Remember how last year I wrote 24 posts about my vacation in Crimea? Brace yourself, because that was just one peninsula, and now I have three countries to reflect on!
GERMANY: Frankfurt, Mainz, Rothenburg, Rhine Valley (including stops at Rudesheim, Loreley and Koblenz), Munich, Bavarian Alps (Neuschwanstein, Linderhof and Oberammergau)
ITALY: Bologna, Ravenna, farm-stay in the hills of Emilia-Romagna
AUSTRIA: Vienna
Why Germany:
Because the Rhine Valley with its boats, castles and vineyards had long been close to the top of my Travel Wish List; also because I am a beer, meat and potatoes kind of girl and Germany is THE beer, meat and potatoes kind of country.
Why Italy:
Because Florence remains my all-time favorite place I ever visited; because I love Italian food and Italian charm, because however much I love sightseeing and exploring new places, my summer vacation had to include a resort-y stay “out in the nature.”
Why Austria:
Because I didn’t want to spend my 4.5 hour layover at the airport.
The biggest highlight: there is no photo in the world that could do justice to the Bavarian Alps. The scenery was out of this world and now fills my heart with longing.
The biggest disappointment: I didn’t get to go horseback riding, even once. And for me it is the ultimate escape and adventure. File under “things that could have been managed with better logistical planning.”
The biggest (neutral) surprise: I drank barely any beer during the entire trip. Not just in Italy (even though on my last visit I was all about Moretti), but even in Germany. Instead it was wine and wine and rivers of dry white wine….
The trip in numbers:
Countries: 3
Days, including transit: 17
Hours spent in Vienna: 2:15
Souvenir magnets bought: 17 (I need a new fridge!)
Changes of accommodation: 4 (home stay w/The German, Hotel Elder in Munich, Agriturismo Il Cavicchio in Emilia Romagna, Hotel Touring in Bologna)
Horseback trips: 0
Kilometers biked: 12. Yeah, yeah, I usually walk that much on my average Moscow Saturday but it was SO HOT! And it hurt my butt!
Pizzas consumed: 1 (with prosciutto, ricotta, arugula, and fresh mozzarella)
Gelato flavors sampled: 5 (2 kinds of strawberry, raspberry, cherries & cream, plus a mascarpone-coffee-chocolate chips concoction)
Kilos gained: 0, miraculously
Kilos lost: meh, 0-1, maybe? Mostly water weight
New favorite drinks: 2 (Weinschorle and Apfelwein, both in Germany)
Foodstuffs brought home: 8 (strawberry-rhubarb liquor, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, spicy Italian sausage, spicy Italian beef pâté, Modena Balsamic vinegar, white truffle oil, Lindt chocolate bars in 4 flavors, and 2 jars of strawberry-red pepper jam)
Castles/palaces visited: 2 (Neuschwanstein and Linderhof)
Castles/palaces observed from a distance: 10 or so, while surveying the Rhine Valley
Churches/museums visited on the quest to see Ravenna’s glorious mosaics: 6
Highest temperature survived: 42C on my first day in Germany
Bologna’s Secrets uncovered on a 3 am quest: 3, plus 1 more the day before (out of 7)
Naked penises seen in Germany: between a beach at the lake and a day at the sauna, at least 30
The number of times I felt awkward seeing a naked penis gallivanting around: at least 30
Most photos taken on a single day: 1400, on a castle-visiting day trip in the Bavarian Alps
So there you have it. Having concentrated my efforts of the last 6 months on Moscow, following a bit of a blogging ID crisis, I am now shifting gears again, back to travel writing. And then I’ve set a new challenge for myself: to recap all my post-Baltics European adventures from Autumn 2014, which I’ve abandoned around Christmastime. Funnily enough, if I stick with the plan, the schedule of last year’s trips should synch pretty well with this year’s posting calendar, starting with London in October.
As one of my favorite bloggers likes to say — watch this space!
Home & Away 
This looks so gooood! I’m going on a Eurotrip in a few weeks and will be documenting the whole thing on my blog, be sure to give me a follow and we can compare trips 🙂 !!
Have a great time on your trip! Where are you heading and for how long?
I travelled France and Spain at the start of summer and in two weeks I’ll be backpacking to Copenhagen, Hamburg, Paris and London!!
Wow, intense! You will have a great time, I am sure!
No judgement… I went to Europe in March and hit ten cities (11 if you count Versailles), and I’m only halfway through blogging about it. Looking forward to your stories! Sounds like the trip did improve after your mid-vacation post, so that’s great news.
Oh I love your re-caps. The places where I’ve been are like nostalgia trips, and where I havent – ideas for the future! But yeah, I sometimes feel like I will be blogging about this for 10 years. What helped w Crimea is that I have already hand-written the first 20 or so posts WHILE I WAS THERE! We had a couple of days of rain so i just sat at a cafe and wrote. Not so much here….
SEVENTEEN magnets? ONE pizza? Clearly you need to check your priorities. 😛 And do tell more about those penises. 😉 Can’t wait to read more! (I assume that by the time I come back from my trip there will probably be around 55 posts each with 1000 words, right? 😉 )
Everybody was like, this is the pasta region, eat the pasta! And it was okay…
Re: penises – look, I like them as much as the next straight girl, but it’s totally different when they’re just roaming free and most of the time attached to people whom I really do not want to see naked!
I don’t like pasta all that much. And I was kidding, I don’t really care for seeing penises. :))))
No, no, of course you don’t…. (too bad it’s not an NC-17 blog 😉 )
Nearly didn’t make it past the Apfelstrudel… drool…
I’m glad you seem to have liked Linderhof – it’s my favourite, despite (or probably because) being so OTT! You see these plants there, in the foreground, to the right and the left? Agapanthus. I took some seeds off them on my last visit. But they didn’t germinate 😦
17 Fridge magnets?? I need to see those! Can we have a blog entry/photo?
I will take a photo of what my fridge looks like bc right now all my new magnets are going in a box!
Are you on Instagram? My sister baked a black currant cake this morning, for breakfast. DELICIOUS!
No, am not on instagram – send it to me in an email 🙂 And I so want that cake!!!!
OH. THIS IS GONNA BE GOOOOOD. these photos are just the tip of the iceberg and i love them already! (the butterfly and adorable you+ice cream and alllllll of the views). i need an update on horseback riding! you say it so casually while my heart is heavy for you! so glad to hear!!
Yeah, so THAT hasnt happened since Crimea – so, since before we’ve met! I am trying to make something happen for this fall though…
Can’t wait to read all about it!
I want to hear all about Moscow! And especially Lumberjack :)))))
I can’t wait to read all about your #fabulous #adventures! I know you #hustle and you are such a #hardworking executive and you totally deserve all the #amazing #food and the #gorgeous #landscapes. And of course, yours truly takes #fullcredit for calming you down and getting you #excited with my #visual #travelguide! Xoxo!
Credit is well-earned. If only you were along for the ride to troubleshoot things along the way… and tell hem Hiddlesworth stories when I was a weepy mess…
I need to go to Bavaria – that much naked penis is very tempting 🙂
You’d think so but really, the operative word there is AWKWARD
I think I’d manage 😉
Thanks for quoting and linking to me my dear. I can’t wait to read the rest of your travel writing stories including the magnets. I love magnets! And mugs. And unsurprisingly postcards which I also send to myself LOL! Yeah, the German nakedness. Where do I start?!!
Riveting stuff. 🙂 🙂
YOU need to do a post on German nakedness – I’m sure you’ve got quite a few 😉
You don’t want to know. I have loads and leaving them for my memoirs LOL! 🙂
hahahaha so awesome!! I was in need to stop by and catch up with your posts! Sorry I have been away, too much to do lately… this week everything is back to normal pace, I hope.
Anyways… you really need a new fridge with so many magnets hahaha
And your pictures are all gorgeous! I am sorry you didn’t ride any horse 😦 you were so excited about it!
More reasons to come back though 😀
Well, your instagram feed has been pretty epic – I’ve been enjoying it 🙂
Have you been traveling? And yeah, the magnets are now accumulating in a big box…
hahaha thank you dear! Happy you like the photos 😀
No, actually I am spending the summer here in Munich. Next month I will be in Brazil though, for weddings, and family reunions ahhaha
So, technically it will be winter there, right? But still tropical I am guessing?
Technically yes. São Paulo might be a bit chilly, but in my hometown Fortaleza it will be hot as always haha. So I will have more summer coming up 😀