Oberammergau, Germany

Charles had a work trip to Oberammergau. For years, whenever he has had a work trip planned he asks if I want to go. In the past, I had work or some other commitments that prevented me from tagging along. But this time nothing held me back! 

He had been to Oberammergau once before, but in the winter, and raved about it. I was excited to visit this time of year. Germany is beautiful in September and October. 

We stayed at Hotel Garni Fux and had a spacious suite. This was our view! Oberammergau is a small town and everything is walkable, so I don't think you can go wrong choosing any hotel in town for the walkable convenience. Hotel Fux was no different, but the place was great! Our stay included breakfast which was the perfect way to start my day. 

Hotel Fux was dog-friendly which suited Suzie perfectly. She spend a lot of time snoozing the day away in comfort.

Everywhere you look in Oberammergau there are beautiful flowers! 

I explored the church and churchyard while in town. 

Oberammergau has a long history of woodworking. The Oberammergau Museum had great displays showcasing the talent. We purchased the combined ticket and visited the Passion Play Theater afterward. Save 1 Euro on the ticket if you're staying in Oberammergau, BTW. 

The Passion Play has been performed every ten years (with some exceptions throughout the long history) in Oberammergau since 1634. It started off as a promise to God during the plague. The most recent play was performed in 2022 (postponed due to COVID) and will be back on schedule again in 2030. 

We ate really well while staying in Oberammergau. On our first night in town we enjoyed dinner at Dumpling and Sushi. The avocado bowl was so delicious! I kind of wish we had gone back and tried other items from their menu. It all sounded so good.

We found this place while walking around town on the first evening and returned later in the week. They specialize in burgers and they were worth the wait! I had the Hipster burger which had a habanero-blueberry sauce. It was very messy, but very tasty! The crispy sweet potato fries were an excellent compliment; one order was enough for the two of us to share.

On a previous trip to Garmisch, we had visited the Ettal Abbey but decided to visit again while in Oberammergau. The inside is very ornate which seems at odds with it being a home to monks. Make sure to pick up some beer or liquor while visiting. 

Lastly, on our way home we stopped to see the Neuschwanstein Castle. It is one of those places you kind of have to see at least once while visiting or living in Germany and this seemed like the best time to cross it off our list. Even though I did a bit of research in advance, I did not realize the uphill hike it would take to get to the bridge for this viewpoint. Well, now that's done!

 

Belgrade, Serbia

For Labor Day weekend, we jetted off to Serbia. Why? The flight on Wizz Air was affordable and it gave us another country to cross off our list. I do not know anyone who has visited before, so I went in with little knowledge about the city. 

We stayed at Hotel Nevski which was in a convenient location to the places we wanted to see while in town for the long weekend. The room was huge and the breakfast spread was plenty to fill us up for days of touring the city. 

After checking in, we headed to Republic Square and the National Museum of Serbia. They had a ton of great pieces of art on display including some very well known names like Picasso, Degas and more. 

A major attraction in Belgrade is the Belgrade Fortress and Kalemegdan Park. We booked a walking tour through Tripadvisor. Part of the tour included the underground tunnels/bunker which was a really cool (literally and figuratively) part to see. 

This statue was originally in the town center back in the day, but was moved up here because it was offensive to the lady folk. Delicate ladies should not have to gaze upon a naked man. ;)

The military bunker was an interesting place to visit. These tanks were used to hold drinking water for the soldiers living in the bunker.

All around Europe you can find some version of Mexican or Tex-Mex food and most of it is not worth the effort. We strolled by a restaurant after the fortress tour and thought why not! It was billed as "Santa Fe Tex-Mex" which made me chuckle. My chicken tacos had a Carolina BBQ sauce on top. A little weird, but tasted good enough. 

After our inauthentic taco lunch, we had a boat tour. It was a leisurely ride on the Danube and Sava rivers (the two meet here in Belgrade which has led to some turbulent times in the city's history). 

Another tour that we enjoyed during our visit to Belgrade was a street food tour. The first stop was to a "pie" shop where we tried a traditional Serbian dish that is often served at breakfast or dinner. It's filo dough with different fillings like meat, cheese, potato or spinach. 

We also tried "meat fingers" (don't ask me the Serbian name...), pizza topped with "salad" (think chicken salad), a Serbian pre-game wine shot and dessert balls of Austrian/German influence. 

And finally we went on a street art tour. Belgrade was covered in tags, graffiti and street art. Many pieces are inspired by the two soccer teams. The city has also hosted many out of town street artists to create beautiful murals. The bird mural was my favorite of the tour and was created by an Israeli couple. 

 

Nove, Italy

The annual spouses' club board trip to Nove, Italy was at the end of August! I visited with the club two years ago and was excited to visit again for some camaraderie and shopping. We left bright and early to caravan down.

We made one pit stop for lunch at a restaurant overlooking a beautiful lake. Once we arrived at Le Nove hotel and got settled, we immediately visited a couple local pottery shops. The first one was Edelweiss which has so many cute pieces. 

Another Nove favorite is the "chicken man" who offers a variety of chicken pitchers. I don't remember the story behind them, but there is a story. They come in several sizes with many different designs so everyone is sure to find one that suits them. Since my last visit, he had moved locations to the town center across from the tower. 

A new-to-me shop was the pewter store. I had LOW expectations for this shop thinking that it would be filled with a bunch of old people stuff. I was pleasantly surprised by the interesting variety of items. They must work with the local bases often because we found a ton of US military items like these decanters. 

I splurged for a single room on this trip and it was so worth it! This is the view from my room. Le Nove is a surprisingly modern hotel with air conditioning and a nice breakfast spread.

You cannot visit Italy without some wine tasting! Two of the ladies set up a visit to one of their favorite wine producers--Riva Granda. We planned to just stop and pick up some cases of wine, but they treated us to some snacks and a little tour of their vineyard. 

On our second evening in town we visited nearby Bassano del Grappa to walk around before heading to dinner at a nearby winery.

Our Trips & Tours chair set up a wine tasting at this local winery. I opted to be a DD for the night, so I did not have a chance to sample any of their wines, but the estate was lovely! It is owned by sisters; supporting a female owned company felt really good. 

Aside from pottery shopping, the big draw was a huge flohmarkt (flea market) in a nearby town. This market happens on the last Sunday of the month. When I say it's huge, I am not exaggerating. We spent hours walking around, haggling and enjoying gelato and did not even see all the booths. 

Two years ago when I visited Nove, a friend and I had hoped to visit the inside of the church that is located near the flohmarkt, but ran out of time. This year I made a point to check it out. 

I am not a big spender and came home with only a few treasurers from the weekend, but am really happy with all of them. I was extra excited to find the tiny greyhound figurine to gift to Charles. 

Copenhagen, Denmark

Our cruise ended in Copenhagen, Denmark. We opted to stay one night to squeeze in a bit of the city before heading home from our epic vacation. However, one day in Copenhagen is not sufficient!

I am a fan of Scandinavian design, so a top priority for me was the Design Museum. It was filled with fascinating displays and artwork. 

Aside from the Design Museum, we had planned to do a bike food tour. However, the weather forecast called for strong winds and rain. That sounded miserable, so we bailed on the tour. Instead, we visited the National Museum of Denmark where we started our visit off with lunch in their restaurant. They specialize in the famous open-faced sandwiches. My roast beef sandwich was way better than I was expecting and quite satisfying. If I remember correctly, Charles has the salmon. 

The museum was extensive and had a lot of interesting displays. It made for a good rainy day activity.

Our hotel, Coco Hotel, was lovely! They are part of a food collective and gave a fantastic recommendation for pizza from one of their partner restaurants. They even had arancini which made my quarter Sicilian heart happy. We ordered take away and cozied up in our hotel room and relaxed after a long vacation with lots of sightseeing. It was a bummer not to see more of Copenhagen, but it just means we will have to return one day. 

Tallinn, Estonia

The third new country visited on our Baltic cruise was Estonia! We booked a food tour (not through NCL) and had some time before the tour to explore Tallinn on our own. 

We toured the Estonian Maritime Museum. It is located in the Fat Margaret tower (Tallinn towers have some quirky names), so as you visit each level of the museum you get better and better views of the city. The very top level is an outdoor bar that offers a great vantage point. The museum was very well done with a lot of interactive displays. Strangely, there was a karaoke booth on one of the levels.

A large part of the Baltics has some warranted emotional baggage in regards to Russia. We happened upon the Russian embassy while strolling around Tallinn. As you can see, people don't much care for Russia.

We enjoy food tours! It takes the pressure off finding places to eat and helps us learn more about the city and culture that we're visiting. The Tallinn food tour was fantastic and so varied! The first stop was one of my favorite bites of the tour (I'm getting a bit hungry just looking at the picture). These are lamb dumplings served with a garlic oil and sour cream. So delicious! 

We also tried sea buckhorn juice. I had never heard of sea buckhorn, but the juice was refreshing.

Another stop was to a chocolate shop! They had some common flavors, but also some very unique ones. We all tried chocolate with reindeer moss. They also had flavors like spruce and kama flour (more on that in a little bit).

There were a few medieval style restaurants in Tallinn. We visited this one that had some cool ambience inside. We tried a soup and sausage roll. It felt like we stepped back in time.

Another stop brought us to a pharmacy, which may seem strange. They have been making marzipan forever! We were able to sample some. According to their website, this marzipan is "a good cure for alleviating the ache of love and promoting brain activity." 

Our next stop was to sample kama. I was at a table with three other people who sampled their kama before I had a bite and they had me worried. They did not seem like big fans. Upon trying it, it just made me think of yogurt. To be fair, yogurt in Europe is a little different than yogurt in the US and I have grown more accustomed to European yogurt. It tends to be more sour tasting. Kama has an interesting texture from the grains. I don't know if this is something I would order on my own, but I'm glad to have tried it.

The café where we tasted kama is also known for marzipan, although we did not try any of theirs. I loved the display case filled with the painted marzipan figures. They are too cute to eat!

We walked through a food hall and tried some delicious lemonades! Charles had the kind in the orange can and it tasted like apple pie. Mine was an apple lemonade, but did not have the cinnamon spice flavor.

These mini pancakes were so yummy! Charles had condensed milk on his and I chose Nutella.

For the last stop our guide gave our group the choice between ice cream or local brewery. We chose brewery! This part of town was covered in really cool street art, too. Charles and I enjoyed a refreshing cider while enjoying the sunny afternoon.

We thought about booking a street art tour in Tallinn, but there were no tours offered the day we visited. I would love to return to Tallinn to go on that tour, though! There were so many cool pieces!