Lovely Bavaria - Tegernsee

We had the most lovely week in Germany!  It was wonderful to see good friends for Thanksgiving, view a snow covered Bavaria, and experience the magic of the Munich Christmas market.  Admittedly, Germany had not been on the top of my "must visit" list, but when our friends proposed a Thanksgiving meet-up, I was very excited....and was stunned by the beauty of the country.  We made three stops: Tegernsee (small lake town), Oberammergau (mountain town), and Munich. Each was different and special in its own way.

P and I made our way to Tegernsee for a night before the rest of the group arrived by way of an airline booking error - but boy I am glad we were able to see it!  It was one of the most picturesque places I have ever visited - the lake was completely crystal clear (you could see rocks at the bottom), but all around were the majestic alps.

We spent the day wandering the lake, taking photos of the scenery, and eating a crazy amount of German food.  It was wonderful and I highly suggest visiting.  What is interesting - but we didn't originally  know - the town was also a place that served as the infancy for the Nazi party in the 1920s.  Several high-ranking officials had summer homes on the lake.  While a sad history, it is understandable how powerful people could be attracted to a place of such immense natural beauty.

P taking photos on the perfectly reflective lake.  This is one of my favorite photos I have ever taken:

Perfect lakeside view:

We found this handsome pair...they were beautiful!  I had never seen swans before we went to Geneva in 2013 --- they are so incredibly graceful.

The view from our hotel room...incredible to wake up to this!

We drove across the lake which allowed us to see the town from afar (toward the left of the photo)

If You Go: Tegernsee

We had the opportunity to visit beautiful Tegernsee in late November - it was snow covered and beautiful!  It is just about an hour south of Munich and right at the gateway to the Alps.  If you make your way to Tegernsee, a few recommendations:

Hotel 

• Seehotel Luitpold:  Highly recommend this hotel - it has stunning lakeside views and beautiful rooms!  The underfloor heating felt fabulous in November and the breakfast was fabulous - a huge buffet of cheese, meats, cereal, and bread - plus made to order eggs (~$200/night)

Restaurant 

• Braustuber: This is a HUGE beer hall - there were over 1,700 seats including the patio!!!  For such a small town, it was crazy large.  Amazingly, we had two meals here as nothing was open on a Monday when we were trying to find something walkable.  If you like German food, this is the place for you - lots of sausage, pretzels, and other traditional Bavarian food.  The beer here is good and we actually found it several times in Munich - so it must be popular 

Things To Do 
We had less than a day here, so my recommendations are limited.  In the summer, swimming and spa-ing seem to be the hot ticket items!

• Walk the Beaches: Wow - the views were absolutely stunning.  Snow covered alps and a crystal clear lake, we walked about 2 hours through the town and over to the next lakeside town.  Truly beautiful! 
• Drive Around the Lake: Early the next morning, we drove around the lake, which provided other amazing panoramic views of the town and the surrounding areas.  Just beautiful! 

Thankful!

What a unique Thanksgiving this is...I miss my family, but am truly lucky to celebrate this holiday with friends in Germany! I am so grateful for so many things this year:

My amazing family: I am so lucky to have such a wonderful, supportive family who gives me the freedom to not feel guilty for "missing" Thanksgiving.  I am especially missing my niece and nephew and our Thanksgiving traditions.

Health:  Last year, we had a health scare this time of year for my Mom. Her health and ability to make Thanksgiving dinner this year makes me so grateful. I am also thankful that everyone close to me has been healthy this year. A true blessing.

Wonderful Friends : How lucky am I to have such wonderful close friends. They are the most lovely group who have been so amazing with this transition. 

The Freedom to Travel: I have literally been around the world this year. I have learned so much and seen so many incredible places.  I am grateful to live in a country that offers such freedom. 

There is no way to list everything,  but this holiday season I am grateful to my core!

Harrogate Christmas Market

This weekend the town was filled with people, good food, and good smells for the Harrogate Christmas market.  Alfie and I stopped by for a preview on Thursday and then P and I took a real visit on Saturday.  There were lots of traditional foods - German-style sausages, fudge, and mince pies (yuck!).  They also had many vendors of local Yorkshire goods (aka lots of wool and sheep skin things!).  Interestingly, they also had a children's area that had 5-6 small rides.

Tomorrow, we head to Germany and will visit the Munich Christmas Market, so it'll be very interesting to compare the two - though I imagine the original Christmas market will be much bigger!  Here are a few photos from this weekend -

The scene walking down to the Christmas market

Roasted Chestnuts - crazy - right?

Drinking chocolate... spiked.  There was WAY more alcohol there than I imagined - mulled wine and spiked cider to artisanal gin:

Here are the kids rides - how funny!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

It has been fun to watch the preparations for Christmas begin around Harrogate.  I have to say - there is a SERIOUS Christmas spirit here!  Preparations began pre-Halloween and the whole town is fully involved.  This weekend, the official start to Christmas arrives in Harrogate - the town Christmas Market began this morning (more on that in another post), Santa will officially arrive tonight, and the Mayor will flip on the town Christmas lights (which seem to be everywhere).  It is quite the scene - I love the festive spirit in the air.

A few observations about Christmas here:

• No Thanksgiving = Christmas Starts Earlier: I think the fact that there is not a major intervening holiday here (aka Thanksgiving) means that the Christmas season starts a bit earlier here.  The day after Halloween, preparation seemed to step in high gear 
• Darkness Requires a Festive Spirit: I am not sure if I have talked about this on the blog before, but it is seriously dark here.  Seasonal Affect Disorder is a real thing for people living here - as the sun is coming up ~9 am and setting ~3:30 pm.  So with few hours of sunlight, I think that the town needs some Christmas spirit to get through the dark.  Hooray for Christmas lights, hot chocolate, and decorations 
• Christmas Season over Holiday Season: In the United States, I think there is a lot of focus on an inclusive "holiday season" - I know P and I certainly subscribe to that sentiment with friends of many faiths.  Here, the population is a bit more homogeneous so everything is "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Christmas" instead of "Happy Holidays."  Interesting nuance!   

Alfie and I stopped by the Christmas Market this morning for a sneak peek - I was impressed with the sheer volume of food, crafts, and merriment (including carnival rides).  I am looking forward to doing a bit of Christmas shopping and enjoying some delicious treats this weekend with P!

Alfie also wanted me to assure the blog world that he is feeling Christmas in his heart!  He is very pleased with his new little elf sweater - I have been calling him "Alfie the Elfie"

If You Go: Edinburgh

Original post - November 2015 /// Updated - August 2017

As always, below please find our recommendations and suggestions for Edinburgh!  We hope it'll help future friends to plan their trips to this very amazing city!

Hotel 

• Apex Waterloo: We LOVED this hotel!  It was right in the center of the city - a 2 minute walk from the train station, 5 minutes from the Royal Mile, and 10 minutes from Edinburgh Castle.  It was beautiful and modern - and had a lovely view of the city.  It also had a huge soaking tub!  Fabulous!  It was about ~$175 a night. 
• Apex Grassmarket: We love the Apex chain.  This is the same great service as the Apex Waterloo with potentially a slightly better location.  Five minute walk to everything.  Great modern conveniences and a view of Edinburgh Castle! 

Attractions 

• Edinburgh Castle: This was a beautiful, large castle that has been fully renovated.  Our favorite spots were the prisons (always fascinating) and the crown jewels.  Scotland has such a rich history and this was the start! 
• Britannia: The Queen's Royal Yacht from the 1950's - 1997.  The tour is incredibly well organized and you get to see everything from the state rooms to the kitchens to the sailor's quarters.  Highly recommend this tour...especially if you have access to a car (it's a bit outside of town, but once you're there - parking is easy and plentiful in a parking deck) 
• Shopping - Grassmarket & Royal Mile: There are two great spots for shopping!  Royal Mile has about three dozen shops for just about every version of plaid scarf you can imagine!  Grassmarket has a much more diverse group of shops - neat antique shops, boutiques, etc.  Very fun. 
• Elephant Cafe: This is the spot where JK Rowling started Harry Potter.  It is right around the corner from the Scottish National Museum.  We stopped and had a drink and an amazingly delicious shortbread cookie 
• National Museum of Scotland: This was a fascinating look at Scottish history.  An amazing set of architecture and well curated collection.  Best part  -  it's free!  Definitely recommend! 
• City of the Dead Ghost Tour: We heard that the thing to do in Edinburgh is a ghost tour.  We did NOT love this tour.  It was kind of hokey, the tour size was too large, and the weather was awful.  Maybe try a different ghost tour if you're interested.   

Restaurants

• Mussel and Steak: Great spot in the Grassmarket district.  GREAT service - super fast - and the food was delicious.  I had lobster and P had steak.  Yumm-o.  
• Laila's Bistro: We have been missing good Middle Eastern food!  We found delicious food here - I had yummy chicken skewers and P had yummy falafel! 
• Civerino's Pizza: We had an amazing pizza here and arancini.  Highly recommend! 

Everyday Adventure: Edinburgh

Despite some traditionally blustery, rainy weather, we had an excellent adventure to Edinburgh Scotland this weekend.  It is just a three hour train ride from Harrogate, so it was a great weekend trip.  Edinburgh is filled with stunning architecture and amazing history.  Similar to Venice, I often forget that Scotland was its own country for many years - filled with its own history and experience.  The most striking feature of the Edinburgh landscape is its beautiful castle that overlooks the entire city.  It is an extremely well-preserved castle and we had a chance to visit all of its nooks and crannies.

During our visit, we also went on a ghost tour in the underground passages of the city as well as visited the Scottish National Museum.  Each was a fascinating look into Scotland's history.  In addition, we went to the Elephant Cafe where JK Rowling started writing Harry Potter (one of our most favorite books!).

If you've read the Harry Potter series, a lot of the things you picture are much like Edinburgh.  Lots of people compare the Grass Market area to Diagon Alley!   Check out a few of our favorite photos from the weekend:

The beautiful Edinburgh Castle:

Amazing flowers inside the castle...still growing in November!

Check out the amazing guard in front of their War Memorial (also inside the castle!)

A view of the city from the castle: 

P looking a bit soggy

I had the most delicious lobster for dinner!  Yum!  Who knew that the cold waters off Scotland were good for lobsters!?!?! Makes sense when you think about Maine lobster:

The Elephant Cafe from Harry Potter (also note my new scarf...tartan is a serious thing there!)

English Fog: The Real Deal

Right before I left, there was lots of news about the fog that descended upon Europe. I got to witness it first hand - it rolled in last Sunday afternoon.  We had gone out to lunch to sit outside on what was a beautiful, sunny afternoon.  By the time we finished lunch, the fog had descended upon Harrogate and stayed for a few days.  Many flights were cancelled and I thanked my lucky stars that I was able to get back for work without a hitch!

I wanted to share first-hand some of the scenes of the fog in Harrogate - it was truly amazing and unlike anything I have ever seen for two reasons: (1) it was incredibly dense; and (2) it didn't lift for days!  Crazy! All of the below are taken with my cell phone over two days:


P snapping a photo of the fog covered Stray

This fog was no joke!

 

 

Crazy town!



Home is Where Your Dog Is

I have been absent in posting in the past week because of my trip back to Washington, DC for work.  It was a whirlwind trip filled with some of the best things in my life - my family, life long friends, colleagues who are friends, KEEN friends, and fascinating meetings.  I am lucky to have gotten a taste of the familiar - even if it was just for a week.  More reflections on that soon

When I arrived at Manchester Airport last Tuesday to head back to DC, a lovely United employee asked me "oh, how nice, are you going home?"

I realized that the question is not as simple as it used to be.  Washington will always be familiar - with my family, my friends, my office, and my history.  But - Harrogate is my new home complete with husband, dog, and my things.  So - I've decided that the answer really is "home is where your dog is." 

I can't wait to see this little fluffy face tomorrow: