2023 in travels

Looking back at 2023 in travels, I’d say it’s been a rich year. Sure, there were more short getaways than holidays, but I’m used to that by now. When we visit a city we choose to just wander around, have coffees, talk, spend as much time as possible outside.

Lately I’ve been questioning myself if we took the right decision to always take the cat with us when travelling: she’s been to some places some humans don’t get their whole lives. But that also led to some sacrifices from our side: choose apartments, not hotels, take the ground floor unit so she can jump straight in the garden, get in remote places and forget city centers. But… I love city centers, agglomerations (in holidays!) and seeing a lot of people. Well, we can’t do that with the cat. So now, we’re adjusting a bit. If we’re planning to go somewhere central we either leave her at home. It feels like the past 5-6 years we went only to remote places to satisfy her – because she is our first baby! -, so we didn’t get to visit too many crowded cities.

We take her with us because she gets lonely at home and she’s been known to take revenge. Also, she’s adorable and I think it’s also an experience for her. Whenever we go for a hike and it’s not too crowded, she enjoys running in the forest, pooping freely and so on.

Ok, this seems to be very cat-oriented, but you get my point. So for 2023, we started trying to balance things out. I’ll take it chronologically:

• Freiburg, Germany in March – a long weekend getaway with the cat. We walked around a bit, the weather was a bit chilly but still nice. It was our first weekend away with a newborn but it was fun nevertheless. I started saying that a holiday is just a different place where you do your routine 🙂
• Walbeck, Germany in April – another weekend getaway with the cat. I found a castle surrounded by a forest and we walked around quite a lot. They have a festival with knights in July or so. The hotel had a beer garden and that’s where we were most of the time, hunting the sun. It was a lovely stay. And oh – border region between Germany and the Netherlands? I was impressed. Everything was aligned milimetrically and all the gardens and the houses were just a pleasure to study!
• Romania in May – a month stay (without the cat) to enjoy the 20 degrees and the sun (and the rain).
• Graz, Austria & Ruhpolding, Germany in May – our stops on the way back, 2 nights each. The cat was back in business so we chose remote places. It was more to rest and have nice food and we managed to do both.
• Tilburg, the Netherlands in June – a birthday weekend with the cat. We were in a small village right at the border with Tilburg, we had a really nice accommodation (where we could barely sleep because of the noise and the heat), some horse stables that have been redesigned as apartments. The cat was able to roam free, but not so freely because of other cats – in the middle of the night we woke up with another cat in the room (we left the terrace door open for her but she had guests), it was thrilling to get them out. Oh, did I mention there was also a dog?
• Paris, Giverny, Mont Saint Michel & Loire Valley, France – this trip was partially without the cat. This was equally lovely and exhausting, we visited 2 castles on the Loire Valley, Claude Monet’s house & the one and only Mont Saint Michel. I’d like to spend more time on the Loire Valley, I may not do museums a lot, but I do castles (& painters’ homes!)
• Berlin, Germany in November. You can see that I started work & the little one the nursery as there was a tiny break in September-October. Berlin was without the cat. We had a really lovely autumn weather, we walked the whole city and back. We both agreed that it’s a city we’d both live in (and I’d have to re-polish my lost German skills). We stayed in Charlottenburg and it was lovely (hello, upper east siders 🙂 )
• Tübingen, Germany at the end of November – birthday weekend with no Christmas market (because someone forgot to check this) and without the cat. It was nice but the weather was quite moody, hesitating between rain and snow. It’s a lovely town but I’m not sure we’ll get back any time soon.
• Vatra Dornei, Romania in December – we spent Christmas here (with the cat!). The one thing I really hate about this semi touristic areas in Romania is that the host (if it’s a great one) offers you everything: sauna, hot tub, excellent food… but if you want to take a walk around, you’re basically doomed. There’s nothing open, there’s no walking path, there’s… nothing. One should take advantage and have the attractions open because… there are so many tourists around with nothing to do?? Anyway, it was a nice way to end the year and take a little break. The food was delicious and so was the outside hot tub!
• Budapest, Hungary and Nüremberg, Germany – on the way back home, with the cat. We were lucky of having nice, central accommodations and good weather (goodbye, winter in December) so we were able to lose… 20 grams? 🙂

That’s it from my side, hopefully you had a nice year in travels as well and here’s to another year of nice adventures!