A Trip of a Lifetime...

It's been nearly a month since we got back, and this is long overdue.  This year marked some monumental anniversaries in the Pooley family - so monumental that it needed its own incredible celebratory vacation.  Nana and Papa celebrated their 50th anniversary on August 7th and Ryan and I celebrated our 25th anniversary on July 28th.  To celebrate, we took a two week trip to Europe and sailed up the Rhine River.

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND

The river cruise started in Switzerland.  We flew into Zurich and spent the night before boarding the cruise ship the following morning outside of Basel.  We arrived early in the morning and had the day to spend in Zurich before we could check into our hotel room.  

We managed to walk the (incredibly gorgeous) streets of Zurich and take in some of its beauty.  

We also scheduled a tour of the Lindt chocolate museum in the afternoon.  Our bottoms were dragging from the jet lag, but we powered through and tasted some pretty delicious chocolate.  

We mustered through the evening and started the following day early - eager to get on board and check out the ship. 

Day 1 (port location - Huningue, France {across the river from Basel})

BASEL, SWITZERLAND

Our ship left out of Basel (or there about).  Before the ship took sail though, we were able to take an optional excursion of Basel.  When in Europe, why wouldn't you see and do all that you can?! So off we went to check out Basel's city center.

We ooohed and aaahed over the gorgeousness of the city...

We saw and toured a beautiful cathedral...

We saw the Rhine River with all the Europeans that were wading in the river after work during the noon hour... You probably can't see them in the picture, but all the speckles in the water are actually people floating up the river. 

And we did a wee bit of shopping to grab a few souvenirs.  And before the ship set sail, we dropped the bigs and littles back at the ship and Ryan and I took a walk across the "3 Countries Bridge" - where the bridge intersects the three countries of Switzerland, France, and Germany.  

We walked across to Germany to say that we had been, walked through their version of a "mall" and quickly headed back to the ship for departure time. 

In the next post, we visit several places throughout France and Germany.  Stay tuned for more beautiful castles and churches and city centers.  The scenery is beyond gorgeous and the pictures don't begin to do it justice.