I just sent out an invite to my sister asking her to join on as a blogger on the site. Hopefully she'll have no problems figuring this out.

We're home!

It seems like I had to drive all day and all night for the past 10 nights but we finally made it home. And boy, is it worth it! After leaving Pisa we decided to re-evaluate our drive route home. Switzerland and their high road fees kind of turned us off so we thought going back out the way we came in would be the best solution. We skipped Milano and headed back to Vicenza for the night. The next day we headed out to Austria and then Germany. The trip to Austria was quite exciting as we had drove over some of the back roads of the Italian Alps. The scenery was incredibly beautiful but the odors were quite strong. After crossing the top we noticed the odors became much worse. It seemed really strange that the Italians were so fond of burning rubber..... During a quick rest break we noticed a great deal of smoke coming from under the front end of the car and all around the tires! It turned out that the breaks were over-heating as we were driving. I guess the excess weight in the car and all of the stop and go driving were just too much. After letting the breaks cool off, we started out again, albeit much more cautiously.

By the time we came down from the Italian Alps and the over-heating breaks fiasco, we were in a hurry to get to the hotel. Austria, naturally, became a big blur in the rear view mirror. We arrived in Chiemsee, Germany, very late in the evening and were only able to fall into bed and sleep. We were shocked the next morning when we woke up. The darkness during our drive in didn't let us see the beauty of the mountains and the lake. We stayed there until mid-day and then we started a mad dash to Ramstein Air Base, our next hotel. With the smoking break episode from the day before still fresh in our minds, we were nerve wracked the whole way to Ramstein but fortunately the worst thing that happened was a rest/food stop at a highly overpriced German Rasthaus.

Ramstein was a relief. We finally got to have some good 'ol artery clogging 'murican food. After shopping the next day, we made the last great dash to the house. After a phone call to the grand parents, we fell asleep for a much deserved rest from the vacation. Pictures to follow one day. :)

We finally broke loose of Rome and made it to Pisa! Two nights in Camp Darby allowed us to visit Pisa and get some much needed rest. Everybody I spoke to told me that whenever we go to Pisa, it'd be a matter of just visiting the Leaning Tower of Pisa and then go home. How wrong they were. The tower is actually one of several buildings in a large compound called the Piazza dei Miracoli. Every other building in the compound is much, much more interesting than the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Make sure you take the time to wander around and look at everything - plan about a day or a day and a half. Be prepared though, admission to all of the buildings, museums and the Leaning Tower of Pisa costs around 28 Euros per . Children under 15 get in for free. If you wish to enter the Tower, buy your tickets the day before. You'll have a very difficult time getting in the same day unless you buy your tickets very early in the morning. Public parking is available near by but it will cost about 5 Euros for half a day.

From Camp Darby we drove back to Vicenza, Italy, and camped out another night in their most awesome guest house. The guest house is worth visiting all on it's own. From Vicenza, we're off to Chiemsee, Germany, one of the US Military's top recreation spots. We'll see how things are there once we arrive and I'll see if we can post more information as we go along.

Tot Ziens!