Vacation 2009 (part 1)

by Amy ~ June 28, 2009

One positive of the downturn in the economy is cheap airfare to Europe! We found a great deal on tickets to Zurich, Switzerland (which were cheaper than we usually pay to fly to DC!) . We had a direct flight from Seattle to Frankfurt, a short layover, then another flight to Zurich. The direct flight from Seattle goes very far north so it cuts off a lot of travel time. With the direct flight, the Seattle to Frankfurt flight is only 10 hours (DC to Frankfurt is 8 ½ hours but if you fly Seattle-DC the flight is about 5 hours!).

Since we flew so far north it was sunny the entire flight. We completely missed the nighttime. When we arrived in Zurich we were pretty exhausted. We spent our first night at the Hilton in Zurich relaxing. Zurich is about 8 hours from Z’s family in Ljubljana, Slovenia but we had a night in Innsbruck, Austria to break up the drive.

En route to Innsbruck, Austria. On the way we stopped at Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany which was the inspiration for Disneyland and Sleeping Beauty. The castle was very pretty but pretty isolated and you don’t get a great view of the castle (check out wikipedia – the castle is pretty beautiful but you never really see that view from anywhere!) The drive through the Bavarian countryside was incredibly beautiful. We had one of our best meals on the trip in a restaurant where no one spoke any English and we just kind of pointed to the few words Z knew (chicken, asparagus, and potatoes). Outside of Innsbruck, we visited the Swarovski factory which was a little bizarre!

Z’s sister, Lucija, also flew to Slovenia to visit while we were there. We had a great time hiking, walking around the town, and enjoying some of the local cuisine. Check out part 1 of our vacation pictures below.

View our photos from Part 1 of Vacation 2009.