WoW 12: The Alps and Schnitzel
The beauty hidden behind the clouds of Interlaken, Switzerland.
Deadlines
We put pressure on ourselves to finish this blog post BEFORE 2023. But as you well now know, that did not happen. The holiday season is a joyful and busy time of year, yet we still pressured our selves, “We need to get this done”. But we kept pushing it off. Why? Not because we are lazy, but because it didn’t NEED to be done. This blog post is meant to document our travels as a family. It is for us to look back on over time and reflect on how grateful we are for our time together and our ability to partake in those journeys. So why pressure ourselves on something that has no time constraints? Parenthood has taught us to manage our priorities and to say no to what isn’t as important, so we can say yes to what is. This blog IS important to us, but its not something that we want to strain ourselves with. Something that we strived for midway through 2022 and decided to take the full plunge headed into 2023 is managing priorities. Focusing on what is most important to us. We hope that this inspires you to do the same!
Now, on to our beautiful trip to Switzerland and München.
The Journey
Our plane ride TO Europe wasn't so bad. We flew in and out of Munich. Our flight just so happened to be during our baby’'s bedtime and we were able to use an inflatable foot rest from Amazon that we blew up and placed at our tikes feet space so that he could lay down and stretch his legs. We learned from our overnight flight to Italy that the car seat on the plane was not the move because he was very upset he couldn’t lay on his stomach to sleep so we pivoted, and it worked. We also took the blankets provided by Delta, and tacked them behind the head rest, and on the tray table. This created the perfect little dark space with minimal light shining in. This paired with our travel sound machine made for some good sleep. It's a good thing too, because our arrival and road ahead wasn't so smooth.
After getting our rental car loaded with our luggage we realized that we never grabbed our travel crib *Le Sigh*. We had walked a long way to our car after deplaning. Neither of us had sleep or coffee (our cards were being declined and we couldn’t figure out why). The little guy had already been very patient as we mustered through the airport only to extend this time retracing our steps for another hour, and we still had 5 hours in a car to go to drive to our first stop in Switzerland. After a few pit stops and funny moments using body motions to ask where the bathroom was, we decided to go find a park to let ourselves stretch our legs and burn some energy. It's always remarkable seeing life through a child’s eyes. One of our favorite parts about traveling with Anderson is that it always reminds you that friendship at a young age has no language barrier. They all understand the concepts of fun and play together regardless of the language they speak. Finally, after many winding roads and beautiful mountainous backdrops, we made it to our first destination, Interlaken.
Interlaken
We stayed in a beautifully designed home with a wall of windows to see the beautiful landscapes that Interlaken puts on display. The backyard flowed right in with the Aare River while mountains covered the rest of the sky. It was breathtaking. Even our 1 year old realized the beauty. Each morning, when we opened up the shades he looked out the window in awe. He even looked out the window and said “oh wow” once which melted our hearts. I feel as if we could do a whole write up on our rental and location. The windows, as huge as they were, had automatic 100% blackout blinds on every pane. This made for a smoother transition to the 6 hour time change for our family. You can’t put a price on that.
Interlaken had lots to offer nearby. We loved the simplest of things like our daily strolls along the river with mountains off in the distance. Not far from where we stayed was a park where you could sit and watch paragliders soar the skies from all different directions and ultimately land 20-40 feet in front of you. They really did come in from all directions which left us wondering, where the heck are they all jumping from? One jumping spot was no doubt from Harder Kulm which we visited twice. Unfortunately, we didn’t visit it twice for its beauty, although we could have, had it worked out that way. For our first attempt at viewing the city from the top of Harder Kulm we took the train, the Harderbahn to the top. Unfortunately, we only saw clouds. This spot is known for its beautiful views with a restaurant and food kiosk to enjoy along with it. All we enjoyed on our first trip was cold beers and some Swiss meals. You couldn’t see but 2 feet in front of you as we were quite literally, in the clouds. After looking online and seeing the views we should have seen, and talking to some friends we decided to go back up two days later. The outcome couldn’t have been more perfect. It was sunny, in the mid 60s, with minimal clouds in sight. We enjoyed cold beers and Swiss meals, along with epic scenery of the two lakes, Lake Brienz and Lake Thun on either side of Interlaken.
Our next adventure consisted of 72 waterfalls. The Lauterbrunnen valley walk was in a little town about a 20 minute drive from Interlaken. It was a rainy overcast day, but Tara strapped Anderson to her back and covered him with an umbrella and it turned out to be the perfect adventure regardless. The walk consisted of a long path with little farm buildings along the way with waterfalls filling in the spaces in between. Don’t be alarmed if you hear a bunch of random cracking sounds. For a while we couldn’t figure it out, it was raining, so we thought maybe it was thunder or maybe an animal running its antlers on trees. Then we saw some fire range signs. Guns going off in an alley among mountains make some interesting sounds and echoes. The path is 4 km long, and was not very crowded (could have been the weather). It was also very accessible. The path was entirely paved and did not have a considerable incline or decline.
Bachalpsee was our next adventure and we were not prepared for what we had signed ourselves up for. Bachalpsee is one of those epic nature scenes you dream about. It’s a lake on top of a mountain with an epic view. While we were not prepared for it, we did however get lucky. We didn't arrive at our parking spot to start hiking up to Bachalpsee until late morning. We parked at a city recreational hub. Inside they had maps and people available to help assist you in finding the start of your hike, since there were many. We asked where we could start the Bachalpsee hike and the lady went on to say that there would be no way we could hike it, we were too late. She said to make it to the top and back down before dark, we would have needed to start by at least 6am. We were a bit bummed and confused at first, and we thought our adventure was over. She then said we could take a gondola to get us most of the way up. So we did just that. Little did we know, we still had quite a ways to go. We still hiked for 4 miles from the Gondola out to the lake. If we had hiked that whole way up, we would have literally never made it. Especially with a young child on our backs who was not having the hike one bit. He screamed bloody murder for about 30 minutes straight until falling asleep as we made our way to the epic mountain lake. Our little prince was carried to the top of the mountain. He even slept through the whole time of viewing the mountain lake and the walk back. At least we got our peace and quiet with a beautiful view. It was rather cloudy so it wasn’t the same view you may see in famous pictures, but it was still worth the hike, tired legs, and screams on the way up.
You can be well assured that if you are consuming dairy products in Switzerland that the cows producing the ingredients are roaming some of the most beautiful lands we have seen. During our time in the mountainous Bernese Oberland region of central Switzerland we witnessed clear water tinted with vibrant greens and blues, mountains higher than the clouds (Quite literally), and adorable cows on every corner. It was a trip that we will never forget.
If you plan to partake in any hikes, we recommend getting the Jungfrau travel pass. This will save you money. We didn’t realize this pass existed until it was too late. Jungfrau Travel pass
Münchén
Munich or München, the city known for its epic Oktoberfest celebrations (which we strategically avoided) can be described in one word, historical.
Lucky for us we were able to explore it with our friends from Berlin, which made it even more fun. These were the same friends we used to frequently travel to Portland, Oregon to visit, but they have since relocated. It was great to be in Germany with a native speaker. We did not travel to Berlin because of the longer distance between Interlaken and Berlin.
Anyways, back to Munich. Everything there was traditional, and has been done for 500+ years. Augustiner, Hacker-Pschorr, Hofbräu, Löwenbräu, Paulaner, and Spaten are all traditional breweries from the Munich area. Fun fact, according to the Munich long brewing tradition since around the 1400s, a beer is only considered a beer if it includes malt, hops, and water. Anything else added or used and it would not be considered a beer. Consistent would be a word I would use. Any restaurant within the city was serving a dunkel, weiB, or lager from one of the 6 original breweries.
Do not count on good Mexican food in Germany, do not. Our friends who are living there confirmed. Throughout our travels, Mitch had been practicing his German and it had been going fairly well. Once we arrived to Munich after a long drive we noticed a burrito place across the road that had great reviews. We had just done a 5 hour car ride with a toddler from Switzerland with a pitstop in Lichtenstein and didn’t feel like wrangling him to sit still at dinner so it seemed wonderfully convenient. Mitch called to order burritos only to realize he had no idea how to say all of the burrito toppings. He scrambled to pull up Google translate and it ultimately failed. He accidentally ordered 5 burritos, which over the phone sounded like the German word for two which is “zwie”. When he went to pick up the burritos he was able to mention that he was picking up two burritos and it was clear the workers had made five giving very confusing and “uh oh” looks. Anyways, The burritos had no flavor, no meat, and the salsa was about as bland as porridge. We ended up dumping it and hitting the local McDonald’s. We hadn’t had McDonalds in years and Mitch was for a lack of a better word, obsessed.
What food you should look forward to when traveling to Munich is good pretzels, schnitzel, spätzel and wursts. Our rental spot was just down the road from one of the largest and oldest street markets in the world, Viktualienmarkt. This market has been “in business” since 1807! Talk about tradition. It had many different food options, all 6 brewers with huge beer gardens, cheeses, wines, fresh fruit, souvenirs and more. It was rather remarkable. Thanks to having our favorite Germany staying with us we were spoiled with the traditional culinary tour even when we were at our home base. She stocked us up with a traditional German Breakfast. This consisted of an assortment of fresh baked breads, cheese spreads, cold meats, and a variety of fresh and pickled veggies. It was like charcuterie taken to the next level. While it sounds simple, it makes you think, why don't we have this? This is a tradition that we have brought back to the states, though we typically have it as an option for quick tasty lunches.
While traveling as a family of 3 has presented new and harder challenges, the memories we have made so far have been absolutely priceless. We had the best time exploring Germany and Switzerland together.
Notables:
Stays: Interlaken AirBnB,Münchén VRBO,Google Maps List, Starback Approved Travel Items
WoW 11: Bambino Takes on Italy
WoW: 11 Bambino Takes on Italy!
Reminiscing on our memories in Italy and hoping to capture our highlights (and lowlights) in this time capsule.
Backing up the story, we decided before we ever got pregnant that we would love to spend our future theoretical child’s Birthday in a new place every year. We have always found such value in experiences and thought it would be a way to keep a piece of “us” alive and spend some uninterrupted true quality time with our child to be making memories together.
Fast forward to May 2021 - Anderson was born! In true Starback fashion, even after sleepless nights and wild parenting whoa’s the first few months we decided to go ahead and start planning his first Birthday trip somewhere overseas. We landed on Italy. Tara had been to Italy, though only the Northern part. Mitch had never been. For the first time ever, Tara relinquished some of her superpower and love for planning all things travel… and we booked through the Costco Travel Site. We decided on a trip that spent half the time in Rome and half the time in Sorrento to get a taste for both city and coastal life. The process through Costco was great, super easy, and when I priced out what we booked if we would have done it on our own, we were saving THOUSANDS of dollars so I would highly recommend.
Fast forward to May, 2022 we left on our first whirlwind international adventure with a baby. We of course flew Delta. We tried to prepare as best we could for the flights but really didn’t know what to expect being in the air that long with a baby for the first time. We had one layover on the way there and ended up flying overnight for our long stretch. In theory, I thought Anderson would sleep all night but I forgot the boy LOVES sleeping on his belly and he couldn’t do that easily in my arms or in his car seat so he never quite got comfortable and as a result… never quite slept.
Roma
When we landed in Rome we were TIRED but overall the flights there weren’t too bad. We stayed at the Inn at the Roman Forum. It was a beautiful, old, centrally located Inn that boasted endless ancient Roman character. It was on top of an old Crypt which was super interesting to walk through. The one bad thing? Tara is convinced it was haunted and didn’t sleep well at all. Other than that, 10/10 we would recommend. The breakfast was made fresh each day, and over time they knew exactly what our bambino wanted and brought it out as we sat for breakfast.
Our days traveling with a baby in tow are much less jam packed with activities than they used to be. We have one focal point of the day that we hope isn’t tied to a specific timeframe so we can go with the flow. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. In Rome we were able to see the Colosseum, The Roman Forum, Palatine Hill and the Trevi Fountain (twice). The day we ventured through the Colosseum was toasty warm but we managed through. Tara wore Anderson as we walked through lots of ancient grounds and Anders may be one of the only babies who ever got his diaper changed inside of the Colosseum. Parents of the year or the worst parents ever? Not sure.
We also did a Roman Pasta cooking class at a Roman Man’s house named Massimo. We found it on the site “With Locals”, read lots of reviews, and sent our location to close friends and family before we ventured into Massimo’s house to see if we were going to learn to make epic food or get murdered. Luckily for us, we learned to make epic food. Massimo had learned to cook from the generations before him and graciously opened up his kitchen to us and a destructive baby as we cooked and sampled pasta all afternoon. We have been working hard to perfect our recipes since we’ve been home. Taste testers welcome!
Rome was a city where you could just spend days wandering the streets and not get bored. Everything was old and everything was beautiful. There were endless amazing restaurants and ancient churches on every corner. The streets were made of old cobblestones which made for interesting stroller rides but Anderson loved the added turbulence and started humming everytime we were walking around and cracked himself up at the sound of his own voice. The Italians lived up to their baby loving reputation and absolutely adored Anderson. He was the star of the show everywhere we went.
Sorrento
On Anderson’s Birthday we made the drive from Rome to Sorrento. Car’s and Anderson don’t really mix, but we survived. Tablets for the win (we try and only bust out the tablet in cars or on airplanes) We made it to our little boutique hotel right in the heart of Sorrento called the Maison Il Conservatorio. It is covered in painted blue ceramics and has a distant view of the Gulf of Naples. We spent a few days seaside at a few different beach clubs in Sorrento. The beaches are beautifully blue with clean waters but they aren’t sandy and for the most part, aren’t free. The ones that are, are more crowded and do not include umbrellas, which with a baby are a must! You take the steps down to the beach and there are a few different beach clubs where you can rent a spot for the day. We tried out both Leonelli’s Beach and Peter’s Beach. The rocky seaside wasn’t the most baby friendly spot to hangout, but we made the most of it. Anderson loves being outside and he also loves water - so that made up for it. The water was absolutely breathtaking.
There was the cutest little children’s park just a few minutes walk from where we were staying in Sorrento. We took Anders to play every day we were there. Though the kids didn’t speak the same language as him, they were all infatuated with the little Bambino. He had multiple little boys come up to entertain him and make him laugh. His hair was pet by at least 3 little Italian girls and one even planted a kiss on his cheek. It was pretty sweet. At times when Anderson would start to get cranky out and about, all he had to do was spot a Pigeon to entertain himself again. He became the Pigeon whisperer… they were following us everywhere we went.
We also spent a day in Positano on the Amalfi Coast. We walked up and down the painted streets and along the seaside. We drank Lemoncello and ate good Italian food. The views felt like we were in a dream, and I sure didn’t want to wake up.
Food.. the FOOD!
I think it goes without saying Italian food is one of the highlights of a trip to Italy. We were a bit bummed when we confirmed a few months before our trip that Anders serious allergies to Milk and Egg because those are some staples of Italian cooking. To top it all off we don’t speak Italian and had to explain his allergies everywhere we went. Nevertheless, we prevailed. Anderson found his passion for Pizza Marinara, which sounds incredibly lame, but in Italy they just do it right. All of their pizza dough was without milk or egg so it was a safe staple everywhere we went. Most fresh pasta has egg in it, so he didn’t get to eat pasta in most places. But we made due and he was happy nonetheless. Mom and Dad ate endless pasta. Our Favorite place of all was called AZZ! Italian Tavern in Sorrento. It was owned by the cutest family and we ate there twice because we just couldn’t stop drooling about how perfect our first meal was. We had a bottle of red wine every night and were in heaven. Our complimentary breakfast at our place in Sorrento was incredible too. It was a full array of homemade pastries, fresh fruit, Italian staples and all the Cappuccinos you could ever want.
Anderson adjusted really well to the time change in Italy. I think being so tired our first day and getting tons of sunshine helped him adjust quickly. We also always try to keep our pre-bedtime routine as close to how we do nights at home as well. Some baby gear staples we brought that we bring on pretty much every trip are; his travel Yogasleep Rohm sound machine, Guava Lotus travel crib (super light weight and comfy), Babyzen YOYO 2 Stroller (super compact - can fit in an overhead bin on a plane and took on the cobblestone streets well) and his Cosco Car Seat (not the comfiest, but definitely the lightest and super budget friendly).
Our flights home were a little more eventful, not in the way you hope. We ended up with 3 different legs and a few longer layovers. We also ended up sprinting(We literally ran for about 5 minutes straight) from one end of the France airport to the other to hit our flight back home, Anderson enjoyed this part, but not the flight. By the time we were home it had felt like we were traveling for 3 days (it was only 22 hours) but Tara’s arms were fully numb from holding Anderson and most of her body's skin had been pinched off. At that point and we were all delusionally sleepy. The trip we would do 10 times over, the flight home we would like to black out and never think of again.
All in all, it was a successful first trip abroad. It definitely had some tough moments with a teething baby and plans that needed to adjust to realistic expectations but we made some amazing memories together as a family that we will never forget.
Starworthy spots
Azz! Italian Tavern - Amazing food, get there early!
Parco di Villa Fiorentino, Corso Italia, 53, 80067 Sorrento NA, Ital - Childrens park and garden
Gadgets
Baby Zen YoYo
Happy Travels!
The Starback’s
WoW 9: Turks and Caicos Babymoonin’
This blog post will be more focused on beautiful spaces and documenting our last trip together as a couple than on some of the more wild adventures of the past. We went to Turks and Caicos with the goal to relax and rejuvenate with lots of time spent outside and not in front of computers after a long haul last 12 months packed with endless hours of screen time and zoom meetings.
Our agenda was slim, but we were grateful to leave our four walls and spend some time exploring a new country. The Turks and Caicos Islands are in the Atlantic Ocean and are considered a British Territory. If you don’t know where they are on a map, they can be found to the east of Cuba and just north of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. What makes Turks and Caicos so special? The crystal clear waters and super predictable climate.
Those of you who know us know we usually plan bucket list trips on a roadmap a few years out to ensure we can utilize our vacation time in a way to make it all happen (if only we had endless PTO!). When we had penciled in what our babymoon would be, we were planning on spending it in Greece. Well, we didn’t anticipate we would be expecting our first child during a global pandemic and sadly, Greece wouldn’t welcome us with open arms. Since travel is such an integral part of who we are and our relationship together, we were determined to be smart but still go somewhere new for our Babymoon. We were set on a warmer destination considering being pregnant, it was hard to plan a lot of more adventurous excursions and long hikes… beach time was perfect for this trip. We started to research warm places with the lowest rates of COVID infection and strictest COVID protocols to narrow down our list. We were looking for somewhere that may not be super simple to get to, but would be a safer option once we were there. Turks and Caicos fit the mold perfectly! Their COVID response has been strong since the beginning. A few things that Turks and Caicos did that went above and beyond some other options were; having great testing protocol’s to get onto and leave the island (no rapid tests were allowed due to greater error), an application and approval process through the government, mandatory COVID travel insurance, continued mask mandates and to top it all off… the staff of our resort were being tested DAILY!
Once we navigated the extra steps to get to Turks and Caicos, it was a breeze from there. We spent our days from sun up to sun down outside going from pool to beach to pool and repeat.. crawling back into our beds at the end of the night completely sun drunk in the best way. We did sunrise oceanside yoga a few mornings. We took beach walks. Mitch had his fair share of cocktails while Tara indulged in mocktails. We found good eats and took a few walks through the main town in Providenciales where we were staying. We biked on little beach cruisers. We read books next to breathtaking ocean views and we woke up to the view of the ocean from our room each morning. It was totally unlike most of our other trips with a non-existent agenda, but it was exactly what we needed at this season of life and for that we are so grateful.
We have no big travel tips or wild stories, however, wanted to share a collection of our photos as a time capsule to look back on as our last trip just us two before we welcome little Starbaby into the Wanderlust mix next month.
Happy Travels!
The Starback’s