Category: Travel

A New Year’s tradition I can get behind

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And we’re baaaaack!  Happy New Year, everyone!  I hope you had wonderful holidays and are not too bummed about the upcoming drabness of January and February.

Growing up, I always dreaded New Year’s Day.  No, not because of some existential angst about the passing of another year or because of a sparkling cider hangover.  It was because New Year’s Day meant the traditional Southern meal of collard greens, black eyed peas, and rice.  Apparently, the greens are to bring you money, the peas to bring change (like pocket change, not yes-we-can change), and the rice to bring health.  I always thought the peas were redundant because if you had greenbacks, was change really necessary?  I also thought everything in this meal was gross.  Even the rice, which sounded safe, was some box mix that was soggy and disappointing.  To top it all off, my mom served some barbecue concoction from the freezer section that was also gross.  Picture pre-sauced pork with bits of fat and bone in it served in its square plastic box.  For years, I thought I hated barbecue because I thought this was all barbecue was.  (I love you, Mom!!  To honor you, I refrained from washing clothes on New Year’s so as not to wash anyone out of my life.  Although not doing laundry for a day really isn’t a hardship.)  Needless to say, I did not continue this tradition with my own family.

Fast forward to Italy, a friend here asked me if I noticed all the stacked boxes of a certain type of meat that showed up in the groceries stores in December.  Cotechino, to be exact.  I had not, but once she mentioned it, I did notice the meats everywhere.  It turns out, cotechino (made up of various fatty bits of pork with a disturbingly long shelf life) eaten with lentils is a traditional New Year’s meal in Italy.  Although many Italians eat it at midnight, we opted to try it on the actual New Year’s Day.  The more lentils you eat, the more prosperity in the coming year.

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And by we, I mean James.  He could tell you more on his preparation methods, but he soaked the lentils a very long time.  Like longer than overnight.

Then he cooked them with pancetta, onions, garlic, and homemade stock.

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Once removed from the box, you see that the cotechino is in its own aluminum pouch.  You boil the pouch.

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Then you prick the bag and add the meat juice to the lentils.  Later, you just remove the cotechino from the bag and slice.

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I’m not gonna lie; I was a little anxious about the meal.  Mystery meat makes me nervous and super fatty meat is not my jam.  All of my worry was completely misplaced.  This. was. stupid. good.  The lentils on their own were very flavorful.  I may be adding more beans to our meal lineup.  But with the cotechino, the whole thing just went up about 38 levels.  The cotechino just melted into the lentils.  Everything had a delicious salty and fatty flavor.  We all loved it, including the toddler, but that isn’t really saying much, beans and sausage are both his jam.

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It was a very rich meal.  I couldn’t imagine eating it after a large New Year’s Eve meal, but it was terrific as a New Year’s Day lunch.  (With leftovers for dinner.)  As an added bonus, this would be an ideal hangover food.  Not an issue for me though.  NYE this year was prosecco, sushi, and watching Sherlock with James, which was a pretty perfect night.  Which also is an indication that I’m getting old.

I had not planned on staying up until midnight, but I can report that Italians are crazy about their NYE fireworks.  We had been warned, but I thought after the fireworks spectacular in our old ‘hood in DC (Columbia Heights, represent!), we would be prepared.  We were not.  It really sounded like we were being bombed, and while the fireworks were present all evening, they were really raining down on us at midnight.  Luckily, the kids slept right through.

So, new family New Year’s tradition, ACHIEVED.  Now I just have to see if I can get cotechino back home.  With the shelf life on this stuff though, I could be set for several years if I just grab a few boxes before we leave.

What did you eat on New Year’s?  Any family traditions?

 

To market, to market

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I heart Christkindlmarkts.  And Munich had some great ones.  We talked about what we ate already, but let’s take a look at the markets themselves.

The heart of the market was at Marienplatz.  You recognize it from its famous Glockenspiel.  The market covered the whole square.12.23_market 2

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It radiated out from Marienplatz down three separate streets.

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And had little side bits near Marienplatz.

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There was another market Sendlinger Tor, complete with carousel.

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There was also a separate Medieval Market.

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As well as a market in the courtyard of the Residenz.

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What does one do a Christmas market?  Mostly just wander around.  Eating.  Drinking.  Most of the shops–that aren’t selling food–peddle various tchotchkes.  Christmas ornaments.  Delicate wooden candle wraps.  Knit hats and slippers.  Toys.  The markets were crowded, sometimes uncomfortably so.  But wandering around, breathing the chilly air, a warm drink in hand, soaking in the sights.  It just feels festive.

For an alternative market experience, you can also head out to Tollwood at Theresienwiese, the grounds for Oktoberfest.  This felt sort of like if Asheville or Portland had a Christmas market.  Younger.  Both hipper and hippy.

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We enjoyed live music and beer inside this tent.  Henry danced as if no one was watching, which pretty much ensured that plenty of people were watching him.

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Ah, markets.  I’m already thinking about which city to hit next holiday season.

The finest gelato in the land

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(As I alluded to here,) Rome’s best gelato is Come il Latte.  This place has everything:  chocolate fountains, salted caramel gelato (caramello al sale), and toddler facial hair.  What is toddler facial hair?  It’s that thing where you let your toddler have his own cone of gelato and he comes up with inventive beard and mustache patterns.

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So that could pretty much be the whole post right there, but I will expand.  Now I know what you’re thinking.  Melissa, you’ve only been in Rome a hot minute.  Can you really say that you have found the best gelato?  You haven’t posted anything else about gelato.  You haven’t been on a gelato crawl.  You haven’t hit the places that are touted as best in the city.  How can you possibly make such an outlandish claim??

And I hear you.  That’s valid.  But also poppycock.  Because this is the real deal.  Thank goodness this place is not right by my house because that would be Trouble.  (Get it, trouble with a capital T!)

First up, this place is adorable.  I love the windows.  The chalkboard.  The way the bonus desserts are displayed.  It’s super cute.  They have a few seats inside so you can ogle the gelato and benches out front.

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Next, did I mention the chocolate fountains?  One dark chocolate and one white, which I am only mentioning in the sake of blog reportage because why on earth would you pick white over dark?  Although I guess it could be good with the fruit flavors.  And probably many of the others.  I’ll probably never know because . . .

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Did I mention that they have salted caramel???  This stuff is so good.  Stupid good.  When you add chocolate fountain and homemade whipped cream (which I highly recommend), it becomes a truly otherworldly experience.  They do have many other yummy looking flavors.  James enjoyed the coffee and I think chocolate.  Maybe I’ll get there someday.  But it will probably be awhile.

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So there you have it.  Rome’s bestest gelato.  Creamy.  Rich.  Not crazy sweet.  If you get a cone, they put chocolate in the bottom AND on top.  Not smack dab in the middle of downtown, but very close.  And they are open late!  I think till midnight.  Which makes it a perfect place to stop after your late night (or at the usual time if you are Italian) dinner.

See, and you thought this was going to become all Germany all-the-time up in here, didn’t you?  Don’t worry, you’ll get sick of hearing about the trip soon enough.  But as I say, there’s always room for gelato.

Come il latte   |  Via Silvio Spaventa, 24/26 – Roma  |  tel. 06.42903882

I like to eat street meat

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Granted, this post could have just been named “I like to eat” and it would be completely accurate, but inexplicably I ADORE eating while walking.  Something about food while on the move just makes me happy.  I sometimes joke (not really joking) that I could walk forever if you just kept feeding me things.  This is why I find it so strange that the Italians generally buy gelato and then stand/sit outside the store and eat it.  I supposed they would say they are savoring it.  I say, don’t you know you could take that gelato on the road??  Best. walk. ever.

Christmas markets are the perfect spot to indulge in an eat-and-walk.  And you can drink-and-walk too!  (But we’ll cover drinks later.)  It is pretty much the best thing ever.  It’s like the state fair, but classier and more festive.

Up first, we had plenty of actual meat.  Here, you can see me with your standard bratwurst.  We pretty much avoided the traditional Munich weisswurst, as we are not huge fans.  But we did have plenty of currywurst, which is a sliced bratwurst in a tomato curry sauce.  James also discovered a deep love for the Nurnberger bratwurst, which are smaller and served three or five to a roll.  As James will tell you, there is more surface area for more crispy skin deliciousness.  I thought the Nurnberger ones tasted a tad breakfasty, but very delicious.  There were fish sandwich vendors as well, but we never got around to trying it.

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Up next, the baumstriezel.  This was new to me, but it is not one I will soon forget.  It is basically just dough that sort of looks like it is cooked on a spit and topped with deliciousness.  We tried coconut, but preferred the simple sugar and cinnamon version.

Note the bundled toddler. Henry will pretty much stay in the stroller as long as he is getting food. Can't imagine where he gets it . . .

Note the bundled toddler. Henry will pretty much stay in the stroller as long as he is getting food. Can’t imagine where he gets it . . .

We also had a pretty epic strudel experience in Nuremberg.  Here is James with the hazelnut strudel.  When I ordered, the lady asked “apple or hazelnut?”  We opted for hazelnut, but when I went back, the strudel was all gone.  The moral of this story is that if a nice German lady asks “apple or hazelnut,” you should say “yes please!”

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We didn’t seem to take any pictures, but we also enjoyed french fries, crepes, and roasted almonds (both traditional and nutella-flavored).  And probably other things I’m forgetting.  You can ask James; I was constantly darting off, a few euro in my pocket and returning with something to eat.  It was awesome.

Some honorable mentions that we didn’t eat but looked fascinating.

Here, we have the schoko doner.  Instead of meat, you can see the pillar of chocolate that was shaved off into various things.

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And here, middle, you can see the marzipan potatoes.  Zee Germans are a little obsessed with marzipan and a lot obsessed with potatoes so I suppose this was inevitable.  I like marzipan as a sort of condiment to a dessert item.  This is a lot of marzipan.

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And a special note on lebkuchen.  Because you can’t mention a Christmas market and not talk about lebkuchen.  You can see some of them dangling in the photo above.  They are everywhere.  We did try an iced one.  They are sort of like gingerbread, but I like them less.  James seemed to enjoy it.  He brought some for his office and one of his colleagues who lived in Germany before said it took her back.  This is true.  Love it or hate it, lebkuchen = Christmas market.

Do you like a walk and eat?  I say it’s like a Sorkin walk and talk, only better!

Designing smarter

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I am fascinated by small space designs.  I don’t know that I want to live in a microhouse, but I love the idea of having a smaller space that is designed in the best possible way so that it feels bigger than it really is.

We stayed at the Hotel Blauer Bock in Munich.  Blauer Bock was in a terrific location, had a very friendly staff, and the room price included breakfast and internet.  It was definitely a bit of a splurge, but we were stymied on where else to get a room with two cribs.  We received polite responses to inquiries that stated the hotel did have two cribs, but we would not be able to fit two of them in a room.  We almost booked adjoining rooms at the Pension am Jakobsplatz, but we were cautioned about ongoing construction noise there and thought that might not be ideal for nap time.

Our room had some thoughtful design touches.  I was impressed with the cutouts above the bathroom that added light to a darker area.  It was also nice to have a coat rack right by the front door.

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The nightstand with reading light was also nice.  After spending many years sleeping with my kindle under my pillow or on the floor, I value a good nightstand.  I’m not sure why I didn’t take the plunge at our old house and fasten something to the wall, as they did here.  I guess it just feels so permanent.  Hope you like where the bed is because your nightstand ain’t moving!  I operate under the (misguided) belief that there is a perfect furniture arrangement that can be found if you just keep trying.  What if I nightstood before it was achieved??  (I know, I know, it could move.  But if you are too lazy to attach a nightstand in the first place, you are probably too lazy to move it.)

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The hotel room also had some great features for a stay with kids.  After fearing that we would be sandwiched with cribs touching the bed, I was pleasantly surprised to find that we had a sitting room separated by a door that was a perfect spot for the kids.  Well, it was perfect for the first three nights.  After that Mac got unexplainedly ragey when you tried to put him down.  Then, once you finally rocked him to sleep and set him down, Henry screamed, “MACKLES” from across the room, starting the screaming all over again.  At this point, Mac was removed and placed in the corner of the main room.

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Unfortunately, the bathroom was not ideal for two littles.  No tub.  We had a corner shower with two curtains.  Why do people do this?  Maybe it looks nicer to have curtains instead of a door?  Maybe it is just easier to clean?  But it sure was a pain for showering.  The space shrunk by half as the ghost curtains horned in on you once you started the water.  Let’s just say the kids did get cleaned, but not as often as at home.

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Henry was thrilled to have two TVs to play with.  He either didn’t notice or didn’t care that all programming was in German.

Anways, I’ll file the good design ideas away for now.  I have this vision that maybe someday we’ll get to design a space of our own and use all these bits of inspiration to make an amazing space.  The YoungHouseLove-rs always advocated living in a space for awhile before making any major changes so that you really know what you want.  I like to think that we’ll have some thoughts from our previous locales if we ever get to design a space of our own.

Hotel Blauer Bock • Sebastiansplatz 9 • 80331 München • Telefon: +49(0)89 23 17 80 • e-Mail: info@hotelblauerbock.de

Any design features you are itching to change on your current abode?  Any that you love?  Have your dream space all planned out?

A day in the life

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This is not the most glamorous, but I present for your consideration a typical day around here.  In many ways it is not “typical,” (we don’t always go to tree lightings), but is there actually a typical day?  As you will see, it is not all cappuccino wishes and fettuccine dreams.

7:06 am James’s alarm goes off. Holy tootknockers, that means Mac slept through the night! This has only happened a handful of times and is big doin’s. Of course, he stirred right when James got in the shower, but settled back down.
7:06 – 7:30 Reading. Most days this is spent dozing fitfully, thinking about the day, and yelling at myself that this would be the perfect time to get up and do some pilates. Sigh, some day.
7:30 – 7:55 Shower, get dressed, makeup. Mac is stirring so James gets him up and changes the dipe. We say goodbye to James.
7:55 – 8:36 Henry is stirring. I grab Mac and head into Henry’s room, giving Henry a couple books. Henry reads while I feed Mac. Eventually, Henry is ready to leave the crib. He gets the new diaper, fresh clothes treatment. We hang out on the bed for a bit.

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8:36 – 9:10 Breakfast time. I’m irked because the dishwasher was not run last night and walking into a messy kitchen is a pain. Less shenanigans today than usual from the boys though, likely because I told Henry that if he eats his eggs than he can have leftover banana bread. The boys sit while I cook. Henry and I have eggs, as we do most days, and Mac has the rest of a jar of prunes baby food. I throw more in the dishwasher and start it on the way out.

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9:10 – 9:32 We head to the living room to play. New outfit for Mac. Henry is super into the nativity scenes here. So far, I’ve seen cows eating grass, wise men marching, angels dive-bombing shepherds, and sheep eating Baby Jesus. I slip out for two minutes to throw in a load of laundry at some point.

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9:32 – 9:37 Prepping Mac for his nap and putting him down.
9:37 – 9:48 Confirm that Henry is occupied and clean the two bathrooms. Henry comes in when I’m finishing up the tub in the second bathroom.
9:48 – 9:50 Refill waters and sippy cups.
9:50 – 10:15 Henry and I read. Lion King and a book on military aircraft today.   It’s all toddler’s choice around here.
10:15 – 10:25 Henry and I play basketball.
10:25 – 10:45 Mac wakes up. New diapers for everyone!   (Bathroom break for me.) Locating shoes, socks, and jackets for everyone and stuffing shoes, socks, and jackets onto everyone. Two meltdowns result which is not a terrible track record.
10:45 – 11:55 We head outside. I thought about heading to a farther park like Villa Borghese, but the clouds are still looking ominous and decide it is better to stay close. I thought we’d hit the playground out front, but we ended up on a “toddler walk.”   This is a walk where the toddler sets the pace and we stop where he wants. Henry kicked trash.

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Climbed on window grates.

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And kicked columns.

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For the record, the Italians approve of none of this. Italian kids generally sit in strollers bundled up to their eyeballs. Nobody said anything though, except the one lady who commented that Henry should be wearing a hat because of the wind, but she was pretty nice about it.
11:55 – 12:25 We head inside to watch one episode of Winnie the Pooh, aka the only way I could convince Henry to come inside.   I can’t just scoop him up because I’m wearing Mac. I feed Mac while Henry watches. Mac and I play. I throw Henry’s wet shoes in the dryer. Henry has a meltdown that he only gets one episode and then gets a timeout because he repeatedly shoved his brother.   He is uninterested in lunch and tells me it is time for nap.
12:25 – 12:38 Naptime is usually at 1:00, but who am I to question a screaming toddler? New diapers and story time. Kids are down for naps.
12:38 – 12:50 I switch that laundry from earlier and make myself lunch. I start to unload the dishwasher, but double naptime is sacred and must not be squandered on chores.  Lunch today is some seriously past its prime arugula with oil and salt/pepper (I end up abandoning about a quarter of the way through), apple, cheese, three leftover pieces of coppa, and a heated mug of turkey broth.
12:50 – 1:01 Read some blogs. I’m in the bad habit of associating food with internet break time. Too many lunches eaten at my desk at the law firm.
1:01 – 1:15 Read some sites on what to do in Nuremberg for upcoming trip.
1:15 – 2:25 Write 1.5 blog posts.  Post the day’s post.
2:25 – 2:55 Take dishes back to kitchen, grab a small piece of banana bread and nutella spoon, respond to email, check a few more blogs.
2:55 – 3:15 Text with my neighbor about walking to Christmas tree lighting. Read guide book on Munich.
3:15 – 3:18 When I hear the kids start to stir, hit the bathroom and go on a blitz gathering up stuff for our outing.
3:18 – 3:45 Feed Mac, change diapers, get Henry yogurt, put on shoes, socks, coats, etc.
3:45 – 4:25 Walk to James’s work for Christmas tree lighting.
4:25 – 5:30 Enjoy tree lighting and reception.

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5:30 – 6:25 Walk to and enjoy best gelato ever at Come il Latte. More on this soon.

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6:25 – 7:00 See someone we know. Walk home with friend, chatting all the way.
7:00 – 7:40 Peel off shoes, socks, coats; hanging out and chillin’ as a fam.

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7:40 – 8:00 Get kids ready for bed.
8:00 – 8:45 Make soup from the turkey stock we made previously. Empty the dishwasher, reload the dishwasher, and do other kitchen cleaning tasks with James. In theory, we would do more chatting about our days here, but we were both kind of out of it and cranky.
8:45 – 9:30 Eat soup and do some plotting with James on Munich trip.
9:30 – 9:50 Watch an episode of Brooklyn 99 with James. (If you aren’t watching this show, you really should be watching this show.)
9:50 – 10:00 Get ready for bed.
10:00 – 11:00 Read in bed. I really need to get better here. In my mind, I only read for like 15 minutes. Clearly, that is NOT the case.

So there you have it.  A typical-ish weekday in December.  Some days we see friends.  Some days we go to the store.  Most days we feed the kids a real dinner.  But if you can’t have gelato for dinner every now and then, what’s the point of living in Italy?

 

 

 

 

 

Rain rain, go away (Restaurant Review: Cul de Sac Wine Bar)

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You guys, will it ever stop raining??  I know, I know.  It isn’t snow.  It is still pretty warm here.  But it is starting to feel like it rains every day.

And it is a sneaky rain.  You never know when it is coming.  I can look out the window in one direction and there is blue sky with happy clouds.  The other direction looks like a gray sheet of doom.  I have been at the playground and had a single individual cloud rain on me and then pass.

I’m always surprised by the quantities of thunder and lightening as well.  These aren’t just sheets of gray.  They crackle with electricity.

It seems to rain more often than not on date night.  One evening looked suspiciously dry.  We hopped into a cab to go stroll by the Forum before dinner.  On the way, the skies opened up.  We should have told the cab driver to change location, but we were too busy being amused by him.  He hated everything.  The traffic in Rome.  The food in Rome.  The people in Rome.  And I was hopelessly hoping that the rain might stop before we got there.

We stood on the corner sharing an umbrella (mine) and set off on a very truncated walk.  It was not a romantic stroll in the rain.  It was cold and wet.  I immediately headed to a cab stand to get to the restaurant.  I can’t find it now, but someone had a travel tip that stuck with me:  if it costs less than $10 but makes your life much better, you should do it.  For example, if you are starving, go ahead and get that overpriced airport sandwich.  I’m not traveling, but I think this is an excellent rule to live by generally.

Our destination that evening was Cul de Sac, a wine bar tucked away behind Piazza Navona.  A friend recommended as a fun place to try wines by the glass and local meats and cheeses.

When we rolled up around 2100 (I know, I’m a baller), the place was hopping.  After a few minutes, we were able to get a table in the back.  The space is very narrow with the wines up front and center on display.  Let’s just say that this is not the place you’d like to be during an earthquake.

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You could get bottles, but they did have a nice selection of wines by the glass, I think mostly in the 6-10 euro range.  We got a mixed meat and cheese plate as well.  Although it was quite tasty, I wish we had just ordered individual things.  There was a large selection of cured meats and cheeses, with the region of Italy noted.  I’d definitely recommend as a place to stop in if you didn’t want to pay Piazza prices around the corner.

After some enjoyable glasses, we did take a look at the rain-drenched Piazza Navona, one of my faves.

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I also had the tartufo from Tre Scalini in my sights.  This was eaten crowded by the covered outdoor heater where I technically shouldn’t have been because I only paid for a takeaway.

It wasn’t the date night I had planned, but at least it had a sweet ending.  Hehe.  🙂

Cul de Sac, Piazza Pasquino 73 (Piazza Navona) 00186, Tel. +39.06.68801094

Tre Scalini, Piazza Navona 28 00186, Tel. +39.06.68801996

The height of fanciness . . . let’s talk utility vests

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Once upon a time when talking about Roman fashion, I promised you more on what you really wanted.  You’ve been patient.  And now the wait is over, my friends.  That’s right, it is time to talk utility vests, the wardrobe essential for Roman men of a certain age.  Or any age really.  Because when asking yourself whether your outfit would be better if you added a utility vest, I hope the answer is always a resounding heck YES.

James collected all of these photos on a single commute.  Not a to-the-office-and-back-commute.  Just on a one way trip.  Granted, the photography leaves something to be desired, but when you are asking your husband to pap random Italian dudes with a cellphone, you take what you can get.  (Thank you, James.  Mmmmwah!)

So let’s get to it.  But why the birds you ask?  Or you will ask once you see these amazeballs utility-vests-in-the-wild photos.  I put a bird on it to protect the fabulous.  #putabirdonit  (I admit that pixelated faces would have been way cooler, but my photo editing skillz are only so advanced.)

Exhibit A.  Here, we have a pretty standard example of the utility vest.  Sleeveless.  Many pockets.  Probably for handkerchiefs and Parmesan.  Or whatever it is Italian dudes carry around with them.

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Exhibit B.  Did I make you look twice?  Yes, that is a different dude.  But don’t think that all utility vests have to be dark.  You can have fun with color!

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Like sand!

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Or even red!  This is actually the only red vest I’ve ever seen.  Maybe because this gent is of a much younger demographic than most utility vest wearers.  At age 40, you probably have to hand in all of your brightly colored vests.

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Here’s another youngin.  As you can see, it is never too early to vest up.

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I adore the quilting on this one.  (This is 100% not sarcastic.  I’ve been seeing some really cool quilted puffer coats as well.)  So it is good to know that you have both everyday vest and dressy vest options.  #dressyvest

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I only barely edited this photo.  That dude is killing it from a street style perspective.

And thus concludes this utility vest roundup.  The next time you’re in Rome, don’t be surprised that many of the men look like they are about to go fishing.  I’m dying to know how this became a fashion staple.  Where do they find them?  I’ve never actually seen one in stores.  And do you have one vest or a whole closet of vests for all occasions?  Inquiring minds need to know!!

#vestupson #vestlife #vestsFTW

Munich on my mind

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Ya’ll, we are heading to Munich and Nuremberg soon!  I’m very excited.  There is still a lot to do.  I need to get to work on a game plan and picking restaurants.  But I’m stoked.  Things I am excited about, in no particular order:

The Christkindlmarkts  A main reason for the trip.

Gluhwein  I’ve tried making my own mulled wine at home, but it is never as good.

Gebrannte Mandeln Those sweet, street almonds are my jam.

Seeing Henry’s face at BMW Welt

Seeing Henry’s face on the planes and trains

German beer  I heart wine.  And I’m giving Italian beers a shot.  But I’m pretty excited for some German beer.

Seeing if I remember any German  I did a year of study abroad in Germany, but this was ages ago.  My German was never that great, but I got around.  Now with Italian, I get frustrated because I feel like I can say all these things in German.  Time to put my money where my mouth is . . .

I am less excited about:

The Cold  Although you’d never know it by looking at the Romans wearing sweaters, scarves, and puffer coats, we’ve been enjoying temps in the 60s here still.  Munich, not so much.  It will probably be closer to the 30s.  I think it does make the Christmas markets special when it is actually cold, but we’ll have to be prepared.  As long as it doesn’t rain, I promise not to whine too much.  The forecast calls for “ice pellets” on one day.  Gulp.

Sharing a hotel room  We looked at some airbnb, but eventually opted for a hotel that claims they will give us two cribs and that they will both fit in our room.  This could be interesting.

Anyone been to Munich lately?  Any recommendations??

Monday morning quarterbacking the vacation

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We had a great time in Tuscany earlier this month.  As we prepare for Munich in a few weeks, I’ve been thinking about what we could have done better.  Any travel lessons to apply?  Things within my control anyway.  Off the top of my head, I’d say “have it not rain” and “have Italian restaurants open earlier” would have been significant trip enhancements.  But I digress.

Duomo

Duomo

Plan, plan, and plan some more

I thought the key to traveling with two young kids would be a more relaxed, go-with-the-flow attitude.  I don’t think this hurts, but we should have created a tighter plan within which to go with the flow.

You see, I thought we planned.  We had a place to stay.  We had restaurants we wanted to try and knew their hours of operation.  We had ideas of things we wanted to see.

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Nope.  This was not enough.  We need more solid game plans.  We need backup plans so that I’m not completely thrown when the restaurant that says it will be open at a certain time is not actually open.  We need to think about what sights we want to see, how much time should be allotted to each sight, and how much is reasonable to try to accomplish.

Granted, these plans should be held lightly.  They should not be structured in a way that there will be extreme disappointment if something changes.  We need a plan, but we need to be able to PIVOT.

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Il Campo

It’s OK to eat at home

Instead of hotels, we’ve been seeking out the strategic airbnb.  This time, we stayed at a bed and breakfast type place, but we had our own kitchen.  This seemed great, but once I learned breakfast was included, I stopped focusing on it.  Oh, sure, three meals a day in restaurants with kids would be awful, but two meals sounded doable, why not.

I wish I had focused more.  We had one night where it was rainy and everything was closed.  We ended up with takeout pizza eaten way later than was ideal.  This would have been a good night to have curled up at home.

I think I was hesitant because I wanted it to feel more like a vacation.  You know, a vacation where someone else does the cooking.  I’m also a little leery of doing this too much.  If we are cooking at home, we might not venture back into town or try that one more thing.

But it is an important tool in the arsenal.  You better believe, next time, I’m scouting out not just restaurant locations but grocery stores as well.

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Torre del Mangia

Travel with a wine opener

Nuff said.

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Siena is awesome

You may be wondering about the random pictures throughout this post.  After three days in Volterra and San Gimignano, we stopped in Siena on the way back home.  We took the escalator into town, wandered a little, saw the duomo, had a nice lunch, and ate ice cream on the Campo before setting off again.

I wish we had stayed longer.  Maybe Siena would have been a better base of operations than Volterra.  We spent three evenings wandering around Volterra; I think there would have been more to see here.

Of course, it could have been more expensive.  And we may not have made it to Volterra at all that way.  There will always be what ifs.  I guess we’ll just have to go back.

Any travel tips?  Lessons learned from vacations past?