Innsbruck, Austria

The next leg of our December getaway was to Innsbruck, Austria. Each time I visit Austria I fall more in love. 

Innsbruck has a myriad of markets scattered around the town. We visited in the evening and, because it was midweek, it was not super crowded. We enjoyed the sparkling lights and holiday spirit. 

One of the market streets is dedicated to fairy tales which was one of my favorite parts! 

Gluhwein, of course! The vendors had a variety of mugs from different years. I liked this mug, but it was from 2019 so we didn't keep it. 

Innsbruck is home to Swarovski crystal, so a Swarovski crystal tree is the centerpiece of this market. 

I love, love, love folk art so when I saw there was a folk art museum in Innsbruck I added it to our itinerary. I am just so impressed with how people took everyday objects and made them beautiful. 

The folk art museum is connected to the Hofkirche, so we visited that, too. Just a little tip (because we were confused), to visit both you'll need the combo ticket. The regular ticket only allows you into the Hofkirche. You cannot buy a ticket just to the folk art museum. 

The hands down best part of visiting Innsbruck was our hotel! We stayed at DasMEI which was located just outside of Innsbruck in a town called Mutters. This is the view from our room!!! I was ready to move in and never leave. The breakfast buffet was delicious. Parking was free and the tram stop was just up the road for an easy trip into Innsbruck. 

Our room overlooked the nearby town called Natters. This is the church we could see from our balcony.

Strolling around European towns and seeing the variety of churches never gets old. This is the church in Mutters.

Christmas Markets of Northern Italy

After a break from travel due to Charles' work schedule, we resumed our vacation schedule with a trip to Christmas markets in the South Tyrol region. Most people think of Germany for their Christmas market visits, but with Northern Italy's German roots, they have some markets, too! 

We visited mostly to check out Bolzano (Bozen for the German spelling) which is Italy's oldest and largest Christmas market. But we also went to Merano, Brixen and Sterzing. 

I love searching for hotels. For our Northern Italy vacation, I chose Napura Art & Design Hotel. It was situated between Bolzano and Merano and surrounded by apple orchards. The included breakfast, free parking and beautiful rooms were a delight. Plus, they were dog friendly so Suzie was able to tag along! Charles made use of the sauna on one of the nights. I really should have, but spent my downtime working on schoolwork. (I'm so ready to be done with this program because having schoolwork while traveling is a little stressful!)

Before visiting any markets, we drove to Lana to walk along one of their trails. The path has sculptures to admire along the way, but we veered off the sculpture trail a bit so we missed quite a few of the pieces. The area had a dog park that Suzie enjoyed for a little while. The views of the mountains from all around us was fantastic! I kept imagining what it looks like in the spring and fall. I bet it's even more gorgeous!

Now onto the main reason for the visit... Christmas markets! Our first market visit was in Merano. The area lined the river which gave us some amazing picture opportunities! It was a beautiful, sunny day. We enjoyed some gluhwein (also known as vin brule); this was my favorite mug of regular weisse gluhwein. We had a a few snacks, browsed the booths and purchased a couple souvenirs. 

The next day it was time for the main event--Bolzano! Remember, this is Italy's oldest and largest Christmas market so we were expecting something pretty cool. They had some cute photo opportunities around the market including this one. The figures are from a company called Thun. I had never heard of them before, but their figures are proudly displayed and the ornament we chose was a Thun angel. 

Sadly, our expectations of the market were bigger than the market itself. My guess is that pre-COVID it was larger. It had maybe 30-40 booths and felt small. It probably did not help that it was chilly and gloomy. Charles had some gluhwein and I had some hot chocolate. We shared a chocolate covered pretzel. Otherwise, it was disappointing. We went inside the church shown behind me in this picture and we could have visited a number of museums in town, but I just wasn't feeling it. 

After the letdown of the Bolzano market, we stayed close to the hotel for dinner. The German-Italian spot called Restaurant Oberspeiser was down the road and ended up being very quaint and cozy. The food was tasty, too! We chose the knodel platter for two which consisted of 8 different knodel. Yum! 

Our third market in Italy was Brixen. It was a sunny, beautiful day! Knowing this market was going to be smaller than Bolzano, we went into it with lowered expectations. But this market was very cute! They had musicians playing from the stage in the center of the market and the view of the church steeple was charming. We tried Bombardino which is Italian's version of eggnog. It was very sweet, but I would not order it again. 

The market was filled with groups of school kids at the time we visited. They crowded around some of the booths which made it a little difficult to shop. I think they were also playing a scavenger hunt game. A group came up to ask us questions, but after learning we did not speak Italian they scuttled away to the next person. 

I did not see a lot of street art during our visit, but spotted this along our walk from the parking garage to the market. 

Our final Italian Christmas market was in Sterzing. This was a small market where I purchased some Alpaca socks. The booth owner promised me they are warm and they did not disappoint! We also enjoyed a hot apple drink with Amaretto.

Polenta is popular in this part of Italy, so I tried polenta with goulash at Sterzing's market. The meat could have been a bit more tender, but it was warm and filling. 

The area was beautiful and we loved seeing the snow capped mountains from pretty much every vantage point, but I would not necessarily recommend visiting the area JUST for Christmas markets. The markets were charming and had some good eats. They are a lovely bonus, but not a main attraction.

Esslingen

At the end of December, we visited Esslingen for the first time. Despite being so close to where we live, we had not visited yet. I had been hoping to visit for their Christmas market which is a favorite for most people I have talked to, but it was cancelled for 2021. 

Even without the Christmas magic and gluhwein, Esslingen proved to be an idyllic town to walk around. 

We started our visit by parking and walking up a hill. Luckily Charles planned our route so that the hill was first with the rest of the stroll being easy. He knows me so well! The top gave us some great views of the city and we walked past the vineyard. Esslingen is home to Germany's oldest type of sparkling wine. We did not take the opportunity to try any on this trip, but hopefully when we have visitors we can pop in for a tasting. 

This is Esslingen's Rathaus. Isn't it a fun color? By this time, Suzie was pretty much done with the city walking. But she had some fun scaring the pigeons away in the market square. 

Dressember 2021

For several years now I have participating in Dressember. Dressember is a fun style challenge where participants wear a dress or tie everyday during the month of December to raise awareness and funds to stop human trafficking and assist victims. 

I first heard about Dressember from my friend Ciara when stationed in California and was hooked after watching the founder's TED Talk. Since then Dressember has grown immensely! They have partnered with several charitable organizations that either help rescue and restore victims or help bring justice to those that have perpetrated human trafficking. 

One thing I love about the Dressember organization is the helpful info graphics they provide advocates each year. It makes it super simple to spread the word about the widespread, global problem of human trafficking and helps show why supporting the cause is so important. I love that individuals, working together, have been able to make such a big impact! 

I have my fleece lined leggings ready to go and excited to share Dressember with the new people I have met! Want to join me on this mission? You can join my team Break the Chains!

Below are some pictures from previous years. Even though I have quite a collection of dresses, there are still days where I have to get a little creative for my outfits. Don't own a bunch of dresses? That's ok! Ciara, my friend who introduced me to Dressember, and the founder of Dressember once participated by wearing the same dress the whole month to show that you do not need a closet full of dresses to make an impact. 

 

Dressember 2017

Back in 2015, I was introduced to Dressember by my friend Ciara. Dressember is a campaign that challenges participants to wear a dress every day for the month of December to raise awareness for human trafficking and sex slavery. The last time I participated I didn't participate in the official Dressember by creating a page through their site to raise money, but instead encouraged my friends and family to donate to Project Rescue which also works to help victims of sex slavery.

This year I decided to participate fully in Dressember and created a page where family and friends could donate. It's a unique way to highlight something that is so prevalent and needs to be stopped. I hope my small efforts will impact lives around the world.

Dressember

My good friend, Ciara, shared a video on Facebook from the creator of Dressember. To be honest, I hardly ever watch videos people share on Facebook. But I actually watched this one and it inspired me.

Dressember is a campaign that takes place during the month of December. Participants wear a dress every day that month to raise awareness and money for charities working to fight human trafficking.

As you know, in college I was in a sorority called Alpha Omega. After I graduated, they adopted the organization Project Rescue as their philanthropy. Project Rescue works to fight sex trafficking.

After watching the video, a light clicked on in my head. I'll participate in Dressember to bring awareness and raise money for Project Rescue! My idea was to challenge my Alpha Omega Alumni sisters to wear dresses, too. For each dress they wore, they could post a photo to our Facebook group. For each photo, I donated $1 to Project Rescue.

It was a lot of fun to challenge myself to wear a dress every day. I was surprised by how many dresses I own. I also enjoyed seeing my friends who participated. They all have such a unique style and it was fun to see the dresses and outfits they shared.

By the end of the month, I had worn a dress 30 of the 31 days. I donated $100 to Project Rescue. I look forward to participating in Dressember again!