Italia!

We made it home safe from our trip to Germany and Italy. Apparently the baby likes vacation because my nausea went away the morning we got up for our flight to leave. The nausea and hunger have begun to decrease along with my fatigue. I'm able to get back in the gym which has made me feel a lot better! We were gone for a total of 10 days. We flew out Saturday to Dallas and drove 3 hours to visit one of Brian's buddies, Mike, who goes to school at Texas A&M and has recently bought a house. It was great to visit with them, but too short. Our flight to Frankfurt was 10 1/2 hours over night so, we spent the first day in Munich catching up on sleep (they're 9 hours ahead) and walked around the city a little at night. The next day we saw all of Munich and I mean all of Munich. We walked all day and night making sure we saw everything. We were exhausted at the end of the day, but treated ourselves to some brots, beer for Brian, and gelato for me! Our friends Karin and Andi picked us up on Wednesday and that night we had dinner with the whole family... brothers sisters, mom, dad, kids. Everyone was there, it was great. They have the best wine and that was one thing I definately missed out on. Their family lives on a vineyard and makes their own wine and it's delicious! The rest of the time was spent hiking the Alps which were amazing. We had great weather so it was blue skies against the snow capped moutains. Our second hike was incredibly hard, but we all made it to the top and got our picture with the cross. We climbed 3400 feet in 4 hours and spent 2 hours getting back down. I have never hiked a mountain so difficult in my entire life, not to mention doing it while 12 weeks pregnant. Let's just say I was proud of all of us for making it. We also went to Tuscany for 2 days. We really enjoyed seeing all the villages and the food is amazing. Again we had good weather so we were able to walk around and enjoy the outdoor cafe's. Here's a few pictures from our trip.


This was the view from our bedroom window in Tuscany. We stayed in a farmhouse that we pretty much had to ourselves. We had a car so we were able to see a lot of Tuscany and it's beautiful!




This is in a cafe we went to in Tuscany with Karin and Andi. We learned a little Italian and German while we were there, but our friend's English was almost perfect by the time we left. Brian did better than I with learning their language, but I think it was still hard for their family to understand what he was saying with his American accent.




This just gives you an idea of what we were hiking in. At certain points it was through snow, but this is the last leg and it was straight up. At one point we were rock climbing trying to find little crevices to put our fingers and feet into. This was after hiking 3 1/2 hours. Brian said when I'm in labor he's going to remind me of this part of the hike and how I pushed myself to make it to the top. That's how hard it was!


Every summit in the Alps had a cross and this is one that we hiked to. On the cross is where they have the book you write it. People used to write what direction they were headed back in case they got lost someone was able to find them, now they wirte where they are from and any comments.




So, how's Brian doing? Just fine. Here are few pictures showing what he's been up to.


Actually this was a night out in Munich at the Haufbrauhaus where we celebrated Oktoberfest together a few years back. Emily thought it would be fun to go back. It was, but not as much when you can't drink beer! She was awesome for suggesting it. Their beer there was great and I wouldn't have wanted to miss it.


And this is Andi and me enjoying a 30 year old Grappa that Karin's father made. No we did not take shots, the picture just looks like we did. A drink this old needs to be enjoyed. It was a great night of celebration and food with their whole family!