Our final road trip stop was Cinque Terre Italy.  It wasn't on our original plan and I'm so glad we changed it up because it was incredible! It is located in the north west of Italy and is made up of 5 beautiful multi-colored villages. (Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore.) We got to visit 3 of them and saw them all from the sea on our boat ride. This personally wouldn't be somewhere Will and I would want to spend a lot of time in, but for a short trip, it's a great stop, especially in the summer time.  We wish it would have been warm enough to swim in the sea with the beautiful view of the villages behind us.

One of my top bucket list items was finally marked off and it was everything I had hoped AND MORE! I grew up watching the Sound of Music, singing all the songs, and reenacting scenes with my sister.  It's my all time favorite movie so seeing all the places where the movie was filmed was so incredible.  I also couldn't miss out on the opportunity to re-enact some of my favorite scenes.  I owe William a special shout-out, not just for willingly coming along, but for following me around to find scenes from the movie and filming my singing and dancing when I looked like a crazy person on the streets of Salzburg.  I made him watch the movie a few years ago and he fell asleep.  Old musicals are not his thing, but he cheerfully came along. (Although he did start falling asleep on the bus ride home. LOL)

I was originally very worried because the weather leading up the the tour was terrible.  Lots of rain, gray clouds, and storms.  Although the day ended up being dark and dreary, the rain came before and after the tour... A blessing!

Venice Italy was the second stop on our road trip.  Everyone isn't lying when they talk about how incredible the canals are running through this old city.  It was smaller than I had imagined, but probably seemed this way because I felt like I was in a maze  because there are so many different streets and bridges to take that lead you somewhere totally new.  We walked 10 miles each day we were there, so it's definitely not a place to go if you're looking for a relaxing trip.  However it's an awesome place to visit if you're looking for something totally different than you are used to.  The buildings are so old and worn down, in the best way possible.  Each street leads you to so many different paths and streets, with new bridges and new buildings to admire and there are no cars, which is super awesome.  Will and I really enjoyed seeing all the transportation boats... We saw a police boat, an ambulence boat, a tractor/construction boat, a UPS boat, etc.  Of course the Gondola's are the most romantic of all boats in Venice. Will and I were both pretty amazed at the blueish-green color of the water in Italy.  

Will and I have spent the last week and a half on a wonderful European roadtrip.  There were places we wanted to knock off our bucket list and this was the perfect time!  (A huge perk in France is the wonderful vacation time... I had over 20 paid days I still needed to use before June!! Thanks France!!)

Our original Roadtrip plan was visiting:
1. Lake Como, Italy
2. Venise, Italy
3. Salzburg, Austria
4. Munich, Germany (Later Changed to Cinque Terre, Italy)
5. Neuschwanstein Castle, Germany (Later Changed to Cinque Terre, Italy)
6. Interlaken, Switzerland (Later Changed to Cinque Terre, Italy)

A few days before we left the weather said that it would be raining and snowing in Germany and Switzerland. (IN MAY!!! CRAZY!!)  We ended up not booking any hotels/Air BNBs until we got a better idea of what the weather would be.  The day before we were to leave for Germany, the weather still said snow the next few days and since we knew we would be more north and in the mountains, we decided to head back to Italy for warmer sunnier weather.  We're so glad we did!  After leaving Salzburg, we headed to Cinque Terre Italy for a few days and really loved it! 

I am so grateful for the flexibility we have of living in Europe and having a car to go where we want and change plans when needed. The full Roadtrip itself was about 30 hours of driving.  Our first stop was Lake Como Italy.