Our last day of vacation, and while we have had an amazing time, we are both ready to be home, in our own bed and with clean clothes. While we are both used to traveling, being gone for two weeks is still a bit long. We had decided that our weekend in Florence would be relaxing and we would not feel obligated to be on the go the entire day. So, of course that meant sleeping in and cappuccino's at an outdoor table.    After another relaxing morning, we ...

This morning we woke up not to open windows and birds chirping, but to silence. And, that was a good thing! Unlike the peaceful Tuscan countryside, Florence is all city, with the sounds that go along with it, such as horns, yelling and carts being hauled across old roads made of stone. So, we are happy that our hotel has extremely well made windows, that allows us to open them when we choose and close them when we want to sleep.   After sleeping in, we wen...

Wow, can't believe it is our last day with Backroads. In a few hours we will be dropped back off at the Florence train station, where 6 days ago we all started the journey. In those days we have made new friends, conquered fears of hills (both up and down), compared bruises, scrapes and other assorted ouches, enjoyed amazing views, local scenery, food, wine and experiences and most of all, loved our trip.    While most of our riding mates headed out fo...

Our sleep last night was not great due to the street sounds below our room. People yelling, cars roaring past (even on the small one-lane street) and scooters all contributed to a less than sound sleeping environment. But, Tuscany was awaiting and we hauled ourselves out of bed and fixed bowls of cereal and yogurt, all provided for in our kitchen.   We had to meet our Backroads tour group at the rail station at 10am, where Eduardo ("call me Ed') was wait...

This morning was an early wake up call, as our train to Florence left Murren at 7:06am. The entire trip would take about 6.5 hours and consist of 5 trains and 1 gondola. On the first three legs Muren-Lauterbrannen-Interlaken, we were the only passengers so we could relax and not feel crowded. However, once we got to Interlaken, our quiet revere was over. From that point, the trains were packed!    We got our Interlaken-Spiez train with no issue and had...