Week 18 - Reuniting With My Mom!

Hello Everyone! Week 18 was a very special week for me because it was the first time in 18 weeks I got to see my mom! I woke up early on Sunday (because I was so excited I couldn’t sleep) and Renate, her Dad, and me drove to go pick up my mom! It was about an hour drive to where she slept the night before. When we got there, we looked around for a while, and when we finally found my mom, she was standing there waiting at the gate. I was SO excited to see her and I jumped out of the car right away and gave her a big hug. She showed us around her cool AirB&B and then we hit the road back to our campsite. On the drive back we just talked and talked. We had so much to talk about and fill each other in on. Talking to someone in person is 10x better than FaceTime or texting. When we got back to the campsite, and after my mom got settled in, all of us went to a big market in Cannobio. It was a short walk from our campsite and it was very pretty. Tents lined the streets and were filled with different colors and culture. The majority of the tents were for clothes, and leather products, but there were also some for cheeses and meats. We walked around for a long time just looking at everything, and then we got some pizza and Italian ice cream (gelato). Italian Gelato really is all it’s cracked up to be. It’s AMAZING. After the market we went to a little park so the kids could play for a bit, and then after that we went back to the campsite. We played a fun round of Kubb (a common German game where you throw wooden sticks to knock down wooden blocks) and then we got ready for bed.

Unfortunately during the night it rained a lot and our tent got really soaked. Including all of our bags and belongings. But when we woke up, my mom and I walked to a supermarket and got some rolls and peppers and ate breakfast. The two of us woke up quite earlier than everyone else, that’s why we just kinda ate our own breakfast. Thankfully the rain stopped around 9 and the sun came out so we put out our stuff in the sun and let it dry for a bit before we left for Monday’s adventure. When we were ready we drove to a harbor and took a boat ride to three islands: Isola Bella, Isola Superiore, and Isola Madre. It was a lot of fun riding around on the boats and also just hanging out with my mom. We always find a way to laugh at everything. The islands were very nice (although a little touristy) but still gorgeous. After we went to the islands, our usual pizza place was closed so we decided to search for a new one. But almost everything was closed so we ended up just going to a grocery store. We still had a great meal though and after we ate we headed back to our campsite. When we got back my mom and I packed for our trip the next day. It started raining in the evening but this time we were smart enough to put all our stuff in the car. 

Us exploring the islands!

Cute flowers on the island!

This is what the water ferry looks like. We used this thing A LOT!

The next night, I didn’t get a great night sleep (with everything so wet) but it didn’t really matter because we left early the next day for our trip! We didn’t have a solid plan of how we would get from Cannobio (where we were camping) to Como (where we were going), but we ended up finding a train station and somehow getting to Como. We definitely had a little luck because it was confusing. When we got there we still had quite a bit of time left in the day so we took a water taxi to Bellagio. We found a hotel for the night and then ate dinner and gelato and explored the beautiful location we were in. The weather was very nice and everything was so “classically Italian” and gorgeous. As the day passed, we weren’t that hungry for dinner, but hey we were in Italy and it was beautiful so we ate a pizza while watching the sunset. Then we went back to our hotel and I read my book and went to bed.

We love Gelato!

This is where we ate our pizza and watched the sun set!

The next morning we woke up and went to our complimentary breakfast. It was so good. They had such amazing bread and croissants and I ate until I was completely full. I even made a soft boiled egg to go with this amazing roll and it was like the best breakfast of my life. When we finished breakfast we packed up and headed  to a gorgeous garden in Bellagio. We walked around for a while, relaxed on a bench, and took many photos. When we’d had our fill we went back to the water ferry and went to somewhere called Argegno. We went to a Hotel Restaurant, that actually ended up being one of our favorite meals for the whole trip, and then we took a gondola like thing called a “funicular” to the top of a mountain and admired the view. Then we came back down and got back on the water ferry to Como. By the time we found our AirB&B, we were very tired so we enjoyed the good WiFi and took showers and went to bed early.

Me eating my breakfast! 

This is me at the cool gardens! It was so pretty!

View from the top. It wasn't that great because there was a storm rolling in. 

On Thursday, my mom had picked out a fun hike to do. The guide book said that you take a funicular to the top of a mountain and then it’s 8 miles downhill to a boat ride that you can then take the rest of the way back. However, the book definitely made it seem easier then it actually was. Granted, we did make a mistake, but that was only because the trail was so terribly marked. At any rate, we eventually found our way, but only because of the kindness of strangers. When we finished our hike, we took the water ferry back, and when we were back in Como, we got gelato. Then we went back to our AirB&B and showered and relaxed for a bit before going out to eat. We found a nice place and got some eggplant parmigiana and a caprese salad. Both were delicious. Then we wanted dessert so we went to another place and got some yummy tiramisu. At this point, it was getting late, so we walked back and went to bed.

On Friday we woke up and walked to the train station. All of Friday was spent on the train, so it’s not that exciting to write about. But it was a very pretty train ride, and overall the travel day went well. When we got to Innsbruck, Austria, we tried to find our AirB&B. My family uses AirB&B a lot, and this was our first experience that wasn’t so great. It was very hard to find, and our host wasn’t very helpful. But we found it. And even though we hadn’t really had a meal yet that day, we didn’t feel like going out, so we just went to bed. 

The next day, on Saturday, we had planned to go into mountains of Innsbruck and do some hiking, but we could tell the weather was not going to work with us, so we made new plans. We decided that Old Town was probably cool, so we decided to go there and look around. On our way we stopped at the grocery store and got some fun snacks, but also a hardy breakfast. Even though we were hungry, we knew it would better to walk into old town to eat because then we wouldn’t be eating on a busy street. After we ate, we walked around and looked at the city, and took some pictures. Then we decided to see if the tourist information center would be helpful. Tourist information ended up being very helpful, and we bought a card that basically gave us access to the whole city for 24-hours. It was perfect for us! Our first stop was to visit Swarovski Crystal World. This was definitely a cool place to visit, but it was hard on my senses. Every room we went to had new colors, new people, new noises, new smells. It was crazy. It was made to be like this, and added to the experience, but also kind of gave me a headache. There was also an outdoor section of the museum which was very cool. We sat outside and ate a snack and watched how the sun made the crystals dance. Then we headed back to the city of Innsbruck. We were hungry, but the restaurant we were planning on going to didn’t open for another two hours, so we took a sight seeing bus tour around Innsbruck. It was fun, and I did learn a little bit about Innsbruck, but my mom and I laughed about all the things we saw. We were basically just people watching. It was a good time. And the time went fast. When the tour was over, we headed over to the vegetarian restaurant my mom had picked out. It was called “Olive”. I was very impressed. Everything was very delicious. This was my late birthday dinner, so we really went all out and got everything we wanted. After dinner, it was late, so we just walked back to our AirB&B and went to bed. 

Here's me at Swarovski Crystal World! Behind me you can see the "Crystal Clouds"! In real life they were sparkling and rainbow, but it didn't turn out on camera.

This was inside Swarovski Crystal World. So pretty!

The next day, Sunday, we had a few hours left in Innsbruck before we had to leave. So we decided to wake up early and take the gondola to the top of the mountain. We didn’t have much time by time we’d got to top, but we were able to walk around for a little bit before we had to go back. The view was absolutely amazing. Totally breathtaking. I wished we could’ve stayed there for longer, but unfortunately we had to head to the train station. The rest of the day was spent heading back to Freiburg. When we got there, Renate and Rahel were waiting for us at the train station, and we headed back to their apartment. We ate dinner, and then I got ready for school the next day. 

I know this doesn't even look real! It was so amazing at the top!

My beautiful momma!

There were many friendly sheep!

Here's me!

That was my first week reuniting with my mom! We had such a great time exploring Italy and Austria! Even though the next week I had to go to school, my mom was still here and we still had a lot of fun together. Be sure to read Week 19 to hear about what we did in my mom’s last week in Germany! Hope you have a great week!