Innsbruck, Austria Christmas Market

Saturday, December 20

Preston's work was having a special deal for them to go up to Innsbruck's Christmas Market in Austria. Of course we jumped on that! Since this would also be our first Christmas market while being over here.

The drive took about 4.5 to 5 hours but we had 2 stops along the way. So it didn't seem to bad at all.

Finally, when we got there, we were allowed to go explore wherever until 5:30pm when we had to be back at the bus to leave.

At this market there were a few different market sections you could walk through. Each had all different types of Christmas decorations/ornaments, toys, hand-made items and plenty of other knick knacks for you to purchase. And of course you can't forget all the food, pastries/desserts and of course gluhwein/mulled wine (aka hot wine). Since Austria shares a lot of the same culture with Germany, they had a lot of different sausages/bratwursts to choose from, sauerkraut bread bowls, pretzels and much more. Then for pastries/desserts you had plenty to choose from; candy/chocolate covered apples, roasted chestnuts, croissants, donuts with with chocolate or cream, different types of chocolate and plenty more for the sweet tooth lover!

It's almost tradition to have gluhwein whenever you go to a Christmas market. Plus you get a cute little mug to keep with it.

We decided to get two different types of sausages to share/split with each other or lunch. They were really good and very filling!

)Vendor we got our sausages from)

While walking around there are also plenty of other little shops you can go in and buy souvenirs or clothing to take home with you. Also plenty of gorgeous views of the mountains!

Each group of vendors had similar but different items, so it is definitely worth it to walk around to all of them. There were also plenty of stores to go in to. One familiar name is Swarovski.

(Big Bad Wolf)

(Advent Calendar)

While walking around I found a store that was named after my family.

The day went by pretty fast wandering around. Luckily we started walking back a little early to the bus just in case we did get lost. Which of course we did, but eventually found our way back to the bus.

For this being our first Christmas market it was a little different than we expected but it was still really fun and exciting to go see and walk around it. I can't wait to go to another one! :)

Grape Harvest

Saturday, September 13

The month of September is a big time of the year for wineries. Its grape harvest time. Lot of the wineries will have groups come out and learn about what they do during grape harvest season and also be able to help harvest some of the grapes off of the vines.

Preston and I chose to do a grape harvest with Teresa Colors, who was amazing and she also does cooking classes for people. With this grape harvest we also got to stop at a different winery and taste/buy some of their wine. The winery was Ca Madresca, which we had never been to before. There wine is really good. One thing I thought that was really cool is they will custom paint on any bottle of wine for you and its not that expensive either. I ended up getting two bottles painted, one for my parents and one for my sister as a wedding present. Each full bottle of wine plus custom painting was only €15!

After sampling their wine, we had to drive over to the next winery for the grape harvest and lunch, which was at Agriturismo Pituello. Agriturismo Pituello is a winery, ristorante, hotel. Not to sound gross but they use their own pigs from their farm to make sausages and other delicatessen products, such as cheeses, regional wines, grappa and homemade gnocchi. Which we got to try some of their homemade food at lunch.

After getting there, the first thing we got to do was go out to the vineyards and harvest some grapes on our own.

After filling up all the orange buckets they gave us we headed back to the main building to watch what they do with the grapes next.

Outside they have a machine you stick the grapes in, yes vines are included, that somehow takes all the grapes off the vines and spits out the stems at the other end of the machine, while the grapes continue on through a long tube into the next machine. In this machine they are pressed into "grape juice" and comes out the bottle into a big container. We actually got to sample the grape juice. Both Preston and I were a little hesitant at first but turned out to be the best grape juice we have ever had.

After sampling some of the grapes we harvested, we got to go inside where all their grapes were being fermented. I think this is always really cool to go see/ hear about all the different processes there are when making wine, since no winery has it set up the same way.

Time for lunch!

We had the normal 7 course Italian meal. To start they had bread basket and wine on the table.

Next came the crepe with veggies.

Then 2 types of prosciutto with balsamic vinegar (forgot to take a picture)

Then frico. Never had or even heard of frico before, but it was amazing! As Americans would call it, a cheese crisp. It has shredded cheese with some flour, baked or fried until crisp. The cheeses usually are Montasio, Parmesan or Mozzarella. The other cheese triangle in the background I wasn't exactly sure the name. It has a spongy texture, I didn't think it tasted as good as the frico.

Main meal, meat and roasted potatoes.

No coffee or cappuccino for me but I am always down for dessert. There was a plate of 4 different desserts you could choose from. I picked tiramisu. But since there were a lot left over of course I had to try a few of the others but nothing compared to the tiramisu.

Now after being overly stuffed it was time to head back home. I'm so happy I can now say I've been done a grape harvest in Italy!

Florence & Pisa

Saturday, August 30

I have always dreamed of going to the Leaning Tower of Pisa and it finally became a reality!

We were headed down to Florence to spend the weekend with friends and decided to stop in Pisa since it wasn't that much further than Florence, only about an hour away. You can either take the main road or take back roads through the Tuscan hills/vineyards. Definitely recommend the back scenic route. There were some amazing views!! Plus it's still ends up being about an hour extra drive.

The main part of Pisa where the tower is, is sectioned off and most people think/say that there would be no parking inside close to the Leaning Tower of Pisa but they are definitely wrong. There's plenty of parking on the inside of the wall. We were lucky though and parked right outside of the wall but to save time looking and a little walking go inside the wall first to look for a spot.

The views were amazing! You could go up inside but the lines were too long and I don't think there's much to look at while up inside.

After walking around and taking the normal "Pisa" pictures we stopped a small restaurant right near the Leaning Tower. You would think it would be super expensive but surprisingly it wasn't. We each got a peach tea, pizza and papas fritas aka fries. These were probably the best papas fritas either one of us have ever had!

Time to head to Florence to check in at our hotel.

I found a place on "GoWithOh" that wasn't that expensive for 2 nights and had a kitchenette, small tv/living room, 2 bedrooms, small balcony and a bathroom. This site has apartments/houses people rent out for cheap. We went with Florence Apartments Central. Wasn't that bad either and it's not like we needed anything fancy since we were going to be wandering around a lot.

The first night our friends had to come later since one had to work late. But also down in Florence were a few people Preston works with. We ended up meeting them for dinner at Ristorante Giannino in San Lorenzo.

We sat outside, perfect people watching spot :) We also had a few guys playing music across the street from us.

For dinner I got a 1/4 liter of their white wine and then I got risotto with asparagus, and spinach with flank steak.

After dinner two of the guys we were with had been to Florence before and had been a to a bar they really enjoyed. So we all decided to head over there. The bar was called Lion's Fountain Firenze. It was different than most Italian bars I've seen/been to. All over the walls and ceilings were American colleges. We even saw Preston's brother's college, Shwhich isn't that well known to most people. And of course, for you mom and Aunt Kim, there was a Virginia Tech shirt! I didn't see a George Mason or UVA shirt unfortunately. Maybe next time I go I should bring a shirt for them to put up :)


Sunday, August 31

Time to explore!

Right outside our apartment are all different stands/stalls where people are selling anything and everything. Most of the stuff was leather backpacks and bags. But there was still plenty of other things to buy.

After wondering through some of the stalls we stopped at a local pastry shop to get a little breakfast. I got a cream filled pastry while Preston got a chocolate one.

First place we stopped at was The Galleria dell' Accademia. One of the most popular sculptures you will find here is the Statue of David.

All throughout the museum you will find hundreds of painting, sculptures and old bibles/books.

We all decided after the museum to just wander around and see what we could find.

First place we ended up walking through Piazza della Signoria, which has a lot of different statues along with a replica of the Statue of David and also the Neptune's Fountain. This piazza has also been known as the center of political life in Florence since the 14th century, with the main focus/building being the Palazzo Vecchio. The Palazzo Vecchio broke ground in 1299, where there used to stand a theater of the Roman colony of Florentia. Now this building is a museum you can walk through and go up in the tower. We just walked through the main lobby area; there are still a few sculptures to see here.

Off to the side of the piazza is Loggia dei Lanzi, which is an open-aired sculpture gallery of antique and Renaissance art. Right at the front to the left, you can't miss, is the Perseus Statue. This statue Perseus is holding the head of Medusa. Loggia dei Lanzi is attached to the Uffizi Gallery. When this section was first built, it was made for public ceremonies and assemblies of the people.

We then made our way past the Uffizi Gallery, where carved into the side of the gallery were statues of famous people.

After making our way through we ended up down by Ponte Vecchio. Ponte Vecchio is a bridge that is filled with shops. They used to be filled with butchers but now-a-days the shops are filled with jewelers, are dealers and souvenir sellers. We never made our way to the shops but it was definitely cool to just see the bridge.

We kept walking and eventually made it all the way up to Piazzale Michelango, which is not a short walk from our hotel. But this was well worth the long walk and huge hike up hundreds of stairs. The view was amazing!! Plus, it made it even more worth it for Preston because when we reach the piazza there were two Ferrari's you could test drive/look at.

By the time we made started to head down we all wanted something to snack on/cool us down. What better than gelato! I found a place on Trip Advisor that said it was one of the best in Florence, so why not give it a try since it was close by. The gelatteria was Il Gelato di Filo, which was right near the bottom of one of the huge hills we had to climb. This had to have been my favorite gelato in Florence.

Next on our list of things to do was go inside the Duomo or Cathedral of Santa Maria dei Fiore.

One thing I will say is you better not have a problem with climbing a ton of stairs and also pretty tight spaces. But once you get over that, you will absolutely enjoy all the views inside and out of the Duomo.

After climbing the first bunch of stairs you can admire the exquisite artwork on the ceiling.

To make it all the way to the top, to look out on the city you get to go through some really tight and small spaces with even more stairs.

Once you come out and see the view, you will forget how many stairs you climbed to get here. You can see all of Florence.

Time to go back down... Same exact way you came up.

After a long day of walking and seeing so many amazing things we needed to find somewhere to stop and eat. We wandered around for a little trying to decide on what to eat, but of course we ended up doing what most people do, went to one of the main squares and found a "touristy" place to eat at. From my experience, not always the best thing to do. It's always the hole in the wall places that usually end up being the best.

We ended up at Il Porcospino. There were multiple people sitting outside so this was one reason why we thought it might be good. I ended up getting a pasta with bacon and a cream sauce.

This is one place I will definitely not be going back to, when I go back to Florence.We haven't had so many problems at a restaurant in Italy until now.

Now to find some gelato to make everything better! :)

We went to Venchi, a place we had kept passing during the day wondering so wanted to try it. Another very good gelato in Florence.

While walking around at night we got to see people doing street art. I thought they were really good lifelike.

Plus some of the signs in Florence are really silly. Not exactly sure what they mean but they're funny to look at.

Monday, September 1

Before heading back home we ended up doing a few things. One was stopping at the Lindt store, which I was dying to go in. (Really good chocolate) We ended up getting a few of the chocolate balls they are known for. I never knew there were so many different flavors.

While walking around, I did notice a Disney store. It makes me happy to see these all over Italy, makes me fell like I'm back home in the states.

Great weekend away in Florence, Italy with friends!! Time for the journey home...