When my husband can’t travel with us, we take the train which means everybody has a backpack and has to carry their own stuff. This is usually true for our adventures but somehow I always end up carrying my 4 year old’s bag too. She’s little, I guess.
This was our first adventure on the NightJet that was revived within the past year for travel across Europe. The Italian line is incredibly luxurious compared to the other trains. They give you water and wine when you board. There’s a little goodie bag with ear plugs, wet wipes and some other treasures that made my girls so excited — and there were slippers for me! Once the porter finally put our beds down, which we were not allowed to do ourselves, it was way past bedtime but they slept soundly while I locked the door and tossed and turned.
FIRST CHOO CHOO STOP: LAKE GARDA
We have obviously repeated this mode of travel as it’s really affordable and drops you in the middle of town in your destination. It’s a great way to go and my girls have come to love a sleeping train. Our first stop on this trip took us to Pescharia del Garda where we walked a mere 20 meters to sleep some more at the Hotel Garden after our 4 am arrival.
We awoke to find old friends down the street. This was all planned and the reason we had made this trip. I got to see one of my oldest friends in the world and drink wine with her by a beautiful lake in Italy with our kids. It was perfect.
The weather, however, was not so much on our side. We enjoyed our leisure, had an amazing pizza lunch at Pizzeria Scaligeri and explore the castle in neighboring Sirmione, Castello Scaligero di Sirmione, on our first day. On our second day, we took the ferry to Bardolino which gave me a new affection for their wine. The kids loved it because we spent most of the morning at a playground before having another terrific lunch and aimlessly wandering. We did all of this without a car while staying at DOLCERIVA – The Frontlake Suite with some really sweet hosts.
SECOND CHOO CHOO STOP: VENICE
We took a morning train that I didn’t book ahead which was dumb because there were strikes and we ended up paying a fortune for the one train that was running. Book tickets ahead of time. Don’t be silly like me. There are always strikes.
Venice wasn’t on my list of places to return. I had been once while I was studying abroad and I felt like I’d checked that box but friends were going… So we went. Once we arrived at the train station, we hopped on the ferry and found our hotel where we dropped our bags. I set off with the girls to see the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. This was something I wanted to do and I wasn’t sure it would be that interesting to the girls but we had a lovely time looking at some beautiful art in an amazing building right on the canals.
The next morning, we ventured to Burano which we dubbed the rainbow island for all of the colorful houses. Halfway back to Venice is the island of Murano which is famous for glass making. While there are lots of demonstrations to watch, we headed straight to to make our own glass creations at Ferro Toso. I made a pair of earrings and the girls both made necklaces. We required a gelato before heading back on the ferry.
On our last full day in Venice, we had a morning photo shoot which I’ve never done before but I wanted to be in some of the pictures. It was long and the girls lost interest but we got some nice pictures together. We stopped by San Marco to see the interior of the church rather than just chase the pigeons outside and went on a gondola ride. That afternoon, we learned about another artform Venice is famous for at Ca’ Macana, It was amazing to learn some of the techniques that go into creating these masks and the masks the girls made were a complete highlight.
THIRD CHOO CHOO STOP: SAN CANDIDO
We began our trek home after three days in Venice on a train to San Candido just on the edge of the border of Germany. One of the things I loved about being in Italy is that I can actually speak some Italian. I had hoped that Italian would be spoken in San Candidio but they spoke German nearly everywhere we went. My German is terrible but that didn’t stop me from loving San Candido.
I wanted to experience the Dolomites but I didn’t want to go to the trouble of renting a car. It would have allowed us to see more but San Candido allowed us to see so much by trains, buses and cable cars including Lago di Braies which I didn’t think we would get to see. However, when I was checking into our amazing accommodation at Zin Seftner Residence, I saw a flyer for a bus run by the tourist office and made a reservation for the next morning. It turns out it was possible to take a city bus but it would have involved three transfers and that was not ideal. It was much easier to get on one bus which would take me exactly where I wanted to go. We spent the day splashing in the cold water and digging in the sand while taking in the amazing vistas.
The next day, I purchased our 3 Day Mountain Card Pusterta at the base of Mount Barnaci. We walked to the base of this mountain from our accommodation. It’s a walk we would repeat multiple times as the bus stop was also right near the base of the mountain overlooking San Candido. Mount Baranci has a chairlift that took us up to a children’s paradise that included Parco del Gigante, Dwarf Village, and Refugio Gigante Baranci for lunch.
The next day we went to explore Mount Elmo where we hiked through Operl’s Nature Park. It’s a barefoot path — and the longest one I’ve ever seen. The weather was perfect and it was an amazing day exploring. We had a late lunch at the hut by the cable car and then took bus 447 back to San Candido.
On our last day with the pass, we went in the cable car up to Signaue to Stiergarten where we were convinced we were in the wrong place once we got off. There was a hiking trail directly in front of us that was clearly not a kid-size adventure but if you turn right and kinda walk under the cable car, there is another trail that leads to another hut. I had read that this trail was more interactive like the experiences we had had so far. It was not but we saw a lot of horses and cows really close up. It was a disappointing ending that we tried to make better with a stop at DoloMythos for some dinosaur fun and a treasure hunt.
The girls were sad to go home. Admittedly, I was sad too and this is always a good sign of a really good adventure.
All of these adventures have inspired me to imagine how we immerse our whole spirits in a place and be present to ourselves and God. I have two downloadable retreats available in my shop on Dandelion Marketplace.
If you are interested to hear more about these offerings and find a spirit of adventure in your own prayers, I’ll share the news first on Prayer Threads.
Cooking with Elsa 