Destinations in Europe

Travel is one of the things I absolutely love to do. This blog is dedicated to Europe, as I am always happy to share my experiences of traveling abroad with my loyal readers.

I've been to Europe three times in the past six years. It is one of my favorite destinations. In 2004 I went to Lake Zurich, Switzerland. I stayed at a lovely hotel called the Sone Seehotel (www.sonne.ch) for a week. The hotel was right on the water, and I actually took a fairy into town, on a beautiful sunny day, and went shopping on a strip called Bahnhofstrasse. One end of this strip was like being on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills...I won't even mention what the price tag read for a pair of shoes. But then, as you progressed down the strip, the stores became more affordable for us "ordinary" folks. And of course this is the end of the strip where I did my shopping..lol. The only restaurant where I remember dining was one called Falken Da Rizzo in Kusnacht. I don't remember much about the meal except that I had more wine than I ever thought I would drink. The business associates that I dined with kept the wine coming..and the wines we were drinking were like $80 per bottle. Needless to say that even though I'm really into wine, I didn't take down the names of those babies (-:

In 2005, I traveled to Lucerne, Switzerland (although in some places I've seen it spelled Luzern). On this trip, I stayed in a lovely hotel up on a mountain called the Furigen ( www.hotel-fuerigen.ch ). Outside the hotel, and across the green pastures were cows, pigs and lambs. And at about 4:00 in the morning, all you could hear were the huge, loud bells they wore around their necks. I'm imagining that the purpose of the bells was to keep up with them..so they wouldn't escape and get lost. It was the most beautiful environment I'd ever seen. Now I don't remember if this was the case when I was in Lake Zurich, but this hotel in Lucerne didn't have irons. You actually had to pay to have your suits pressed every day. That was about the only amenity that was missing. Every day, while I was out and about, the staff would place a small plate of fresh fruit in my room, and turn my bed down. It was an amazing trip. Don't have a restaurant to review in Lucerne because I dined at the restaurants onsite just about every evening, and had breakfast onsite in the mornings. There were huge mountains outside the hotel, with snow on their peeks. I was in awe and had to ask how snow could be on the peaks of the mountains when it was hot...I believe I went during the month of August. That was when I first got the understanding that even though it was hot there, at the altitude of the tips of those mountains, the temperature was extremely cold...amazing. I also went sailing, that was an interesting experience that I probably won't relive (smiling). The three things that I clearly remember about both of the Switzerland locations are that they were both extremely clean, like you could literally eat off the floor of the trains...impeccable; they were very conservative, to the extent that the hotels and meeting rooms didn't even have air; and there were no smoking laws like here in the US, the restaurants were literally filled with smoke. And the other memorable fact is that just about everyone I encounterd spoke at least two languages, but often...English...and then two out of these three: German, French, or Italian. This is because Switzerland is bordered by all three of those countries. Overall, two great trips. I would revisit Switzerland any time!

In 2006, I traveled to London, for about three days, a much shorter trip than my two trips to Switzerland. London very much reminded me of New York. The streets were crowded, and there was lots of activity no matter what time you stepped out of the hotel. I dined at a restaurant that had, no kidding, the absolute best Tiramisu I have ever had in my life. It was actually served in a bowl, rather than on a plate and was in a thick liquid form. The name of the restaurant was Cipriani ( www.cipriani.com ). The dining experience was exquisite, and I literally just found out that there's one in New York! I have to visit that one to see if their Tiramisu is the same. I also stayed at a modern hotel called The Cumberland. It had the coolest lobby that was full of artistic decor and wax figures ( www.guoman.com ). And of course I visited Buckingham Palace. The picture I've included with this posting was taken right outside the Palace. I still have the tin from the English tea I bought from the gift shop.

Well, that's my recount of the time I spent in Europe. Hope you enjoyed my vivid sharing.