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Topdeck Travel: Trail to the Alps – Part II (Switzerland)

After our visit to Paris, we were on our way for the long drive to Switzerland. Yep, we left Paris early in the morning and drove most of the day. That’s one of the key things about these trips: you really just get an introduction to each city, and then you’re off to the next one. For me though, that was fine, as I can always go back later now that I’ve been and am comfortable getting around in Western Europe).

Even though it was pretty long, the drive was gorgeous. The French countryside was idyllic with its small villages, and the road up the Alps was breathtaking. The mountains are so prominent! I’ve seen mountains plenty of times (having visited Lake Tahoe a bunch), but I was still blown away by the beauty of the Swiss Alps.

On this trip, we visited the town of Engelberg, near Lucerne. The main attraction was going up Mt. Titlus (about 10,600′). We took the cable car all the way up to the mountain. On the top, the views were spectacular. We also got to walk through an ice cave inside a glacier. We ended the afternoon with some souvenir shopping and a nice Swiss lunch.

The next day, we were off to Milan, but we first made a stop in Liechtenstein. We were there for a couple of hours, which was about all we really needed. We saw the sights and went the to souvenir shop.

Then, it was off to our next destination – Milan.

Topdeck Travel: Trail to the Alps – Part I (Paris)

This is post on something I did a while back, but it’s something I feel that I should really mention, as it was such an experience (main point: It was incredible!). I’m writing this for anyone who wants more info on what it’s like to go on a Topdeck Travel trip.

A while back, I took one of the winter tours to Europe with Topdeck travel. I had a ton of vacation saved up, but no one to travel with. I was single at the time, and most of my friends, family, or co-workers either couldn’t take the time off or couldn’t afford the trip. I wanted to go to Europe badly, and I wasn’t comfortable going to the mainland, where English is not as widely spoken, completely on my own for the first time.

For a while, I wasn’t aware of companies that offered travel for young people or solo travels, so when I started finding out about them, I got insanely excited and began researching them inside and out. After looking through the companies and available trips, I decided on the Topdeck Travel Trail to the Alps trip. It had the major sites that I wished to visit, and it was a hotel trip, not a hostel trip.

I flew out to London a few days before the trip started so I could see some extra sights and also visit family. As the time approached, I was definitely getting nervous. Would the people be friendly? Would this be a fun two weeks? Would there be a storm in the ferry crossing, etc. I barely slept the night before trip check-in. Shortly put, none of that happened (minus the storm, but it actually wasn’t that bad).

We started off with an early morning drive from London to Dover. We met our trip leader in London, but the driver was actually waiting for us in Calais.

Upon arriving in Paris, we checked into our hotel and had our kick-off dinner. This was my first visit to Paris. After driving through the suburbs and then seeing the inner part of the city, it seems like they just take all the trash in the city and dump it in the suburbs. The city is quite clean, while there was trash and litter everywhere on the outskirts.

After the dinner, we got a driving tour of the city, including the Eiffel Tower. It was an incredible sight to see. And of course, the trip leader gives us tips and strategies to avoid the hecklers (she gave us tips in other cities as well).

The next day, I got up early and started touring the city with one of the other tourists. We kicked off early at Notre Dame. I must say, I was pleasantly surprised and impressed.

Next, we walked over to the Louvre. Even taking the less common entrance, the wait was long. I can’t imagine what this place would be like in the summer. That said, the first thing we did once we were in was go straight to the Mona Lisa. With that out of the way, we spent some time touring the remainder of the museum. Topdeck had a group bike ride scheduled, but I forgot the time, so I accidentally missed it (it was no big deal).

We then went over the to Eiffel Tower again to see if we could go up, but it was was too foggy, so we went over the the Arc de Triomphe. It was pretty amazing to see in person. Just as amazing though was the Etoile roundabout intersection around the monument. Twelve streets coming to an intersection with no stoplights or stop signs.

After a nice walk down the Champs-Elysees, the last main sight I saw was Les Invalides to see Napoleon’s tomb. The day wrapped up with a tasty dinner back near Notre Dame.

And that concludes our time in Paris. One of the things I really liked about Topdeck is that they give you a mix of group activities and self-exploration time, so you can see things with the group and also wander around on your own. In the next post, I’ll write about the portion of the trip in Switzerland!

A Weekend in Wine Country

Ok, so time for my first real post. After living in the Bay Area for some time, I’ve finally had the chance to visit wine country. In this post, I’m going to give a review of some of the spots we went to on our day and a half long visitIf anyone asks, I may expand this post to write individual reviews of some of the different places along the visit.

Late on a Friday afternoon, my girlfriend and I drove up to Napa from the South Bay. As any local knows, Friday traffic can be atrocious, and this day was no exception (We crawled along at about 10mph through most of San Francisco). We finally arrived at the Westin Verasa Napa (in Napa, CA) around 8:00. Check-in was fairly quick, and even though my SPG Suite Night Award didn’t go through, we were still able to snag a suite upgrade.

We chatted with the bellboy about some places to eat, and have gave some good suggestions for dinner – both a sushi place and a steak house. I was pretty tired and didn’t feel like anything too heavy, so naturally I defied common sense and went for the steakhouse. We took the house car to Cole’s Chop House a few minutes away, and it was well worth it. The staff was excellent, and the food was delicious. I got the filet. We shared a baked potato, and I had a nice Manhattan to drink. I would definitely recommend the place.

We slept in the next morning and had our breakfast at the hotel. The service was a little delayed, but it was no big deal. Breakfast was pretty tasty, and we got to lounge around by the pool area. All in all, I’d say the hotel was pretty nice (It wasn’t bad by any means), but it probably wasn’t worth the rate they normally charge.

The Westin Verasa Napa - Pool — The Westin Verasa Napa – Pool

The Westin Verasa Napa - Courtyard — The Westin Verasa Napa – Courtyard

Our first stop was BV vineyards (no appointment required == awesome in my book). I’ve enjoyed their wines in the past and was really excited to visit. We decided to opt for the Reserve Tasting Room ($15 more) since we were there and I’ve never tried their fancier wines. The place wasn’t too crowded at all, and the gentleman at the counter was quite friendly. We each ordered the reserve tasting and WOW! This is definitely the best Cabernet I have ever had. My favorites ended up being the Tapestry blend, the Latour Cabernet, and the Clone 6 Cabernet (only available at the winery). We walked out with four bottles!

Our next stop was Frog’s Leap winery only a few minutes away. I got the recommendation from both my Lonely Planet and Moon travel guides. The scenery and atmosphere was spectacular. We had a reserved patio seating with wine and cheese. The atmosphere was much better than BV (although a patio by a garden is naturally much nicer than a standard tasting room), but I thought BV still had better wine. Being done with wineries for the day, we stopped by a local Taqueria before the beautiful drive to Petaluma.

For Sonoma, we stayed at the Sheraton Sonoma in Petaluma. I wasn’t expecting much (in consultant speak, it’s only an SPG Level 4), but I was pleasantly surprised. Again, being a Platinum member, we got upgraded to a suite, and it was a wonderful room with a massive bathroom (and the pool was really nice too).

For dinner, we drove to downtown Petaluma for some Italian dinner. The place, Risibisi, was cute, but the food was just ok (maybe I had just eaten too much of the calamari appetizer). Also, downtown Petaluma gets really sketchy after dark (almost like downtown San Jose), so that wasn’t too fun.

For Sunday morning, we were off to one more winery, Gundlach-Bundschu, before heading home. Again, I got this one from my Lonely Planet and Moon travel guides. The location on the hillside was beautiful. I accidentally walked into the tasting room first, but then realized our reservation was for the lake outside (thankfully, since the tasting room was really crowded). This place was amazing. The wine was absolutely wonderful, and so was the food they served with it (my girlfriend loved the chutney). To give you an idea, I ended up buying a full case of wine.

With the last winery visit complete, we were on our way home. One last big thing for the trip was driving back on the Golden Gate Bridge. It was absolutely beautiful – even better than the pictures. I’d definitely love to walk or bike across it in the near future.

All in all, I can safely say my first trip to wine country was a blast! I would definitely recommend a visit to anyone, even the novice wine lover. The Napa Valley was beautiful, and it wasn’t insanely crowded like everyone says (although there were a decent amount of people). The prices were high, but the people still seemed friendly and genuine. Sonoma was really nice and much more laid back. It was still a bit crowded in my opinion though, and definitely avoid downtown Petaluma at night.

One final piece of advice – go to wine country to enjoy the wine, and if you go to many wineries, it’s ok to use the spittoon (you won’t hurt anyone’s feelings, and it’s difficult to enjoy fine wine when you’re drunk). I was actually a bit shocked that for the whole weekend, I didn’t see anyone else use one.