A quick trip to Colmar

It was on my birthday when I went on a trip to Colmar. It’s the third largest city of the Alsace.

I wanted to visit Colmar for years and, why not doing it on my birthday. It is charming and colorful, somehow surreal and makes you feel like going back in time. It's about a two hour drive from Zurich.

I’ll let the pictures tell the story.

Delicious treats everywhere

Heart attack

Luckily the sun came out eventually.

Our way home led us through picturesque villages and beautiful landscape, surrounded by green mountains and over Le Grand Ballon, from where we enjoyed a nice view and some more summer sun.

It was the perfect day to celebrate.

La dolce vita in Italy

It was on the Easter weekend when I headed south with a good friend of mine. Our first stop was Turin, a pretty city in the region of Piedmont. We had a fantastic two days there and enjoyed the architecture and the yummy food that Italy has to offer.

    
   

There were musicians playing sweet music pretty much around every corner and I could have listened to the beautiful melodies forever.

   
  

Beautiful flowers all over town.

Deliciousness everywhere.

We enjoyed the sights over the city from different viewpoints. First we headed up to Monte dei Cappuccini in the morning. It’s about a 15 minute walk out of town and uphill. Usually you can see the mountains that surround Turin, but unfortunately the sky wasn’t clear enough. The view was nice anyway.

Next we were climbing up the stairs on top of the tower of the Turin Cathedral. The view didn’t disappoint.

After two short days in Turin we hit the road with a rental car to our next destination. It was quite the adventure to get there, since the Italian style of driving isn’t for everyone, but we made it safe and sound to Novello, a charming town in the midst of green vineyards and surrounded by snowcapped mountains. We were enchanted right away.

After strolling around we sat down on the porch of a restaurant and enjoyed some really tasty snacks while overlooking the valley.

We visited the neighboring town Barolo and ate some gelati.

We arrived back at our agriturismo just before a hail storm hit the region, we explored our place a little and watched the skies turn dark. It was quite the spectacle and we were lucky to watch the storm from our hotel room. We were stunned by the power of nature as the storm with hail, thunder and lightning rolled over us.

We used the time till dinner to write on our travelogs.

As the storm was over and the sky cleared up a little, there was this gorgeous sunset that immersed the landscape in a beautiful golden light.

The next day we got up in the wee hours to watch the sun rise over the valley beneath Novello and we even lucked out seeing the mountains in the distance. It was truly breathtaking.

All too soon we had to leave this green and enchanting place and off we were on our way to Verona.

To say Verona was crowded would be an understatement. This city was stuffed with people.

But we had fun anyway and enjoyed this charming place.

Of course we wanted to see Giulietta's balcony, although there was almost no going through.

And we indulged in the most delicious food and treats.

The other day which was sadly also our last day of our trip, we got up quite early to walk the still sleepy city. It was nice to have the streets mostly to ourselves and we enjoyed the peace an early morning brings.

We even revisited Giulietta’s house. If you’re suffering from a broken heart, you can ask the Juliet Club for advice and leave a message here. How sweet and romantic is that? It became a tradition over the years, a pretty special one I must say. Of course people can send their messages from all over the world too.

We really had an epic trip and a fantastic time. Italy is definitely a great Country to travel.

Our journey was over way too soon, until next time…