Germany and Italy 2023...Day 7: Val Gardena

Once again we woke and enjoyed a delicious breakfast at our hotel. Everyone loved having latte macchiatos every morning. 

Kind of last minute, Ken found a hike that we could do from Selva to Rifugio Puez. It was a part of the valley that we had not explored yet, so we were more than happy to try the hike!

We rode the bus to Selva, which was a gorgeous ride. We got off in Selva and walked about 10-15 minutes to the trailhead. There was a very cute cafe with a beautiful view. We stopped for a quick snack before starting the hike. 

Stopping for drinks and snacks with a view is always a good idea!

Refreshment stop. It was such a gorgeous place to stop for a bit.

The start of the hike down the valley.

We were greeted by some lovely cows taking in the scenery. 

Alpine cows are my favorite!

Gorgeous scenery 

The hike was pretty flat and then we started to climb. It became a little obvious that we must have missed a turn and ended up on a different trail because we could see the Rifugio and had way more climbing to reach it than we should have. Collectively, we decided to turn around. We could see the trail up ahead and knew that it was a longer hike than we had planned for the day. We did not have enough snacks and were all quite hungry. 

We decided to turn around and planned to stop at the cafe for lunch. 

The scenery was really spectacular. I was sad that we had missed the correct trail at some point.

We did get to see the cows again on our way back down to Selva.

It was a beautiful day.

Of course, Ken picked me a flower during the hike.

The beautiful Dolomites

A baby cow enjoying salt. It was so adorable.

We stopped at the cafe for lunch and drinks. The temperature was so hot, but a limoncello spritz made it better! We enjoyed our break before walking back to Selva. On the way to Selva, we heard some bells, and Ken and I both knew what the sound was! The cows were heading home for the evening! 

Val Gardena Cows going home for the night.

I was so excited to see the cows!

Ken and I were so excited that Mike and Katie got to see the cows going home. They did not see the cows in Lauterbrunnen with us so they felt this was quite the treat!

Scenery walking back to the bus to get back to Ortisei. 

As luck would have it Linnea, my friend whom we met hiking the TMB back in 2019, was going to be in Ortisei on vacation! She lives in Sweden, but she and I have kept in touch since 2019 and Ken and I were both excited to see her! 

We planned for the six of us to go to dinner. We had such a great time catching up with them. We closed down the restaurant and then went out for wine. 

Linnea and me. I hate that this photo is such poor-quality but I was so happy to see her!

Our crew at the end of a fun day!

Germany and Italy 2023...Day 6: Val di Funes

We woke up on Sunday and enjoyed breakfast at our hotel. Speaking of hotels, we stayed at an amazing location in Ortisei. Hotel Garni Snaltnerhof was really steps away from everything. They offered a great breakfast and the staff was super friendly. 

Anyways, after breakfast, we took the bus to the next valley, Val di Funes. We wanted to see a few of the churches that the Dolomites are famous for. 

The bus ride down the mountain from Ortisei was less than amazing. It was quite hot with the sun beating down on us and it was pretty windy. I was not a huge fan and was relieved when we made it to our stop to see the first church, San Giovanni.

San Giovanni. This is one of the more famous views in the Dolomites.

The church is also known as St. Johann or the Church of St. John. It was beautiful to see in person. 

We walked through the village to see the next church, Church of St. Magdalena. It was a pretty hot day, but we walked all of the way up to the viewpoint to see it from the best angle. I do not think that Mike particularly loved the walk, but we had taken the windy bus ride, so we had to get to the viewpoint!

Our view walking up to the viewpoint to see the church

We made it to the church and had to continue walking past it uphill to get the amazing view we wanted. 

The inside of the Church of St. Magdalena

We continued uphill towards the viewpoint. Halfway up the hill was pretty gorgeous as well so we stopped for a few photos. Honestly, the photo I took halfway up was probably my favorite.

The Church of St. Magdalena.

It was a hot but albeit gorgeous day

Beautiful St. Magdalena

We made it up to the viewpoint and I had the strangest encounter with a European lady. She asked me to take a photo of her and her husband, which was fine. I took several photos and he left. She then proceeded to have me take multiple photos of her in multiple different poses. She was full-on having a modeling session.  It was insane. She did agree to take a photo of the four of us, but then I had to take about 30 more photos of her.

The four of us in the Dolomites

Ken was so excited to get to see both churches

The Church of St. Magdalena

We walked back down to the village and enjoyed a few drinks. The European lady showed up at the same restaurant and I was fearful she was going to ask for another photo shoot...

We rode the bus back to Ortisei and went shopping for a bit. There was a beer festival being held right outside of our hotel with live music. We ordered drinks at a restaurant in the town square and listened to the music. We also opened a bottle of wine on the deck of our hotel and listened to the music for a bit.

Beautiful Ortisei

Ortisei beer festival and "It's Raining Men!"

It was overall a pretty hot day. We were not expecting it to be so hot in the Dolomites, but a heat wave had other plans. Our hotel did not have air conditioning because it is not usually needed. Sleeping was a little difficult, but we made the best of it!

Germany and Italy 2023...Day 3: Munich

We started off Thursday with a run around Englischer Garten Park. Running to and around the park has to be one of my favorite things to do in Munich. I love it even more when Ken joins me! We found a little coffee shop near the park and stopped for lattes and pastries before walking back to our hotel. 

We got ready for the day and decided we would walk to the Augustiner Biergarten which is located near the train station. We were anxiously awaiting Mike and Katie's arrival, but due to some weather issues in Chicago, they were going to be delayed.

Enjoying Augustiner Brau Biergarten

Ken enjoyed a one liter of bier and a bratwurst, while I enjoyed a wine spritzer and currywurst!

Augustiner Brau Biergarten

After lunch at the Augustiner, I asked Ken if we could walk to the Dallmyr for truffles. Of course, he said yes. The Dallmyr is one of my favorite stops in Munich. I just love walking around this darling shop and staring at all of the treats.

Delicious desserts in the Dallmyr!

We left the Dallmyr and walked back to our hotel through the Marienplatz. We had to drop my previous truffles off at the hotel so that they would not melt!

It was a beautiful day around the Marienplatz

Another gorgeous view of the Rathaus

Loving our time in Munich!

Ordering my favorite, Aperol Spritz in the Viktualienmarkt!

Mike and Katie finally arrived and we met them in the Marienplatz and walked them to our hotel. After they were checked in, we walked to Englischer Garten Park to introduce them to one of our favorite biergartens. After enjoying a drink there, we decided that we would walk over to the Seehaus in the park, which we had never been to before. We tried to visit the Seehaus in 2021, but it was closed due to Covid. We were excited to finally get to visit this darling place!

Ken and Mike enjoying bier at the Seehaus!

Katie and me enjoying our wine at the Seehaus

Seehaus in Englischer Garten Park. This was on the Amazing Race recently.

We left the Seehaus and took Mike and Katie to the Eisbach River area to watch the surfers. This is one of those things that Ken and I have gotten to see several times, but we always love to stop and watch. Mike and Katie got to see it for the first time!

Eisbach River surfer

City surfing

Sunset in the Marienplatz

We ended the night in the Viktualienmarkt with a late dinner and drinks. We had an early morning train the next day to make our way to the Dolomites!

Chicago Girls' Trip 2022

My girls' trip to Chicago in December is one of my favorite weekends of the entire year. It is a weekend full of good friends, good food, and laughter. This year was certainly no different.

Cranberry mimosas on the flight

We knew we were in for a lot of laughter during this trip when it started with me literally having to jump in the bed of the truck of our Uber driver's truck to retrieve our luggage. We had an older man as our driver and he was planning to get our luggage out with his cane. There is no way I would allow that and just hopped up in the back of the truck and got our bags. We all had a good laugh over it.

We dropped our stuff off at the Palmer House and headed to one of our favorite places, The Purple Pig.

My festive drink at Purple Pig. It was delicious.

Michelle's friend Ann joined us at the Purple Pig and asked if we could go to Pops for a bottle of champagne. Yes! It is one of our favorite places!

Jill, me, Michelle, and Ann at Pops

We left Pops and said farewell to Ann as we made our way to the Christkindlmarkt. It was so busy. We were able to enjoy a little gluhwein, buy some candied nuts, and buy a few items. 

Crossing the bridge on State Street

A gorgeous view walking back to the Palmer House. I love the views of crossing the bridges along the river.

Besties at the Chicago Christkindlmarkt

We went back to the Palmer House and enjoyed drinks while listening to live music around the bar.  It was a great end to a wonderful day.

We woke up on Sunday and I went to the hotel gym for a run. Afterward, we got ready and took an Uber to Wrigleyville for brunch.

Festive decorations at our brunch spot.

Bottomless mimosas anyone???

Shenanigans as a result of said bottomless mimosas

We left our brunch spot and went to the Wrigleyville Christkindlmarkt. I absolutely love this market. The drink and food options are amazing.

Wrigleyville Christkindlmarkt stahls

Three blondes at a Christkindlmarkt

Love these two

Trying to get a photo with the Wrigley Field sign. We failed.

We went back to the Palmer House and enjoyed some wine at the bar. There was a different guy there singing and playing the guitar and he was phenomenal. I ended up singing and dancing along and there may be a few videos of that.

Just in case you are wondering how much fun I am.

We ended the night with face masks in our room. It was a fantastic trip and it was home to Kansas City the next morning. Here's to laughing until you cry!!! I cannot wait for next year!

Thanksgiving 2022...

I worked on Thanksgiving this year, so we did our Thanksgiving the Sunday prior. It is always my favorite day of the year. It is full of friends that are family, wine, and doggies. It is always perfect. We were missing two doggies this year and Michelle and I definitely shed a few tears. We loved spoiling both Lotti and Dottie and Aunt Michelle even had pup cups!

We enjoyed a bottle of Iron Horse Gratitude!

Rob, Michelle, and Dottie

Dottie was all about snuggling

Aunt Michelle passed out some good bones!

Dottie even snuggled on Ken!

Us girls sat outside for a while. The snuggling was unreal

Dottie and her dad

Two besties

Pup cups!!!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration. On actual Thanksgiving, I spent the day at the hospital and Ken and Lotti enjoyed a nice day at home. Here's to me not having to work Thanksgiving again for awhile!