Alsace, France

My niece, Sariah, really wanted to see France on this trip and her wish came true after our little mishap with the house we rented in Switzerland. Our last night we spent in the Alsace, which is right on the German and French border. We had been there just last month, but we love the area and wanted to explore more! We went to 3 different towns: Colmar, Riquewihr, and Kaysersberg. Colmar and Kaysersberg were both new to us. Colmar is the largest city in the region and had many neat neighborhoods including a beautiful cathedral. Riquewihr we did at night, and it is gorgeous all lit up! Kaysersberg was quite a surprise as it was absolutely adorable! Probably the cutest town we've ever seen (which is saying a lot). We liked it so much we'll be back for the Christmas markets in December!

Colmar: 

Riquewihr at night:

Kaysersberg:

Lucerne, Switzerland

Our trip to Switzerland was a short one. We had intended to stay 2 nights in a house outside Lucerne in the middle of the country. Upon our arrival, our house that we had rented was not up to our standards (or the pictures that were shown to us). It was quite an adventure! We decided to just stay one night at a nearby Gastehaus, and then head into the Alsace in France. It turned out to be a lovely detour. It wasn't a complete loss, we did get to spend a day in Lucerne (a first time for us). Old town Lucerne was really neat, and had a historic pedestrian bridge with a lot of history. Parts of the bridge was destroyed in a fire, and some of the beautiful artwork was lost. 

 Artwork in the bridge not destroyed:

Lake Como, Italy

Lake Como is one of our favorite places in all of Italy (or all of Europe really), so we knew we wanted to take the Tillotson Clan. Our apartments were neat, and had awesome views of the lake. We had quite a fiasco parking our bus up the hill, but it was a fun adventure. The weather wasn't terrific, but we still enjoyed visits to the 2 coolest cities on the Lake: Bellagio and Verena. My favorite city in Italy is Bellagio. It's really cute, has great shopping, fantastic views, and we've always had great food! I love this street walking up the steps to the top of the town:

Views of Varena from the boat:

 Varena:

Krk Island, Croatia

Our only beach trip all summer was to Krk Island, Croatia. It's the largest island in Croatia and has several beautiful beaches and neat towns to explore. We thought it to be a little "Mexico" ish. During our 3 day visit, we went to a large and very crowded beach one day, did some shopping, spent some time in a neat wine hill town, enjoyed the ruins in the Capital City of Krk, and really liked our afternoon at a private beach (the people watching was very entertaining).

Lake Bled

We travelled back to one of our favorite summer spots to visit for a second time, Lake Bled. The Lake is in the mountains of Slovenia and a very popular spot for summer tourists. The island in the middle of the Lake with the church has beautiful views and there is also a castle that overlooks the lake. During this quick 2 day adventure, we rowed out to the island to check out the church. We also swam a bit in the lake, went on the summer tobaggan, hiked up to the castle, and visited Vintgar's Gorge.

Island in the middle of the lake:

Walking down to our boat:

Steps leading up to the Church:

The Tillotson's paddling out to the island:

Vintgar's Gorge:

Austria, Lake Grundlsee

After our few days in Bavaria, we headed to Lake Grundlsee in Austria. The lake is very close to Lake Hallstadt and St. Wolfgang (where we went last summer). We absolutely love this area in Austria! The mountains and lakes are beautiful and it's always so quiet and peaceful. Our only complaint was the weather wasn't that great the few days we were there. It rained a lot, and we didn't get to explore the lake or get out on a boat like we had hoped. The kids loved our hotel with an indoor pool, and we also enjoyed another salt mine tour. Here are some pictures of us after the Salt Mine tour in Allstat. 

Neuschwanstein Castle

Our 3rd time this year going to Neuschwanstein! It only means we love taking people here because they love it :) We actually saw a different angle of the castle that we had never seen before. We took the 15 minute hike to a bridge that overlooked the castle from the back. It's beautiful! We also took the tour for the first time in 3 years. Both Jeff and I commented how ornate and nice the castle was. The first time we had visited, it was our first visit to any German Castle. Now after seeing tons of castles, we can appreciate just how impressive the inside is!