Epilogue

But what about the jeans? Keep your eyes on Pintrest for all the items I tried to photograph on the streets of Norway, Germany, The Czech Republic, Austria, Croatia and Switzerland.

My Levi's story? I wore my t-shirts, belt, flip flops, cut offs and boyfriends all over Europe. But my Denizen's from Levi's were the only thing I travelled in on planes, trains, buses and water taxis and I didn't need to wash them until we came home.

Writing conclusions and ending journeys

I have always found that writing conclusions is the toughest part. On the one hand it is a relief to end an assignment, yet the pressure to summarize all that you've learned and add some parting wisdom is always a formidable challenge. So I think it best to end this blog with an introduction.

It has been 25 years since I was last in Europe. But in a way that really marks the beginning of the Gary and Beth genetic journey. Gary and I as juniors at the University of Notre Dame had the unbelievable opportunity to study abroad for a semester in London. It was there in January 1989 that I met Gary on the first floor of the five floor flat we would live in for the semester. To this day I remember meeting him as he had the best teeth (eight years of braces will do that for you) and a firm handshake. We were instant friends. (The romance didn't start until 1991.)

So it's been a quarter century since my last trip to the European continent -- the birthplace of Gary and my grandparents (Italy, Poland and Ireland). We decided this time to visit places we didn't see the last time we were here. We spent a significant part of our time in an area largely closed off to most travelers in the late 80s because of Communist rule. Once again we discovered beautiful churches, stunning seas, great coffee and beer, and fantastic public transportation. But this time we also discovered what the Internet can do for travel from booking on Airbnb, to using Wikipedia instead of audio tours to witnessing the sights of Plitzvice online first so we know we have arrived at a somewhat hidden national park.

But perhaps the best discovery is the Internet's ability to shrink our world so our parents can follow our journey almost in real time, to the ability to keep track and communicate with all our new European, American and Asian friends via all our social networks.

Sure it is hard to write a conclusion to such a wonderful journey so perhaps it's best to just simply thank Gary for his year long effort of planning, studying and overseeing this five week adventure and to promise to help more as we prepare for sabbatical 2019.

Farewell. Awesome trip!!...

Things I learned about in Zurich

Men's suits are still worn by almost every Swiss businessman and as my dear friend Kurt Wehrsten says "no one looks bad in a suit." Looking on the streets of Zurich that is so true.

Zurich is the cleanest city we visited, the streets sparkle.

The Swiss are very friendly and helpful but in a very formal fashion.

Rosti (Swiss hash browns) are the one new food that Ben has tried and actually loved.

Everything in Zurich is expensive but some of the Francesconi's favorite activities - biking and swimming are free! Yes, the city of Zurich provides free bikes to anyone who wants to borrow one. They also have bath houses set up along the two major rivers that feed into Lake Zurich complete diving boards. You can jump in and swim against the current (think water treadmill) for free!

The city in Europe with the most drinking fountains is Rome but Zurich is second. However, given how much bigger Rome is than Zurich, you can grab a quick drink at almost every other street corner.

Only one third of Zurich's population owns a car. That said the cars they drive are the most expensive --Porches, Bentleys, Alfa Romeos I swear it feels like Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.

They have the best pastries I have encountered so far especially anything made with almond or chocolate.

We found Marc Chagall's stain glass windows on the Fraumünster Church. The artwork, design and hidden imagery kept Madelyn, Charlie and Ben engaged for over 15 minutes. (They all had to use the water closet too which might be the reason why they stayed studying the stained glass for so long.)

In my new life motto YOLO and my ongoing commitment to free I got Gary and Madelyn to go for a 7 am swim in the River Limmat before getting breakfast pastries, coffee and a small bag of Swiss chocolates all before our 1 pm flight.

An awesome day ALWAYS ends with a nude swim and hot cocoa.

Today is the last day the Francesconi's have in Europe, so we decided to make the most of it. And what do the Francesconi's do in Switzerland for one day? Thats right, go on yet another bike tour. So we set off at 8:00 in the morning.  On our walk to the bike tour we had to buy coffee otherwise our mother would be angry the entire day. Oh and not just any European Starbucks coffee but Goldiebeth coffee. Not too big, not too small, not too sweet and defiantly not too strong. Finally after getting our mom her Goldiebeth coffee (which was too strong by the way) we found our tour guide Bruno and set off.

Bruno's information took some twists and turns, but mainly stayed on topic. In just under five hours we covered almost all of Zurich, including many bathing joints along the rivers, public drinking fountains (second most next to Rome), and an incinerator that burns trash shipped from Italy to create electricity for the town. The best part of the day was after lunch, when I swam in the Limmat River. It was amazing!  The river current pushed me along as I floated down river. I didn't have my bathing suit, so I just swam in my underwear which was double awesome. This wasn't a big deal to any of the people around us because Europeans seem to have no problem with public nudity! After swimming we went to our hotel where we drank hot chocolate to end the awesome last day in Europe.

Running to catch a long gone plane

     Today we had a very tough flight schedule our plane was scheduled to leave Dubrovnik at 7:25 am. Unfortunately the flight was delayed by 15 minutes upon arrival to Frankfurt. When we landed we had to sprint over to the Lufthansa gate which required going through security again and then we had to run over to our gate  where we found out that the time that was on our boarding passes was the time when the plane was gone. We had to go back to the airplane help counter where we waited for a long time for our ticket number to pop up on the electronic board. Once our number appeared my parents were freaking out whenever some one went up to the counter ahead of them because they thought someone was cutting in front of them. I had to explain to them that the board we were on currently was just to get you ready. When we were finally getting help from the service desk another woman tried to cut the line because she only spoke Spanish and no one could understand her. So my mom busted out the Spanish and helped a lady who didn't understand the sign and was very confused. We had to pay a little bit of money to get on the Munich flight, but we ended up okay making our next flight to Munich. And from Munich we flew to Zurich. We arrived at our hotel and walked across the river for an amazing dinner that I loved and it was a great day!

Things I learned about in Croatia

Drive aggressively from the minute you get behind the wheel - ignore speed limits and street divider lines but do stop at red lights (stop signs may be treated as yield signs). Pedestrians look out.

Explore the middle of Croatia by visiting the Plizitvice Lakes - it is buried in the middle of the country but the waterfalls we witnessed (under, over and around) were the most spectacular I have ever viewed.

Coffee by the thimble is strong, tasty and in need of sugar, but in the end what I discovered was a huge cup of joe with warm milk which I found in Hvar.

No shirt, no problem has been the rule for men in Europe, but in Croatia, especially on the coast, it relates more to women and small children.

The Dalmation coast was named after the spotted dogs (RIP the Rudder's pup Dominio) but in my 10 days on the islands and peninsula I did not see one spotted dog. I did see tons of stray cats and witnessed a tourist feeding some said cats bags of Tender Vittles cat food helping them wash down with drinks from their plastic water bottles.

Two dollar flip flops from Target are all you need to tackle the rocky beaches on the Adriatic Sea, however they are a bit tricky when rock climbing to jump cliffs into blue green waters.

The island of Hvar and the town of Hvar were the most glamorous - think Miami's South Beach but filled with female stick figures. I have no idea how the desk staff at our hotel in Hvar had the energy or patience to deal with the hundreds of hotel guests surviving on one noodle a day plus a shot of espresso.

The people of Croatia were warm and welcoming and filled with pride for their precious country. We found this from the minute we stepped off our bus - Darin (another one!) helped get our rental car, Sylvia in Plazitvice fed our bellies and tucked us in at night with the request to "sleep well", to the parish priest in Split who gave us a historical book about the precious church, to the lavender sales woman whose product could do anything but raise teenage children, to our airbnb host who picked us from our Walter Mitty water taxi ride and took us to the airport at 5:45 am, to the owner of the fruit stand and town mayor of Cavtat. Yes, the country is stunning but the people are the land's most precious asset.

Our Backroads adventure showed us          the terrain less travelled with the most stunning views and formidable challenges including rigorous hikes, rough sea kayaking and of course killer bike rides (thanks George) but it also brought us smart, personable, caring mature twenty somethings from Italy and Slovenia whose dedication to client service, storytelling and life experiences serve as magnificent examples of the phrase "YOLO" . Thank you Saverio, Petra and Anja for everything you did for me, my family and our group. I expect to see each one of you at our house in San Francisco. And I cannot forget dear George - a fellow Leo and native Californian. Backroads, trip participants and your young co-leaders are lucky to have your experience, drive and wisdom to make each trip "a journey of a lifetime."

Croatians love Levi's almost as much as I do and everyone wants to get their hands on the denim dungarees. Together with all my new bosses - Marc, Craig and David along with Kelly and Kate we will be sure to get them what they want so we can enlist them as our strongest brand advocates. (And I would be more than happy to personally deliver the product to them. :)

 

A Bittersweet Last Day in Cavtat

I would first like to acknowledge the fact that my mom has pretty much single handedly carried this blog (and I am not just offering these compliments because I have used her as my main comedic material throughout my posts. Well, maybe its a little bit because of that.) While the rest of us have pitched in a bit, Mom has pretty much been the only one who never seems to lack energy at the end of a long day of touring, swimming, kayaking, transporting, shopping, eating, and whatever else the day throws at us. So a special thank you to her for documenting this trip so eloquently, so that we may remember the amazing experiences we have had together, forever. 

Now, away from the cheesyness. I have to admit, I was bribed with new Levi's and shoes so here I am writing my final post for this trip. As we dawn on the final days of this thirty five day excursion, I find myself feeling sad to leave, but at the same time filled with the adventures, breathtaking sights, and lifelong friendships that have been established over the course of this trip. There have been a few low points, which any family traveling together for 5 weeks is bound to encounter, but these seem mere specks in the whole of this trip of a lifetime. 

Today, we kicked off our last day in Croatia with the breakfast of champions (also known in the francesconi household as whatever is left in the fridge that we do not have room to stuff in our already falling apart suitcases). Afterwards, we sauntered down to the boat rental station where we retrieved our vessel for the day; the best way to describe this smashing boat is quite simply put, a bathtub with a motor. With Dad maning the rudder, we set off, only to discover that we were without lifejackets. Oh well, Mom assured us she at least could make the swim if our bathtub were to capsize. After gliding across the Adriatic Sea, we found a small island where we dropped the anchor (with surprisingly limited stress) and snorkled and swam near and around the island, encountering the endless beauty of the Croatian waters one last time. Tidepools, trenches, zebra fish, sea anenomes, and sea urchins were just of the few discoveries we made. I particularly enjoyed lying out on the front of the boat enjoying the sun (but not without my necessary 55 SPF) and last few days before the stress of junior year comes to haunt me. Once we returned from our 4 hour voyage, we got a 6 kuna ice cream treat (6 is the best price on the island. NEVER settle for 7, because you may need that 17.689 cents one day). Side note-- pisctachio and chocolate is definetly the best combonation. Finally, we returned home and faced the reality that it was time to pack. Mom and I made a quick trip to the beach beforehand though, just to maximize our last few hours of sun. 

After some half hearted packing, we finished our day dining at one of the restaraunts along the water. Mind you, the waiters at these restaraunts literally chase you down untill you either give them proof that you have other eating plans or promise to dine at some point. We soon learned this and gave in to the pressure by promising to reserve a table. Watching the sunset on the sea, we dined on delicious pizza, salad, and fish and chips. Afterwards, Mom made a quick stop to visit her favorite fruit stand worker to pick up some dried orange peels (sounds gross but they are one of my favorite Croatian treats) and say her last goodbyes (this took upwards of 30 minutes). 

The walk home felt slower than usual, and I found myself hoping for one more day. Nevertheless, we have truly maximized our time here and surprisingly covered most of the country (we of course determined this by studying the map towels we bargained for at a tourist stand in Split). Croatia was truly my favorite destination on this trip with the most friendly people, diverse experiences, and incredible landscapes. As they say in Croatia, što će biti propustili & do sljedećeg puta (you will be missed & until next time).