Eurotrip Part 3: Italy & Switzerland


Ah... Venice.
I didn’t even know what to take pictures of as we rode in the boat to this city because every single thing was so beautiful.
It was like the Times Square of Italy - filled with tourists. But really, can you blame us? It is incredible!

We did the typical gondola ride with a dude in a striped shirt (with a jacket over) who whistled our away through the canals. Apparently the buildings we rode around were between 400 and 500 years old. You could see the water line for when high tide comes which floods the ground floors of many buildings. So people only live on the second floor and up.

We spent hours just walking through the streets and St. Mark’s Square eating gelato. It was pretty cool because at night, the city flooded and we had to walk on platforms. It was quite a sight to see.


Grabbing a quick lunch upon arriving in Italy... pizza was the clear choice

Shot of expresso inside a chocolate... seriously.

Casual bottle of wine

Getting to Venice via boat!

Bridge of Sighs


St. Mark's Square

Beautiful

Gelato

Gondola ride!


 


Binging on tortellini, pizza, bruschetta, and wine

Pasta with a squid ink sauce

Tiramisu

Flooded St. Mark's Square at night

Back at the camp site for some flip cup

Lake Como

Some of my favourite moments on the trip came from spontaneous adventures that I did not have on my must-do list. This included our train ride through the Swiss Alps. 

“Kim, just imagine - we might be able to touch snow! You HAVE to come!” was the adorable argument made to me by Shannel from Miami. Sometimes we forget that the things that seem normal to us can be so exciting to others. We ended up discovering a town called Wengen that was higher up on the mountain than where we were staying. Watching Jack from Australia make his first snowball and Shannel sled down a hill on a shovel was enough to bring out the kid in me and remind me how much fun the snow can be. We walked through the town and up past the railroad tracks with no plan in mind except to find a place to play. So many laughs that we almost forgot how cold it was. What I hoped to get out of my time in Switzerland was Swiss cheese, Swiss chocolate, and seeing the mountains but I ended up with so much more than that. 

Lucerne
Our first stop in Switzerland
Visited a Swiss Army knife/watch store, picked up postcards, shopped at chocolate shops, explored the town, and ordered hot chocolate at a cafe


Swiss chocolate!! So good

Beautiful scenery

Tiffany's first time seeing snow fall

The best bunk beds ever

Swiss cheese fondue

Woke up to this
 In the town of Lauterbrunnen - our second stop in Switzerland

Our "Swiss Chalet"
(Only the Canadians got why this name for our building was funny)

So many little waterfalls from the water off the mountains

Charming little town - reminded me of Banff
Ate lots of soup and mini meat pies

Unreal view from our train ride

Jack's first snowball!

Snowball fight


Shannel sledding on a shovel

So awesome

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