Europalooza 2012.  That was an amazing two weeks.  It felt like I was gone for three months, not just two weeks.  It was so refreshing to be away from technology and non-stop work and to just be out in the world.  I really needed it and loved every moment of it!

This trip was a family reunion of sorts.  My brother (Mike) and his girlfriend (Sam) and I met up with my Aunt Marie and Uncle Chuck (AMUC) who were traveling in Europe for the first time in celebration of her completing her doctorate degree.  We had decided to get together and visit the villages that the Italian side of our family is from, so this would be my maternal great grandparents.  After visiting these villages in Italy, AMUC returned to the states and Mike, Sam and I rented a tiny Fiat Panda and made our way through Slovenia, Vienna, and Czech Republic.  In CZ, we met up with our brother-in-law who was there on business and a few of my very close friends who I had not seen in four years.  It was definitely a type of homecoming for me.  More details on that to follow later. :)

So AMUC, Mike, Sam, and I all met in the Rome airport on June 27th.  Interestingly, it was here that my brother realized that he'd left his debit card at home and Sam encountered a broken ATM (the first of many for her).  We all piled into a vehicle that UC had arranged and set off on our journey.  The hotel that we had made a reservation at turned out to be closed upon our arrival at 6pm, so we ended up staying at a different place just up the road, which was pretty fantastic.  It was Albergo del Lago in Villetta Barrea - a tiny mountain village near a lake.  We had a lovely dinner complete with fresh olives and wine (I had pasta with fresh local mushrooms - yum!), slept well, and packed up the next morning to begin tracing our roots.

More Europe? Check out day two and our visit to my great grandmother's village!

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