The 5 year anniversary

We had an incredibly busy day today (Thurs)!  Jumped a bus to Lugano to catch another funicular up to Mt. Bre' (925 meters up).  Then came the hike down!  Keeping up with Lori was no easy feat.  All 10 of us met up at a cute little lakeside restaurant in Gandria before splitting up with some of us walking the Olive trail back and some of us taking the ferry back to Lugano.  The walk had stellar views of the lake...and the many lakeside villas!

Tonight was the big anniversary party that included a private boat tour of the lake (complete with many bottles of Prossecco and some antipasti).  From the boat we were evenable to see the castle where Brian and Karen were married 5 years ago:)  The boat then dropped us off at a restaurant lakeside called La Palma for the anniversary banquet.  Great food, great wine, heart-felt toasts and a ton of laughs...an evening to be remembered for sure!

Lugano

Well we made it to Switzerland via train no problem - it's amazing how efficient the Italian and Swiss train systems are!
The house that we're renting is just fantastic - 5 bedrooms, big living room and kitchen area, ultra-modern, view of the lake and an infinity pool as a bonus!  Everyone made it in onTuesday except Lori and Marsheila who unfortunately got stuck in Frankfurt - but all are here now.
Wednesday a group of us took the funicular up San Salvotare - just under 3000 feet up witha spectacular 360° view of the surrounding area.  After an awesome lunch in town (La Tinera)and some window-shopping, we met up with the full group (19 total) for a fantastic dinner at Grotto al Bosco.  The anniversary couple not only enticed 10 friends from the Seattle area to join them, but also 7 family members from Western Wa and Hawaii to make the trek here.  Let's just say the stories so far of everyone's different travel experiences have been fascinating!  Not to mention include a massive amount of laughs:)   Needless to say it's a little surreal to be experiencing this half way around the world...

Venice Wrapup

The two full days we spent in Venice were almost just enough...not quite though so we'll need to come back.  We didn't have a chance to fit in the iconic gondola ride...or get to Lido...or see Paul Allen's yacht (though we did see a massive one named the Phoenix2 which is owned by a Polish billionaire who's only worth 3.5 billion - a measly 20% of Paul's worth;)
But we did fit in plenty...a visit to St. Marks...touring the Doges Palace...climbing the Camanile/bell tower...taking the vaparetto to visit San Giorgio Maggiore... of course making sure we crossed all four bridges across the Grand Canal...doing a little window shopping (and ensuring we didn't bring home a watch that cost €23600)...and of course fitting in a lot of venetian food and wine!  All in all a successful visit. Only thing I'd change is the amount of cruise ships that could dock on any given day.  Seven is too many!  Good thing there are plenty of places on the island to escape!
If you haven't made the trek to Venice, we'd totally recommend it - it's a place like no other!

Finally getting blogspot to work. Yea!
Arrived in Venizia and our hotel (Ca' Dogaressa) just fine after a long day of traveling.  We love having all this water around -- and only boats, no cars.  Having a cocktail canalside, we saw our first aqua/water ambulance. You definitely don't see those everyday.
Amazingly we found the restaurant that night - through quite a few dark alley ways. Though being on an island it's hard to get too lost. Phew! :)