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Thursday was a lazy day as the rains came down in the morning. We hit up the breakfast buffet at the hotel, and then with no real plan opted to just go back to sleep on a full stomach. Post breakfast naps are amazing. The laundry was picked up and the luggage was re-repacked. Not wanting to waste the day, we trekked to the bus station in full rain gear, and took a bus down to the National Swiss Automotive Museum. The general lobby had a lot on display, but peaking around the entry gates there wasn't a whole lot in the history of Swiss automobiles. The rain still fell so it was movie time! Next to the museum were a few other attractions and they were playing a 3D Space movie. This American made film dubbed over into German for the locals, but dubbed back to English for us yanks chronicled the NASA Space Program at a Swiss Museum. The rain finally drained the clouds, and the roads were drying and time to just explore some more before everything closed again and we had to get to t...

Wednesday was started off with a breakfast buffet and then a quick with a walk down to the boat docks where Simi had booked us on a Golden Route Tour. We boarded the boat and went on take a nice leisurely cruise across Lake Lucerne while gazing off in the distance the soaring Mount Pilatus - were we'd be standing at the top of in a few short hours. The boat stopped at a few docks to unload some passengers. Our boat dock stop was at the base of the world's steepest cogwheel railway to take us to the top. A rail car with big windows and bigger teeth grab the specialized train track as the little engine chugs up the side of Pilatus. The teeth prevent the train from jumping the tracks or giving in to gravity as the slope maxes out at 48%. That's steepness near impossible to walk on, but if you are adventurous and don't mind the exercise, you can walk the hiking switchback filled trail to the top in a mere 4 hours. The cog is about a 40 minute clickity-clackity ride to the ...

Breakfast fueled us up for the one scheduled day to soak in Zurich. The local tram escorted us downtown to get a lay of the land. After doing some exploring we opted to just go south of the city to Lake Zurich and found a park bench where we lost track of time staring off at the nearly clear blue water, and the puffy white clouds that ebbed and flowed around the mountaintops. We hunted down some souvenirs (Swiss chocolate!) and then were at the train station for a trip south west to Lucerne, Switzerland. We had gotten the recommendation for Lucerne from our wise neighbor who had traveled to the area on a school trip many moons ago.   https://photos.app.goo.gl/ A0cw9KjQui02OQTl1 Arrival in Lucerne meant a spark of excitement, quickly unloading and immediately going exploring. At the base of Lake Lucerne the city was thriving with life. The two parts of their main city center are split by the Reuss River that drains the lake. The two banks of the flowing waters are connected ...

Monday bought with it a 5am alarm. Our shuttle to the Brussels airport was going at the crack of dawn, but it also meant zero traffic. We were scheduled to fly south to Zurich, Switzerland. At the airport, we stored our bags and took advantage of the internal combustion engine and hopped onto a double-decker tour bus of Brussels for a majority of the afternoon. This wise move limited our walking. I tried some hot pepper chicken pad Thai for lunch, and then almost lost that lunch when we found out that they offer up carbonated ice tea. The bottle wasn't labeled and I don't think I'd ever tasted anything that foul. I tightened the cap and shook the bottle and released the pressure repeatedly for a good 15 minutes to maybe see if it was salvageable, and no friends, it was not. Brussels had the amazing building called the Atomium. This is a 1958 World's Fair creation of an iron crystal that's been magnified 165 billion times. It's a remarkable structure only out do...

Race day meant Sunday morning was super bright and early as we were going with 60,000 potential new friends to the circuit. Simi's favorite driver blew the car's engine, and the race itself was great. There were two teammates battling for position and they slammed into each other right in front of us with their car's breaking apart and the debris lined the track. This has been a strangely consistent issue between these guys. Their wreck brought out a safety car that brunched up the field for a last lap battle that just didn't pan out to be one for the ages. It was still an epic race and when the driver's were spraying the champagne Simi and I were climbing the exit hill and all under the darkening clouds that threatened more rain. Once out of the mass exodus jam, Sunday evening was more discovery of Maastricht and just getting lost intentionally to see what's around the next block. That night we shamelessly were in bed and fell asleep at 8pm. It was still light ...

Saturday began with me and the surrounding hills in a fog. I wanted a full night of sleep, and after getting a free (unwanted) shower while at the track Friday afternoon, I thought it best to kick any potential for a flu type bug by taking a Nyquil that night. That fog eventually was shaken off by the sound of 30+ Porsche SuperCup cars blasting through the trees and around the circuit. We had a split peppercorn burger for lunch, and found some comfy spots in the trees off the pedestrian walkways for a well needed afternoon nap. Jet lag is just a pain. On track the support series continued their schedule, and the F1 cars qualified for Sunday's race with an almost disappointing regularity. Another trip back to Maastricht for al fresco dining / people watching. By the way, gelato is just so tasty.

Maastricht is home to a university in which almost half of their classes are attended by Americans and taught in English. The small little city split by the Meuse River had zero problems adapting to our lack of knowing much of the Dutch tongue. The local restaurants welcomed us and we enjoyed some burgers that night, doing much to make sure the cook didn't accidentally offer up horsemeat. This offering was seemingly more popular than just a good old chicken sandwich. Walking is just dodging the hundreds and hundreds of co-eds as they blast around the city center on their bikes the night ended as it was reaching the breaking point of insomnia - but of course we finished off the night with a freshly baked Belgian waffle topped with ice cream. Friday started with Steve picking us up at the hotel's breakfast table and taking us to Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium. It's Race Weekend! The track's original layout in the 1920s of over 9 miles for one lap has been reduced to sti...

Simi and I spent the better part of 2017 planning for our ten year anniversary trip. With a quick study of the Formula 1 calendar, we agreed to take advantage of back to back race weekends at two of the sport's most iconic tracks, Spa and Monza. Both located in central Europe it was Simi's amazing hard work and tenacity that 17 days were filled out for another epic adventure. Our trip began leaving Columbus with 4 bags and a friend giving us a lift to the airport for a quick flight to Charlotte. From Charlotte we flew to Heathrow, Simi had taken the gamble to book me a window seat with an empty seat next to it, the fuselage makes a great headrest for my lanky frame. The seat next to me was open just until the flight was about to take off at 10pm. A reroute from the airline meant our plane filled up and the lady that was now next to me was going to greatly limit my ability to get any extra leg room. The lady was lost on the touch screen programming of the in flight movie havi...