Under the Tuscan Sun

 














As I sit here in my warm home, delicious dinner smells filling the air, the first of the snow falling outside, dreading the long, cold, winter months ahead, I am gently reminded (thanks Valerie!!) that I am seriously lacking in my blog duties ... so now I will reminisce about our scorching hot, blue sky, sensational food & wine, vineyard and olive tree filled, trip to Tuscany in August.

It is about a 7 hour drive from Munich to our quaint bed and breakfast in Tuscany. We leave Munich in the early hours of the morning to avoid traffic and I am relieved we are arriving in daylight as the 2km rough, dirt driveway takes its toll on our little VW Golf as we bounce and bump our way to the gorgeous bed and breakfast that we will call home for 5 nights, in the stunning Chianti region of Tuscany.

I could post a bunch of photos of this gorgeous region although if you've seen the movie 'Under the Tuscan Sun' .... then that is exactly what our views were like for this week. Our accommodation was an 800 year old country house that the owner restored beautifully...similar to that out of the movie - we stayed in two rooms of the main house although there are some separate cottages available to rent too. Our closest village was Panzano in Chianti - a quaint little village with a fine collection of wine stores, restaurants and bakeries. This region of Tuscany was full of vibrant colors of the trees and vines over rolling hills, the blue cloudless sky, the deep red of the grapes amongst the dry grass - it was absolutely gorgeous!! We spent our days visiting vineyards, nearby villages, swimming and relaxing by the pool at our accommodation and eating and drinking the spectacular food and wine from this divine region.

We came home well rested with sun kissed skin from the warm Tuscan sun, with several boxes full of our favorite Chianti wines to enjoy through our hibernation during the long, cold months ahead.

For those of you who haven't seen "Under the Tuscan Sun", here are a few snaps of our trip - a region that I could enjoy revisiting over and over again.

The remainder of our Summer we were hosting the Fitton Bed & Breakfast. My wonderful Californian friend, Sandi,chose Munich for her first European adventure - we travelled to Salzburg in Austria and also to Lago di Garda in Italy. We had perfect, warm weather and we spent her 10 day visit laughing, talking, swimming, eating and drinking ... and laughing ... did I say laughing?! We did lots of laughing!! It was so fabulous to see her and show her a tiny part of this gorgeous part of the world. I miss her!!

Our next visitor at our bed & breakfast was my Dad for a few days. The kids adore my Dad. We walked around the English Gardens, saw the crazy Germans surfing in the icy water, spent a day at BMW world and enjoyed a fun bike ride to Nymphenberg Palace. We always enjoy having Pa here - his trips are only ever a few days but it means so much to the kids and for me to be able to spend some quality time together.

Our last visitors for the Summer were Nick's parents, John and Julia. They had already enjoyed an extensive trip through England and Scotland and we were their last stop before heading back to Australia. Polly and Henry love spending time with Nana and Grandad. Many games were played, knitting, sewing, trips to the park, a day spent in the ski town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen and  time spent wandering around Munich. We love catching up with family - it helps close the gap in the tremendous distance between Australia and Germany - same time next year, right??

School is back in full swing now. Polly is in Grade 5 which is the first year of Middle School. Her after school activities this year are Mandarin, violin, guitar, tae kwon do and orchestra. As part of Polly's study on Bavaria, she has already been on a 5 day school trip to Berchtesgaden, near the Austrian border, that she loved. Henry is loving school too; he has an awesome Australian teacher and is thriving this year. His after school activities are drums (!!) and doing tae kwon do. The kids' school days are long and exhausting but they are both so happy at school; it means the world to me to see their smiling faces at the end of the day; happy kids = happy mum ;-)

Our current project is to get Polly's American citizenship and passport. She is the only one in our family without it so we are working hard to make this happen. It has been a huge task but we are almost there now. Once she has her American passport then we will start planning the next trip ... so stay tuned ... I am not sure where our next vacation will be yet but you can be sure that it will be worth writing about!!

Summer Roadtrip!!

Summer holidays are here!! Yayay!! By the last day of school, we are all exhausted ... finally the school year as come to an end and there are many emotional farewells as we say 'goodbye' to our friends - some friends we will see again when school resumes at the end of August and others we might not ever see again as they leave Munich for the next ex-pat move to far away places. It is an unusual dynamic in this regard and can be difficult for the kids especially, as they farewell some of their good friends. So we try and avoid all the tears and emotion and head straight to the pool in our little town of Gauting to swim away the afternoon with our friends from school who are not rushing off to start their summer vacation. We love our local outdoor pool, where you can buy a beer and enjoy your take away spring rolls and fried rice from the pool snack bar attached to the Chinese restaurant. After we are all totally exhausted, we head home to pack for our own summer holiday. This year we are doing a two week driving holiday through Slovenia, Croatia and Italy.

The surprisingly warm, glacial Lake Bled in the Julian Alps in northeastern Slovenia was our first stop. My good friend in California, Gail, visited Lake Bled last year and said it was a 'must see' ... and she was right!! We arrive at our little bed and breakfast right on the lake and are blown away by the beauty of this gorgeous lake with a little island in the middle - which is in fact, the only natural island in Slovenia. We very quickly unpack the car and walk the 5 meters to the lake and dive in. Ahhhhhh!! We are all smiling from ear to ear. We were all so happy to be out of the car, out of school, out of work and to be enjoying spending time together in this sensational part of the world!! WE LOVE LAKE BLED!! Breakfasts were served in our rooms so we could enjoy a leisurely breakfast on our balcony overlooking the picturesque lake surrounded by forests and mountains. On our first full day here, we walked along the aquamarine lake while the kids stopped to swim amongst the lily pads of white, yellow and pink in the crystal clear water. We did a small hike in the humid weather, that allowed us fabulous views of Lake Bled -  absolutely breathtaking.

View from our hotel in Lake Bled

 We couldn't wait to hike down so we could dive in the crystal clear water. We all swam out to the little island which was further than it looked!! Henry did amazingly well considering it is the beginning of summer here and we haven't done a lot of swimming yet...poor kid, I don't think he understood that he needed to swim back to shore too ... but he made it!! We also rented a row boat after sunset the next day and headed out to the island again; the kids jumped in the water from the boat and then we all explored the island (again!!) while Nick and I swam around the island and enjoyed looking at the many fish close to the shore. On the island is a small cafe where we enjoyed champagne in the cooler evening temperatures and treated ourselves to a traditional Slovenian cake called a Potica (like a walnut roll). Yum!! 

Next stop - Plitvice National Park in Croatia, the oldest national park in South East Europe. It was a long but pretty drive. We drove through many gorgeous little Slovenian and Croatian villages. Our bed and breakfast bungalow was an ideal location to explore Croatia's largest park, well known for it's stunning sixteen interconnecting aquamarine lakes and waterfalls separated into upper and lower levels. The colors of the water are stunning and constantly changing depending on the angle of the sunlight and the quantity of minerals and organisms in the water. We had a fabulous day walking around the lakes and waterfalls and admiring the hundreds of elegant butterflies; and while we understood it is a national park, with the extremely hot weather, it was torture for us walking by these lakes and not jumping in!! We had our swim suits in the car though, so on the way home we found a perfect, natural waterhole for us all to cool off .... a little slice of heaven!!

I am a bit reluctant to share too much about our next adventure on 'our' island because we all loved it so much and after all my ranting and raving here, you will want to go there yourself but the reason we loved it so much was because there not many tourists there at all and that alone really made our time there truly amazing...with that said ... you know I can't help myself so here's the scoop - just don't tell anybody, ok?! ;-) We spent 7 nights in a gorgeous little town called Kut on the island of Vis, the most outer lying island in the Adriatic Sea, off the Croatian coast.

 





Our little town is full of narrow lane ways with huge sandstone buildings either side; houses with old gates and broken doors with peeling paint that you couldn't imagine anybody living in and then they pop out to go grocery shopping and inside they have their washing hanging on slack lines blowing in the warm breeze and the smells from their kitchen are making us wish we were invited for dinner. There are many restaurants tucked away in all the nooks and crannies and lane ways selling fresh fish, bakeries with Croatian pastries as well as a small supermarket.  Outside our door is the mooring spot for the many million dollar yachts choosing to share our slice of heaven which made for fabulous people watching from the balcony while the church bells chimed in the background.

 One night a huge 'pirate ship' looking boat was moored outside our doorstep and Henry asked one of the staff if he could 'walk the plank' up to the boat - wow - what a treat for him - he was all smiles although it was a quick trip for him, I think he thought they'd sail off with him on board!! Listening to the lapping of the ocean on the boats was so soothing - even though our house had two balconies, my favourite spot was the white bench seat outside our house where I watched the world go by ... it made me feel like I was a local; I loved watching the wealthy boat people sitting out on their boat decks sun slurping on their fresh watermelon and beers while their boats gently rock in the crystal clear, aquamarine water .... ahhhh - this is the life!!!
 

Life slowed down for us here and we all enjoyed swimming in the crystal clear, aquamarine, fish filled water while we searched for sea urchin shells and then enjoyed walking around our village with our afternoon ice cream ... it was a hard life this week!!

Our days quickly fell into a wonderful routine of breakfast, swimming, home for lunch and resting in the heat of the day then back out for more swimming in the late afternoon then home for dinner. Once the kids were in bed, I loved going out to my bench or balcony and watch the night lights from the main port town across the bay as they twinkle in the reflection of the rippling water. My new favourite sight is watching the gorgeous pattern of the reflection of the water on the sea floor - ahhhhh - I am definitely in my happy place here! We swam until we all struggled with a bit of sea sickness on one day!! Haha!! I think we all drank a bit too much water as well as floated on the surface watching the fish ... we needed a little rest after that morning!! Polly was the official 'sea urchin collector' because she could hold her breath longer than any of us to swim down and collect all the skeletons from the ocean floor, so she, in particular, had one really bad day suffering from motion sickness - oops!! But we do have a lovely sea urchin collection now!! ;-)

"Swum out"

 













On our second last day in Vis, as we were about to jump off the rocks for a swim, I asked Polly if she was coming swimming with us and I couldn't believe my ears .... my little fish, who I was convinced was part mermaid, looked up at me with her big brown eyes and said "Mum, I think I'm a bit swum out" :( I couldn't believe it!!! Haha!! Polly spent that whole day laying on her towel in the shade reading her book. We broke her the next day though as she joined us for a quick swim before catching the ferry back to the mainland ;-) We have found our retirement spot here in Kut.

View from our balcony

We were all sad to leave Vis. We arrived back on the mainland only to discover that our next, overnight ferry to Italy was cancelled due to mechanical issues so we had a little change of plans. We ended up on a faster ferry which was great - it would have us in Italy in 5 hrs instead of the overnight 12hrs which was awesome ... the only problem being we didn't have any accommodation booked for that night because we thought we'd be on the ferry .... so we scrambled around and found a really nice place (very 'castle' like) on the beach...sweet!! The boat trip was great ... and so fast - it had great little restaurant on the board with a wood fired oven for pizzas, they had fish, salads, a bar with drinks and snacks - plus it was full of Italians and I love that! It was a long day though and we were looking forward to getting some sleep in our hotel then waking up in our new, Italian location on the beach in Portonovo. We enjoyed a fabulous breakfast under the shade of the trees in already hot sun. We headed out for a swim in the ocean and while the water was blue, it was not the crystal clear, aquamarine water I was spoiled with on Vis, so I chose not to swim here. We had a lazy morning by the beach then headed north to Bologna - the home of spaghetti bolognese!!

Ice cream tour!!

I had an image in my mind of Bologna. I thought it would be a quaint, college town, that was pretty to look at and wander through and enjoy the culture of yet another gorgeous Italian town. WRONG!! Bologna is a HUGE city and I'm learning quickly that a lot of cities are kinda alike - big, lots of graffiti, smelly, trashy, homeless people, traffic - you get the idea ... I was so sad and disappointed :( Take me back to Vis!! I do have to say though, that our bed and breakfast in Bologna was delightful. It was set amongst gorgeous gardens full of shady trees - which was a relief to return to at the end of big city filled days. Once we got our bearings and expectations in check, we decided to explore Bologna one ice cream shop at a time. It was fun for all of us and it took us to new little fun streets in Bologna that made me like this city a bit better but I was l still be pleased to leave it. Bologna is known as the culinary capital but with that said, you still need to know where to go and it was all a bit of a challenge I'm afraid. We did, however, enjoy some fabulous meals and sampled some wonderful local wine during our time here in Bologna.

Fun masks in the market in Verona

My good Australian friend here, Tania, told us that Verona was gorgeous so we decided to do a quick stop here on our way home to Munich. Tania was right!! Verona is a gorgeous town, full of quaint buildings, lane ways full of restaurants and boutiques - it was all so beautiful!! We only had about an hour to have a quick walk around the main square and grab a quick bite to eat but I would love to go back and spend some time in beautiful Verona one day. What a pretty city!! Exactly what I thought Bologna would be like!!

Finally, we made it home to Munich ... exhausted but happy with our fun holiday. Vis was definitely the highlight for me .... even writing about it here makes me sad - I must book another trip there soon!!! We are back in Munich for a couple of weeks of much needed rest and relaxation ... oh ... and apparently, rain :( boooo!!!

Turkish Delight

Where is the sun? Where will it be warm? Where can we go for Easter to escape the cold, gray of Munich?! .... Turkey!! Whoot whoot!!!

After chatting with an Australian friend who lives here who had just returned from Turkey, we decided that we, too, could do with a week on the beach in the sun so at the last minute we booked 7 nights in an all inclusive hotel in a town called Side in Turkey. I would love to tell you all about this little town but I can't ...because we never left the hotel!! I know that sounds dreadful but this trip was purely for rest and relaxation trip where our biggest stress was moving our chairs so we were angled towards the sun. We spent 8hrs a day beach/poolside...blue sky, sunshine, warmth, sand and the Mediterranean Sea .... HEAVEN!! We were very lucky with the weather - it was fabulous to be wearing swim suits and flip flops and leaving the winter coats and boots behind in Munich where it snowed over the Easter break!! Bring on Summer!! The Fitton's are ready!!

This is the first time we have ever stayed in a large, all inclusive hotel and we definitely had our doubts; but it was fabulous and really worked for us for this trip. Everything was covered and paid for up front; flights, transfers, meals, drinks, tennis lessons, water slides, fun park, EVERYTHING!! The entire trip went very smoothly and without a doubt, we would do it again in a heartbeat! Easter time can be a tricky time to find 'confirmed' sunshine and we were THRILLED with our holiday choice.

Just before leaving for Turkey I was told I needed to have the right side of my thyroid removed. Not fun. The whole situation arose after seeing a doctor to have some lymph drainage for my knee that was full of fluid after having surgery on it 7years ago; the doctor noticed a 'lump' in my thyroid and strongly suggested that I follow it up. After many appointments, tests, ultrasounds, mri - the result was that surgery was required. The surgery was scheduled for 2 days after we got home from Turkey. The surgery went well and the scar is healing nicely. I was very anxious about the whole procedure; soooooo many doctor's appointments and then a hospital stay when I don't speak the language was very stressful. The biggest frustration for me personally was that so many of my questions are still unanswered; how long was it there for? what caused it? could it grow back? I don't know. We DO know that the lump was benign - fabulous, fabulous news and a tremendous relief!! The upside is that my hospital room mate was a super fun gal who I now consider a friend; we have been in touch, comparing our experiences since leaving hospital and once our scars are healed we are going out to celebrate. I was overwhelmed with well wishes - thank you all so much for all the love and support - I am very thankful for having such a wonderful group of family and friends!! I have included a photo 5days after surgery so if that sort of thing grosses you out, don't scroll down ;-) It's been a pretty stressful time - so much so that Turkey seems like a distant memory .... better get on to planning the next trip ;-)

Wonderful Winter!!

Normally you wouldn't hear from me during Winter because I'm too busy hibernating ... being miserable and moaning and groaning and whining about the weather and locking myself up inside eating chocolate and drinking red wine waiting for the sun to come out and for the temperatures to warm up .... but this year is a different story!!! I made a conscious decision during October that I had to do something - anything - to help me get through the horrendous winter weather here ... so I started running ... I am not by any means a 'runner' ... I'm not built like a runner, I know nothing about running, I am unbelievably slow, I have no running style and I am definitely not elegant or glamorous ... but I am doing it. I shuffle along and sing away to my fave tunes and I am thrilled to say that I am now, finally enjoying my running!! Yay!! I LOVE running in the snow through all the forests that surround our little village and over the Christmas break the kids and I have been out every day enjoying some laughs and fun times together (ok - the hail, gusty winds, thunder and lightening day wasn't much 'fun' but it was awesome when it over!!) ... the kids ride and I (& Nick when he was on holidays over the break) 'shuffle' along and it has helped me sooooooo much to enjoy being outside and enjoy the snow. With that said ... we have had a very, very mild winter ... there's only been one day that was worth pulling the sleds out - we've been lucky enough to have plenty of blue sky and sunshine and warmer (relatively speaking) temperatures! Yaya!! I still absolutely despise winter but I must say, this year was 100% improvement on last years disasterously depressing winter!!

December was the usual craziness ... Polly's 10th birthday, Henry's 7th birthday, Nick's 41st birthday and all the usual school holiday parties with the kids' classes asking kids to bring 'traditional food from your country to share' ... thank goodness for Vegemite sandwiches!! Christmas was wonderful - Santa spoiled the kids with a gorgeous 'grown up' tea set for Polly and Harry Potter lego for Henry...our days were spent drinking tea and buliding lego, playing on the wii, sleep in, watching movies ... lots of reading (& running) and napping... it was heaven to have a break from the regular routine and we all loved having some quiet, down time.

Ettal Monastey WAY below in the village

On one of the blue sky days full of sunshine after Christmas we actually sought out some snow (!!) in a nearby village called Ettal, so we could try snow shoeing. Snow shoeing is really just hiking with these big frames on your feet to help you 'float' on the snow .... 'float' .... hmmmm... I didn't feel much floating going on but it was loads of fun and a fantastic workout too!! With plenty of water and snack breaks we made it to the hut and back to the car before dark and without incident!

 

At the summit of Jenner Mountain

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our fun day of snow showing in Ettal encouraged us to book two nights away in a town called Berchtesgaden to do some more snow shoeing!! Berchtesgaden is a small German town, about a 2hour drive from us and there was PLENTY of snow there!! We checked in at our lovely little attic room at a bed and breakfast then set off for Mount Jenner. We took a 30 minute gondola ride to the summit at an elevation of 1.874m (6.150ft) where we could enjoy a breathtaking view over a hundred of German and Austrian peaks. As we stepped off the gondola into blinding sunshine and cobalt blue skies, we could see hundreds of worn out adventurers enjoying their liter of beer at the summit beergarden - what a spectacular sight!! While these Europeans love their skiing and other outdoor activities - they sure do know how to chill out, relax and enjoy good beer and good company and I love seeing that!! Such a wonderful sight always makes my heart smile!! 

 

So ... on with the snow shoes and off we went for a quick snow shoe before the sun started to set and the temperatures dropped ... apart from almost losing Polly down a hole, it was a perfect afternoon!! Back down the mountain in the gondola, watching the last of the skiiers zip down the mountain enjoying the final run for the day. The kids enjoyed a few runs on the sledding hill before dark, then we loaded up the car and found a cozy Italian restaurant where we enjoyed a wonderfully scrumptious meal ... then home to bed to rest up so we can do it all again the next day!! 

"Charlie"

 

We decided to do some cross country snow showing on the next day. We travelled through dense woods, open fields and did a little climb to a hut where Nick built a snow cave and we had a snowball fight and Polly taught us how to make fabulously huge and round snow balls for our snow man ... we never stopped for too long because it was bitterly cold and we were aware we had to be back at the car by 4.30pm at the latest or we'd be hiking in the dark!!  According to Nick this was to be a 3 hour hiking day. 5 hours later we returned to the car; exhausted, cold and hungry. Off to the nearest cafe for delicious home made goulash soup and crunchy bread followed by fabulously yummy sweet pastries....ahhhh!! Another wonderful day!!

 

 

In our miners gear ready for our adventure!

 

 

On our last day in Berchtesgaden we explored the delightfully quaint downtown before heading to the Salt Mines. These mines have been in operation since 1517 and today this fascinating underground world can be explored by visitors. Dressed in our miner's gear we went on a train into the salt mine caves; we then went down long, steep wooden slides, a raft and finally a funicular as we learned about the mining history and techniques. This is a very touristy place and we normally steer well clear of places that accept bus loads of people and have gift shops, but this was a fun morning and it was a welcome break from endless hours of snowshoeing ;-) After our salt mine adventure we headed home - very happy and exhausted - a great trip.

New Year is amazing in our little village. Fireworks are for sale in the grocery store and around midnight there is at least an hour of a spectacular sky show. We had a lovely dinner and all went to bed then at midnight we all woke up and enjoyed the show. We don't set off any fireworks ourselves, the sound of the ambulance siren blaring reminds us why. We are not big New Year people but enjoyed the display then went back to bed ;-)

Snow shoe up the hill ... sled down!! Yay!!

Words cannot fully describe our awesome Christmas break so here are some more photos for you to enjoy!

 

That's about it from us. Both Nick and I are working on planning our holidays for the year ... so watch this space for our 2012 adventure updates!! Wishing you all a laughter and adventure filled 2012!!

A well earned treat after 5hrs of snow shoeing!!

Nick building a snow cave

Polly showing us how to make snowballs

Finally!! The top!!