Category — Travel

A week ago, Connor and I flew to Austin, TX to visit Marissa and Jeff and see their new house.

We saw, we ate, we drank, we had a great time and we toasted a lot.

We toasted at every place we ate and drank.

So pretty much all the time!

Looking back, it seems like all we did was eat and drink! Not that there is anything wrong with that.

Nothing wrong with that at all!

The night we arrived, we ate at Odd Duck. Marissa and Jeff had celebrated their first wedding anniversary here, back in October. I love that they wanted to share it with us.

The menu consists of tapas-style shared plates. The food was creative, fun and yummy.

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I know it was just one week ago that I said I wasn’t going to continue with the Travel Tuesday feature, but I forgot about something I promised to report back on.

Nearly three months ago, when I was about to board our flight to Europe, I wrote about these adorable carry on cocktail kits.

Well, I’m here to report that they were as adorable and fun as expected, with one exception. Let’s just say that there was a Lime Situation. More on that later.

The first cocktail I made in-flight was the Old Fashioned.

I “procured” our mini-bottles of alcohol from the complementary stash in our room on the cruise.

So all I need to ask the flight attendant for was a cup of ice and another empty cup.

The drink was fun, easy to make and ever so refreshing.

Seriously delightful!

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This image is one of my favorites from the thousands of photos I took on our Swiss-German summer trip.

My original intention was to post photos along with commentary for weeks worth of Travel Tuesdays. This is my third entry and I’m over it.

I’ve just got too much other stuff going on to focus on the past.

It’s becoming harder to remember the details from the trip and write about them when my mind is filled with what I still need to accomplish in the now!

Not to say it wasn’t an amazing and gorgeous trip. It was. I just have to move forward.

Luckily, if you want to know more about our travels and exploits…

I have a really wonderful place for you to go and not only read about our journey …

… but also see photos much more gorgeous and wonderful than these.

My Australian friend, Nell, was using a real camera to capture it all, while I was snapping away with my iPhone.

Not only that, she created a special daily blog page on Facebook.

With Nell’s permission, I share it with you. Here is the link to check it out.

When you open the page, the top entry is the end of the trip, so scroll to the bottom of the page to begin at the beginning.

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From Zürich, we traveled to the gorgeous city of Lucerne. Our first quick stop was at the historic and beautiful Lion Monument, which commemorates the more than 700 Swiss Guards who were massacred in 1792 during the French Revolution, at the Tuileries Palace in Paris.

It is a very moving and emotional place. As Mark Twain said of it,

“… the most mournful and moving piece of stone in the world.”

Before we got back on the coach, I snapped a selfie, one of the rare photos proving that I was actually on this trip! And one of the even rarer times you’ll ever see me wearing a hat. It was raining, so the hat was there to try to save the hair from frizzing out from here to kingdom come!

We were then dropped off near the city-center to tour around while our driver took our luggage to our hotel.

These colorful umbrellas caught my attention.

My favorite part of Lucerne was seeing and walking across the Chapel Bridge. I felt as if I couldn’t get enough photos of it. In the picture above you can see our guide, Patricia, telling us the history of the bridge before we walked across it.

The flower boxes on the sides of the bridge were magnificent!

Absolutely stunning!

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Some of you asked if I plan to post more about our trip to Germany and down the Rhine River. I’m sorry to have started with a few posts, then abruptly stopped.

The problem with being away for a couple of weeks and then getting home and blogging about the trip, is that I actually have recipes I want to post and other events that come up, such as the 7th Blogiversary.

My solution is a new feature called Travel Tuesday. This way, I’ll be able to share pretty photos and fun travel info without allowing the travel posts to hijack the entire blog.

So we’ll pick up here…

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Our last night before joining the land-tour group was spent in Germany, in the resort town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

On the way there, from Munich, we stopped at Ettal Abbey, a beautiful Benedictine monastery.

One thing I noticed was that the monastery gift-shop sold not only wine but also beer. It was a pretty great gift-shop!

We stayed at Hotel Zugspitze, which is named after the highest Alps peak in Germany.

I really wanted to take the cog-wheel cable up to the peak, but at 49.50 euro per person (about $126 total) … on second thought… no thanks!

I can just image how packed this sweet hotel must be during the popular ski season.

Just as in Oberammergau, many of the buildings are covered in beautiful frescoes.

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As I mentioned in the last post, before we joined up with the land-tour portion of our river cruise, we were on our own. First in Munich with Hope & Nick and then in a rented car as we traveled toward Switzerland.

We visited two of the three castles of King Ludwig, king of Bavaria from 1864 until his death in 1886.

First we toured through the Rococo-style Linderhof Palace.

The grounds were especially beautiful with a breath-taking fountain.

Next we went through the fairy-tale Romanesque-style Neuschwanstein Castle.

It honestly looks like Sleeping Beauty’s castle!

Not surprisingly, my favorite part of this castle was the kitchen.

I’d love to get my hands on all those copper pots and the vast variety of vintage molds!

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Hi there! I had planned to be posting all along our #europeanvacation. Now, more than ten days in – it turns out that I should have taken advantage of the opportunity while I had it. That opportunity would have been during our stay in Munich or during the Switzerland land-tour portion of our scheduled Rhine River Cruise. The problem was, I really didn’t have a moment of down time. I assumed that I’d have plenty of time and great internet access while we cruised down the Rhine River.

Wrong! The internet access has been spotty, at best. That red sad-faced icon is what I mostly see. We are now docked in Mannheim, Germany and Dave is off for a look around the city, while I’ve stayed behind. I decided this was my chance, maybe my one and only, to get a post put up.

Time is limited, so it will be a pictorial, for the most part.

We flew British Airways from Phoenix to London, changed planes and arrived in Munich the next day. We were greeted at the Munich airport by Dave’s cousin, Hope. I’d never met Hope and Dave hadn’t seen her since he was a teenager. Luckily, they’d connected on Facebook a few weeks prior, so at least they recognized each other.

Hope took us to our hotel, The Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten Kempinski, in the heart of Munich.

The hotel is beyond lovely and the included daily breakfast is “just beyond!” I knew it would be when I spotted this adorable bicycle at the entrance to the restaurant!

The next morning, we were off and running with Hope and her charming husband, Nick. Hope, Nick and their two sons, Dylan and Owain, have lived in Munich for the last nine years. We could not have found better or more gracious hosts and city guides.

Their knowledge of the city and country were more than we could have ever wished for. Nick and Hope showed and shared with us EVERYTHING! We thank them from the bottom of our hearts.

Our one…

and only…

regret…

is that…

we did…

NOT…

plan…

and spend…

more than…

three days…

in Munich!

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This, my 1800th post, is being written at Sky Harbor International Airport at 7:00 PM on July 15, 2016. Dave and I are waiting for our British Airlines flight to London, continuing on to Munich to start our 2-week vacation.

By the time you read this, we will be done with Munich and on our way to Switzerland. We begin a land tour in Zürich and Lucerne before boarding an 8-day river cruise down the Rhine River which ends in Amsterdam.

I hope to write blog posts intermittently, but you can also follow our adventure on my Instagram page.

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I’ve been in Austin, Texas all weekend, visiting Marissa. Actually, not just Austin, but Waco and Round Top too. So this week, along with the recipes from more than a week ago from our Easter supper, there will be a bit of Texas thrown into the mix.

Our first adventure was hopping in the car and driving to Waco, TX so that we could visit and shop at the Magnolia Market Silos.

You know, Magnolia Market, as in Joanna and Chip Gaines from the ever so popular Fixer Upper on HGTV.

It was raining when we arrived, but it cleared up as the day went on.

We were nice and dry in shopping heaven, so the rain didn’t bother us anyhow!

Here I am with my two little bags of purchases. I couldn’t go too crazy, since I flew to Austin, I could only buy as much as I could get in my suitcase.

That’s OK, maybe I’ll drive the next time. By then this sweet little Garden Shop will be open along with the Magnolia Bakery, which should be opening in the next month or so.

After all, a girls needs goals!

Sharp Cheddar Popovers

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