Christmas break started Friday after school, but first, we had to make it through the week! It was a slow start on Monday after all of the traveling over the weekend before.
Throughout the week, both kids had wrestling practice every evening, plus multiple holiday celebrations at Girl Scouts, JROTC, Civil Air Patrol, and Boy Scouts.
On Wednesday night, Brooklyn, Matt, and I went to the Stuttgart Christmas market, and Slinky and Daisy joined us for the adventure! We pulled their dog stroller out of storage, and they were both so excited and wanted to jump in—seriously! We decided we needed to take them on one outing this year in the stroller.
I have been to so many Christmas markets, probably over 100 at this point, and Stuttgart really does have the best market. That’s not just biased because we live here. It has a little of everything: an ice skating rink, a Ferris wheel, a gigantic Christmas pyramid (with a restaurant inside), a train, and the most beautifully decorated stalls. It’s also really spread out over the pedestrian area downtown, so you don’t feel crushed at all times. It’s the best, and I’m glad we made time to get there this year, although we did miss Esslingen and Ludwigsburg this year.
Throughout the week, Brooklyn, Ryan, and I were all sick at some point with a fast-moving flu that gave us a fever and chills for 24 hours and then left us with a cough. No two people were sick on one day, though, and by Thursday, it was my turn. Thankfully, I was at least able to finish out my work week and get ready for our weekend trip.
Finally, school was over on Friday, and we departed for our pre-Christmas trip to the Dolomites in Italy for some skiing. After school and work, we made the six-hour journey and arrived at our Airbnb around 9 p.m.
When we woke up the following day, we had a beautiful view of the valley below, Val Gardena.
We got off to a slow start because we were all still in varying phases of recovery and tired from the drive the night before. We made it into town to find coffee and a supermarket before heading back to the apartment for breakfast and getting ready to ski. Poor Ryan decided he did not have it in him to make it to the slopes, so he stayed back in the apartment in the warmth with some soup. I know he must have really not been feeling well because skiing is his obsession!
Matt, Brooklyn, and I took the ski gondola, which was only a five-minute walk from our apartment to the Alpi Di Siusi, Europe’s highest altitude meadow. As soon as we disembarked, we were treated to a beautiful view of the mountains.
We visited the Alpi Di Siusi in the summer of 2022 and said we wanted to come back and ski the area. It was a beautiful day with clear skies and not crowded at all. We skied and then had a late lunch at a mountain hut.
By late afternoon, we returned to the apartment to nap before dinner. At this point, Matt was starting to feel unwell, so after our nap, he decided to skip dinner in favor of getting some extra sleep.
Brooklyn, Ryan, and I went to dinner at the Cascada restaurant in Ortisei, where we ate on our last visit here.
After dinner, we returned to the Airbnb and watched Elf before bedtime.
By the following day, Matt was feeling even worse, so we left him at the apartment to sleep while Brooklyn, Ryan, and I headed back to the Alpi Di Siusi for more skiing.
It was not as sunny but still not crowded, so we skied miles over to the other side of the meadow, where there were many wide, long runs. We had a pasta lunch in a winter hut and continued skiing until it started to snow, at which point we turned around to head back.
We had skiied so far, it took us over an hour to get back to our ski gondola, which took us back down to town. It was almost a blizzard at this point, and we could barely see the surrounding areas. We were all glad we made it back when we did.
After returning to the apartment, we napped and made dinner from the food we had in the apartment. Everyone wanted to stay in, but I wanted to check out the Christmas market in town. As I headed down into town, I met with the father of our Airbnb host, who was also walking to town. He joined me for the rest of the walk and gave me the history of his family home. He was so sweet!
Once I got to Ortisei, I walked around checking out the Christmas decorations and town. Their little market was so cute, and their village even had a Christmas mug.
When I got back to the Airbnb, we watched more Christmas movies before an early bedtime.
On Monday, it was time to pack up, and we said goodbye to our sweet AirBnb before heading back to Stuttgart. Ortisei is so beautiful, and so is the Alpi di Siusi. I’m sad that none of us were at 100% and couldn’t enjoy everything to the fullest, but I’m glad we got to go, and we can always come back!
Gilcrests Abroad 