Europe 2021...Day 14: Heading Home

Our flight back home did not leave until 11:30 am, which allowed for time for a walk and breakfast at our hotel.  Ken got some gorgeous pictures of the Monopteros in Munich.  

Early morning in Englischer Garten Park

Monopteros in Munich

I always have a huge sense of sadness and happiness when we eat our final breakfast in Munich.  I am sad that our time is coming to an end and happy that it happened and that we get to go home to the girls.

The Marienplatz is typically full of hustle and bustle but was quite quiet on our morning walk.  

On our flight ready to get home to our girls!

We had a great time on our European adventure.  I am so happy that we went and enjoyed our time away.  We arrived home to our ladies, that missed us so much.  Until next time Europe!

Europe 2021...Day 13: More Munich

Wednesday was our last full day in Munich.  We slept in, ran, and spent more time at the park.  We also treated ourselves to chocolates from our beloved Dallmayr.  It was basically a day full of our favorite things.  

One of our favorite things to do at the park is watch city surfing on the Eisbach River.  I always love when a girl jumps in and is able to ride the wave longer than the boys!

I cannot imagine how cold that water is.

We bought drinks from our favorite little hut and watched some Germans play drinking games.  It was very relaxing and fun to try to figure out their strategy.  

One last walk through the Hofgarten on our way to our hotel.

We went to one of the Augustiner breweries by our hotel for dinner.  We had a great view of the Frauenkirche with the bells.  

Augustiner dinner views

Frauenkirche bells with dinner

We went to the Viktualienmarkt for some final Munich drinks and then walked back to our hotel through the Marienplatz.

So grateful that we kept our plane ticket reservations and took a chance that the EU would open to Americans.  We needed our European vacation badly.  

Tomorrow, we travel home.  We were excited to get home to our babies.

Europe 2021...Day 12: Munich

 We started Tuesday off with a run around Englischer Garten Park.  We got to explore areas of the park that we have never explored before, which was fun.  While we were running, I found myself thinking about our last time running in the park on Christmas Eve 2019.  It is crazy to think how much life has changed since then.

After our run and breakfast, we found a testing center where we could be tested for Covid so that we could fly back to the USA.  The entire process was very easy and it was completely free.  

Celebratory drinks for being Covid negative and being able to fly home to the USA!

We decided to walk back to the park.  It was such a beautiful day and we wanted to do as the Germans do, hangout in the park.  

Ken loved his time in the biergartens.

It was such a beautiful day in Munich!

After drinks and snacks at the biergarten, we decided to walk around the park.  There were people everywhere enjoying the sunshine.  I have never witnessed so many people in the park before!

Englischer Garten Park

Germans soaking up the sunshine.  Some were half naked.  

We found a little hut that was selling wine and bier and purchased drinks.  We sat on a bench for awhile and watched everything that was going on around us.  People were playing volleyball, soccer, drinking games, and basking in the sun.  

After the park, we walked back towards our hotel and decided to stop by my favorite church in Munich to have a look around.  We started going inside all of the churches on our last trip to Munich and love to see the interiors.

Inside the Theatine Church

The interior is even more beautiful than the exterior.

Lighting a candle for Kya and Lotti, who we missed terribly

The Rathaus was looking quite lovely as we walked through the Marienplatz

Having a great time in our favorite city.

We walked from the Marienplatz to the Augustiner Brau biergarten that is a few blocks from the train station.  We have never gotten to visit the actual biergarten since it is usually cold when we visit.  We were excited to see the biergarten full of people!

Augustiner Brau Biergarten

I think the Germans are happy the lockdowns are over!

Biergarten drinks

Loving my time at the Augustiner with Ken

We ended the night with noodles and dumplings at the Asian restuarant, Dami, next to our hotel.  It was a great day all around Munich.  We were both happy that we decided not to go on a daytrip as we had originally planned and instead relax all around Munchen.  

Europe 2021...Day 11: Munich

We had an early train the next morning to Munich!  It is ironic that I am posting about this today because we were supposed to be there right at this moment.  Sadly,  Bavaria canceled all Christkindlmarkts again this year.  

Anyways, back to August.  We had a very long train ride from Venice to Munich.  It was about 6.5 hours, however, it seemed much longer.  This was the first time we were on a train that did not have a drink/snack cart.  We were starving by the time we arrived.  We finally arrived in Munich and went to our favorite hotel, checked in, and headed out to our favorite Bier Halle.  We were so excited to be back in our favorite city.  It had been since Christmas 2019 since we had visited.  

Our first stop was Augustiner by our hotel.  Ken got his beloved 1L!  He was so happy!

I had an iced coffee, which includes ice cream!

We enjoyed our drinks and all of the German language around us.  We sat at the Augustiner for a bit before we decided to walk to Englischer Garten Park.  We took the way through the Marienplatz to see the Rathaus in all its glory.

The Marienplatz is one of my favorite parts of Munich.

We both agreed that the Marienplatz looks rather naked without the Christkindlmarkt stahls!

It has been since June 2016 since we sat outside in warmer weather in Munich.  We were excited to see one of our favorite biergartens with locals enjoying bier, wine, and snacks.  

The Chinesischer Turm biergarten is one of our favorites!  This is also one of our favorite Christkindlmarkts in December.

We enjoyed our drinks and pommes frites and walked back through the Hofgarten towards the Marienplatz.

Hofgarten.  That is my favorite church in all of Munich.

Such a beautiful area of Munich.

Odeonplatz

We ended our night at the Viktualienmarkt with wine, bier, and pretzels.  We had a long travel day to get to Munich, and welcomed being back in our favorite place.  We walked home through the Marienplatz and felt very grateful to feel so at home.

Munchen Rathaus

Europe 2021...Day 10: Venice

 I woke up rather refreshed!  I guess 12 hours of sleep will do that.  I decided to go for a run and guess what?  I got lost.  So lost.

I ended up at the Rialto Bridge, which should have been the first clue that I was headed in the wrong direction.  

The Grand Canal

Venice is definitely one of the most beautiful and confusing places I have ever run.  You think you are coming up on a dead-end, but instead, you make a sharp left turn and see a darling place like this.

I ran into the Grand Canal again, which should have been my second clue that I was going in the wrong direction.

Next thing you know, I saw signs for St. Mark's Square, which I know is about 15 to 20 minutes from our hotel.  I was all the way across Venice!  

We tried to find St. Mark's Square our first day and got turned around.  Of course, I would get lost on a run and find it on my own.

Google Maps only kind of works around Venice, but I finally found my way after running past a Christopher Columbus pub about three times.  There was a moment when I thought I was deemed to live above the pub!  

So much unique beauty around Venice.

I finally found the area that looked more familiar and then finally found my way back to our hotel.  We got ready for the day and headed out for Aperol Spritz and bellinis!

We had a canvas made of this photo to display in our house.  It is very much how I imagined Venice to look.

We somehow were able to find our way to St. Mark's Square for a look around.  I have to say, St. Mark's Cathedral is one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen.

St. Mark's Square.  I cannot imagine how packed this area is when Venice has cruise ships docking.

I really enjoyed my time in Venice.  You would never know that I was overserved the day prior!

I am so happy I convinced him to take me to Venice.

Such a beautiful part of Venice

The Bridge of Sighs

There is something so special about the gondolas around the Grand Canal

Venice in black and white makes it look very mysterious

If you visit our house, you may recognize some of these shots scattered around our walls.

Some of these photos are difficult to choose if they look better in color or in black and white.

I imagine it is impossible to get a photo in Venice with no tourists when Covid is not happening.

The Grand Canal is so massive

We stopped at multiple places for Aperol Spritz and gelato.  We really had no agenda.  We did end up walking all over Venice and ended up finding the area where the locals live.  I am certain we were the only tourists.

The area of Venice that most people never see.  

This was one of my favorite pictures that Ken snapped.  The colors are so beautiful.

There may have been a moment where we were completely lost and wondered if we were going to have to swim across the Grand Canal to get back to our hotel.  Finally, we found a running path, that led us to a bridge and back to the train station.  

Our hotel recommended a restaurant along a canal with beautiful views of the sunset.  It was such a great place to wrap up our time in Venice.

Our dinner view

We had wine, pasta, and views.  It was perfect.  We also met a couple from New Zealand that was thrilled to see Americans traveling abroad again.

Final Aperol Spritz in Italy!

We wrapped up our night with gelato.  We had such a great time in Venice.  I am so happy that we rearranged our trip and made this a stop.