Milan, Italy

Central European Driving Vacation:

The trip we have planned for months now has finally come!!  

The day after school let out, we packed up and made our way to central Europe for our 10 day driving tour/trip.  We had originally planned on 13 days but Morgan had her dance recital on July 5th that we had to be back for so we cut our last two stops out to make it home in time.  

For our trip, we had planned: fly to Milan, Italy, stay one night, spend one day in Zurich, Switzerland, one day in Munich, Germany, one day in Salzburg, Austria, two days in Vienna, Austria, two days in Budapest, Hungary, two days in Prague, Czech Republic, and our last day driving back to Milan, Italy for our early 6:50 flight the following morning. Had I known how fast the days would pass and how short our time would be in some of the cities, we would have planned it a little differently but hind sight is always 20/20- right?

Day one: Tuesday June 24, 2014- Milan

Today is the first day of summer for the kids and instead of sleeping in, relaxing, and enjoying the time off of school, we booked our summer vacation.  We woke up bright and early (I am not even sure if the sun was up yet) got ready and hit the road by 7:30am to head to the Sevilla airport.  Once we were there, we got ourselves through check out, ate breakfast, and waited…. over an hour longer than we should have had to due to delayed schedule… BOO

Finally boarding the plane:

 

Our flight took off around 11:45… and we landed close to 3pm in Milan, Italy.  After we rented our car (not even close to the Audi A class… they ‘upgraded us’ to a freaking Nissan quisquikkkk or whatever the heck it is called).  When I told them this is not what I wanted nor what I paid for, they said it was better… in what world is a Nissan faster and better than a freaking Audi??  Seriously lame!!

We finally made it into Milan- found an underground parking garage and made our way to the cathedral.  

 The first of MANY flower stand shots- they make me happy!

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 Love:

  

 On the way- we walked by a square with Michelangelo's statue, then through the most expensive shopping quarters in the world (Prada, LV, Versage, and one more-) then straight out to the cathedral.

 The kids were starving since it has been all day since they last ate but we told Rokzanne and Mike we would wait for them so we needed to kill about another hour.  We got the kids ice cream, walked around the square, bought Aydin his statue of the cathedral, fed the birds… straight from our hands… and then started walking away from the cathedral.  

First stop in the square: Gellato

In case you were wondering... Gellato = AMAZING

 The Milan Cathedral... it was beautiful!!    

  

  Birds.... everywhere. 

 Not long into our walk (literally around the other side of the church) we spotted Rokzanne and Mike… eating…. we sat down with them and waited for them to finish so we could feed our kids. The ice cream was NOT nearly enough to fill them... thankfully they were great and didn't complain about waiting a bit longer. 

Morgan and Mackenzie with a statue:

 After they finished, we walked down the streets looking for somewhere we could all eat that was not going to break the bank…. No such luck we were in Milan after all… so we ended up at a little place not too far from the cathedral.  

 Couldn't pass up a picture with the Greek flag:

FINALLY we stopped for food:

Mike and Aydin

 Morgan, Madi and Mackenzie

 Rokzanne showing Liam how to properly apply hand sanitizer: 

  The food was ok- not the best food ever… but the kids had fun.  

While eating… the heavens opened up and rain poured down.  

We stayed just long enough to have it pass… and we walked (well Liam and I danced) back through the streets to the car.

  

We arrived at the hotel around 10pm… and it is nice.  2 room- sofa bed, two twin beds in one room with a dining room table and such, and a bed room with two more chairs, full closet, bathroom, kitchenette, etc.  This would be a great place to stay for an extended amount of time.  

Too bad we only have a day here.

Tomorrow Zurich.  

Rokzanne and Mike will not be driving… at least not behind us… they are flying to Munich- getting their car and coming back down so we will meet up sometime in the afternoon- hopefully.