Everything Leans in Pisa

Reuben and I debated the title of this post..... his choice was, "Pisa is a run-down house with an un-kept lawn." In any case, between the two, I think you get the point. If you ever have the chance to visit Pisa, I would strongly encourage you to dedicate no more than 4 hours of your time to this city. Your 4 hours should be dedicated to seeing the Leaning Tower, and maybe grabbing a quick pizza lunch. Still.... seeing the tower is pretty damn cool. It takes you back to Weekly Readers and 5th grade history class - - it's got to be one of the first landmarks you learn about as an American.

Disenchanted with Pisa, we ended up taking a side trip to the nearby town of Lucca, where Puccini hails from. Completely charming - - stay there instead if you go! See more pictures of Pisa and Lucca here (including the obligatory one where you pose like you're holding up the tower)

It's no joke, everything leans

Theme Song

If Reuben and I were to have a theme song for our time in Ireland, it would surely be the Ryanair jingle (If you have flown Ryanair, you already know why). If you're not familiar with Ryanair, the best way to describe it is a flying city bus where they sell gin, lottery tickets, and duty free items. Most of the stewards are young, attractive Eastern Europeans, and all the passengers are ready to party. They play the jingle during boarding. At this point I'm like Pavlov's dog.... When I hear the jingle, I'm ready for a cold beverage. Click here to listen

"Let's fly, let's fly, fly...fly RY-AN-AIR"

Learning to Drive Again

Just a post to remind myself how proud I am of being able to drive a stick-shift car with my left hand, sitting on the right side of the car, driving down the left side of the road. All this without hitting anything or killing anyone. (And Dad, you thought I was awful with a regular manual......just wait for the big treat of riding around with me here.) By the way, Reuben is a natural, parallel parking and all......

The McFadden Ranchmobile...hot!

The MANSIZE tissue

Do they have these in the US??? Special Kleenex for Men.

When a regular wimpy tissue just won't do......

Wengen Again

On a side note to our Swiss tour, part of our hike took us through Wengen, a small town in the mountains. I stayed in Wengen on my first ever trip to Europe (14 yrs ago-yikes!), and I was completely enchanted by it. I was a little nervous to return, because I had such good memories and didn't want them ruined!

I am happy to report that it remains the enchanting place I remember from waaaay back when.

Allison in Wengen 14 yrs on; Hotel Regina in the background

Basel & Interlaken

This weekend was a long, bank holiday weekend in Ireland, so Reuben and I took advantage and went to Switzerland. We mainly selected Switzerland because Ryan Air had really cheap rates to Basel....

Switzerland is truly storybook material. The air smells like cows (in a good, wholesome way, not a rank manure way), the lakes are turquoise, and the hillsides are dotted with perfect little cottages. The livestock wear little bells, so there is a constant windchime noise on the breeze. Cheese fondue flows freely. And the trains are always ON TIME. (Note that my Dublin lads think on time trains are BORING.)

We spent the first couple of days hiking in the Alps and touring the Bernese Oberland region (the Eiger). Our last day we loafed around Basel, which looks to me like an outstanding place to live... there was a laid back-soak in the sunshine-have a beer over a game of bocce ball on the public lawn after work kind of vibe. Click here for photos of our Switzerland adventures.

Possum Junction strikes again in the Alps