Summer pt. 2

Part two of the recap starts with the day we left to drive back to Munich (and in the end back home to Nuremberg spontaneously because we forgot something we wanted to take). We left around 10 am and were home at 3pm. Watered the plants, had some late lunch and left again around 5 pm. In Munich we had some dinner (yummy Mexican food and Caesars Salad) and then stayed the night at my cousins place. She was nice enough to give us the key because unfortunately they weren’t there that weekend. We crashed around 10 pm because we had to get up at 3 am to be at the airport at 4. The plane was scheduled to leave at 6 am and we had a stopover in Lisbon on our way to Funchal, Madeira. I was a nervous wreck that morning. Not enough sleep plus I already missed my kids a bit plus I absolutely HATE flying after some horrible trip a few years back. So I slept most of the time on the plane to Lisbon (while hubby to lots of nice pictures - fortunately not of me sleeping but only of the scenery) and also on the next flight from Lisbon to Madeira. We arrived around 11 am, got our bags pretty quick and found the shuttle to the hotel in no time. So we arrived at the hotel around 1 pm and had to wait a little before the room was ready (Check-In time was 2 pm). We walked around, sat at the pool for a while and explored the hotel and surroundings a bit. The weather was gorgeous, a little cloudy but still really warm. After getting our room we changed into our swim suits, relaxed a bit on the bed (I even fell asleep for a while) and then went to the pool for two hours before Dinner.

The Hotel (we chose the Melia Madeira Mare) is really nice. Pretty new and modern, the room was big enough and had a small desk, a lounge chair and table, a small balcony (unfortunately for us right next to the humming air condition so we never really sat outside) and a modern bathroom with a bathtub and a toilet that was separated from the rest of the room by a small door (great for privacy). 

We arrived on Sunday and from then until Friday we did…nothing…or mostly nothing. Except walk down to get breakfast around 9 am (on the outside terrace right next to the pool), walk the few meters to the pool at 9:30 am (after a breakfast including fresh fruit, coffee and champagne – every day!), lay in the sun, hop into the pool, lay in the sun some more, walk to the room for a nap, walk back to the pool, walk to the restaurant to have Dinner (right next to the pool again) and walk back to the room to sleep. And all over again the next day. On Tuesday we did change the routine a bit and decided to take a small walk towards Funchal, which was told us is about an hour walk one way. The lady who greeted us told us there is a small farmers market which is nice and traditional and lots to see downtown. So we started around 3:30 pm, it was pretty warm but not too hot. When we got to downtown we were pretty disappointed because most stores were closed even though the signs said that opening hours were until 6 pm or 7 pm. It wasn’t a weekend or a holiday but still, the city was almost empty and the farmers market was…..also closed. So we got some traditional bread at the Marina and walked all the way back. We were back at the Hotel around 6 and had an early Dinner. Afterwards we decided to hit the Gym and the Indoor Pool/Jacuzzi. It was nice and we wanted to do that more often…but somehow didn’t…too lazy…

Friday we called someone to rent a car for the weekend to at least see a bit more of the Island. It isn’t really that big, maybe 50 km east to west and 25 north to south. We wanted to do a west tour and an east tour, driving along the south coast where the hotel was located until we reach the “highway” road that connects the south with the north. There are a lot of small mountain roads, which have been there a long time and are beautiful (scenery wise) and they build a “speedway” that basically runs straight through the middle (north to south) including driving through a 3 km long tunnel (not so beautiful - scenery wise). We took the highway to get to the north fast and then took all the beautiful scenery roads along the West Coast on Saturday and all the beautiful scenery roads along the East Coast on Sunday. It took all day on Saturday and we got back to the hotel around 6pm. We stopped along the way to have some late lunch in a small roadside restaurant on the coast, high up on a cliff with a great view and had some yummy and cheap food (that was like 14 Euros total for both of us). Sunday we drove along the East Coast and stopped on the most eastern part of Madeira. We walked up the cliff to take some pictures and all of a sudden I saw a few small lizards running over the sand and stones, they came out of the small holes in between and in no time we were surrounded by at least 8 of them. They didn’t really seem scared. I was only wearing flip-flops and while hubby took a picture I felt something on my foot. I screamed and jumped, almost kicking my flip-flop off the cliff because one of the small beasts nibbled on my toe. I have never seen anything like that, usually the run away as soon as they feel the ground vibrate. It was just totally weird.

We were back earlier than we thought and so we stopped at the “Mall” we had passed the day before, originally just to buy some souvenirs for the kids and maybe some ice cream but in the end I was the proud owner of some new, sexy underwear and a pair of gorgeous new High Heels (that will probably kill my feet one day). Sunday evening we started packing because we would be picked up at 3:20 am on Tuesday morning and we wanted to enjoy Monday evening without any hassle of packing, plus we wanted to sleep early. I also had to get up even earlier than hubby because I had decided to take part in another VyRT-Livestream by my favorite band which happened to start at 1 am that night. So I went to bed around 10 pm, got up a little after 1 am, watched about 2 hours of the livestream and we were picked up for the airport in the middle of the night. Arrived at the airport a little before 4 am, the Check-In wasn’t even open yet and then had to wait until 5 before we could board. The plane left at 6 and we had a stopover in Lisbon again (at 7:30 *yawn*). Finally arrived in Munich at 1 pm, got the car and drove back down to Italy. Got there around 5 pm, after being up 12 hours, dealt with some really hyper kids, who were glad to have us back and fell into bed at 9:30 pm.

Stay tuned for the Rest...

Irene

Summer pt. 1

Here is part one of the recap of our Summer Vacation 2012. 

This year we did something totally different than usual. We went to Italy, or rather South Tyrol, which is the northern, still German speaking, part of Italy. We usually spend our Easter vacation there but this year we had other plans for Easter and so we went there in the summer. The other difference was that we went there with my parents and right in the middle of the three weeks we left the kids alone with the Grandparents and us (the parents) drove back to Munich to catch a flight to Madeira, Portugal for 9 days. At the end of those days we drove back down to Italy to pick up the Kids and Grandparents again and spend another few days there.

So on a Monday we started around noon to drive down from Nuremberg, about 4 hours, past Munich and through Austria, over the Brenner Autobahn to Meran and from there up the mountains to the Hotel we always stay at and at which I already stayed at with my parents when I was about the age of my kids. The family knows us and it always is like coming home. I played on the playground with the “kids” who now run the place, still supported by their parents, now grandparents. And my kids play with their (grand)kids and who knows if they will still come here once they are grown-up.

The first day we just unpacked, went for dinner and had some wine on the balcony of our room later before heading to bed. The next morning the “Grandpa” of the house offered to lead a group of interested guest on a mountain walk/hike and hubby and my dad took the kids so me and my mom could chat and relax all day. We talked and had some yummy lunch before heading down to Meran for some shopping. We all came back around the same time for dinner.

Dinner is always something there; it’s a small celebration every night. In the morning they hand you a piece of paper with the Menu of the day, always consisting of a 5 Course Menu, the first Course is usually a salad, which you can choose yourself from the salad bar and the dressings are delicious. The second course is a small course/appetizer, a small piece of lasagna, or baked Veggies with parmesan cheese or maybe a shrimp cocktail, the third Course is either some Juice/fruity Cocktail or a soup, the main Course is meat or fish, or two different kinds of Meats to choose from, or Meat or Veggie, the last Course is Dessert. Most of the time (except a few days like Sundays and Holidays) you have a choice for the 2^nd/3^rd and Main Course. So every morning you make a cross next to the stuff you want to eat for Dinner. And the Dinner always lasts about two hours (and usually includes at least one bottle of wine if not more). I regularly gain weight when we stay there because on top of a 5 Course Dinner they also have great Cakes and the yummiest Apfelstrudel you can imagine. That, plus the opportunity to NOT do anything except lay in the sun and relax doesn’t really help with keeping your weight.

The second day we drove to a small hotel/ restaurant up on the other side of the valley which we usually visit while there, it has a great view of the mountains and some good food. The have a big lawn, some swings and a small sandbox for the kids. It is always crowded with people hiking up there (or if they are lazy like us, driving up) so we went early to get a good spot on the sun terrace. The kids played and we read or relaxed in the sun, had some yummy lunch (Spinat-/Käseknödel – Spinach/Cheese Dumplings with brown butter and parmesan cheese).

The next day (Thursday) we went to do something we always do while there, we hiked up to a small Castle which is now a tourist spot, including a small “restaurant” (Burgschänke) and tourists can learn Archery there (you can rent bows and arrows). It is usually a nice, but at some parts steep walk/hike, about 45 minutes. But you have a great view into the Valley and over Bozen and the Dolomite Alps. Unfortunately, after it was about 28 degrees Celcius and really sunny when we started, it became grey/dark pretty quick and about 10 minutes before we arrived it started raining and we heard thunder. So we had to hurry (up a steep hill, on really wet stone/concrete) but ended up being soaked to the bone once we arrived. This was a first for us but they seemed to be prepared because they opened up the little repair shop they have for the bows and arrows (it’s really warm inside) and the big dining room (which is usually closed in the summer because everyone sits outside in the sun). And they handed out towels so we could dry off the kids and wrap them into a towel and hubbys warm sweater which he had packed (for whatever reason). As soon as the sun was out again we placed our socks and shoes in the sun and waited while we had something to eat and drink. By the time we walked back down 3 hours later most of it was dry again. Afterwards my parents took the kids back to the hotel while hubby and I went to Bozen for some quick shopping (I needed my fix of some of my favorite nailpolish – KIKO Milano – and I haven’t found a shop anywhere else yet, except Meran).

On Friday everyone except me went on another walk/hike, even my mom who has problems with her knees decided to take part but I was kinda lazy. I did regret it about 30 minutes after they had left because I was pretty bored and mad at myself for being lazy but then I decided I would just take a nap (about 2 hours after getting up but oh well). I had promised them to pick them up at the end so they didn’t have to walk back, at least not the kids and my mom, I knew my dad and hubby would probably want to also walk all the way back to the parking area where they started. So after an hour nap and a shower I drove to pick them up and the afternoon was spend on the playground with the kids until the rest of the gang was back and we had the last dinner together before we would leave the next morning to drive to Munich and to fly to Madeira the day after.

The kids were totally excited and asked almost every day if we would leave (“are you leaving TODAY? When are you gonna leave us alone with Grandpa and Grandma?? Is today the day you leave?”) because my mom had promised they would get some pocket money every day, just enough to buy some ice cream or sweets, as soon as we left. Needless to say they wanted us to leave immediately after she told them the first day! 

Next up is our kids-free vacation on Madeira...stay tuned!

Irene