Trento, Italy, for the first night to break up the drive and spend some time in the Italian Alps. We had bought a large atlas of Europe and we had both looked at the map online the night before and had a good idea of where it was located - or so we thought... It just wouldn't be fair if things were that easy... There is a reason this was the first time I traveled to a European city by car - it brings on a whole new perspective. Street signs are relatively non-existent, the roads are narrow, and pedestrians are plenty. Also, remember what I said earlier about Italian drivers? Yeah, it can be fun. I'm not sure how long it took us to find our hotel, I just know that we finally did. After hitting a deadend for the fifteenth time and having no clue where we were in relation to anything else in town, I convinced Big R to let me hop out of the car and try to find a map or a friendly Italian that might give us a clue - ANY CLUE - to where we were. It worked. With a map in hand, we found our hotel in a matter of minutes. HA, funny how that works.
After getting settled into our hotel room, we took off to explore Trento. What an amazing place.
We took over 150 pictures of Trento and picking a favorite to share is a difficult task, so here is just a flavor of the sites throughout town.
We narrowly escaped a massive downpour when we returned to our hotel. The initial thought was that little r might actually take a nap - HA - didn't exactly happen. So, instead we enjoyed watching the rain from our window and preparing ourselves for our evening outing. One of our new rules is to try with all of our might NOT to venture out for food in a foreign place where we don't speak the language and with a screaming toddler when we are super hungry. Not a good plan. Seeing this was going to be an issue, we did a quick stop at the wine bar downstairs and started our journey toward relaxation mode. Could not have been more glad we made that stop. Finding a meal proved to be a much bigger challenge than we had bargained for. I'd like to say we were being stereotyped as Americans as we were constantly getting the cold shoulder, but nearly everyone that saw us thought we were German (are Germans the problem? I highly doubt that...), or maybe it was the fact that we had a toddler in tow? No clue what the deal was but we were practically refused service. We decided later that we had unfortunately picked the wrong table at the wrong restaurant at exactly the wrong time... Dinner did happen that night. We found what looked to be a much more friendly staff and relaxed environment, and it all went well. Thoughts were filling our heads that Trento must be for the young crowd and that children were just not all that accepted after dark. WRONG, man were we wrong. The problem was we started the night far too early. Italians do things so differently than we do. Thinking we'd be in good shape heading out for food after 7pm was a huge mistake. Around 9pm we looked around and noticed the tables were full and there were so many families including very small children eating out at the late hour. I, for one, was relieved that it wasn't "us" as much as it was that we were working against the grain. The culture was not ready for our early-hour hunger, and we should have asked for nothing more than a cocktail. I also appreciated that we were not the only couple that brought a child to dinner. We were so concerned we were performing a major cultural faux pas. Glad to see we were one of many with children. Unlike the Italian bambinos, our little bear was far from awake and was instead heading to overtired land, so we wrapped up and took the stroll home.
This past weekend was our first big four-day. As a surprise for our anniversary, Big R planned a trip to take the family to Italy, the Cinque Terre to be exact. Wanting initially for us all to pile into the car and head south, Big R decided the trip would be just as special if I knew about it first. Being that the logistics would probably require some of my input, the surprise quickly became something to look forward to. Not only were we going to Cinque Terre with a toddler, but we were also taking the pup and we were driving there. The fact that we are a day's drive away from the Italian Riviera is still baffling to me...
Much to our surprise, it is pretty easy to travel by car in Europe. We hadn't heard many people complain much about driving in Germany or even Austria, but we had heard nightmares of driving in Italy. Either we were in all the right parts of Italy or we are crazy drivers because we really didn't have much trouble at all. If you have a general idea of where you are going, navigating from town to town on the autobahn or autostrade is a piece of cake. The catch here is you need to have a "general idea" and this is on the major roadways. Once you enter a town or city, all bets are out the window. I haven't had to do much navigating here in Germany, but I got a lifetime of experience navigating in Italy in one single solitary weekend. Wow, talk about an adventure.
Although we could have easily done the drive in one day, other logistics prevented Big R from reserving three nights at our hotel near Cinque Terre. Instead, we made reservations at a hotel in Trento, Italy, for the first night to break up the drive and spend some time in the Italian Alps. We had bought a large atlas of Europe and we had both looked at the map online the night before and had a good idea of where it was located - or so we thought... It just wouldn't be fair if things were that easy... There is a reason this was the first time I traveled to a European city by car - it brings on a whole new perspective. Street signs are relatively non-existent, the roads are narrow, and pedestrians are plenty. Also, remember what I said earlier about Italian drivers? Yeah, it can be fun. I'm not sure how long it took us to find our hotel, I just know that we finally did. After hitting a deadend for the fifteenth time and having no clue where we were in relation to anything else in town, I convinced Big R to let me hop out of the car and try to find a map or a friendly Italian that might give us a clue - ANY CLUE - to where we were. It worked. With a map in hand, we found our hotel in a matter of minutes. HA, funny how that works.
After getting settled into our hotel room, we took off to explore Trento. What an amazing place.
We narrowly escaped a massive downpour when we returned to our hotel. The initial thought was that little r might actually take a nap - HA - didn't exactly happen. So, instead we enjoyed watching the rain from our window and preparing ourselves for our evening outing. One of our new rules is to try with all of our might NOT to venture out for food in a foreign place where we don't speak the language and with a screaming toddler when we are super hungry. Not a good plan. Seeing this was going to be an issue, we did a quick stop at the wine bar downstairs and started our journey toward relaxation mode. Could not have been more glad we made that stop. Finding a meal proved to be a much bigger challenge than we had bargained for. I'd like to say we were being stereotyped as Americans as we were constantly getting the cold shoulder, but nearly everyone that saw us thought we were German (are Germans the problem? I highly doubt that...), or maybe it was the fact that we had a toddler in tow? No clue what the deal was but we were practically refused service. We decided later that we had unfortunately picked the wrong table at the wrong restaurant at exactly the wrong time... Dinner did happen that night. We found what looked to be a much more friendly staff and relaxed environment, and it all went well. Thoughts were filling our heads that Trento must be for the young crowd and that children were just not all that accepted after dark. WRONG, man were we wrong. The problem was we started the night far too early. Italians do things so differently than we do. Thinking we'd be in good shape heading out for food after 7pm was a huge mistake. Around 9pm we looked around and noticed the tables were full and there were so many families including very small children eating out at the late hour. I, for one, was relieved that it wasn't "us" as much as it was that we were working against the grain. The culture was not ready for our early-hour hunger, and we should have asked for nothing more than a cocktail. I also appreciated that we were not the only couple that brought a child to dinner. We were so concerned we were performing a major cultural faux pas. Glad to see we were one of many with children. Unlike the Italian bambinos, our little bear was far from awake and was instead heading to overtired land, so we wrapped up and took the stroll home.
One new thing for Big R and I to get accustomed to on these trips is little r's early awakenings. Although we are never ready to embrace the day as early as the little bear, we find that he allows us to experience places in a whole new way (and light) - quiet and early. Trento just happens to be one of those places that is magical first thing in the morning. Here are some of the beautiful pictures Big R captured on our early morning stroll...
An ancient ruin in the early morning light...
Not a soul in the square - how many people get to experience this?
Views from breakfast...
And some good puppy walk time before the crowds...
After a lovely breakfast, we packed up the car, had a few more snarls (although none of them had anything to do with getting lost, believe it or not), and took off for an unexpected, but fully planned detour through the Alps on our way to the Italian Riviera.
Stay tuned for Part II...
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